Society and Information Technology in Second Life

Wednesdays, August 29 - December 12 , 2007, 4-6, SLT/PT, 7-9 pm E.T. on Berkman island in Second Life

Course homepage - http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

 

Instructor: Scott MacLeod (not on Harvard's faculty) = Aphilo Aarde (in Second Life)

http://scottmacleod.com/papers.htm

 

 

Sep 5 07 Soc and Info Tech in SL

 

 

[15:57]  You (Aphilo): Welcome to Berkman . . .

[15:57]  You: Come have a seat if you like

[15:58]  You: That's part of SL . . . What are you finding anew?

[15:58]  You: I think there will only be a few other people this evening.

[15:58]  CivilE Writer is Online

[15:59]  You: Chat and IM get confusing . . .

[15:59]  Annette Paster is Online

[15:59]  You: Chat is public, as you know.

[15:59]  You: IM is private

[15:59]  You: I find Chat / History does show the present line . . .

[16:00]  Boston Hutchinson: O!

[16:00]  Boston Hutchinson: I just switched to "near me"

[16:00]  Boston Hutchinson: Is that better?

[16:00]  You: And if you click communicate and the near me tab, you'll see the dialogue . . .

[16:00]  You: great

[16:00]  Boston Hutchinson: OK I think that's what I didn't understand

[16:01]  Boston Hutchinson: Interesting

[16:02]  You: I know of an civil engineer CivilE who said she will come to class . . .

[16:03]  Boston Hutchinson: O

[16:03]  You: This evening I'd like to talk a little about

[16:03]  You: Hello CivilE!

[16:03]  You: How are you?

[16:03]  CivilE Writer: great, how are u?

[16:03]  Boston Hutchinson: Hi CivilE

[16:03]  CivilE Writer: Hi Boston!

[16:04]  You: Hello Diego . . . !

[16:04]  Perry Proudhon is Offline

[16:04]  Diego Ibanez: well, hello again.

[16:04]  Perry Proudhon is Online

[16:04]  You: Meet Boston and CivilE

[16:04]  CivilE Writer: Hello Diego

[16:05]  Boston Hutchinson: Hi Diego

[16:05]  Diego Ibanez: Hi, both of you

[16:05]  Diego Ibanez: We're you about to start something?

[16:06]  You: Yes, this evening we're going to look at the beginnings of teh network Society - the inforamtion revolution

[16:06]  You: It's history and geography . . .

[16:06]  You: And also what makes the Network Society unique . . .

[16:07]  Diego Ibanez: sounds very interesting

[16:07]  You: This course relates in part to the research of Manuel Castells

[16:07]  Perry Proudhon is Offline

[16:07]  You: He's a long time Berkeley Professor who has characterized the Network Society - some are comparing him to Marx and Weber

[16:08]  You: What's unique about the information Technolgoy revolution

[16:08]  Diego Ibanez: Weber - that's something. I read him a long time ago

[16:08]  You: is perhaps 5 overarching themes . . .

[16:08]  Diego Ibanez: may i listen in?

[16:08]  You: Please

[16:09]  You: [16:28] You: 1) about Information processing and generation [16:28] You: 2) it pervades and affects every aspect of socioeconomic life [16:28] You: 3) it's based on networking - of people, of companies, or technologies [16:29] You: - and this is brand new relative to the previous industrial revoltuions [16:29] You: 4) operates on the priniciple of flexibility [16:30] You: The system is such that it reorganizes and reprograms itself without disintegration [16:30] You: and 5) it's based on a technological convergence [16:30] You: in an integrating system [16:30] You: so that a) it's an open, not a closing system

[16:09]  Perry Proudhon is Online

[16:09]  Diego Ibanez: ty

[16:09]  You: And those are they . . .

[16:09]  You: They help give frame what is new about this IT revoltuion, and we'll return to them in a variety of ways in this course.

[16:10]  You: To step back a little - here's the course wiki: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com/

[16:10]  Rajah Yalin is Online

[16:10]  Teresa Cinquetti is Online

[16:10]  You: And what is so interesting about SL is the possibility for discussion that transcends place . . . among other things

[16:10]  Diego Ibanez is Offline

[16:11]  You: So I suspect and know each of you have been involved in the Network Society in a variety of ways . . .

[16:11]  You: And I hope we can bring to the conversation our own breadth of knowledge . . .

[16:11]  Diego Ibanez is Online

[16:11]  You: I will post this transcript to the course wiki

[16:12]  You: And I'll also add videos and materials for subsequent classes.

[16:12]  You: Perhaps we might introduce ourselves before we proceed with what the Information Technology Revolution is - its history and geography in broad strokes . . .

[16:13]  You: CivilE, Boston, Diego - would you like to say a little about your interests and experience with IT, in SL or otherwise?

[16:14]  Boston Hutchinson: Well, I'm quite new to SL

[16:14]  Boston Hutchinson: Have been a software engineer for ... i thin 40 years now

[16:14]  You: In general, we'll stay with typing chat, because not everyone has voice . . .

[16:14]  You: Yes ...

[16:15]  Boston Hutchinson: starting with aerospace and recently financial trading software

[16:15]  Boston Hutchinson: I'm very interested in what SL and similar developments mean for the future.

[16:15]  You: What languages?

[16:16]  Perry Proudhon is Offline

[16:16]  You: I think we all are, as well . . .

[16:16]  Boston Hutchinson: software languages? C mostly. formerly HAL, MAC, PL/I Assembler

[16:17]  You: SL is changing rapidly . . . and it will be interesting to see what develops

[16:17]  You: I see . . .

