Day 11
I find that students are so immersed in a culture where computers and electronic communication devices are taken for granted that it his hard for them to discuss issues like the effects of the growth of computer technology on society. So I always show my grade ten classes a documentary series that was made for PBS and the BBC titled The Machine That Changed the World. The last time I checked it has not been re-released on DVD, but it is available on the web at Waxy.org. It covers the history of computing from the abacus to the Mac, and does it in a way that actually keeps the students interested! I show the first three episodes titled "Giant Brains", "Inventing the Future", and "The Paperback Computer".
I show my grade 11 students another series made by PBS called Triumph of the Nerds. This one is actually available on DVD! It features the author of the book Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date, narrating the story of how the personal computer grew from being the obsession of a few electronics hobbyists into a multi-billion dollar industry.
There is a sequel to Triumph of the Nerds called Nerds 2.0.1 A Brief History of the Internet. It is not as good as the others, but it does have it's moments, such as when an early pioneer of the porn industry tells the interviewer that her mother is pleased that she has a job in computers.
There are web sites associated with all of these videos, and I have included a few more links to sites dealing with the history of computers.
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