IDIS 110 Foundations of Information Technology

IDIS 110Foundations of Information Technology Professor Jeff Nyhoff Department of Computer Science Fall 2006

Super Bowl Commercial, 1984

“Why 1984 won’t be like 1984 ” • 1981: IBM released the IBM “PC” – a “personal computer” • You could have your OWN computer ! • However, computer “users” had always been programmers • Write your own software… • Managing the computer requires interacting with itsoperating system IBM PC’s operating system: Microsoft’s DOS “command line interface” - cryptic commands This is “personal computing” ?

1984: The Macintosh “GUI” “GUI” = “Graphical User Interface” - “point and click” Then: Now: Steve Jobs, Apple Co-Founder:“a computer for the rest of us…”

Where Did Apple Get the Idea? Then: • In 1979, Steve Jobs had visited Xerox Corp’sPalo Alto Research Center (PARC) • Saw a demo of a GUI developed by a team led by Alan Kay that was working to develop Kay’s “Dynabook” idea: • a personal computer, owned an operated by an individual; • portable – the size of a notebook; • Connects wirelessly to networks enabling communication and access to information; • with a GUI so intuitive that even children could not onlyuse its software, but even start developing software of their own… Now:

Xerox Corp’s Big Mistake… • Xerox Corporation’s executives couldn’t foresee a market for a “personal computer.”They cancelled Kay’s project. • Steve Jobs, however, had seen the future of computing in that 1979 Xerox PARC demo: • “within ten minutes…it was obvious to me that all computers would work like this some day.” • Jobs immediately began working with an Apple team to try to create a GUI-driven computer. • By 1984, Apple had developed the “Macintosh” …

Microsoft Windows • A year later, in 1985, Microsoft released its own GUI operating system: “Windows” • 1985: Windows 1.0 : very poor • 1987: Windows 2.0: a bit better… • 1988: Apple files lawsuit claiming violations of copyright • argued Microsoft had copied the “look and feel” of the Apple GUI • Suit took nearly 5 years to decide. Overall, Apple lost… • In the meantime, Windows 3.0 had become a viable OS… • The “GUI” has revolutionized computing • Although, it is now Microsoft Windows that dominates… • The “person” implied in “personal computing” is no longer a computer programmer • Persons from all walks of life came to use computers…

Now, Over 20 Years Later… • Persons like yourselves have literally “grown up”with GUI-driven personal computers... • Common remark: “Most of today’s college students have had so much experience using computers that a course like this is a waste of time…” • So, why does Calvin bother to continue offering this course? • And why are so many other colleges & universities scrambling to introduce similar kinds of information technology courses of their own…? • Here’s one way of getting at this question…

Alan Kay (again) : • Often called “the father of the personal computer.” • Kay says, “the computer revolution still hasn’t happened yet.” • For Kay, the “Dynabook” dream remains unrealized: • He envisioned the computer as a new medium that would enable powerful new ways to create and communicate ideas. • For the most part, we are simply doing the same things with computers that we did with analog media – print, television, radio, etc. • We do not use computers in the ways that reveal their unique powerto create working models – simulations – of ideas. • Instead, we simply perform severely limited interactions with software models created by others. • Thus, Kay says that the last twenty years of GUI-driven “personal computing” have been the equivalent of “air guitar.” • not “computer literacy” ; rather, the equivalent of merely knowing how to hold a book and turn pages.

Enfeebled by the GUI –not Empowered… • The original GUI idea was to spare the user from having to • interact with the computer’s underlying “machinery” • use cryptic terminologies of traditional programming languages. • However, the commercial version of the GUI produced by Apple and Microsoft also produced the idea of the “end user”: • computer users are no longer programmers; they are now only consumers, who appear only at the end of the process, after the software is already produced by someone else. • Such users believe they do not need to move beyond a superficial understanding of computing. • Instead, they remain in a state of arrested development, interacting with onscreen illusions that : • they did not create; • teach them nothing about the realities of the technologies they are using.

The GUI’s End Users • are severely limited in ability to learn about information technology (IT) ; • are overly dependent upon IT and IT “experts” ; • regard IT with an uncritical “awe” ; • are the most harmed when IT systems fail ; • are easy targets for exploitations and attacks via IT; • are unaware of the hidden systems at work behind the surface illusions: • As the Wizard of Oz commanded, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” • Such hidden systems monitor and control our actions, and shape our thinking…

End User Denial… • Not surprisingly, one of the most common traits of the end user experience is that of anxiety where technology is concerned. • Interestingly, the technological culture produced by the GUIis such that the vast majority of end users tend to greatly exaggerate their knowledge of information technology, toward one of two poles: • they drastically underestimate what they know about IT – e.g., describe themselves as “computer illiterate,” etc., or • They grossly overstate what they know about IT, falsely claiming: • that they already know all they need to know about IT; • that they figured most of this out on their own; • that only computer illiterates need IT instruction.

Academic Responses • Consequently, a rapidly rising number of colleges & universities are currently scrambling to introduce new kinds of information technology courses to make sure students: • not only know how to “do things” with IT • but also have more solid understanding of IT • And develop new way of thinking about IT . • Fortunately, Calvin was “ahead of the game”…

Calvin’s New “Core” • In the Fall of 2001, Calvin implemented a new “Core Curriculum” • the college’s new vision of its goals for a “liberal arts” education • Overall goal of the Core: provide students with opportunities to develop coreknowledge, skills, and virtues. • Including those knowledge, skills, and virtues related to information technology • Thus, for the first time, a course in computing would be required for all Calvin students…

IDIS 110 and “Skills” • IT “skills” = the ability to employ computer technology • An ever-widening set of IT skills are becoming necessary for life in today’s world. • You’ll get plenty of skills in IDIS 110 … but IDIS 110 is not just a computer skills course…

IDIS 110 and “Knowledge” • A littleknowledge of what computers really are and how they do what they dogreatly strengthens our relationship to IT : • What to think and how to respond when computers suddenly don’t work they way we expect them to. • Why and how to take reasonable, preventative action to protect our work, our equipment, and our privacy. • Whole new categories of computer skills open up to us!

IDIS 110 and “Virtues” • True knowledge about computers also enables us to start asking new and better kinds of questions about them: • We begin to dare to ask what these technologiesshould and should not do. • Breaks the habit of viewing ourselves as mere recipients of what computer industry chooses to produce for us. • Increases our expectations of societal control over IT.

IT Virtues and Your Future • We begin cultivating technology-minded virtues in ourselves… • Difficult technology-driven questions now confront employers, administrators, government officials, ministers, teachers, school-board members, parents, … • In the “information age,” IT virtue is an integral part of our responsibility • to our families, congregations, communities, congregations, fellow citizens • as stewards of the world that God created.

IDIS 110 • “Foundations of Information Technology” • IT skills, knowledge, and virtues that can benefit you while you are in college . • But also lay the foundation for continuing,lifelong development of your relationship to IT .

IDIS 110 Foundations of Information Technology