midTerm study guide Flashcards
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Information Age
An era characterized by unprecedented access to information facilitated by low-cost computers and high-speed communication networks.
Catalysts of the Information Age
Low-cost computers and high-speed communication networks
Emerging Technologies
Smartphones, video streaming services, voice-activated digital assistants, low-cost drones, self-driving cars
Impact of Modern Computing
In 1950, few electronic digital computers existed; the internet was not developed.
Dynamic Between People and Technology
Concept: People create and adopt technology, which then changes society.
Effects of Technology on People
Examples: Physical changes in the brain, dopamine release from information retrieval, psychological effects such as dependency on cell phones.
Technologies Solve Problems but Create New Ones
Examples:
Automobiles: Greater mobility vs. traffic jams.
Web: Valuable information retrieval vs. inappropriate content exposure.
Low-cost communication: Global access vs. job outsourcing.
Social-Technological Cycle
Theme: Social conditions lead to the creation of new technologies, and their adoption changes social conditions.
Aids to Manual Calculating
Examples: Clay tablets, slates, paper tablets, abacus, mathematical tables.
Early Mechanical Calculators
Key Devices: Calculators by Pascal and Leibniz; Arithmometer by de Colmar; Printing calculator by Scheutzes.
Gilded Age
Context: Late 19th-century economic expansion led to a market for calculators.
Calculator Adoptions and Social Change
Concept: Increased calculator efficiency led to de-skilling and feminization of bookkeeping.
Cash Register
Purpose: Created to maintain accurate sales records and prevent embezzlement.
Punched Card Tabulation
Function: Used for sorting data and computation by early adopters like the U.S. Census Bureau.
Data-Processing Systems
Definition: Systems that receive input, perform calculations, and produce output.
IBM and the Holocaust
Context: IBM’s involvement in facilitating the Nazi regime’s data management during the Holocaust.
Precursors of Commercial Computers
Devices: Atanasoff-Berry Computer, ENIAC, EDVAC, Small-Scale Experimental Machine.
First Commercial Computers
Key Models: UNIVAC by Remington-Rand, IBM mainframes.
Programming Languages
Types: Assembly language, FORTRAN, COBOL.
Time-Sharing Systems
Concept: Allow multiple users to access a single computer, spreading ownership costs.
Transistor
Definition: A semiconductor device that replaced vacuum tubes, invented in 1948.
Integrated Circuit
Definition: A semiconductor containing multiple electronic components, leading to smaller and cheaper devices.
IBM System/360
Innovation: A series of compatible computers that allowed program upgrades without rewriting.
Microprocessor
Definition: A compact computer processor that made personal computers practical.
Antecedents to the Personal Computer
Examples: Whole Earth Catalog, People’s Computer Company, Homebrew Computer Club.
Personal Computer
Definition: Computers designed for individual use, popularized by software like VisiCalc.
Early Networking: Semaphore Telegraph Tower
Function: Early communication technology using visual signals.
Telegraph
Impact: Revolutionized communication with extensive networks established in the 19th century.
Telephone
Inventor: Alexander Graham Bell; it transformed social interactions and blurred private/public life boundaries.
Typewriter and Teletype
Purpose: Facilitated document creation and long-distance communication.
Radio
Inventors: Hertz and Marconi; significant in business and entertainment by the 1930s.
