"Big Dimwits and little geniuses..."
BIG DIMWITS AND LITTLE GENIUSES
First visit the website Georgian Cities :
http://www.18thc-cities.paris-sorbonne.fr/spip.php?article329&lang=en
Read and study the text and find out the relevant documentation relative to its notions, concepts and allusions: each assignment consists in writing about 300 words answering the following questions . You may present your plan differently as long as you provide an answer to all questions : some questions indeed have to be answered separately and fairly shortly.
Questions
Who was elected “Man of the year” in 1983 by Time Magazine ?
What is a “dimwit”? What types of computers are called “dimwits” in the text and why? Who are the “little geniuses”?
Make sure that you are familiar with the vocabulary of the text: make special search on words like: Abacus, speedometer, cow-catcher, reliable life expectancy tables, gears and cogs, contraption, store, nerd, levers and belts, to devise, to recoup money at the track, punched card, loom, weaver, census, to display, remote processing...
What or -I should say Who -was « a computer » in the 18th century ?
The History of computers
Find out about famous characters mentioned in the text: their dates of birth and deaths, their achievements : use an encyclopaedia and the internet. I indicate a few examples of sites dedicated to their works: find out more and write a short synthesis about what you learnt on the sites visited; express your opinion on the site: which did you find really helpful and scientifically satisfying? Look at least for: Blaise Pascal, Charles Babbage, Ada the Countess of Lovelace, Herman Hollerith, Alan Turing.
Go and visit the site of the Science Museum in London and find the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine.
…...............................................Bonus Questions !
These are not included in the assignment but are considered as bonuses and hope to teach you more about computers !
5. Go and visit the internet site of the “Computer Museum” : it is located now near San Diego. But there is also a Computer Museum in Great Britain in Bletchley Park - especially if you are interested in the Enigma Machine ...find out the machines mentioned in your text. Comment on the evolution of this technology.
6. What are the most important parts of a computer? Even though you are not a technician you must understand the rudiments that will allow you to understand what you should check when you intend to buy a computer for instance.
7. Which types of computers do you know? ...from the biggest to the smallest.
8. Read the glossary and make sure you know what these terms mean: Hardware, software, CPU, OS, PC, binary digits, byte, (megabyte, gigabyte...)modem, ROM/RAM, pixel, OCR, hypertext, virus, antivirus... scanner..