Computer History

The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was one of the most popular home computers in British history, selling over five million units in its 1980s heyday. Amongst the thousands of games released for the Spectrum during its lifetime, the text adventure game was to emerge as one of the most significant genres on the system.
The Spectrum of Adventure chronicles the evolution of the text adventure on the ZX Spectrum, exploring the work of landmark software houses such as Melbourne House Software, Level 9 Computing, Delta 4 Software, the CRL Group, Magnetic Scrolls, and many others besides.
Covering one hundred individual games in all, this book celebrates the Spectrum’s thriving interactive fiction scene of the eighties, chronicling the achievements of major publishers as well as independent developers from the machine’s launch in 1982 until the end of the decade in 1989.

The history of passwords is probably as old as the history of mankind; at least as old as the human language. Never before have passwords had such a vital role in our daily lives; they have become a central part of our digital lifestyle. During their history, passwords have changed from “something we know” to “who we are.” Due to their use as tools of authentication for our computers, email-, webshop-, and social media accounts, they have become a key to our identity. Nowadays, we are protecting our identity with a technique which has failed from the start.
This paper deals with the historical background of passwords, their use as a tool of authentication in computer and network systems and our practical everyday use. Starting with the examination of the meaning of passwords in our everyday culture and their changes, follows an analysis of the discourses on the topic in philosophical, cultural studies, netculture, science and technology. Hypotheses built from this analysis were then analyzed by empirical research in the form of a survey about the form of passwords and personal opinions on passwords.

Lo primero será revisar un poco la Arquitectura de computadoras en sus formas más básicas. Pasaremos rápidamente por periféricos en los ordenadores primitivos. Seguidamente la caja mística Baer/Bushnell el PONG o Telebolito. Luego revisaremos un computador casero (homebrew), la famosa caja "Apple I". Como plato principal arbitrariamente organizaremos y repasaremos un poco esto del cómo funcionan los periféricos.
Finalizaremos con un pequeño ejemplo con el fin de repasar todos los temas tratados abusando un poco de la Sony Playstation 1 de 1994.

This paper considers one of the first personal computers to be marketed to a mainstream American audience in the late 1970s: the Apple II. Lewis Mumford's notion of "ideological and social preparation" is adapted to describe this period as a preparatory phase for the later ubiquity and absorbing quality of our relationship with personal computers. In examining the Apple II's design alongside a key marketing image we can discern that domesticity and gender were crucial points of negotiation during this period. In the late 1970s marketing for Apple the image of idyllic domesticity quickly became a major context for computer promotion, a development that had gendered implications. The example of 1930s streamlining in the design of domestic household appliances is used as a parallel with the Apple II's startling application of a plastic case: the concealing plastic exterior simultaneously simplified and obscured the device, transforming it from a "machine" into a "personal appliance."

The aim of the course is to give an interdisciplinary introduction and overview of philosophical issues surrounding artificial intelligence. By the end of the semester you should have a broad understanding of artificial intelligence and computers as a complex phenomenon, its foundational questions and possible answers thereof, as well as its role in society. The course does not require any background knowledge.

Overview of the life of John von Neumann, describing his role in the development of electronic digital computing, together with  a few far reaching results, having considerable impact in present day computer science.
Talk presented at the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Budapest, Hungary in September 2016

The attempt to establish a unified taxonomy for the field of Information Ethics is both unattainable and unwarranted. The categorization of Information Ethics as a defined discipline, an applicable practice, a philosophy and a worldview remains constantly in flux due to, what Luciano Floridi terms, ‘philosophical naturalism’. As such, a broadening understanding of the field will only serve to further collapse categorization. The following paper will outline, using a discourse analysis methodology, how the nature of the field of Information Ethics at a foundational level must necessarily defy classification. The assumptions behind the current classifications of the field will be questioned. Beginning with the history of the inception of the field through Librarianship and Cybernetics and questioning the yet unresolved ontological debates between information philosophers such as Rafael Capurro and Floridi, this paper will explicate how any such attempt to develop an agreed upon taxonomy will and should always remain incomplete.

