Information

InformationA brief history

Spreading ideas

• The human voice

• The written word

• The digital word

Calculating tools

• Abacus

• Astrolabe

• Slide rule

Programs

• Al-Jazari’s ‘Castle Clock’

• 1801 Jacquard Loom

Early ‘computers’

• Combined calculation with programability

• 1837 - Babbage’s ‘Analytical Engine’

• 1890 - US census on punch cards

True computers

• Combined calculation & programability with read / write storage

• 1940’s - Zuse, Colossus, ENIAC

Networks

• 1957: Sputnik

• Advanced Research Projects Agency

• Funding work at three universities

• ARPANET: Packet switching vs. line switching

• Network rules (TCP/IP) allowed massive growth

Internet

• Massive connection of networks talking with each other through shared rules

• 1950’s - 1990’s

• Email, academic & military collaboration

www

• 1989: Tim Berners-Lee

• Web pages made up of hyperlinks, text and media accessed by a browser

• Free!

• 1993: Mosaic web browser

Drivers

• Human voice: Mobility

• Written word: Geography

• Digital word: Access