Schedule

WEEK 1: Jan 11 – 15 (Week 1 Intro Video)

WEEK 1 TOPICS (Week 1 Lecture Video)

  • The Earliest Calculators
  • The Jacquard Loom
  • Ada Lovelace
  • Herman Hollerith and his Hollerith Desk
  • Charles Babbage, The Difference Engine, and the Analytical Engine
  • Vannevar Bush and the Differential Analyzer

WEEK 1 READINGS/MEDIA

  • Owens, L. (1986). “Vannevar Bush and the Differential Analyzer: The Text and Context of an Early Computer .” Technology and Culture 27: 63-95 (read)
  • Clymer, A. B. (1993). “The Mechanical Analog Computers of Hannibal Ford and William Newell.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 15(2): 19-34 (read)
  • Rheingold, Howard (2000) The First Programmer Was a Lady. In Tools for Thought (pp. 25-44) (read)
  • Campbell-Kelly Martin & W. Aspray (1996) Before the Computer. In Computer: A History of the Information Machine (pp. 9-76) New York: Harper Collins (read)
  • Herman Hollerith – excerpt from History Channel Modern Marvels (watch)

WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #1 Due (Friday, Jan 15th by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #1 Due (Sunday Jan 17th by 5pm)

WEEK 2: Jan 18-22 (Week 2 Intro Video)

WEEK 2 TOPICS (Week 2 Lecture Video)

  • Alan Turing: The Father of Modern Computer Science
  • The Turing Test
  • Computers in the Shadow of WWII: ZUSE, Colossus, ENIAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC, and EDSAC

WEEK 2 READINGS/MEDIA

  • Turing, A.M. (1950a), “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” Mind 59, 433-460 (read)
  • Campbell-Kelly Martin & W. Aspray (1996) Creating the Computer. In Computer: A History of the Information Machine (pp. 68-137) New York: Harper Collins (read)
  • WWII Codebreaking – excerpt from History Channel Modern Marvels (watch)
  • Von Neuman, UNIVAC, and the 1952 Presidential Election – excerpt from History Channel Modern Marvels (watch)

WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #2 Due (Wednesday, Jan 20th by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #2 Due (Friday, Jan 22nd by 5pm)

WEEK 3: Jan 25-29 (Week 3 Intro Video)

WEEK 3 TOPICS (Week 3 Lecture Video)

  • Vannevar Bush and the Memex
  • The Semiconductor & The Integrated Circuit – Laying the Groundwork for the PC
  • From Mainframe to Microcomputer

WEEK 3 READINGS/MEDIA:

  • Bush, V. (1945). “As We May Think”. Atlantic Monthly. 176: 101-108. (read)
  • Campbell-Kelly Martin & W. Aspray (1996) The Shaping of the Personal Computer. In Computer: A History of the Information Machine (pp. 233-258) New York: Harper Collins (read)
  • Pold, Soren (2006). Button, In Matthew Fuller (ed.), Software Studies/A Lexicon (31-36) Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press (read)

WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #3 Due (Wednesday, Jan 27th by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #3 Due (Friday, Jan 29th by 5pm)

WEEK 4: Feb 1-5 (Week 4 Intro Video)

WEEK 4 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Wiki Entry #1 Due (Friday, Feb 5th)

WEEK 5: Feb 8-12 (Week 5 Intro Video)

WEEK 6: Feb 15-19 (Week 6 Intro Video)

WEEK 6 TOPICS (Week 6 Lecture Video Part 1, Part 2, Part 3):

  • The Dawn of Interactive Entertainment
  • Noughts & Crosses
  • William Higinbotham and Tennis for Two
  • Tech Model Railroad Club & Spacewar!
  • MUD
  • Games on the Personal Computer

WEEK 6 READINGS/MEDIA

  • Steward Brand (1972) “SPACEWAR: Fanatic Life and Symbolic Death Among the Computer Bums,” Rolling Stone (read)
  • Kent, Steven (2001) The World Before Pong. In The Ultimate History of Video Games (pp. 1-14) Roseville, California: Random House, Inc. (read)
  • Kent, Steven (2001) Forgotten Fathers. In The Ultimate History of Video Games (pp. 15-26) Roseville, California: Random House, Inc. (read)