Durant une vingtaine d’années, le projet de construction d’une Tour Lumière Cybernétique à Paris a suscité un grand intérêt dans l’opinion publique, dans différents cercles artistiques et scientifiques ainsi que chez de nombreux politiciens et administrateurs. Grandiose, la tour imaginée par l’artiste franco-hongrois Nicolas Schöffer (1912-1992) constituait tout à la fois une œuvre d’art et un média total d’un genre nouveau, capable d’opérer une synthèse des médias de communication de l’époque, mais également d’ajuster et d’équilibrer les activités humaines à l’environnement, qui est considérée comme un média dans tous les sens du terme, c’est-à-dire comme un milieu de vie ainsi qu’en tant que matière artistique à élaborer.  Pour Schöffer, la Tour Lumière Cybernétique constitue l’amorce d’un projet social et politique révolutionnaire. Épicentre de la ville cybernétique, la Tour Schöffer avait pour objectif l’établissement d’une nouvelle forme cybernétique de gouvernement par l’information qui devait pallier les institutions politiques traditionnelles. Mais comment un projet d’une telle envergure et d’une telle ambition a-t-il pu susciter un tel engouement, notamment de la part de la classe politique? Retour sur une utopie oubliée.

A sociedade brasileira passou a incorporar os
computadores eletrônicos no final dos anos 1950. Embora
realizado com certo atraso se comparado aos países
desenvolvidos, não significou desconhecimento sobre
potencialidades da novidade tecnológica e trouxe o Estado
como orientador e executor de políticas de incentivo ao uso
destes artefatos. Levando-se em conta o contexto
desenvolvimentista do governo JK (1956-1960), que
influenciou na forma de proposição de uso do computador,
dois grupos técnicos (Grupo de Trabalho sobre Aplicação de
Computadores – GTAC e Grupo Executivo para Aplicação
de Computadores Eletrônicos - GEACE) colocaram em
prática ações tecnopolíticas que culminaram na fundação do
Centro de Processamento de Dados de Governo. Neste artigo
serão discutidas algumas ideias e limites da atuação destes
órgãos para o nascente campo da Informática brasileira.

Our everyday use of digital technologies, platforms and infrastructures is often portrayed as an autonomous technical development, guided by clever and independent innovations, rather than broad sociotechnical imaginaries that inspire parliamentary support and governance. This article will consequently shed the light on the often-overlooked structural and societal efforts that have historically shaped the digital citizen of today. For the past 70 years or so, non-formal adult education about computers and computing has been a key part of political ambitions to create a desirable future. Over time, digital technologies have also become a precondition for the enactment of citizenship. That is, 'digital citizenship' is increasingly positioned as a fundamental requirement for democratic participation. The purpose of this paper is to trace how the digital citizen, and its accompanying problems, has been construed over time, particularly through educational imaginaries. What problems is the digital citizen a solution to? Who has been presented as problematic, and who, subsequently, has become the primary target for educational solutions? What skills have been described as indispensable for the digital citizen during different periods in history? By using Sweden as a vantage point this paper provides both concrete examples as well as perspectives on transnational discourses. In focus for the study are discourses concerning non-formal adult education, in the form of awareness campaigns, social programmes and adult liberal education about computers aimed at the general citizenry, during three periods in time: the 1950s, the 1980s, and today. The contribution is a critical take on how the citizen has increasingly become connected to digital technologies, and how this convergence has at the same time created digital exclusion.-2

