as we may think

1
introduction as we may think (
organize) fdm 20c introduction to digital
media lecture 01.10.2005
warren sack / film digital media department /
university of california, santa cruz
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outline

• waiting list
• course objectives
• syllabus and course requirements
• two key points for today
• a short history of computers
• an activity human boolean circuits
• some questions about todays reading,
  bushs essay as we may think

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waiting list

• principles of ordering
• transfers have preference over non-transfers
• majors have preference over non-majors
• juniors have preference over sophomores
• sophomores have preference over frosh
• those who came the first day of class have
  preference over those who did not
• within categories, people have been randomly
  assigned a position

4
waiting list (currently space for top twenty)

• Michael Jacobs
• Andy Hamilton
• Diana Tsuchida
• Idil Tabanca
• Katie Bethune
• Krystle de Mesa
• Harish Pobbathi
• Catherine Gutierrez
• Mark (Marek) Belshki
• Sebastian Burke
• Craig Marlwaki
• Tyler Keeley

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waiting list (currently place for top twenty)

• 13. Markos Moreno
• 14. Ronit Moreh
• 15. Colin Pitta
• 16. Aaron Scholl
• 17. Kristen McCurley
• 18. Pavan Chopra
• 19. Lamek Mehzum
• 20. Takis Kyriakopoulos
• 21. Mary Lieth
• 22. Michael Green
• 23. Cara Hipskind
• 24. Stacy Jung
• 25. Eugene Leonov
• 26. Ashley Lindquist
• 27. Andrew Peth

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two key points

• When technologies connect or separate people,
  they become media.
• Technologies embody social, political, cultural,
  economic and philosophical ideas and
  relationships.

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discussion questions

• What are the politics of cars?
• Is a car a medium?

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computers can take many different material forms

• computer technology does not necessarily start
  as silicon and gold
• computer technology does not necessarily need
  to be implemented as hardware or software.

9
george boole an investigation into the laws of
thought (1847)
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charles babbage, difference engine (1848)
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the two building blocks of computers

• switches a steering element that can combine
  multiple signals into a single signal
• connectors the connecting element must have the
  ability to branch , so that a single output can
  feed many inputs.
• see w. daniel hillis, the pattern on the stone
  the simple ideas that make computers work
  (especially chapter 1 nuts and bolts)

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an or block built with hydraulic valvessource
hillis, p. 14
13
hillis tinker toy computer
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something to try in class

• human boolean circuits

15
claude shannon a symbolic analysis of relay
switching circuits (1939)
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todays reading

• Vannevar Bush, As We May Think, Atlantic
  Monthly, 176(1) 101-108 (July 1945)

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who was vannevar bush?

• MIT professor
• inventor of "differential analyzer"
• science advisor to President F.D. Roosevelt
• leader of the Manhattan Project
• founder of NSF

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vannevar bushs differential analyzer (1931)
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what is the memex?

• The Memex was based on Bush's work during
  1938-1940 developing an improved photoelectric
  microfilm selector.

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what is a microfilm selector?

• photoelectric microfilm selector is an electronic
  retrieval technology pioneered by Emanuel
  Goldberg (see the optional reading by Michael
  Buckland).

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questions about as we may think

• what is bush's stated motivation? (see page 37)
• what problem is bush trying to solve? (see page
  38)
• what role do economical considerations play in
  bush's thinking? (see what he has to say about
  leibnitz and see page 43 on the telephone system)
• who sponsors this work?

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questions about as we may think

• who are the key people/types of people bush
  writes about?
• scientists (see page 42)
• men
• girls (see pages 40 43)
• secretaries/calculators

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questions about as we may think

• what is thinking and what types of thinking are
  possible according to bush? (see pages 43, 44 and
  45)
• what is creative thought?
• what is intuitive judgement? (page 42)
• what role does arithmetic and logic play? (cf.,
  george boole's laws of thought)
• what is selection?
• what is repetitive thought?

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questions about as we may think

• what is the "essential feature of the memex"?
  (page 45 and compare to david hume's philosophy)
• is the www of today the same thing as what bush
  dreamed of? (see, for example, how bush
  envisions books being read int he future, p. 45).

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next time hypertext

• ted nelson
• douglas engelbart
• william burroughs
• hypertext as art / art as hypertext