COURSE SYLLABUS

VA 399/CSSE 490 The History of Computing:

Dr. William B. Pickett

and

Dr. Cary Laxer,

Spring quarter, 2005

The course will seek answers to the following questions:

· In what ways did today’s digital age originate in World War II and the outbreak of cold war with the Soviet Union?

· To what extent is the evolution of computer technology driven by technical breakthroughs rather than social, economic, legal, political forces, and happenstance?

· To what extent are computers and today’s global digital network governed by Kranzberg’s Law: “Technology is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutral”?

· To what extent have laws and government regulations lagged behind technological innovation and the societal changes that it has brought in the digital age?

· Who were the most important inventors and entrepreneurs in both hardware and software, and what were the most important inventions that provided the basis for today’s digital age?

Purpose and Scope:

Computers have become almost synonymous with technological change in the modern era.  They are virtually everywhere, sometimes seen, most often not, in the cars we drive, in the identification cards we carry, and the appliances we use.  They, especially with the advent of the Internet, have brought heretofore unimagined capacities for connectivity, communication, creativity, and productivity.  This course will explore the origins of these devices and the reasons for their proliferation.  It also will evaluate the nature of the changes they have brought, for good and ill.  The proposed course will broaden and extend the discussions begun with last autumn’s World Wide Web @ Ten conference.

Mechanics and Grading Proportions:  Careful mastery of assigned readings (underlining key passages and writing in journals), participation in group and class discussions to develop and refine feelings and opinions about the issues under consideration (20%), listening to the instructor's clarification and elaboration of key points, and actually doing history--writing two in-class essays (20%, total), in-class quizzes average or preparing a journal for submission at mid-term (10%), a research project (20%), take-home final exam or final journal submission (20%), and group participation/presentation (10%).

Class Discussions: For class discussion, students will participate both as individuals and as members of discussion/research groups.  Student discussion groups and the instructor will determine questions (KQ=sB key questions and IT=sB information terms) to guide the reading and be answered in class discussion.  These questions also will be the basis for the hour and final exams.

Exams:  The two in-class essays exams should contain a topic paragraph with a thesis statement.  The paragraphs that follow should contain evidence from the reading and class discussion that supports the thesis.  Periodically, on one-day notice the instructor will give a quiz (five) over the reading.

Journals: Students may keep a journal of answers to KQ=s, identifying and giving the historical importance of the IT=s, and commenting on the learning experience.  The instructor will grade the journals of students who select the journal track (meaning they desire to submit a journal in lieu of a final exam) midway through the course (10%).   A student may decide, in lieu of a final exam to submit a final journal for the same credit (20%).  A student may also, to improve his or her course GPA, submit a journal and also take the final exam.  In figuring final grades, the instructor would then count only the higher of the two grades.

Research Papers:  The research paper is the most important part of the course.  It allows the student to perform the activities of the historian--collecting, sifting, analyzing, and synthesizing evidence.  Each student will select a research topic and submit it to the instructor on Thursday, March 17.  It should be in the form of a question and contain a three-book-minimum preliminary bibliography and an example of the kind of evidence that will be used (an artifact) with a one-paragraph explanation.  In carrying out these tasks each student should first consult the bibliographies and notes of the assigned books and then check LUIS and other sources in the library.  A second research artifact and one-paragraph explanation is due at the beginning of the sixth week.  For a guide on how to go about doing historical research see the Lawrence University Website mentioned below.

On Monday of the seventh week (April 25) as the first in a two-step revision process each student will submit his or her paper (double-spaced, 2,000-3,000 words) to be read, evaluated, and graded by a classmate in his or her group using a critique sheet (see below) provided by the instructor.  The student reviewers will complete their work by Thursday and return the paper (along with the critique) to the author so he or she can make any required changes.