[16:17]  You: CivilE?

[16:17]  You: Diego?

[16:17]  CivilE Writer: Well, because I am a civil engineer, my experience with IT has been to utilize its tools to enhance my work and productivity.

[16:17]  CivilE Writer: Each new advancement in technology allows engineers to better provide designs in a more efficient and economic manner. My concern has been that the information provided by technology is still analyzed by a trained engineer.

[16:18]  You: YOu also are a skillful builder in SL - perhaps you might show us some of your builds sometime .. .

[16:18]  CivilE Writer: Personally, IT has provided me the means to pursue my genealogical interests with my family that would not have otherwise been possible

[16:18]  You: In what ways CivilE -

[16:18]  Andromeda Mesmer: Hi, Aphilo

[16:19]  You: can SL help create an efficiencies in analyzing inforamtion

[16:19]  You: Hi Andromeda

[16:19]  You: Welcome!

[16:19]  You: Come have a seat, if you like

[16:19]  Teresa Cinquetti is Offline

[16:19]  You: We're introducing ourselves, and talking a bout the IT revolution

[16:20]  You: One definition of the Network Society

[16:20]  You: a network society is a society where the key social structures and activities are organized around electronically processed information networks. So it's not just about networks or social networks, because social networks have been very old forms of social organization. It's about social networks which process and manage information and are using micro-electronic based technologies.

[16:20]  You: And this course will take a social theory approach to some of these questions.

[16:21]  You: And as I mentioned earlier . . .

[16:21]  You: [16:28] You: 1) about Information processing and generation [16:28] You: 2) it pervades and affects every aspect of socioeconomic life [16:28] You: 3) it's based on networking - of people, of companies, or technologies [16:29] You: - and this is brand new relative to the previous industrial revoltuions [16:29] You: 4) operates on the priniciple of flexibility [16:30] You: The system is such that it reorganizes and reprograms itself without disintegration [16:30] You: and 5) it's based on a technological convergence [16:30] You: in an integrating system [16:30] You: so that a) it's an open, not a closing system

[16:21]  You: What's so significant about the Network Society is that it's about information generation and processing . . .

[16:22]  You: This evening, I'd like to ask what information technology is

[16:22]  You: What came about?

[16:22]  You: Who did it?

[16:22]  You: And look at a little of the history of the IT revoltuion, occluding a history of the Internet, at present.

[16:23]  You: I also want to ask what has been the process and diffusion into the economy and society.

[16:23]  You: One defintion of technology that's useful to keep in mind

[16:23]  You: is that it's the use of scientific knowledge to specify ways of doing things in a reproducivieble manner

[16:24]  You: Changes in the any industrial revolution occur gradually

[16:24]  You: When they cluster together, they form a system that come together to reinforce each other.

[16:24]  You: The five points above suggest what is unique about this revoltuion.

[16:25]  You: But, take for example, the late 18th century . . .

[16:25]  You: the industrial revolution there, primarily in Britain . . .

[16:25]  You: The technologies that developed then clustered around energy power

[16:26]  You: generating and distrubuting energy and power - the steam engine -

[16:26]  You: new forms of locomotion - trains - ships - railways - all arose here . . .

[16:27]  You: Many other discoveries occured simultaneously . . .

[16:27]  You: the development of the cotton gin was very important . . . and developments in mechanics all occurred concurrently.

[16:28]  You: So clustering aroudn a major them is one significant aspect of technological revolutions

[16:28]  You: The 2nd major revolution - industrially - occurred in the late 19th cetnruy

[16:28]  You: It occurred primarily in the US and in Germany

[16:29]  You: In it, the reovlution that occurred around electricity linked with the chemical revoltiona

[16:29]  You: to transform society

[16:30]  You: And these linkages are critical to understanding the way we do things societally as technologies develop

[16:30]  You: The IT revolution started in the beginning of the 20th cetnry

[16:30]  You: even the late 19th cetnry

[16:30]  You: The telephone was invented by Bell in 1876

[16:30]  You: The radio by marconi in 1898

[16:31]  You: And the vacuum tube by de Forest in 1906

[16:31]  You: The vacuum tube led to the development of transistors

[16:31]  You: which are waht are packed on conductors, and which led to the integrated circuity

[16:32]  You: And we each have an integrated circuit in the processor of the computers we're sitting at in this class

[16:32]  You: So this IT revelution has long precedence as a system clustering together technologies

[16:33]  You: The transister in the 1940s at Bell Labs - an miniature on / off switch is of great importance to this revolution

[16:33]  You: but people at the time didn't know what to do with it

[16:34]  You: And in a way, the clustering that occurred around it opened the way to new ways of distributing information

[16:34]  You: to transformation of this socioeconomic system in far reaching ways

[16:35]  You: So the two main features of this IT revolution

[16:35]  You: - and all technology revolutions - are that the effects

[16:36]  You: on the economy and society are > pervasive <

[16:36]  You: That is the paradigm infueses into the entire realm of society and the economy

[16:36]  You: and it provides specific ways of doing things that didn't exist before - thorughout the entire social structure.

[16:37]  You: And 2 - that fundametanl change is at the core in generating and processing information

[16:38]  You: What's unique about the Information Revolution that distinguishes it from previous industrial revoltions - which we've talked about - is that it's about Information

[16:38]  You: In this new paradigm - there are three technologies which are central

[16:38]  You: 1 microelectronics

[16:38]  You: 2 computers

[16:38]  You: 3 telecommunications

[16:39]  You: (and a 4th - genetic engineering - the decoding, recoding, and reprogramming of information coes of living matter - all part of the infomraiton reovlution, but we won't look too much at this last aspect).

