(Week 1 will be next.)
Computer Hardware/ wikipedia
Honestly, so much of this basic information is new to me (such as, I did not know that RAM stood for Random Access Memory). Considering I just bought a new laptop, that's pretty irresponsible. If you look at the Dell website, for example, where I bought my laptop, these terms are not explained very well -- they just try and convince you to buy a more expensive model because the processor is "better."
I guess I've never taken any sort of IT or Comp Sci class because I've never been interested in doing much besides using Microsoft Word and the internet, and that has always been fairly intuitive. But that's sort of like learning to drive without knowing anything about how a car works -- certainly possible but not a great idea.
Obviously lots of women work in IT, but as far as mainstream culture goes, I think it's still perceived as a more male realm of knowledge. Sort of like...cars.
Moore's Law/ wikipedia & Scientific American
The video brought up my comparison between cars and computers -- except to say how they are completely different. At least in terms of how quickly the industry advances.
Interestingly, wikipedia notes that although consumer prices decrease as the transistor density increases, the cost of production goes up. So how do computers/cell phones/etc keep getting cheaper? Purely from increased consumer need? (Or perceived need -- no wonder Apple has so many ipod and iphone ads.)
Important to note that Moore's law does not apply to software or other things that actually make computers usable, so the advances will not neccessarily be seen in our daily lives at the same exponential rate.
Computer History Museum
Another explanation of Moore's law -- the photos of microchips are helpful. The glossary might be worth bookmarking along with the index of people and companies.
Lots of old brochures, love to see how advertising strategies have changed -- really a great barometer of how people and companies actually saw themselves using technology.
This site will be a good reference this semester; it explains things in understandable language, something wikipedia is not always good at.
Computer Hardware/ wikipedia
Honestly, so much of this basic information is new to me (such as, I did not know that RAM stood for Random Access Memory). Considering I just bought a new laptop, that's pretty irresponsible. If you look at the Dell website, for example, where I bought my laptop, these terms are not explained very well -- they just try and convince you to buy a more expensive model because the processor is "better."
I guess I've never taken any sort of IT or Comp Sci class because I've never been interested in doing much besides using Microsoft Word and the internet, and that has always been fairly intuitive. But that's sort of like learning to drive without knowing anything about how a car works -- certainly possible but not a great idea.
Obviously lots of women work in IT, but as far as mainstream culture goes, I think it's still perceived as a more male realm of knowledge. Sort of like...cars.
Moore's Law/ wikipedia & Scientific American
The video brought up my comparison between cars and computers -- except to say how they are completely different. At least in terms of how quickly the industry advances.
Interestingly, wikipedia notes that although consumer prices decrease as the transistor density increases, the cost of production goes up. So how do computers/cell phones/etc keep getting cheaper? Purely from increased consumer need? (Or perceived need -- no wonder Apple has so many ipod and iphone ads.)
Important to note that Moore's law does not apply to software or other things that actually make computers usable, so the advances will not neccessarily be seen in our daily lives at the same exponential rate.
Computer History Museum
Another explanation of Moore's law -- the photos of microchips are helpful. The glossary might be worth bookmarking along with the index of people and companies.
Lots of old brochures, love to see how advertising strategies have changed -- really a great barometer of how people and companies actually saw themselves using technology.
This site will be a good reference this semester; it explains things in understandable language, something wikipedia is not always good at.
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