Schedule

WEEK 1: THE ORIGINS AND BIRTH OF DIGITAL COMPUTING (Week 1 Intro)

WEEK 1 TOPICS (Week 1 Lecture Videos: Part 1, Part 2)

  • The Jacquard Loom
  • Ada Lovelace
  • Herman Hollerith and his Hollerith Desk
  • Charles Babbage, The Difference Engine, and the Analytical Engine
  • Alan Turing: The Father of Modern Computer Science
  • Computers in the Shadow of WWII: ZUSE, Colossus, ENIAC, EDVAC, UNIVAC, and EDSAC

WEEK 1 READINGS

  • 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)
  • 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)

WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #1 Due (Thurs, May 17th by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #1 Due (Sat, May 19th by 5pm)

WEEK 2: FROM BIG TO SMALL, THE PERSONAL COMPUTER (Week 2 Intro)

WEEK 2 TOPICS (Week 2 Lecture Video)

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

WEEK 2 READINGS:

  • 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 2 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #2 Due (Wednesday, May 23rd by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #2 Due (Friday, May 25th by 5pm)
  • Wiki Entry #1 Due (Sunday, May 27th by 11:59pm)

WEEK 3: THE HISTORY OF DIGITAL GAMES (Week 3 Intro)

WEEK 3 TOPICS (Week 3 Lecture Videos 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 3 READINGS

  • Steward Brand (1972) “SPACEWAR: Fanatic Life and Symbolic Death Among the Computer Bums,” Rolling Stone(read)

WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #3 Due (Wednesday, May 30th by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #3 Due (Friday, June 1st by 5pm)
  • Wiki Entry #2 Due (Sunday, June 3rd by 11:59pm)

WEEK 4: THE CULTURE AND POLITICS OF DIGITAL GAMES

WEEK 4 PLAYTHEPAST.ORG ASSIGNMENT

WEEK 5: THE INTERNET & THE WORLD WIDE WEB

WEEK 5 TOPICS (Week 5 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 5 READINGS & AUDIO

  • Licklider, J. C. R., & R. W. Taylor. (1968). “The Computer as a Communication Device,” Science and Technology (read)
  • Turner, Fred (2005) “Where the counterculture met the new economy: the WELL and the origins of virtual community” Technology and Culture 46 (3): 485-512 (read)
  • “Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less From Each Other”. Sherry Turkle. (podcast)
  • “The Filter Bubble: What The Internet Is Hiding From You”. Eli Pariser (podcast)

WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #5 Due (Wednesday, June 13th by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #5 Due (Friday, June 15th by 5pm)

WEEK 6: THE “NEW” WEB

WEEK 6 TOPICS (Week 6 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 6 VIDEOS

  • 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)
  • The Linux Foundation (2012) How Linux is Built (watch)

WEEK 6 REQUIRED DOCUMENTARY

  • Good Copy, Bad Copy (watch)

WEEK 6 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #6 Due (Wednesday, June 20th by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #6 Due (Friday, June 22nd by 5pm)
  • Wiki Entry #3 Due (Sunday, June 24th by 11:59pm)

WEEK 7: HACKERS, PIRATES, SOPA & PIPA

WEEK 7 TOPICS

  • Anonymous
  • Copyright and Piracy Legislation

WEEK 7 READINGS

  • Havey, Jason (2012) A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP (read)
  • Ouzounian, George. I hope SOPA passes (read)
  • Norton, Quinn. 2011: The Year Anonymous Took On Cops, Dictators and Existential Dread (read)

WEEK 7 ASSIGNMENTS

  • Blog Entry #7 Due (Tuesday, June 26th by 5pm)
  • Blog Response #7 Due (Thursday, June 28th by 5pm)
  • Wiki Article Due (Thursday, June 28th by 11:59pm)