New Media Reader Chapters 5-9

Chapter 5
Timeline:
1962: Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider promoted to head of DARPA
- Had a background in engineering and behavioral science
- Became involved in promoting computing for millitary and gave funding $ to Universities instead of companies
1968: Licklider writes "The Computer as a Communication Device" with Robert W. Taylor
1969: October - Doug Engelbart connects second node for DARPA
- Eventually this network became the internet
Summary:

• Vannevar Bush steered millitary towards tech research --> the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Organized for millitary's space program
• Licklider's work developed PhD Computer Science programs at MIT, Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon and Stanford
• Licklider & Taylor introduce "Oliver" (on-line interactive vicarious expediter and responder) --> Idea of Personal Network Agent

Chapter 6

Summary:

• "Happening" = used to describe events/performances organized by Allen Kaprow (and others) in 1950s-60s
• Karpow - associates the idea of interaction with Happenings
• Karpow places emphasis on the responsibility of the observer
• Connection (for New Media purposes) between Kaprow's anti-hierarchical creation of art and Nelson's anti-hierarchical computing
• "Happenings" = relatable to Myron Krueguer's "responsive envirornments" a fusion of tech/art

Chapter 7

Timeline:

1961-1978: Burroughs works on cut-up method with Brion Gysin

Summary:

• Cut up method - used by beat poet William Burroughs, inspired by Surrealist artists
• Burroughs suggests that entropy can lead to new composition in literarary work

The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin by William S. Burroughs:

• Man (Tristan Tzara) creates poem by pulling words out of a hat; riot ensues
• 1959: Brion Gysin painter/writer cuts newspaper articles and random pastes them together --> collage for writers
• All writings, are cut-ups (technically) and the method can be applied to other things ex. military strategy, computer science

Chapter 8

Timeline:

1962: Engelbart files first report for FLASH-3

1988: Engelbart publishes A History of Personal Workstations (Engelbart explains unfulfilled visions)

Summary:

• Douglas Engelbart invented computer interfaces such as: mouse, the window, word processor. He helped establish the Internet, independently invented hyperlink
• Engelbart = misrepresented in media
• Engelbart envisions that: 1) humankind's problems are approaching faster than we can deal with them 2) this is a good way for tech to "make a difference" 3) mixed graphic and text visions on CRT
• Engelbart quits job, works at Stanford Research Institute and tries to get funding

Chapter 9

Summary:

• Sketchpad system = graphic ancestor of computer graphics created by Ivan Sutherland
• Sketchpad = first direct-manipulation interface and first conversational interface

Sketchpad: A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System by Ivan E. Sutherland

• Sketchpad - lets man and computer communicate via line drawings
• Eliminates typing things in favor of line drawing
• Info on how drawing is composed is stored in computer , also stores structure of subpictures used
• "Construction of a drawing with Sketchpad is itself a model of the design process" (113)
• Can be used to: Store and update drawings, gaining scientific or engineering understanding of operations that can be described graphically, as a topological input device for circuit simulators, AND for highly repetitive drawings