The birth of the computer

Discuss the impact of TWO of the following figures on the development of digital technologies and digital culture: Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, William Gibson, Kevin Mitnick, Alan Turing, Ray Kurzweil, J.C.R. Licklider, Douglas Engelbart.



                                                  The Birth of the Computer

Modern-day technology and potential future technological developments are feasible due to the work of great minds from the past, present and the future. Significant digital inventions such as the computer have had momentous influences on the way people live their lives on a day to day basis, both privately and publically. Human reliance on technology has created a digital culture throughout the world. This essay will discuss the impact Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage had on the development of digital technologies and digital culture evident in today’s society.

Contemporary society’s reliance on digital technology as forms of entertainment and necessity has assisted in the creation of a digital culture throughout the world. This idea can be drawn from the work of Charles Gere in his book Digital Culture. According to Gere, “the possibility of convergence and integration that digital technology offers has led it to dominate technical developments in media and communications,” (Gere 2002: p10).

Digital technologies are technological devices that can store and transmit information in digital form, namely; information that is in basic form; a series of numbers (Woodford 2006: p6). Today’s society is consumed by digital technology. According to Gere (2002), “‘computer technology’ and ‘digital technology’ have become [almost] interchangeable.” In addition to inventions such as the mobile phone and the Internet, the computer is among the most commonly used digital devices in the world. Today, the computer as “a programmable device that can store, retrieve, and process data” (Dale et al 2000: p3) is used to access the Internet, create art, literature and music, to play videos, DVDs, video games and music, store data, calculate and process mathematical problems and much more. However this was not always the case, the idea of having a machine perform tasks for us can be derived from Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine and furthermore his second invention; the Analytical Engine.

In the 1820s, Charles Babbage, an English mathematician, began theorising the construction of a machine that would perform calculations of arithmetic and print the solutions in the form of a table, he named it the Difference Engine (Sherman 2006: p25). In 1822, Babbage had completed a small model of engine and “announced it to the Royal Astronomical Society... in a paper called ‘Note on the application of machinery to the computation of astronomical tables’,” (2006: p25). Babbage began building the engine in 1823 “using a decimal number system – one to ten – and was powered by the user cranking a handle,” (2006: p25). By 1828 the English Government had lost interest in Babbage’s Difference Engine and refused to fund the construction of the machine any further (2006: p25). Due to lack of government funding, Babbage began to fund the construction of the engine himself which involved purchasing the required materials and resources such as steel, brass and pewter clockwork (2006: p28). Babbage’s Difference Engine was never physically constructed due to two problems: a lack of funding and the fact that Babbage had already begun working on his next invention; the Analytical Engine (2006: p32).

The Analytical Engine was a “more versatile calculating machine” (Spiller 2002: p22) than the Difference Engine. This engine was designed with five parts; the store which would hold data, the mill which would act like the CPU of a modern-day computer, the control which would run on punch cards that help the programming for each job being processed, the input which was where information requests of the user and finally the output which printed the result (Sherman 2006: p 32). The punch cards used in the Analytical Engine were modelled off those used in Jacquard’s pattern-weaving loom of 1804 that fed threads through a system of wooden cards punched with holes (Gere 2002: p 22). The weaver’s actions were codified and converted into marks on the wooden cards and the machine was able to read the punctures in the cards and repeated the pattern or action” (2002: p 22). In his book ‘Of the Analytical Engine’, Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864) Babbage states that there were two types of cards; operation cards and variable cards (Babbage in Spiller 2002: p 26). The operation cards directed the nature of the operations to be performed and the variable cards directed the particular variables on which those cards are required to operate (Babbage in Spiller 2002: p 26).

Babbage’s engines were among the first “prototypical computers,” (Gere 2002: p23) if his ideas, thoughts and designs were not documented, the beginning of the computer’s history would be different (Maisel & Smart 1997). According to Bradley (2006) Augusta Ada Lovelace (1815 - 1852) was the first person to document the computer programming process. Her extensive notes explaining the functions and controls of “Babbage’s Analytical Engine included a thorough explanation of the steps necessary for calculating the Bernoulli numbers” (Bradley 2006: p69). Lovelace’s knowledge of mathematics provided her with the “understanding necessary to accomplish this historical achievement,” (Bradley 2006: p69).