Los ordenadores han cambiado el mundo afectando nuestro diario vivir, ayudándonos a resolver problemas complejos, sirviendo como herramientas para comunicarnos e incluso ayudando en el viaje a la luna. El potencial de los ordenadores es tal que la inteligencia artificial llegara a alcanzar la inteligencia humana, los ordenadores están compuestos por dispositivos de entrada generalmente mouse y teclado, también cuentan con una unidad central de procesamiento (CPU por sus siglas en ingles) y también constan de dispositivos de salida tales como el monitor o una impresora. Lo revolucionario de los ordenadores está en su capacidad de hacer millones de pequeños cálculos por segundo, básicamente sus circuitos electrónicos tienen dos estas, cerrados y abierto, cuando está cerrado equivale a un uno y cuando está abierto equivale a un cero; de esta forma en código binario, uno es cerrado (verdadero) y cero es abierto (falso); y así es como está estructurada la lógica binaria la cual le permite al ordenador computar. Los ordenadores de portátiles tienen la capacidad de convertir a personas ordinarias desde escritores a animadores y navegadores de la web, pero también existen ordenadores industriales como el ASKI WAIT que desempeña funciones simulando la capacidad del arsenal nuclear de EEUU, luego que el presidente George Bush prohibiera las pruebas nucleares bajo tierra. A inicios de siglo XIX Charles Babets concibió la idea de un ordenador mecánico que no solo pudieran resolver problemas sino que también pudieran almacenar números y poder ver estos cuando se quisiera, Babets es también considerado el padre del ordenador, a pesar de su vasta capacidad y su precisión para su época; los ordenadores con frecuencia cometían errores, el primero de estos prototipos era uno ordenador compuesto por engranajes y ejes que trabajaban juntos para hacer cálculos, después de 10 años desarrollo uno más complejo basándose en el anterior, que posee los componentes básicos de un ordenador actual, usaba tarjetas perforadoras para proporcionar las entradas, un mecanismo llamado el molino realizaba los cálculos, y el almacén guardaba nombres haciendo el papel de memoria, y este prototipo de ordenador fue llamado " Motor Analítico " aunque nunca fue construido debido a la carencia de fondos y herramientas imprecisas. A finales del siglo XIX las oleadas de inmigrantes que ingresaban a EEUU amenazaban con sobrecargar el censo, para ese entonces la cuenta del censo aún era hecho a mano, para solucionar el problema German Hollerith introdujo una serie de máquinas para facilitar el recuento del censo. Se utilizaban tarjetas donde se perforaban las cajas según su sexo, edad, raza y profesión de cada persona, luego estas tarjetas eran introducida en las maquinas, la tabulación se hacía mediante electricidad usando una clavija para registrar los resultados en una serie de diales y otras máquinas separaban las tarjetas. Luego de esto vendió estas máquinas a compañías ferroviarias y fundo una compañía q serviría como la base de IBM. Durante la segunda guerra mundial los británicos construyeron una computadora llamada Colossus con el propósito de descifrar el código alemán llamado Enigma, Alan Turing trabajo para descifrar el código Enigma, y su trabajo antes de la guerra ayudo a establecer las bases teóricas para los ordenadores construidos en los años cuarenta.

Edmund Berkeley was one of the founders of the Association of Computing Machinery, and as such established himself as an influential force in the early development of the field of computer science. This article examines Berkeley’s work with symbolic logic during the 1920s and 1930s, and explores how this body of knowledge shaped his ideas about early electronic computers. It further explores how Berkeley applied these ideas of symbolic logic and human reasoning to the design of relay computers, especially machines designed for use in the insurance industry.

This is the story of how two women, Anna Lichtenberg and Cindy Mason, brought Information Technology to  the central desert of Australia, Alice Springs.  Alice Springs or Mparntwe, is 1500 kms from the nearest city.  Its the real old Austalia, before the Europeans arrived, where you feel the ancient bones and can lose track of where you are in the heat and the flies.