WEEK 6 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #4 Due (Wednesday, Feb 17th by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #4 Due (Friday, Feb 19th by 5pm)

WEEK 7: Feb 22-26 (Week 7 Intro Video)

WEEK 7 ASSIGNMENTS

  • DUE DATE CHANGED: Wiki Entry #2 Due (Sunday, Feb 28th by 11:59pm)

WEEK 8: Mar 1-5 (Week 8 Intro Video)

  • Once Upon Atari: House of Games (watch)

WEEK 9 Mar 8-12

  • No “class” – enjoy your spring break

WEEK 10 Mar 15-19 (Week 10 Intro Video)

  • Once Upon Atari: The Enemy Within (watch)

WEEK 11 Mar 22-26 (Week 11 Intro Video)

WEEK 11 TOPICS (Week 11 Lecture Video)

  • J.C. Licklider and the Intergalactic Computer Network
  • ARPANET, NSFNET, and the Birth of the Internet
  • Tim Berners-Lee and the Birth of the World Wide Web
  • The Development of the Brower

WEEK 11 READINGS/MEDIA

WEEK 11 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #5 Due (Wednesday, March 24th by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #5 Due (Friday, March 26th by 5pm)

WEEK 12: Mar 29-Apr 2 (Week 12 Intro Video)

WEEK 13: Apr 5-9 (Week 13 Intro Video)

WEEK 13 TOPICS (Week 13 Lecture Video)

  • Social Computing
  • Collaborative Computing – Blogs, Wikis, and Crowd Sourcing
  • Tim O’Reilly and The Origins of Web 2.0
  • Web 3.0 and Beyond

WEEK 13 REQUIRED READINGS/MEDIA

  • O’Reilly, Tim (2005) What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software (read)
  • O’Reilly, Tim (2008) Web 2.0 and Cloud Computing (read)
  • Benkler, Yochai (2008) Open Source Economics (watch)
  • Lessig, Lawrence (2007) How Creativity is Being Strangled by the Law (watch)
  • Berners-Lee, Tim (2009) The Next Web of Open, Linked Data (watch)
  • Wales, Jimmy (2005) How a Ragtag Band Created Wikipedia (watch)
  • Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us (watch)

WEEK 13 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #6 Due (Wednesday, April 7th by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #6 Due (Friday, April 9th by 5pm)
  • Wiki Entry #3 Due (Friday, April 11th by 11:59pm)

WEEK 14: Apr 12-16 (Week 14 Intro Video)

  • Good Copy, Bad Copy (watch)

WEEK 15: Apr 19-23 (Week 15 Intro Video)

WEEK 15 TOPICS (Week 15 Lecture Video Part 1, Part 2)

  • Robots & Artificial Intelligence
  • The Technological Singularity
  • Computational Transhumanism

WEEK 15 READINGS/MEDIA

  • Broderick, Damien (2003) Racing Towards the Spike. In Prefiguring Cyberculture: An Intellectual History (pp 278-291) Cambridge, MA: MIT Press (read)
  • Kurzweil, Ray (1990) The Impact On…In The Age of Intelligent Machines (pp. 425-454) Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
  • Kurzwel, Ray (2006) The Impact… In The Singularity in Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (pp.299-342) New York: Penguin (read)
  • Kurzweil, Ray (2000) To Face The Future. In The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence (pp. 189-252) New York: Penguin (read)
  • Kurzweil, Ray (2005) How Technology’s Accelerating Power Will Transform Us (watch)

WEEK 15 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #7 Due (Wednesday, April 21st by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #7 Due (Friday, April 23rd by 5pm)

WEEK 16 Apr 26-30 (Week 16 Intro Video)

  • Wiki Article Due (Wednesday, May 5th by 11:59 pm)