Lovelace expressed an interest in the mathematical nature of Babbage’s Difference Engine after viewing it in Babbage’s studio in 1833 (Bradley 2006: p70). In 1842, Louis Menebrea, an Italian mathematician, published a French journal on the subject of the Analytical Engine (Maisel & Smart 1997). Shortly after the journal was published Babbage employed Lovelace to translate the French journal into English. It took Lovelace nine months between 1842 – 1843 to translate the journal and compose her own notes on the Analytical engine and the work of Charles Babbage. “She understood the plans for the device as well as Babbage but was better at articulating its promise,” (Maisel & Smart 1997).

Lovelace’s notes on the Analytical Engine included comments such as “[the Analytical Engine] can arrange and combine its numerical quantities exactly as if they we letters or other general symbols” (Lovelace in Gere p24). When “remarking on the use of punched cards as used in the Jacquard Loom she wrote ‘We may say most aptly that the Analytical Engine weaves algebraical patterns just as the Jacquard-loom weaves flowers and leaves (Lovelace in Gere p24).’” Overall, Lovelace’s notes on the Analytical Engine lent themselves to the interpretation of later scientists, mathematicians and inventors to assist them to understand the work of Babbage and what he sought to achieve, therefore allowing them to adapt Babbage’s ideas into more contemporary ideas and machines.

Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace had a substantial impact on the development of current and future digital technology, specifically the construction of modern computers. Babbage’s initial ideas and attempts to construct the Difference Engine and the Analytical Engine, coupled with the notes documented by Lovelace assisted later inventors to devise and construct machines that relate more to modern-day computers. In conclusion, the works of Babbage and Lovelace both separately and together has contributed a largely to the conception of the contemporary computer and therefore the overwhelming digital culture evident within today’s society.








Charles Babbage
http://www.kerryr.net/pioneers/gallery/ns_babbage3.htm

The Difference Engine
http://history-computer.com/Babbage/DifferentialEngine.html

The Analytical Engine
http://www.chronarion.org/ada/

Ada Lovelace
http://www.chronarion.org/ada/













References for online essay:


Gere, C., 2002, Digital Culture, Reaktion Books Ltd, London, UK.

Bradley, M J., 2006, The Foundations of Mathematics: 1800 to 1900, Chelsea House, New York, US.

Woodford, C., 2006, Science in Focus: Digital Technology, Evans Brothers Limited, London, UK.

Maisel, M. & Smart, L., 1997, Ada Byron, Countess of Lovelace, San Diego Supercomputer Centre, viewed 20 October 2010

Nell B. Dale, N B., Weems, C., & McCormick, J W., 2000, Programming and problem solving with ADA 95, Jones and Bartlett Publishers Inc, London, UK.

Spiller, N., ed. 2002, Cyber Reader: Critical writings for the digital era, Phaidon Press Ltd, London, UK.

Week 10 - Overall Comments out New Com. Tech.

So this week we were asked to evaluate the course so far.

I found this course particularly fun, interesting and CONFUSING!

I really liked the way the teachers tried to come up with new, different and interesting ways of getting us to use different kinds of technology - for example using cameras on phones to take pictures which produced a story to a random film title OR making us use alternative search engines and for some.... learning to use apple macs.

I was intruiged by the quirky personalities of the teachers but abit puzzled by their teaching methods - especially since one teacher would tell their tute group this and the other that and then the students who are in different tute groups start arguing about what's due when, and whether or not we were supposed to write a lecture summary.

It was really refreshing to walk into Kaya's tute (after Jules decided to bail for whatever reason - his loss) and have the tutor sit down and discuss everything that needed to be done, when it was due and how to answer what essay question. I like my assessments to be clear! it's easier to get a good mark that way - so thank you Kaya.

On the otherhand, although I have to admire Daniel's passion the internet and cyberpunking, but I had no idea what he was talking about 90% of the time. I particularly remember when he said "so what is cyberpunking?" at the start of the lecture and then I waited for the answer for the rest of the lecture, however most of his lecture content remains unclear to me. I DID however, enjoy changing the "real" news story into a cyberpunk one. I found that activity quite fun.