Embora seja inegável o impacto do computador na vida quotidiana, transpondo-se de um recurso estratégico de domínio estatal para um bem de consumo em crescente massificação, a constituição de veículos comunicativos que intencionavam discorrer sobre sua importância na sociedade é um elemento ainda pouco explorado por pesquisas acadêmicas. A partir desta observação, a proposta deste paper tem como objetivo apresentar a revista Dados e Ideias, publicação criada em 1975 por um grupo de agentes ligados ao campo da Informática no Brasil. Em um contexto de transformações tecnológicas, intervenção estatal em áreas estratégicas e crise econômica, estes indivíduos, integrantes do meio acadêmico e/ou burocrático, fizeram valer suas expertises para estabelecer uma fala autorizada sobre o tema da tecnologia nacional em Informática, contribuindo para divulgar suas ideias e tentar influenciar decisões governamentais na área. Nesse sentido, Dados e Ideias seria um dos recursos empregados para estabelecer uma tecnopolítica, além de tentar agregar a comunidade da Informática e gerar um debate público sobre o tema tecnológico. Em caráter exploratório, esta comunicação abordará essas questões de maneira a situar Dados e Ideias em seu pioneirismo como publicação especializada em Informática voltada ao grande público.

Our everyday use of digital technologies, platforms and infrastructures is often portrayed as an autonomous technical development, guided by clever and independent innovations, rather than broad sociotechnical imaginaries that inspire parliamentary support and governance. This article will consequently shed the light on the oftenoverlooked structural and societal efforts that have historically shaped the digital citizen of today. For the past 70 years or so, non-formal adult education about computers and computing has been a key part of political ambitions to create a desirable future. Over time, digital technologies have also become a precondition for the enactment of citizenship. That is, ‘digital citizenship’ is increasingly positioned as a fundamental requirement for democratic participation. The purpose of this paper is to trace how the digital citizen, and its accompanying problems, has been construed over time, particularly through educational imaginaries. What problems is th...

This study provides information on how the process of technological globalization was implemented prior to the Internet and what its limits were, which certainly helps to understand how computers are changing the world. One can see divergent patterns in the process of introducing computers (using the worldwide savings bank industry as a reference). However, the foundations of this divergence should be situated within an idiosyncratic and not an asymmetric landscape as a consequence of the role that adoption/appropriation processes (the end-user as an active participant) play in the perspective of technological diffusion.

Discutir a História da Informática do Brasil através das fontes jornalísticas traz algumas preocupações nem sempre tomadas pelo historiador – uma delas é perceber que as notícias por ela vinculadas situam em uma zona de intersecção entre dois campos (Informática e Jornalismo), nem sempre com as regras em sintonia. Por cada espaço social possuir suas especificidades, elas experimentavam processos distintos dentro do regime autoritário dos anos 1970, o que pôde certamente influenciar nas formas de divulgação e repercussão sobre a Informática no país. Assim, nossa intenção é apontar algumas características dessa zona de convergência/divergência que envolveu a atuação da Comissão de Coordenação das Atividades de Processamento Eletrônico (CAPRE) e a divulgação de suas ações pela Imprensa a partir de dois periódicos de perfis distintos: o Jornal do Brasil e o DataNews.

This article argues that sociotechnical imaginaries, defined as collectively held, institutionally stabilized, and publicly performed visions of desirable sociotechnical futures, are significantly connected to visions, policies, and projects of educating citizens. These visions, policies, and projects – or educational imaginaries – constitute ways to problematize, negotiate and ultimately govern citizens and citizenship at the intersection between technology and education. This article presents a model which conceptualizes and analyzes educational imaginaries, and specifically introduces the notion (and method) of ‘problematizations’ into these imaginaries. The model, consisting of four key components – technology, problematizations, collective actors, and target populations – is exemplified through a genealogy of the education of the ‘digitalized citizen’.