[16:40]  You: The foundation of the Information Technology revoltuion

[16:40]  You: is microelectrnoics

[16:40]  You: This can be traced back to teh vacuum tube . . .

[16:41]  You: where a series of electronic pulses are able to process in a binary mode of amplification and interruption

[16:41]  You: The vacuum tube was invented in 1906 by de Forest, as we've already talked about

[16:42]  You: And the vacuum tube gave rise to the transistor, which does something very similar

[16:42]  You: And the transistor was invented in 1946-7

[16:42]  You: at Bell Labs, by Shockley, Bratain, and Bardeen

[16:43]  You: What chips - the processors in our computers - have, is millions of transistors

[16:43]  You: These are what process the ones and zeros which give rise, for exmaple to this Second Life interface

[16:44]  You: One unique feature of the information revolution is that it focuses on integration

[16:44]  You: that is, squeezing more and more circuits in tinier spaces

[16:44]  You: And process is excelling, and now with new materials, besides silicon

[16:45]  You: The transistor, in the late 1940s was developed in the public domain - as part of a government arrangement

[16:45]  You: And transistors are much smaller than vacuum tubes

[16:46]  You: But transistors as they were developed

[16:46]  You: faced a problem - they weren't initially made in silicon, after all - and to work effectively

[16:46]  You: they need to be conductive, but not too conductive

[16:47]  You: It isn't and wasn't easy to find these materials

[16:47]  You: until Gordon Ted, at the nascent Texas insturumetns in Dallas started working with silcon in the mid 1950s

[16:48]  You: And finally the material was available that would allow for these properties

[16:48]  You: So a chip processes information

[16:48]  You: as electircal current

[16:49]  You: Look up chip in wikipedia to see what this little devices look like

[16:50]  You: But the development of silicon shifted the entire basis of the beginnings of IT Rev to this ability to process electrical impulses

[16:50]  You: The next step - once people were able to produce transistors on silicon

[16:51]  You: the integrated circuit was invented - in 1957

[16:51]  You: The integrated circuit is a programmable chip -

[16:51]  You: it's a chip you cut into

[16:52]  You: And it was simultaneiously and independently invented

[16:52]  You: By Jack Kilby at Texax Instruments

[16:52]  You: And Bob Noyce in Silicon Valley (who later came to head Intel - and who was also later known as the Mayor of Silicon Valley)

[16:53]  You: And this is the founding story of the microelectronics industry

[16:53]  You: Its signfiicance is comparable to the invention of electricity and the engine!

[16:54]  You: So the integrated circuit came to be planted everywhere . . . .

[16:54]  You: And the military was very interested, after the invention of the chip (integrated circuit).

[16:54]  You: Between 1959 and 1962, the first round of chips came about . . .

[16:55]  You: Adn the price of the semiconductors fell by 85% in 3 years

[16:55]  You: Dramatic . . .

[16:55]  You: Compare with cotton in the early 19th cetnury where an 85% drop in the price of cotton took 70 years!

[16:55]  You: in England

[16:56]  You: Before going further, I suspect all o f you have some

[16:56]  You: knowledge of these events -

[16:56]  You: Is there anything you'd like to share ?

[16:57]  You: And please don't hesitate to ask questions or bring ideas forward . . .

[16:57]  CivilE Writer: not yet

[16:57]  You: :)

[16:57]  Diego Ibanez: well, one thing stands out. it appears that the rate of change is significant

[16:57]  You: It's very faster . . . and has been getting faster . . .

[16:57]  Diego Ibanez: and that a convergence is necessary - a kind of critical mass

[16:58]  You: it's unprecedented in human history

[16:58]  You: And convergence is key . . . in many ways, in fact . . .

[16:58]  CivilE Writer: but isn't that the scary part - are most of the human race really adaptive enough to keep up?

[16:59]  Andromeda Mesmer: I am surprised at how it is quite possible to adapt to changes -- for example the constant changes within SL. Every so often I think of the price drop in computers, and how supercomputers used to be so expensive, and my mind boggles, then I go bck to accepting things as Just the Way It Is.

[16:59]  You: But the IT revolution is based intensely on networks

[16:59]  You: That's an interesting question, CivilE -

[17:00]  You: the digital divide may mean that many are not keeping up - and that

[17:00]  Boston Hutchinson is Offline

[17:00]  CivilE Writer: people don't like change

[17:00]  Diego Ibanez: Very interesting, CivilE. I see it all the time in my work

[17:00]  Diego Ibanez: We speak of "change mangement"

[17:01]  You: similarly with other industrial revolutions, where change relative evolutionary history has also been rapid.

[17:01]  CivilE Writer: SL is now the creme of the adaptive crop i think

[17:01]  You: Yes, Diego

[17:01]  You: Yes, Andromeda

[17:01]  Diego Ibanez: I agree with CivilE's observation. We're reaching something of a convergence here

[17:02]  You: We do adapt to chagne . . . and as we'll see - one of the significant changes that arose in the it rev has to do with the personal computer

[17:02]  You: so much computing power all at all of our finger tips - is a real revolution

[17:03]  You: And we can all blog about it, make things in SL, and created new applications, as part of this system

[17:03]  You: And how mentalities change - to respond to both CivilE and Diego - is very interesting . . .