All in all I would have to say that I enjoyed most of the course but feel like I still don't fully understand some of the concepts that were discussed - and I'm not sure if that's due to the way that they were explained or the fact that I was unfamiliar with alot of the jargon used throughout the lectures.

Week 9

This week we have to choose one of 6 essay topics. At the moment I'm thinking of choosing question one which is: Discuss the impact of TWO of the following figures on the development of digital technologies and digital culture: Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, William Gibson, Kevin Mitnick, Alan Turing, Ray Kurzweil, J.C.R. Licklider, Douglas Engelbart.


In the Lecture, Daniel spoke about William Gibson in reference to Cyberpunk. We just spoke about the questions in the tutorial and my tutor has suggested doing William Gibson and Charles Babbage because she thinks they fit well together. I will have to find out some information on Babbage first because I have never heard of him before and then I will be able to see if I think they are the figures I want to write about. But before I start I will definitely check out a few of the others incase I find someone else more interesting than those two. It will also depend on how much information I can find about each of the figures.

week 8 - tutespark - Cyberpunk

CYBERPUNK:
Corporate control over society: Cyberpunk almost always has an ever powerful controlling entity that directs society. Most often this is represented as a corporation. Some times its simply an ever present singular government. A common theme for corporate control involves a futuristic dystopia, where the last traces of high civilization exist only in an enclosed and protected city, where civil liberties are removed under the guise of protecting humanity.


I decided to incorporate ideas from the Resident Evil series to incorporate into a story about the flu vaccines for young children being recalled in Australia.


I retrieved the story from -http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/04/23/2880763.htm

Doctors told not to give the vaccine to under-5s

Updated Fri Apr 23, 2010 12:41pm AEST

Umbrella Corp said people suffering from the effects of the virus changed from seriously ill to critical as officials investigated whether a bad batch of vaccine was to blame. Doctors are being warned not to give the vaccine to children under the age of five, after a child fell critically ill and dozens more suffered serious adverse reactions after receiving the vaccine in New York.

Umbrella Corp's Health Minister Jackie Cartwright says that in the past month, 23 otherwise healthy children have suffered fever, vomiting, febrile convulsions and developed an appetite for human flesh hours after receiving the vaccination.

America's chief medical officer Jim Black says parents should not have their children vaccinated at the moment.

"Until we know more we've suggested that we don't use that [vaccine] for the moment in children under five as the effects it has had upon the children are extremely contagious," he told ABC Local Radio this morning.

"I'm advising all doctors today not to use it until we know a bit more.

"This is not the expected reaction, therefore I just think it's wise and precautionary not to use it in children under five to avoid the effects from spreading worldwide."

Professor Bishop says there have been hundreds of reports of issues with the vaccine in other states or territories.

"We've asked the Umbrella Corp to be in touch with all of the states and we've spoken to chief health officers of all of the states," he said.

"We're getting all the information together so that we have a very complete picture, which we don't have fully at the moment."

This morning a spokeswoman for Federal Health Minister Nicola Rixon said all American parents were being advised not to give their children the vaccine.

The spokeswoman described the measure as a "precaution".

New York's Health Department has suspended the vaccination program for children under five after a spike in admissions to Princess Merideth Hospital (PMH).

New York's chief health officer, Terry Beach, says the department is investigating whether the reactions were caused by a particular type of vaccine or batch.

"We are concerned that there's a much higher number of fever and canibalistic reactions than would be expected, and doctors at PMH have told us this," he said.

"Now we have to work out why, whether it's related to a particular type of vaccine or particular batch."

"Until we find out why these reactions have occured we must put all affected patients into isolation where they can be monitored and tested."

One of the manufacturers, CSL, says it is aware of the matter and is working closely with the Diseased Goods Administration and New York authorities.

Dr Beach says parents should closely monitor their child if they have been vaccinated in the past 24 hours.

"Cool the child, [give them] paracetamol and make sure their temperature returns to normal, if it doesn't bring them to an isolation facility immediately" he said.



Here is the trailer for the first Resident Evil series, retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiS6gtClrqk

Week 7 - tutespark

1. What is creative commons and how could this licensing framework be relevant to your own experience at university?

"Creative Commons is an international non-profit org that provides free licences and tools that copyright owners can use to allow others to share, reuse and remix their material, legally."

