Current Trends of Computing in the Humanities in England

Computerizing the materials used by humanistic scholars requires sophisticated and innovative use of the latest of new technologies as these are areas which pose particularly complex problems of mixed media data handling. The popular view of humanists is that they are either non-technological or that their needs are extremely simple, far simpler than those of scientists; perhaps limited to the use of word-processors and a little e-mail. This is far from being the truth: the key limiting factor on the use of computers in the humanities in the past has been the inability of the technology to handle many of the highly technical and abstruse problems of data handing which are dealt with daily in humanities scholarship. Now, however, the technology is rapidly catching up with the disciplines in its ability to handle the varieties of media: text, images, graphics, sound, and video. Computers are now used by humanists around the world for many different applications in a large number of subject areas, for quantitative analysis of those topics which are amenable to numerical study, such as the analysis of datasets for historians, for the study of paintings and artefacts by art historians and archaeologists, for the sophisticated study of textuality by literary critics and textual editors, for the study of the moving image by film theorists, and many, many more. The topics which I should like to consider in this paper are: electronic publishing and the changes which are being wrought in the publishing industry; the uses of networks; image digitization; hypermedia and multimedia; and finally the uses of computers in humanities teaching. In particular, I will be looking at the current state of these in Britain

Computer Science's Digest Volume 3

This series of textbooks was created for the students of the Systems Engineering Program at the University of Nariño. They have been intentionally written in English to promote reading in a foreign language. The textbooks are a collection of reflections and workshops on specific situations in the field of computer science, based on the authors’ experiences. The main purpose of these textbooks is essentially academic. The way in which the reflections and workshops were constructed follows a didactic structure, to facilitate teaching and learning, making use of English as a second language. This book covers Professional Issues in Computing and Programming the Interne

The ingenuity of common workmen: and the invention of the computer

Since World War II, state support for scientific research has been assumed crucial to technological and economic progress. Governments accordingly spent tremendous sums to that end. Nothing epitomizes the alleged fruits of that involvement better than the electronic digital computer. The first such computer has been widely reputed to be the ENIAC, financed by the U.S. Army for the war but finished afterwards. Vastly improved computers followed, initially paid for in good share by the Federal Government of the United States, but with the private sector then dominating, both in development and use, and computers are of major significance.;Despite the supposed success of public-supported science, evidence is that computers would have evolved much the same without it but at less expense. Indeed, the foundations of modern computer theory and technology were articulated before World War II, both as a tool of applied mathematics and for information processing, and the computer was itself on the cusp of reality. Contrary to popular understanding, the ENIAC actually represented a movement backwards and a dead end.;Rather, modern computation derived more directly, for example, from the prewar work of John Vincent Atanasoff and Clifford Berry, a physics professor and graduate student, respectively, at Iowa State College (now University) in Ames, Iowa. They built the Atanasoff Berry Computer (ABC), which, although special purpose and inexpensive, heralded the efficient and elegant design of modern computers. Moreover, while no one foresaw commercialization of computers based on the ungainly and costly ENIAC, the commercial possibilities of the ABC were immediately evident, although unrealized due to war. Evidence indicates, furthermore, that the private sector was willing and able to develop computers beyond the ABC and could have done so more effectively than government, to the most sophisticated machines.;A full and inclusive history of computers suggests that Adam Smith, the eighteenth century Scottish philosopher, had it right. He believed that minimal and aloof government best served society, and that the inherent genius of citizens was itself enough to ensure the general prosperity

The design of active workspaces

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-93).This thesis investigates the creation of context-specific environments designed to assist people engaged in productive tasks. These Active Workspaces are an emerging class of applications that combine interaction design, innovative input and output techniques and multi-media coaching methodologies to teach people to create things in the physical domain. The design and implementation of two systems that exemplify the features, process and goals of Active Workspace design are detailed and evaluated. CounterActive is an interactive kitchen counter that guides users of varying age and skill level through the preparation of several recipes. CounterActive enlivens the experience of cooking with instructional videos, illustrative photos, entertaining music and sounds. Origami Desk is an exhibit that teaches people how to fold paper into beautiful boxes and cranes. The desk not only projects animations and videos for the user to mimic, but also monitors the folding of the paper to enable performance feedback. These project descriptions are accompanied by generalized principles for the design of Active Workspaces, process guidelines, and as well as analysis of relevant technologies and ruminations on possible future applications in this arena.by Wendy Guang-wen Ju.S.M

An Experimental program animation system

Bibliography: p. 97-100

Steampunk: The Inner Workings

Steampunk, as a literary genre and cultural phenomena, is a relatively recent innovation that is increasingly receiving critical attention. From the proto-steampunk of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, through the novels of its acknowledged founding fathers K.W. Jeter, Tim Powers and James Blaylock, to contemporary works by China Miéville, Cherie Priest and Paul Di Filipo, steampunk has been plagued by the lack of a unifying definition. Every author, academic and critic has their own definition of it, which may share similarities with others, but none of them can agree on the core ingredients of the genre. Related to the important task of defining steampunk is the need to answer the question: 'Is steampunk a literary genre?' In many respects, steampunk has moved beyond the literary world. Fashion, art and sub-cultures have all embraced steampunk as a style, an aesthetic, a way of life and even a philosophy. This could be the reason for the inability to find a single unifying definition of steampunk. This thesis will argue that, rather than a genre, steampunk is best understood as an aesthetic which can be applied, like any aesthetic, to any literary genre to produce a work that is steampunk-inflected, such as science fiction steampunk, alternate history steampunk, steampunk fantasy, historical steampunk, steampunk romance or gothic steampunk. After evaluating both scholarly and popular definitions of steampunk I will explore four key aspects of the steampunk aesthetic: the neo-Victorian tropes which dominate steampunk texts; the relationship between magic and science in the steampunk universe; the places and people who inhabit steampunk worlds; and the revolutionary message of most steampunk creations. Throughout my discussion will focus primarily on a range of texts acknowledged as steampunk: Michael Moorcock’s The Warlord of the Air (1971), K. W. Jeter’s Infernal Devices (1987), Tim Powers’ The Anubis Gates (1983), William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s The Difference Engine (1991), Paul Di Filippo’s The Steampunk Trilogy (1995), Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age (1995), Gail Carriger’s ‘Parasol Protectorate’ series (2009 – current), Mark Hodder’s ‘Burton and Swinburne’ series (2010 – current), Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura by Troika Games and Runic Games’ Torchlight (2009) and Torchlight 2 (2011)

The Adoption and Enforcement of a Technological Regime: The Case of the first IT Regime

In this paper we explore the process of adoption and enforcement of a number of new information processing technologies, such as the typewriter, calculators, tabulation gears and book-keeping machines, starting from the 1880s in the United States. We show that their innovation and diffusion was inexorably coupled to the economic development in the USA in the late 19th century. It is a complex and contradictory consequence of underlying socio-economic processes that led to the formation of modern organisational structures in large scale manufacturing which required systematic and efficient information processing. The typewriter and all the complementary office automation devices that entered the scene shortly after were part of a socio-technical regime that started being established: the office work regime or as we prefer to call it the first IT regime, as for the first time a technology was set up to process information on large scale. The logic of large scale manufacturing to produce standardised products in large series and to apply labour saving techniques was cast into the organisation of administration. This required a convergence of technical practices. The lock-in to the inferior QWERTY-keyboard is hence the outcome of the diffusion and hardening of the First IT Regime.Technological regimes; adaption and enforcement of technologies; information technology; QWERTY