[17:03]  Diego Ibanez: it does seem, that within organizations, we have thuoght leaders who try to push for change

[17:03]  Boston Hutchinson is Online

[17:04]  You: And it's hard to evaluate rigorously as we're in middle of it . .

[17:04]  You: And that's what makes it so fascinating . . .

[17:04]  You: What do you mean Diego?

[17:04]  You: That thinkers lead change in organizations?

[17:04]  Jon Seattle is Offline

[17:04]  Diego Ibanez: that there is a certain amount of resistance to change, and that it takes efforts on the part

[17:05]  You: Yes . . .

[17:05]  Diego Ibanez: of some to get that change moving forward

[17:05]  You: And yet the ease with which kids adopt these technologies offers a coutner tendency

[17:05]  Diego Ibanez: indeed!

[17:06]  Boston Hutchinson: I think some of the resistance to change is part of our physical and neurological limitations

[17:06]  You: And now almost all kids age 3 in this coutnry have access to computers - it's a new generation

[17:06]  CivilE Writer: but our school system beats that out of them through emphasis on conformance to established practice

[17:06]  You: Yes, Boston . . . yet

[17:06]  You: broadband has reached 2/3rds of the US population

[17:06]  Andromeda Mesmer: There is resistance -- some schools in Canada have banned cell phones and cameras -- avoid getting things abut teachers onto the internet ...

[17:06]  You: Hello Luipold - come join us, if you like - - a class

[17:06]  Andromeda Mesmer: A lost cause.

[17:07]  You: on Soicety and Information TEchnology

[17:07]  You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

[17:07]  Boston Hutchinson: Yes, we can only change some things through generational change

[17:07]  You: Yes, there's resistance . . .but the internet is being widely adopted . . .

[17:08]  You: Yes . . . and generational change is occurring very rapidly now, too . . . whcih we'll see

[17:08]  You: So let's proceed . . . if you're willing

[17:09]  You: I will post this transcript

[17:09]  You: and glance through the transcript from last week, also on the wiki

[17:09]  Andromeda Mesmer: No problem.

[17:10]  You: You'll see some interesting videos - including the keynote from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society's conference this may/June - University - Knowledge Beyond Authority

[17:10]  You: In this keynote, Nicholas Negroponte outlines the plan for the One Laptop Per Child

[17:11]  You: It's a remarkable vision, and one that is being implemented on a remarkable scale

[17:11]  You: For example, one company built a factory for them, due to teh scale of the project

[17:12]  You: Did any of you see the recent 60 minutes segment on the One Laptop Per Child

[17:12]  You: That project is changing as we speak, as well . . .

[17:12]  Boston Hutchinson: no, but ive heard a lot about the project. Any chance the technology will be good enough to get the children into SL?

[17:12]  Andromeda Mesmer: No, missed it -- but :D can see it on my computer, now that you pointed it out .

[17:13]  You: Now, others are on board . . . including Intel - where Negroponte very much wanted the project to be successful as a nonprofit . . . .

[17:14]  You: The technology seems great . . . Hang on . . . I'll get the links for these again . . .before getting back to the microprocessor . . .

[17:14]  Andromeda Mesmer: BTW -- the IT revolution is proceeding rapidly in other countries as well -- Mexico is supposed to have large screens in classrooms -- not sure how many though.

[17:14]  Andromeda Mesmer: May just be in a testing phase in Mexico -- but apparently it is very impressive.

[17:14]  Boston Hutchinson: Intersting

[17:14]  Andromeda Mesmer: I mean -- large screens connected to the internet ...

[17:15]  Diego Ibanez: I have read recently that Europe, starting from behind us, now surpasses us in wireless

[17:15]  You: Still looking . . . OLPC is targetting 7 countries or so . . .

[17:15]  Andromeda Mesmer: That is right.

[17:16]  Andromeda Mesmer: The Europeans are proceeding very quickly -- and there is some information about this on Cringely's web site --- www.pbs.cringely.org -- IIRC

[17:16]  You: This past Sunday 60 Minutes ran a feature on Negroponte and the One Laptop Per Child initiative. It was an update on a story they first reported in May. Link to the video: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2830221n Transcript text: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/20/60minutes/main2830058.shtml The business/political dynamics at play between the One Laptop Project and Craig Barrett/Intel are interesting. The CBS report implicitly raises some profound questions about how oligopolies (here in the US. for example) can actually stifle technological progress and the diffusion of an innovation to the masses. I'm not a business analyst by any stretch of the imagination, but that was one of my takeaways.

[17:16]  Diego Ibanez: I will look at it

[17:17]  You: Here's the keynote address by MIT Media Lab's Nicholas Negroponte about the One Laptop per Child or XO-1 initiative at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society this year on May 31 - http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/mediaberkman/2007/06/17/nicholas-negroponte-keynote-at-internet-society-2007-2/. In it , he tells how the initiative is proceeding, that this laptop will cost about $130, that it is basically ready, that they are targeting about 8 countries, and that one company built a new factory for them due to the scale of the project. It is primarily an educational endeavor. They'll use a mesh network that will work in remote locations. I'm not sure how they'll approach the language and literacy questions, from a partly engineering orientation. All of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society's media at Media Berkman is a rich resource. The scale and implementation of this project is impressive.

[17:17]  Boston Hutchinson: It seems to me that a child-friendly version of SL might be more appealing than the internet as it now exists, and more empowering for children with limited resources

[17:17]  Andromeda Mesmer: That stifling has been reported to me, in several cases. A built up inftrastructure in the US -- means resistance to improving it. For example -- with ATM machines.

