Week 6 - History of the Internet

Lecture Notes –

In the lecture this week, the lecturer gave the history of the internet as well as the invention of communication techniques during the war. I found the discussion about the German code forms and how their enemies cracked them interesting. According to the lecturer Alan Turing in 1936 invented a machine to rival the German Code form “Crib”. Turing also invented the Turing Bomb. We were then shown a short film on communication during the war. The lecture then moved on to the ‘home brew’ meetings in which many of the highly regarded IBM and Apple inventors began. There was then a discussion about Xerox Parc (my notes include the following) – in the 1970’s a group of mathematicians etc got together to form a ‘think tank’ to find better ways to use a computer – pull down menus and a mouse were a few of the results from this ‘think tank’. The internet – interconnecting computers. Web is only one part of the internet.


Reading –

The reading for this week is about what is considered to be new media and how it is considered new. What we may consider to be new media may actually be old. An example given is the introduction of downloading. The items downloaded (television shows, music etc) are not new media, however the option to download them is new media as it changes the way in which we are able to get hold of the programs or listen to the music. According to the reading, new media is described as being the remaking of old forms of technology to adapt to the new media of today. The internet is described as being the best example of a form of new media.


Tutorial –

The article I found in Wikipedia was about the play I am currently performing in called Maskerade. The play is an adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s novel by the same name. The article gives a basic overview of the novel and mentions Stephen Briggs as the person who adapted the novel to a play. However when I clicked on Stephen Briggs on the Maskerade page, his site didn’t mention Maskerade at all. It mentioned every other Terry Pratchett novel that Briggs had adapted to stage, but didn’t include Maskerade.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Briggs

Is this an accurate article? – I’m not sure about the other plays mentioned in the article but the exclusion of Maskerade from his list of adaptations suggests that it is not an accurate account of his career.

Does it cover all the basic facts that you’d need to understand this topic? – No, it cover not basic facts about any of his plays, and completely disregards Maskerade from the list.

Does this article follow the Wikipedia guidelines for useful articles? – not sure.

Is this article fair and balanced, or is it biased towards a particular side or argument? – There is no side or argument, however I suppose you could say it is biased in favour of his other plays.

What changes would you make to this article to improve it and make it useful for the wider Wikipedia community? – I would add a segment on Stephen Briggs’ adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s play Maskerade, giving details about what the play is about.