The author then on Tuesday of the eighth week (May 3) will submit his or her revised paper and critique to the instructor.  The instructor will mark and grade the paper and the critiques, returning them as soon as possible but no later than Thursday, May 12.  This will count 10% of the course grade.  The student, after making any additional revisions, will hand-in the final paper along with the one with the instructor's marks and note cards (or source printouts), on the last day of class, May 20, for final grading (10%).  Critique grades will be part of the class discussion grade.

Study-Discussion (SD) and Study-Discussion-Research (SDR) Groups:  During the first day of class the instructor will divide the class into discussion groups (SD groups) in which students will participate during the first two weeks.  During the third week the instructor will organize the class into study, discussion, research groups (SDR groups) based on similarity of research topics.  The original discussion groups will then disband, each student participating from that time on as a member of his or her SDR group for both class discussion and research.  During the last five weeks of the course, SDR groups will present a group project giving the thesis, bibliography, outline, and illustrations using multimedia computer display.  Each group member, during the last week of the course, also will present his or her individual research thesis, showing the second artifact, telling how it relates to his or her thesis, and answering questions about it.

Grading Distribution for Group Participation and research: As mentioned above, each student will receive 20% of his or her total grade based on his or her participation in discussion as part of a group and as an individual.  (Each student's participation as part of a group will count 10% and his participation as an individual will count 10%.)  In addition, as mentioned above, each student also will receive a grade based on his or her research (30%) as part of a group and as an individual as follows: 10% for contribution to the group research projects and formal oral presentation (including developing the group's thesis, bibliography, and multimedia presentation), 10% on first submission of his or her research paper, and 10% on final submission of the research paper.  Final grades for group participation will derive from a written peer critique by fellow group members administered on the last day of class as well as from an evaluation by the instructor.

Source Materials:

Books (portions of which will be required for class discussion):

Campbell-Kelly, Martin. From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog:  A History of the Software Industry. Cambridge, Mass.:  The MIT Press, 2003.

Ceruzzi, Paul E. A History of Modern Computing, second edition. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 2003.

Recommended related reading:

Gates, Bill.  Business at the Speed of Light:  Using a Digital Nervous System.  New York: Warner Books, 1999.

Gay, Joshua. Free Software Free Society:  Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman. Boston, Mass.: GNU Press, 2002.

Katz, Jon.  Geeks:  How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho. New York:  Broadway Books, 2000.

Lessig, Lawrence.  The Future of Ideas:  The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World.  New York:  Vintage Books, 2002.

Raymond, Eric.  ed. The New Hacker’s Dictionary.  Cambridge, Mass.:  MIT Press, 1991.

Reid, T.R. The Chip:  How Two Americans Invented the Microchip and Launched a Revolution.  New York:  Random House, 2001.

Rheingold, Howard.  Smart Mobs:  The Next Social Revolution. Cambridge, Mass.:  Perseus Books, 2002.

Spinello, Richard A. and Herman T. Tavani. eds., Readings in CyberEthics, second edition. Sudbury, Mass.:  Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2004.

Surowiecki, James.  The Wisdom of Crowds:  Why the Many are Smarter than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations. New York:  Doubleday, 2004.

Wright, Robert. NonZero:  The Logic of Human Destiny. New York:  Vintage Books, 2000.

Volti, Rudi. Society and Technological Change, fourth edition. New York:  Worth Publishers, 2001.

Other sources:

See the course site on Angel for a dynamic, hot-linked listing of numerous websites on the history of computing.

Chapter Outline:

I. Mar. 7-11  THE ORIGINS OF COMMERCIAL COMPUTING, 1945-1956

                     M. Introduction and Orientation—The history learning experience                                                          and technology as artifact.