[17:18]  CivilE Writer: children already have such worlds like club penguin owned by disney now

[17:18]  You: Cringely is an interesting information tehcnology reporter - with a long history in the field

[17:18]  You: But kids do take to these laptops readily

[17:18]  Boston Hutchinson: yes, but built up infrastructure can sometimes also stifle the economy which is more established.

[17:18]  Diego Ibanez: yes, i understand that regulation, besides "protecting" consumers, can protect monopolies

[17:18]  You: in many countries . . .

[17:19]  Boston Hutchinson: Thanks, CivilE, I'll look up the Disney project.

[17:19]  CivilE Writer: www.clubpenguin.com - my kids love it

[17:19]  You: But it is a kind of trojan horse - carrying advertising, and making it possible for them to become consumers in western markets

[17:20]  Andromeda Mesmer: I was not aware of the Disney project. Not sure I like it.

[17:20]  CivilE Writer: it is a lot like a simplified virtual world

[17:20]  You: or is the OLPC a remarkable tool of education, and advancement for kids without much opportunity in the developing world.

[17:20]  Andromeda Mesmer: But if it is only one of many options available to kids, then great.

[17:20]  Diego Ibanez: It seems the notion of "public good" has been systmatically eroded - but that is getting into a poitical dimension

[17:21]  Andromeda Mesmer: Heretic! :)

[17:21]  You: Please add other links, as we go . . .

[17:21]  You: Great point!

[17:21]  Boston Hutchinson: If young people grew up with SL-like worlds, they might be able to create businesses within those worlds even if they live in places with limited opportunities

[17:21]  CivilE Writer: yes, i agree

[17:22]  You: I agree . . . having access to computers opens many worlds, but for those who learn how to use them, maintain them . . . etc . . .

[17:22]  Andromeda Mesmer: That has already been happening -- with the Chinese "gold miners" within World of Warcraft...

[17:22]  Diego Ibanez: that goal is implicitly expressed in a poster on display in Our Virtual Holland, btw in SL

[17:22]  Boston Hutchinson: Yes, I think I agree also

[17:22]  You: It will be interesting to see how the inexpensive laptop in the developing world changes it, or not . . . is the cell phone much more likely to be adopted . . .

[17:23]  You: Back to the microprocessor

[17:23]  CivilE Writer: in a developing world, will they have the electricity and resources to run it though?

[17:23]  Andromeda Mesmer: One of my friends who went to China said that one of the most mind-blowing things he saw, was a very poor fellow, in a loincloth, chatting on a cell phone - cell phones are ubiquitous in china.

[17:23]  Boston Hutchinson: well if all you need is a laptop and a mesh network...

[17:24]  You: Check out the two previous OLPC videos -

[17:24]  You: They both have addressed those issues directly . . .

[17:24]  You: Yes, Andro

[17:25]  You: So production of integrated circuits from 1959 to 1969 increased by a factor of 20

[17:25]  CivilE Writer: andromeda - that would make a great commercial for the cell phone people

[17:25]  You: and 50% went to the military . . .

[17:25]  You: :) yes, CivilE

[17:25]  You: And 1971 was a major benchmark for the microprocessor

[17:26]  You: Ted Hoff invetned the microprecessor - and it was a computer in a chip

[17:26]  You: That is, you could program it . . .

[17:26]  You: And computers then came to be installed everywhere

[17:27]  You: At Sharp Corporation, Ted Hoff was able to use this microprocessor to make a more reliable, cheapter caluclator

[17:27]  You: And so more and more information power was packed into smaller devices

[17:28]  You: This is called integration capacity

[17:28]  You: One of the main questions / problems was

[17:28]  You: How many lines of cirucits can be imprinted on a chip.

[17:28]  You: The process is like photolithography - printing with images

[17:29]  Sarasvati Kohime is Offline

[17:29]  You: Where chemicals etch out drawins and overlayed drawings

[17:29]  You: And here, too, the change was very fast

[17:29]  You: 1 micron = 1 millionth of a meter

[17:30]  You: In 1971, the 1st microprocessors had circuits which were 6,5 microns

[17:30]  You: In1995, these circuits were 0.35 microns

[17:30]  You: And in 2000, these circuits were 0.18 microns

[17:31]  You: Memory capacity increased in equally as dramatic a fashion

[17:31]  Keane Koga is Online

[17:31]  You: Memory capacity is measured in bits

[17:31]  You: A megabit is a million bits

[17:32]  You: In 1971 memory capacity was 1024 bits

[17:32]  You: and in 2000, it had increased a million times - to 1024 megabits

[17:33]  You: This led to Gordon Moore's famous dictum - it's aguess, not a law, verified by experience

[17:33]  You: Gordon Moore was the head of Intel for many, many years

[17:33]  You: The dictum is that the capacity of chips will dobule every 18 months, and the price will drop by 50%

[17:34]  You: Processing is now accelerating, and different materials are being used, so it's difficult to generalize this law

[17:34]  You: So the founding story of the information technology revolution is that of microelectronics

[17:34]  You: COMPUTERS

[17:35]  You: Computers cam from the attempt to build fast mechanical calculators

[17:35]  You: (and TELECOMMUNCIATIONS is the other significant technology).

