An Abridged History of Digital Media
…and where we are today
The First Computers
• Mechanical Computers• Difference Engine (1822)• Analytical Engine (1837)
• Punch Card Computers• Herman Hollerith (1890)• Used for census data• Later became IBM
The First Computers
• Electric Programmable Computers– Colossus (1943)• Decoded German encryption in WWII
– ENIAC (1943-1946)• Commissioned by the U.S. government
– UNIVAC (1951)• Designed for business• Predicted outcome of the 1952 election
Evolution of Computers
• PCs– IBM 701 – first mass-produced computer (1953)
• Mini-computers– Intel creates first microprocessor (1971)
• Microsoft (1975)– Bill Gates/Paul Allen
• Apple (1976)– Steve Jobs/Steve Wozniak
Then…There Was the Internet
The Internet Has Changed Everything
• Traditional media on the decline• Media consumption habits changing• Power structures toppling• E-commerce diversifying• Demand for journalism is growing• Smaller, nice organizations
News Consumption
We Are All Web Workers Now
• FACT: You are a geek (It’s ok)• Continuously want to learn• Innovation is key• Know the “buzzwords”
Digital Natives
Bits and Bytes
• What is a bit? What is a byte?
• Megabyte: 1,000,000 bytes• Gigabytes: 1,000,000,000 bytes
The Cloud
World Wide Web and Web 2.0
• The WWW is a way to access information from the Internet using HTTP and browsers
• The Web and the Internet are *not* synonymous
• Used to be static pages• Web 2.0 – When things started getting
interactive
Servers
• Computers that store and distribute information over the Internet
• They read IP addresses• All domains have a corresponding IP address
Browsers
• The tool you use to access information that is published on the Web
Browsers
• You have plenty of options