History of
Information Technology
Fall
2000 Course # 21711
STSS 4966 MR 2:00 - 3:50 pm, Lally 104.
Professor
Ron Eglash
Description:
This
course will examine the social history of the information revolution, focusing
on the post -WWII era. From virtual worlds of cyberspace to third world
electronic sweatshops, information
technologies have dramatically transformed many aspects of
both
personal identity and social community. We will explore the identity and
cultural context of inventors and inventions, moving from early mass
communications to the first mainframes, the birth of cybernetics, the personal
computer, and the internet, as well as new simulation tools such as artificial
intelligence and complexity theory. Social aspects will include intersections
between traditional categories such as race, sex, and class with new issues of
embodiedness, virtual reality, cyborgs, and global networks.
To
contact instructor:
Office
Hours: Wed 11-12 and 3:00-4pm and by appointment, 5114 Sage. Email: eglash@rpi.edu,
phone: 276-2048. course webpage: www.rpi.edu/~eglash/eglash.dir/histinfo.htm
Requirements:
Evaluation
will be based on the two exams (30% each), the research project (30%), and
class participation (10%). You are required to bring the reading to class
so that we can discuss the texts in detail.
The
research project:
Groups
of students will work on displays for the Information Technology Museum. Space
has been reserved in the bottom floor of Sage. I encourage working in groups,
but grades will be individual; based on a write-up describing your contribution
(historical research, artifact construction, display photos, etc.).
Texts:
Fang
, Irving. A History of Mass Communication : Six Information
Revolutions. Boston
Focal Press, c1997.
Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray. Computer.
Basic Books 1996.
Turkle,
Sherry. Life on the Screen. Simon & Schuster 1995.
Reader--
marked by * in schedule.
Course
Schedule:
Aug
28: introduction – What is information technology? Whose history? Examples of
indigenous Native American IT.
Aug
31 The written word. Readings: Fang: introduction, ch 1-2.
Sept
4 no class (labor day)
Sept
7 The first mass media. Readings: Fang ch 3.
Sept
11 Entertainment media. Readings: Fang ch 4. Discussion: Museum projects
brainstorm.
Sept
14 Electronic media. Readings: Fang ch 5. Written museum proposal due
(electronic submission preferred).
Sept
18 The Information Highway. Readings: Fang ch 6; summary.
Sept
21 The African origins of the binary code. Readings: *Ch 7, “Numerical systems”
from Eglash, African Fractals.
Video clips of African divination.
Sept
25 Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage. Readings: Campbell-Kelly ch 1,3.
Sept
28 Video: Conceiving Ada. [4S
conference]
Oct
2 Information in the birth of the industrial age. Readings: Campbell-Kelly ch
2,3.
Oct
5 John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener: *Heims 1984 ch 1-2
Oct
9 No class (Midterm break)-meet tues instead
Oct
10 Tuesday *Heims 1984 ch 10-11
Oct
12 [ASA conference]: film -- John von Neumann and the bomb.
Oct
16 First exam.
Oct
19 Von Neumann and digital computing. Readings:
Campbell-Kelly ch 4-6
Oct
23 Norbert Wiener and nets: Readings: *Campbell-Kelly ch 9, Heims 1993 ch 4.
Oct
26 The 1960s counter-culture. Readings: *Eglash, “Cybernetics and American
Youth Subculture.” Video: The 60s.
Oct
30 African-American postmodernity and vernacular cybernetics. Readings: *Rose,
T. Black Noise ch 3, *Dery, M. “Black to the future.”
Nov
2 Xerox parc and the personal computer. Readings: *Fumbling the future
(excerpts). video: “Pirates of Silicon Valley” part 1.
Nov
6 Apple and Microsoft. Readings:
Campbell-Kelly ch 10, Turkle ch 1-2. video: “Pirates of Silicon Valley” part 2.
Nov
9 Chaos theory and neuromimetics. Software demo. Readings: Turkle ch 3-4.
Nov
13 Complexity and self-organizing structures. Software demo. Video clip on
Rodney Brooks. Readings: Turkle ch 5-6.
Part
IV: Virtual worlds
Nov
16 Internet origins. Readings: Cambell-Kelly ch 12 [gone to AAA – film]
Nov
20 Identity online. Readings: Turkle ch 7-8
Nov
23 no class (Thanksgiving break).
Nov
27 Community online. Field trip to MUDs and MOOs.
Nov
30 Sex, Race, and Cyberspace. Readings: Turkle ch 9-10
Dec
4 Museum presentations – demo or die.
Dec
7 Final exam (not comprehensive).