[17:36]  You: Charles Babbage in the late 1800s developed a mechanical calculator, one of the earliest computers

[17:36]  Champler Snook is Offline

[17:36]  Jagger Valeeva is Offline

[17:36]  You: And in WWII, calculators liek the British Collosus were invted

[17:36]  You: And this one instance led

[17:36]  Champler Snook is Online

[17:37]  You: to a program at MIT - - When British Labs cooperated - which wasn't always -

[17:37]  You: interesting synergies occurred

[17:38]  You: MIT's firt computing technology that became operationsl

[17:38]  You: was ENIAC- Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer

[17:39]  You: Actually ENIAC was developed at the Univ of Pennsylvania - by Mauchly and Eckert, not at MIT

[17:39]  You: in 1947

[17:39]  You: It had 18000 vacuum tubes

[17:40]  You: it was 18ft tall

[17:40]  Jagger Valeeva is Online

[17:40]  You: And it made the lights of philadelphia flicker when it was turned on, because it drew so much power .. .

[17:41]  You: the first operational computer was the UNIVAC I in 1951, at the Remington Corporation

[17:41]  You: The US Census was done on it

[17:41]  You: And all these computers were trasnformed byt transistors

[17:41]  You: which increased speed and diminished size

[17:42]  You: So, with the IBM 360 in 1064, a hierarchy of computing was created

[17:42]  You: in a way

[17:42]  Boston Hutchinson: 1964

[17:43]  You: There were super computers, mini computers, mainframes (backups of mins), and terminals, which provided dumb access to Minis

[17:43]  You: Thanks, Boston

[17:43]  You: And that was the world of computers for a long time

[17:43]  You: And this changed signficantly with teh development of the microprocessor in 1971.

[17:44]  You: And soon after this, the personal computer developed.

[17:44]  Sean18 McCarey is Online

[17:44]  You: Ed Roberts in 1974, in Albequerque, NM made it

[17:44]  You: In a kind of coutnercultural, small consulitng firm

[17:45]  You: It was called Altair, for a favoratie dog character in Star Trek

[17:45]  You: And Roberts published how to make this in popular mechanics

[17:45]  Diego Ibanez: sounds a bit like the early apple computer, which came later

[17:45]  Diego Ibanez: decentralized computing

[17:46]  You: Yes - and unique also, because many other countries wouldn't allow the publication of such information

[17:46]  Andromeda Mesmer: Ah, didn't know about that ...

[17:46]  You: But this sharing of invformation is anotehr kind of convergence, that has profoundly led to innovations in the IT revoltuions . . .

[17:47]  You: The SF Homebrew Club was where teh Personal Comptuer developed significantly . .

[17:47]  You: Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, and many other computer enthusiasts

[17:47]  You: were all part of this.

[17:48]  Diego Ibanez: these technological developments being described also correspond to social changes taking place.

[17:48]  You: Wozniak and Jobs borrowed First $500 and then around $250,000 in 1976 to make the first Apple computer, in a garage!

[17:49]  You: Yes, Diego, dramatically . . . many thought that these early computers would transform consicousness

[17:49]  You: and lead to a revolution . . . which indeed they did . . .

[17:50]  You: but not quite in the way countercultural folks envisioned

[17:50]  You: And we'll get to the quesitons of counterculture, other cultural contributions later . . .

[17:51]  You: But, I'd like to begin conclude for the evening, as we only have a few minutes left

[17:51]  ArseBringer Simon is Offline

[17:51]  You: and we've looked at some parts of the computer revoltion, but not all .. . and we haven't looked at teh telecommuncations revolution

[17:52]  Parriah Janus is Online

[17:52]  You: I'll email you some readings at different points, if you instant message me your email addresses . . .

[17:52]  You: I have some of yours already.

[17:53]  You: I'll also post more videos to the wiki soon, which will fill in, and complement some of what we talk about here

[17:54]  You: This is the Berkman Center for Internet and Society's island in Second Life, part of Harvard's Berkman Center

[17:54]  You: And I'd like to thank them for allowing us to meet and chat here . . .

[17:55]  You: Next week, we'll look a little more about the Information TEchnology Revolution, and then

[17:55]  You: at the history of the Internet . . .

[17:55]  You: I may encourage you to view the videos, as I think we won't be able to cover it all here, and

[17:56]  You: it's potentially very interesting to chat here, as that's what these technologies make possible in rich ways . . .

[17:56]  You: I'd also like to mention a course Becca Nesson is teaching on virtual worlds and Second Life here

[17:57]  You: starting in mid-September - which should also make for a rich opportunity to learn about developments in world

[17:57]  You: http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~nesson/e4/

[17:57]  You: It will meet on a Monday night, and at-large participation is possible, just as it is here . . .

[17:58]  You: So, stay in touch with the wiki: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com/

[17:58]  You: And I'll e-mail you as we go along . . .

[17:59]  Diego Ibanez: Aphilo, thank you

[17:59]  You: You're welcome.

[17:59]  Boston Hutchinson: Thanks, Aphilo

[17:59]  You: Questions so far?

[17:59]  CivilE Writer: thanks

[17:59]  You: Thoughts?

[17:59]  Boston Hutchinson: and Andromeda--Thanks for the gold miner info. very disturbing and interesting

[18:00]  Andromeda Mesmer: One of the big limitations for a course -- and a personal disappointment to me -- is the limittion on the capacity for number of people.

[18:00]  You: In a way, this course is going to offer a way to theorize the Network society . . .

[18:00]  You: Yes . . . thanks, Andromeda

[18:00]  Andromeda Mesmer: IBM has a neat trick -- combine 4 sims together, get about 200 people that way ...

[18:00]  You: Yes, that is a good idea . . .

[18:00]  Andromeda Mesmer: But I've attended classes that were300 ... this is not possible yet inSL. I would like to see it.

