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Colonists and Native AmericansVirginiaWWII planesCivil Rights Movement
A Guide to Primary Resources for U.S. History
The Contemporary United States Back to History Unit

(c) explaining the media influence on contemporary American culture and how scientific and technological advances affect the workplace, health care, and education.

The Computer Revolution Hasn't Happened Yet!
Educause:"Educom '98 - Making the Connections

The Information Age
Smithsonian Institution/National Museum of American History: Encyclopedia Smithsonian - Information Technology

The Global Office
Smithsonian Institution, History of Science, Technology, and Invention: Carbons to Computers

Description: The first digital resource is the audiovisual presentation of a talk given by Alan Kay at an educational technology conference in October, 1998. Dr. Kay is one of the founders of the famed Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and was very instrumental in the research and development that led to many components of the personal computer, and also to what would become the Internet. He contends that "the commercial computer is now about 50 years old and is still imitating the paper culture that came before it, just as the printing press did with the manuscript culture it gradually replaced. No media revolution can be said to have happened without a general establishment of "literacy:" fluent "reading" and "writing" at the highest level of ideas that the medium can represent. With computers, we are so far from that fluent literacy - or even understanding what that literacy should resemble - that we could claim that the computer revolution hasn't even started." Dr. Kay's talk tries to put a shape to the real computer revolution to come. (Primary source material). The second digital resource presents a useful and attractive overview of the "information age revolution," beginning with the telegraph in the nineteenth century and bringing it up to the "computer revolution" which is owed in large part to the advent of the personal computer. (Secondary source material). The third resource presents one component of an interesting and helpful project website ("Carbons to Computers"). This particular component explores the way in which new technologies have affected global business in our day. (Secondary source material).



Teaching Tips:

"Do Now" Suggestion
  • The teacher can show the audiovisual link to Alan Kay's "The Computer Revolution hasn't happened yet." As students view the piece, they should identify Kay's thesis and write down any evidence to support his thesis.
Suggestion for Using this Resource as Part of a Lesson
  • Students can read through "The Information Age" website and choose a technological innovation to research further. They can create a contemporary advertisement for the innovation.

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