Post on 28-Mar-2015
History of Computers and the Internet
LIB 311Spring 2011
Created by Alisa Gonzalez, updated April 20, 2011 by Susan Beck
Frederick Kilgour, creator of WorldCat
“It is very likely that libraries will in some way in the next half century begin to make use of magnetic, electronic, or other types of memory units for handling and producing information.”Yale Medical Library Annual Report, 1951
Disruptive Information Technologies of the Past
Clay tablet-papyrusScroll to codexHandwritten manuscripts to mass
produced books (press books, woodblock)
Printing PressTypewriter to word processorPC to laptop to handheld mobile
Early Computers
Evolution of thought leading to computers today
Catalogers and Classifiers of the Past
Anthony PanizziCharles Ammi Cutter
Cutter Classification System Futuristic work
Buffalo Public Library of 1983Melvil Dewey
Dewey Decimal SystemS. R. Ranganathan
Five laws of library science
Concept of the computer
Charles Babbage- 1822
Hated the imperfection in human “computing”. Tried to design machines to do mathematical computations.
Created the difference Engine
Paul Otlet
Wanted to create a system to penetrate books.
1892. “Something about bibliography”
1895- “accessing databases of information through an electronic telescope” … connections to a “Universal Book”
Created Universal Decimal System
1934- Traite de Documentation
Information networked
Documents seen as three dimensional things Identifiers Substance Context/relevance/ connection
Vannevar Bush
MIT graduate, professor and eventually president.
Founder of Raytheon Worked with government defense.
National Defense Research Committee. Office of Scientific Research Committee
which oversaw Manhattan Project at what is now Los Alamos National Labs
Post WWII recommended creation of National Science Foundation
Innovations from Bush
Designer of analog computers Differential Analyzer
▪ Room sized machine that solved math problems
Created “Rapid Selector” (1930’s)- A machine that utilized the “new”
information format of “microfilm”
As We May Think
Wrote “As We May Think” in 1945 (Atlantic Monthly) Described a futuristic workstation in
which researchers could access information on microfilm
Had the ability to “link” information. Link created by the researcher.
Called the machine the “Memex”
The Memex
1. A collection of microfilm documents2. A workstation with a screen
(monitor)3. A mechanism for adding microfilm4. Code input mechanism (to identify
and select info)5. Associative Trails
Evolution of Otlet’s Links
Memex II
Bush envisioned an evolution of the Memex in 1958.
Memory to be held using biological crystals
The ability to access large amounts of information from a distant location.
Other important innovations in the 1950’s
Eugene Garfield created Science Citation Index…now part of Web of Science…
Sputnik (1st satellite) launched October 4, 1957
Internet Beginnings
1958
ARPA –created by Eisenhower as a part of the Defense Department(Advanced Research Projects Agency)
Social and Political Climate of the Cold War
1960’s
Doug Engelbart- “human centered vision of computing”
Created oN-Line System (NLS) Consisted of
▪ Word processor▪ Early email feature▪ Tool for building links to documents
Had a cursor mover, know as a “bug”…precursor to the mouse.
1968-showed the system to an audience in San Francisco…huge event in personal computing history.
First Mouse
More than a calculator
The social and intellectual climate of the 60’s
Ted Nelson- Harvard sociology student Computers should be an all purpose machine. Echoed Ranaganathan…a computer should be for
readers and writers. First coined term “hypertext” Xanadu
1981- Literary Machines – outlined blue print of WWW.
Going online
1969 ARPA goes online
▪ Initially, connecting four major universities▪ Becomes known as ARPANET▪ For research and better communications
between government agencies.▪ To provide a communications network in case
traditional communication lines were down because of military attack.
1970’s
Xerox PARC Created a windows style graphical
desktop Steve Jobs visited PARC and was inspired
and influenced by PARC’s early work with hypertext
Improving communication
ARPANET continues to grow with in the United States and in Europe.
1972 Ray Tomlinson- created the first email
program for ARPANET Email becomes a huge part of ARPANET
activity
Creating accessibility
The rise of the Personal Computer
1976- Apple Computer founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.
1981- IBM creates their first PC
Continues through the 1980’s
ARPANET becomes Internet
What the Internet Used to Look Like
National Science Foundation
In 1984, NSF wanted to create supercomputing centers because it saw the need to facilitate communication between research facilities and universities.
Took over ARPANET and used its structure
Building Blocks
1983
Domain names created A move from difficult to remember IP
addresses▪ Ex. 142.523.1.23
Example: .com, .net, .edu, etc.
Growth in the eighties
1986 – 5,000 hosts1987 – 10,000 hosts
1989 – 100,000 hosts
What is a host? A machine or application with an IP
address.
Boom of Personal Computing
World Wide Web
Created by Tim Berners-Lee December 25th, 1990
Definition: a navigation tool and interface through
browsers (i.e. Explorer, Firefox, Safari) that guides the user in using the Internet.
Dialog- The precursor to search engines
National High Performance Computing Act of 1991Creating the “Information
Superhighway” Introduced by Al Gore, supported by
the Bush Administration & it lead to the creation of Mosaic, earliest web
browser.
Resources consulted
Brief timeline of the internet. (2011) http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/timeline.asp
Houghton Mifflin's dictionary of computer and internet words. (2001). Boston : Houghton Mifflin.
Internet timeline. (2007).http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0193167.html
Moschovitis, C. (1999). History of the internet: A chronology, 1843 to the present. Santa Barbara: ABC –CLIO.
Notess, G. (2006).Teaching web search skills. Medford, N.J. : Information Today..
Random House -Webster's computer and internet dictionary. 3rd ed. (1999). New York : Random House.
Rubin, R. (1998). Foundations of library and information science. New York: Neal-Schuman.
Wright, A. (2008).Glut: Mastering information throughout the ages. Washington D.C.: Joseph Henry Press.