[18:01]  You: I understand there's about a 40 avatar limit . . .

[18:01]  You: Conversation is what is so interesting here in SL . . . so

[18:01]  Andromeda Mesmer: Yes. It varies a bit -- and as the limit is approached, things get awfully laggy.

[18:01]  Champler Snook is Offline

[18:02]  You: So, thank you for coming . . . we'll see where we can go in SL

[18:02]  Andromeda Mesmer: Eh -- reports of BIG problems after voice was introduced -- people that had no problems before, now have problems -- and store owners were not happy abut merchandise disappearing out of buyiners inventories.

[18:03]  You: and with what's new in the information technology revolution, partly by seeing how serendiptous so many of these developments have

[18:03]  You: been

[18:04]  You: SL is a specific interesting example of an innovation, but it will change a lot, as well . . . it has a little wasy to go before inventory is stable

[18:04]  Andromeda Mesmer: I have heard that their big mistake lately was upgrading hardware and software at the same time.

[18:04]  You: Anshe Chung, one of the most successful business people in SL, estimates that he hires 3 people people full-time to deal with inventory loss!

[18:05]  You: He said this at the SL conference in chicago 2 weekends ago.

[18:05]  Andromeda Mesmer: It's a SHE, not HE --

[18:05]  Diego Ibanez: Her "positions open" at her website is impressive - quite a business

[18:05]  Andromeda Mesmer: Another problem is customers with satellite connections --

[18:06]  You: And once again, it's how SL integrates with other technologies, and what innovations individuals bring to it, that will contribute to its development.

[18:06]  Andromeda Mesmer: US peole in Oregon reported loss of inventory due to their poor --well, NOW, poor connection via satellite -- SL will not help them, will not support them becasue of this type of connection being defficient.

[18:07]  You: SL is still a little frustrating in these respects, but exciting nevertheless . . .

[18:07]  You: Other questions? Thoughts?

[18:07]  You: before we close?

[18:08]  Boston Hutchinson: I'm wondering if we're going to explore the possible future developments of SL and similar environments?

[18:08]  Andromeda Mesmer: I'd just like to point out that SL has provided a great opportunity for artists and tech folks -- and in addition, new ways of scamming people out of moeny, all kinds of crooked business deallings and outright fraud ...

[18:08]  Boston Hutchinson: Technology should radically change this place in a few years

[18:08]  You: In the section of virtual realities some weeks hence, we'll look at these questions, a little

[18:09]  Diego Ibanez: one thing that strikes me is the number of layers - dimensions - to this discussion. Historical, social, political, to mention a few

[18:09]  Boston Hutchinson: Yes, Diego, this is really interesting!

[18:09]  You: Yes . . .

[18:10]  You: IT's fascinating to contextualize these developments in the interdisciplinary study of these developments - loosely sociological, but also historical, political science-oriented, etc . .

[18:10]  Andromeda Mesmer: The law enforcement is quite interesting - for example, Linden Labs caved in to the US govt/casino intersts and banned all casinos, yet they allow all kinds of fraud, and that is left to private individuals and groups to spread news about the latest scam going around. A sort of Wild West -- neighbourhood watch, in a way.

[18:11]  Jagger Valeeva is Offline

[18:11]  Boston Hutchinson: Yes, the banking situation looks like quite a mess.

[18:11]  Diego Ibanez: Andromeda, that reminds me a little of wall street during the robber baron era

[18:11]  Boston Hutchinson: exactly

[18:11]  You: If you look at some of the video lectures from CyberOne, a course whcih was held last fall 2006 here in tehis Amphitheater, they began to look at questions of law in Second Life

[18:11]  Andromeda Mesmer: Oh, there are BIG scams, and little scams ...

[18:12]  You: Some of the videos are quite interesting from that class, which you'll see in the last transcript

[18:12]  Boston Hutchinson: How can this be fixed?

[18:12]  Diego Ibanez: I think we may be able to look to Andromeda for info on scams here in sl

[18:12]  You: And Linden Labs role has changed over time . . .

[18:12]  Andromeda Mesmer: Scams? At the moment, I belong to many groups -- to get informaton on scams.

[18:13]  Andromeda Mesmer: Not only that -- but the groups are a MORE reliable method for finding out what is the state of things on the grid, functioning -- not Linden Labs :)

[18:13]  You: Basically, our rights here relate to the terms of service contract we all agreed to when we got our avatar . . .

[18:13]  CivilE Writer: when people in our RL town get scammed, we cannot do anything either

[18:13]  Bruce Flyer is Online

[18:14]  Boston Hutchinson: True, CivilE, many RL scams are ignored by the government

[18:14]  You: There will be another class, in addition to Becca's, here in SL this fall - Charlie Nesson will do something on Trials in SL.

[18:14]  Andromeda Mesmer: Another interesting thing in SL is the griefers, and the defense of them by the admin of Woodbury University -- and how poorly LL worked, and how slowly -- to ge rid of the Patriotic Nigras grifer group.

[18:15]  Andromeda Mesmer: *I* could give them information -- but I doubt LL will do anything ...

[18:15]  You: The Nessons are very interested in questions of political and legal representation in emerging virtual worlds, such as SL.

[18:15]  Boston Hutchinson: But here, I suspect you can't even contemplate opening a legitimate bank inverstment company because it's such a mess.

[18:15]  You: You should report them, A!

[18:16]  Diego Ibanez: Boston, ING is supposedly hard at work on a presence here. Visit virtual holland. They're major backers

[18:16]  Andromeda Mesmer: Some well-dressed gent shows up once a week, to the Berkman Sandbox, and asks everybody present if they would like to invest in a bank. I politely tell him no.