I think Creative Commons could be relevant to my experience at uni because it means I could copyright my personal work but also be able to share my work with others and I will still get credit for my work but other will be able to reference or use it - like if I want to publish my work like an article or journal.


2. Find 3 examples of works created by creative commons and embed them in your blog.


Here are some videos created by Creative Commons to help people understand what they are about and how their service can be used.

- Creative Commons - A Shared Culture



- Creative Commons - Get Creative



- Creative Commons - An alternative to copyright





3. Have a look at Portable Apps (a pc based application) – provide a brief description of what it is and how you think this is useful.

portable - carried or moved with ease
app - a computer program like a web browser or word processor

"A portable app is a computer program that you can carry around with you on a portable device and use on any Windows computer."

Portable Apps can be useful because it allows you to carry your all the applications on you computer ranging from your web browser (history and favourites), calendar, emails and with all your contacts and settings, your instant messenger and contacts list, your documents and presentations and even your antivirus program and other computer utilities. You can also "carry all your important passwords and account information securely."

Portable Apps are convenient for travel and sharing.

week 7 - tutespark - free software

This week we were asked to try some free software and write about whether we liked the software or not.

I decided to download some free software that I thought I would actually use in the future, rather than download something and then delete it. Since I had to send a track of me singing to hopefully, a future employer, I thought I would down some software that would help me cut and edit some video footage of my high school performances. I downloaded AVS4YOU, which is a variety of software such as video, audio and image editing and coping, audio recording, file converting, making ringtones and a few more.

It took me awhile to teach myself how to use AVS without having to read the entire instructions but I got a hang of the tools I needed to use like video copying, cutting and burning. I came across a few problems though - when I copied a video from a DVD onto the computer I couldn't find a way to access the temporary files so every time I wanted to access the video I copied, I had to go through the entire copying process again.

The other problem was since I hadn't actually perchased the software, when it came to burning the edited videos to a disc the AVS4YOU watermark was burnt onto the disc over the time of my video and the only way the get rid of it was to buy the software to get the activation code.

Finally, when I burnt the videos to the disc, the sound didnt work at all and I have no idea why, so I gave up on the cutting and editing and burning and just copied the entire disc and sending that.

All in all, I didn't mind the software, except for all the watermarks and lack of sound.

Week 6 - tutespark

This week we had Daniel as our guest speaker, he spoke about social networking... He asked us: "Who owns the content (pics, videos and text) you put on the internet on various sites and who has the rights to your creations?"


According to Chris Crum on WebProNews "According to Twitter's terms of service, you own your content, but Twitter does host it and they have control over it regardless of whether or not you own it."


According to the Facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities under Sharing Your Content and Information

You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how it is shared through your privacy and application settings. In addition:

1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos ("IP content"), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to yourprivacy and application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook ("IP License"). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

retrieved from - http://www.facebook.com/terms.php

According to Myspace terms and conditions under Proprietary Rights in Content on MySpace. 

6.1 MySpace does not claim any ownership rights in the text, files, images, photos, video, sounds, musical works, works of authorship, applications, or any other materials (collectively, "Content") that you transmit, submit, display or publish (“post”) on, through or in connection with the MySpace Services. After posting your Content on, through or in connection with the MySpace Services, you continue to retain any such rights that you may have in your Content, subject to the limited license herein. By posting any Content on, through or in connection with the MySpace Services, you hereby grant to MySpace a limited license to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce, and distribute such Content solely on, through or in connection with the MySpace Services, including, without limitation, through the MySpace Services to applications, widgets, websites or mobile, desktop or other services which are linked with your MySpace account (collectively, “Linked Services”), including, without limitation, distributing part or all of the MySpace Services and any Content included therein, in any media formats and through any media channels, except that Content marked “private” will not be distributed by MySpace outside the MySpace Services and Linked Services.

Read more: http://www.myspace.com/Modules/Common/Pages/TermsConditions.aspx#ixzz10PP3C1KP

Week 6 - culture jam

Today in the Tute, Jordan and Amanda created facebook pages for our culture jam and Caitlin and I created a Blog.