In der ersten Hälfte der 1980er Jahre, als der Heimcomputer in den Industrienationen zum Massenkonsumgut wurde, rückten die entsprechenden Konsumenten in den Fokus der Öffentlichkeit: „Computer-Kids“, die die Elektro-Abteilungen der Kaufhäuser unsicher machten, untereinander die neusten Spiele tauschten, oder gleich eigene Software programmierten und so mit Fähigkeiten aufwarteten, die den meisten Erwachsenen versagt blieben. Gerade die linksalternativen Kommentatoren taten sich mit dem neuen Phänomen schwer. Mit dem herkömmlichen, empathisch-solidarischen Blick auf Jugendkulturen waren die „Computer-Kids“ nicht einzuordnen. Den Computer, als Rationalisierungsmaschine und Werkzeug des Überwachungsstaates gebrandmarkt, schlossen sie ins Herz und machten ihn zum Zentrum ihrer Freizeitgestaltung. Sie verfolgten keine sichtbare subversiv-politische Agenda, vielmehr schienen sie sich bereitwillig der Computer-Industrie hinzugeben - und doch eigneten sie sich die neue Technologie in Eigenregie an und unterliefen periodisch die von Softwareherstellern, Gesetzgebern und Pädagogen gesetzten Rahmen. Der Beitrag analysiert die frühen Debatten um computerbegeisterte Jugendliche in der Bundesrepublik, zeichnet den Wahrnehmungswandel von „Computer-Kids“ als Fürsorge-Objekten hin zu eigenmächtigen Subjekten nach - und verweist zugleich auf die Blindstellen der zeitgenössischen Kommentatoren.

This study provides information on how the process of technological globalization was implemented prior to the Internet and what its limits were, which certainly helps to understand how computers are changing the world. One can see divergent patterns in the process of introducing computers (using the worldwide savings bank industry as a reference). However, the foundations of this divergence should be situated within an idiosyncratic and not an asymmetric landscape as a consequence of the role that adoption/appropriation processes (the end-user as an active participant) play in the perspective of technological diffusion.

This document has a objective from teaching the principles of computer, including: History (16th century computer); Modern Computers (to ENIAC from Apple I); Components (Motherboard, VideoCard, CPU, Hard Drive, Power Supply); AI (Machine learning, deep learning); Computer architecture (Von Neumann's concepts); Computing units(binary, hexadecimal) and more.

Resumo. O presente artigo tem por objetivo trazer uma contribuição na integração das histórias da informática latino-americanas por meio da análise do protagonismo da IBM nos processos de implantação de sistemas digitais nos países latinos. Nosso recorte engloba a importação de computadores da primeira e segunda fase entre o final da década de 1950 e o início da década de 1970, período no qual a IBM dominaria o mercado mundial do setor. A análise dos artigos do Simpósio de História da Informática na América Latina e Caribe (SHIALC) nos permite perceber as estratégias e técnicas mobilizadas para a inserção da empresa no mercado latino-americano, bem como, de outra parte, os processos de assimilação, de negociação e/ou de resistência da parte das comunidades locais de informática.

décembre 2004, IBM vend son unité de production d’ordinateurs personnels, son label IBM-PC et son savoir à Lenovo, une entreprise
chinoise inconnue ou presque en Occident.
IBM, International Business Machines Corporation, qui la première lança sur le marché un ordinateur personnel en 1981 :le bien nommé
Personal Computer,ou PC. IBM qui,sans doute, inspira à Arthur C. Clarke pour son roman de science-fiction « 2001 : A Space Odyssey » un
nom fameux, puis à Stanley Kubrick une image restée célèbre :HAL,le superordinateur schizophrène, dont les trois initiales H-A-L répondent curieusement par un amusant décalage alphabétique à celles de la plus
grande multinationale de technologies de l’information. IBM, donc, qui fin 2004 se sépare de son unité Personal Computer et de
son label historique « IBM-PC».
La nouvelle, bien que remarquée, n’aura finalement que peu fait parler d’elle. Comme le souligne William Mitchell, cet événement, dont la raison première est sûrement économique, signale tout aussi certainement la fin d’une période : celle de la (première) révolution informatique et communicationnelle qui aura vu passer l’ordinateur d’étrange et obscure
machine de laboratoire à un objet de culture populaire, peu coûteux, désormais omniprésent et en passe de s’infiltrer sous toute forme (visible et invisible) dans nos activités et notre environnement quotidien. (...)