[18:16]  You: I think at this point, we you agree to the terms of service, you basically open the possibility for a kind of fee for service arrangement in SL

[18:16]  Boston Hutchinson: Thanks, Diegeo. I'll look at that

[18:17]  Bruce Flyer is Offline

[18:17]  Diego Ibanez: yes, Aphilo, if the number of escorts around here are any indication!

[18:17]  You: That said, Linden Labs has a history, and they are fairly open, and they want to make money, so they may well have interest in entertaining ideas.

[18:18]  You: But SL is a complicated emerging society, with many different stakeholders . . .

[18:18]  Bruce Flyer is Online

[18:18]  Andromeda Mesmer: Heh. The old-timers at New Citizens Plaza are a bit more cynical about the functioning and responsiveness of LL.

[18:18]  You: There are a lot of potential investors and businesses here, all looking for a way in . . . a lot!

[18:18]  Andromeda Mesmer: New Citizens volunteers work to help, to correct things themselves.

[18:18]  You: :) Dieog

[18:18]  You: Hello Bruce!

[18:19]  You: How are you?

[18:19]  Bruce Flyer: Hi!

[18:19]  Bruce Flyer: okay, thanks

[18:19]  Diego Ibanez: Well, this idea is a pychological tangent, but someone suggested to me that folks depart from rl here, and i countered that it is a projection, not necessarily a departure

[18:20]  You: You might check out the anthropology

[18:20]  Gayle Cabaret is Online

[18:20]  You: wait a minute . . .

[18:20]  Gayle Cabaret is Offline

[18:20]  Andromeda Mesmer: I dunno about projection -- writers write about many different kinds of characters, completely different from themselves -- like atheists write about very religious people ...

[18:21]  You: http://www.anthro.uci.edu/faculty_bios/boellstorff/boellstorff.php

[18:21]  Andromeda Mesmer: Projection wold be part of it, certainly ...

[18:21]  Diego Ibanez: yes, this is true. but they create the characters

[18:21]  Diego Ibanez: thanks, Aphio. I will check it out

[18:21]  You: He's written a book that will be published by Princeton this spring

[18:21]  You: It focueses on questions of identity in SL, in part.

[18:22]  You: Sherry Turkle also examined some of these quesitons

[18:22]  Diego Ibanez: that is something i'd love to read

[18:22]  You: in Life on the Screen

[18:23]  You: She's a professor at MIT

[18:23]  Andromeda Mesmer: Some other excellent thinking about virtual worlds -- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, books by Charlie Stross -- and Charlie Stross has some intersting thngs on his blog -- www.antipop.org - about the future developments of V Worlds, increasing computers ...

[18:24]  Diego Ibanez: thanks

[18:24]  You: We'll also look at some of these questions in a few weeks here on sociability, and what the evidence suggests .. .

[18:24]  Andromeda Mesmer: sorry -- www.antipope.org -- due to a mistake, and could not be changed ...

[18:24]  You: Neal Stephenson's vision in his novel "Snowcrash" led to SL . . .

[18:25]  You: In Becca's class starting in a few weeks, we'll read teh relevant pages . . .

[18:25]  Diego Ibanez: well, there will be no lack of reading

[18:26]  You: Turkle suggests that there is an exploration of other identities because of the freedom of anonymity online, for one . . .

[18:27]  Diego Ibanez: Well, rl is calling. i must take my leave. Thank you Aphilo. Thanks everyone for the discussion.

[18:27]  You: Here's an audio podcast with Tom Boellstorf in the Chronicle of Higher Education

[18:27]  You: http://chronicle.com/media/audio/v53/i49/boellstorff/

[18:27]  Bruce Flyer: bye Diego

[18:28]  You: Bye Diego

[18:28]  CivilE Writer: bye Diego! I better be going too. Thanks!

[18:28]  Andromeda Mesmer: See you next time, Diego :)

[18:28]  You: very glad you participated . . .

[18:28]  Diego Ibanez: Bye folks, Bruce, you too

[18:28]  Boston Hutchinson: Bye Diego

[18:28]  Bruce Flyer: :-)

[18:28]  You: see you next time . . .

[18:28]  Boston Hutchinson: Bye All!

[18:28]  You: Bye CivilE

[18:28]  Diego Ibanez: looking foward to it!

[18:28]  CivilE Writer: bye!

[18:28]  Diego Ibanez is Offline

[18:29]  Andromeda Mesmer: Bye CivilE

[18:29]  You: History of the Interenet next time

[18:29]  You: http://socinfotech.pbwiki.com

[18:29]  You: I'm going to take off, as well . . .

[18:29]  Perry Proudhon is Online

[18:30]  You: Thanks for coming, and see you next time . . .

[18:30]  Bruce Flyer: good night everyone

[18:30]  You: Good night . . .

[18:30]  Bruce Flyer is Offline

[18:30]  Boston Hutchinson: See You next time

[18:30]  Boston Hutchinson: It was great!

[18:30]  Boston Hutchinson: Very interesting people

[18:30]  You: Thanks for your contributions . . .

[18:31]  You: I agree . . . looking forward to more . . .

[18:31]  Andromeda Mesmer: Yes, it was very interesting. So - next week, same time? And a break for US Thanksgiving?

[18:32]  You: Yes . . . next place . . . same time, same place . . .see the syllabus above for more specifics . . .

[18:32]  Boston Hutchinson is Offline