Topic Six: History of the Computer

Lecture

In the lecture on Wednesday we delved into the history of the computer, and then went on to learn about the Internet. We started with the birth of the computer. Charles Babbage's 19th century Difference Engine which was designed to calculate and print mathematical tables is regarded as a machine that facilitated the creation of the computer. It was Alan Turing, however, that developed the serious groundwork for the real development of the computer. He created the BOMBE machine that was instrumental in the victory over the Nazi's in World War II. This machine enabled the encoding of the Nazi Enigma machine that they were using to send messages to each other.

There has been a constant fight for supremacy in the world of computers. The main companies in contention have been Xerox, Apple and IBM (Microsoft). There is a long, sordid history of deception and deal making in order to make optimal profits. The fight between IBM and Apple has been historic and continues to this day.

We were informed of how the Internet is different from the world wide web. The world wide web is a part of the internet. It is only one application of the internet. Others include email and file sharing (Napster, Limewire, Kazaa). The internet is simply a collection of interconnected computers that are able to communicate with each other. We watched a visual presentation about how the internet works and basically represented the requesting and sending of information bytes (the giving and taking of information or data).

We went on to discuss the term cyberspace. It essentially lies between reality and imagination in an individual. The debate lies in whether cyberspace represents a 'consensual hallucination' or another form of reality? There are many that argue the point on both sides, but I believe one can create an artificial world for themselves that either entertains or distracts but if everyone lived in these artificial worlds then reality loses its value. In the lecture we went on to talk about early internet applications like email, and file transferring and military use, and then went moved onto recent applications such as instant messaging, peer to peer sharing (p2p), portable audio (podcasting) and voice chat (Skype).

Tutorial

In this week's tutorial we discussed different uses and functions of the internet and the world wide web for a bit. We talked about our assignment and how to research the university journals to help with the gaining of information. At this stage I'm still trying to define the exact topic I want to focus my essay on, and I may be influenced on how much information I can find on a particular subject. I think I am going to focus my argument on the connection between reality and virtual reality and its real world consequences or effects (good and bad). My main thought process has been derived from the studying of the game "Second Life" and the viewing of movies such as eXistenZ, the Matrix and Blade Runner to a certain extent too. My main point is that when an individual begins to limit their interactions to a virtual state, is the real life of the individual and of society deprived of rich relationships that help keep society civil?

Readings

This week our reading consisted of the article/paper What's new about 'new media'?. From the article, I ascertained that although media is often classified as new, in most cases it is just a modified or improved version of a previous product. Its about extending the possibilities of a current technology to better suit the needs of society. Things such as phones, computers and other communication tools have evolved to accommodate the needs of a society to communicate their thoughts, feelings and ideas with each other. New communication technology, or advanced communication technologies are vital to express ideas through new medias. New forms of digital video and digital photography technology allows for more freedom within the discipline and often allows for direct transfer from ideas to application of those ideas, a freedom that has been out of reach because of lack of capacity and usability (ease of use) of of previous technologies.