                     T. Howard French, “Whose Patent Is It, Anyway?” New York Times, 3-5-                                          05, B1

                     R. Ceruzzi, introduction, conclusion, and  ch 1—“The Advent of                                                            Commercial Computing, 1945-1956”

                     F. Quiz; group presentations of websites on the history of computing.

II. Mar. 14-18  COMPUTING GOES MAINSTREAM 1956-1964

                     Campbell-Kelly (C-K), ch 2; Ceruzzi, ch. 2

                     R. Research topics and preliminary bibliographies due.

                     F. Journal pages due (for journal track students)

III. Mar. 21-25  EARLY SOFTWARE, 1952-1968

                     Ceruzzi, ch 3;

Von Neumann’s First Computer Program by Donald E. Knuth, in ACM Computing Surveys, Vol. 2, No. 4, December 19970, pp.247-260 (available through the ACM Digital Library via the Logan Library website)

IV. Mar. 28-April 1 THE ADVENT OF THE MINICOMPUTER, 1959-1969

                     Ceruzzi, ch 4

                     F. Hour Exam

SPRING BREAK—April 3-9

V. April 11-15  THE SYSTEM/360, 1961-1975

                     Ceruzzi, ch 5; C-K, ch 3

                     F. Journal pages due for grade (journal track students)

                     F. Group presentation

VI. April 18-22  THE CHIP AND ITS IMPACT, 1965-1975

                     Ceruzzi, ch 6; C-K, ch 4

                     F. Group presentation

                     F. Second artifact due (illustrating one’s research thesis)

VII. April 25-29  THE PC REVOLUTION, 1972-1985

                     M. Research paper due to classmate for peer critique

                     Ceruzzi, ch 7-8; C-K, ch 7 

                     F. Research paper returned to author with peer critique attached.

                     F. Hour Exam

VIII. May 2-6  THE INTERNET COMES OF AGE, 1981-1995

                     Ceruzzi, ch 9; C-K, ch 8

                     F. Group presentation

                     T. Research paper due to instructor

IX. May 9-13  THE WORLD WIDE WEB, 1995-2001

                     Ceruzzi, ch 10 and Conclusion; C-K, ch 9-10

                     R. Research paper back from instructor

                     F. Group presentation

X. May 16- 20 STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

M. Group presentation

                     M-F:  Individual thesis defenses—presentation of thesis and artifact and                                                 answering questions about them from the class.             

                     F. Take-home final examinations distributed. (Due 5 p.m. on Tuesday of                                                exam week.)

                     F. Research paper due to instructor for second grading.

FINAL EXAM WEEK:  Final exams and/or final journals are due at Dr. Pickett’s office, Moench Hall A204 at 5 p.m., T. May 24.

Grades:  For computation purposes written work will receive numerical equivalents for letter grades as follows:  5 = A, 4 = B, 3 = C, 2 = D, 1 = F.

Note:  While students are encouraged to discuss among themselves the issues raised by the course to solidify and refine their grasp of the material, it is assumed each student knows that any instance of plagiarism will bring an automatic "F" on the assignment where it is found, that work done in fulfillment of requirements for another course may not be submitted for this one and each student will meet on time all deadlines.  The grade "I" will not as a rule be awarded.  Instructions about how to go about doing historical research and the definition of plagiarism and the style for both footnotes and bibliographic citations are found in http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/history/historyresearchguides.htm.  Failure to heed the guide or the instructor in matters of style will detract from the quality of written work.

Students, especially those having difficulty with any aspect of the course, are invited to see either instructor to talk over the problem after class or by appointment in room A204 (Dr. Pickett) or F228 (Dr. Laxer).  Feel free to contact the instructors as follows:

         Dr. Pickett: 234-8462 (home), x8303 (office), William.Pickett@Rose-Hulman.Edu (website: www.Rose-Hulman.edu/~Pickett)

         Dr. Laxer: 460-0638 (home), x8429 (office), Cary.Laxer@Rose-Hulman.Edu (website: www.cs.rose-hulman.edu/~laxer).

There is nothing more important to the instructors than the progress of the students in the class. 

(Codes: The above calendar uses the following codes for days of the week. M.   Monday;  T.   Tuesday;  R.   Thursday;  F.   Friday.)