Amanda said that the facebook pages "No Fatties on Light Rail" and "Equality on Gold Coast Light Rail" weren't very effective because she had trouble getting people to join the group - I didn't even want to join the group because then it would come up on my own personal facebook page and I can already guess which of my friends would comment on it and say that Im mean and shallow and thats before they even read about the group or ask me why I joined it. Amanda said that most of the people who joined the group were American drag queens and she said she had no idea why they even joined in the first place.

The blog called "Fat Pride" was supposed to be a blog written in the perspective of a "big" girl who resented the fact that the transport fares were going up because of large people and she hated the fact that facebook pages had been set up by skinny people to "dis" the "fatties." On the blog are facts and articles about "big" people.

All in all, our culture jam pretty much failed, we didn't get many people to join or follow our webpages and I'm pretty sure only Jordan, Amanda, Caitlin, Jules and I ever "knew" about the whole thing.

tutespark 5 - culture jamming

Culture Jamming - is a form political communication which plays with branded images and icons of consumer culture as an attempt to subvert and sensationalise how our everyday lives are saturated in direct and indirect commercialisation.

information sourced from - http://depts.washington.edu/ccce/polcommcampaigns/CultureJamming.htm
(accessed on 3.9.10)

"The phrase "culture jamming" comes from the idea of radio jamming: that public frequencies can be pirated and subverted for independent communication, or to disrupt dominant frequencies."

Some of the most common demostrations of culture jamming include billboard modifications and modifying slogans to create political statements.

First type of Culture Jamming was in 1968 came from the group called Situationist International, when it proposed the use of guerrilla communication within mass media to sow confusion within the dominant culture.

reference - http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Culture_jamming

This culture jam has recently become one of what I would consider the most influential culture jams at least in our day. It is a message to the ignorant and overly communist. This is not only an anti consumerist culture jam but a eye opener if you know the other half of the story behind this picture. By using the well know theme of Apple ipods which seem to be absolutely everywhere these days, the creator/s of this culture jam brings light to the horrific treatment of detainees.

The Fat Tax

The reasons behind the delay in the construction of the light rail on the Gold Coast revealed....

The doors on the already manufactured light rail carriages need altering to accommodate for larger patrons because the door width does not meet standard size measurements. Current train fares have been increased in order to fund these alterations.

week 5 lec response

So this week we had a guest speaker; Adam Muir. He spoke about "social media" even though he disagrees with the fact that they are called "social media." His beef with this term is because technology is "the scientific study of mechanical arts and their application to the world," and then he explained that technology becomes media when it "is used for social or cultural communication." He then went on to say that if you look at the definitions of "technology" and "media," then how can "social media" be called such if media is technology when it is used socially or culturally? Meaning it is already social, so therefore he feels like when you say "social media" you are really saying "social media media." HAHAHAHA!!! He was very passionate about this idea and tried to explain it the best he could but it's a difficult concept to explain, which is why you are probably scratching your head trying to wrap your head around what i just wrote.

Adam also talked about the virtual community and individual identity.

He spoke about the features of Web 2.0 - folksonomy, the idea of 'user generated content,' and open API. He also discussed the three main types of "social media," - weblogs/blogs like this one, social network services like facebook of course and myspace and content sharing communities such as flickr and youtube.

week 4 Tutespark

Ok so our tutespark for this week was to find 3 short films that were made solely for internet distribution/viewing.

1. Meat Locker - a short horror film, filmed on a farm in NSW, starring some local drama students and actors

view it here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrQ5cYwOBso

2. Who wants seconds - a comedy

view it here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD_bIegv658

3. Touch the Ash - a short film about the complexity of relationships and how computer can be bad

view it here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NV6pq1W-I4g&feature=pyv&ad=5067467668&kw=short%20films&gclid=COi8_ZDZ6KMCFQipbwod5G0m3A

activities for week 4

1.Where and when did usable online video start? (provide some refs. and an example if possible)
 
Youtube was founded in  February in 2005 and began an internet video viewing and sharing frenzy. The website fast became the leading online video destination for both viewers and those who post videos. It allows consumers to search and view online videos quickly and easily whilst allowing people to upload their own videos for free and with ease.

info sourced - http://www.youtube.com/t/company_history

Youtube has proved to be a successful medium for self publication, being the source of celebrity for individuals such as Justin Beiber, Trent from punch bowl and Corey Simpson.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtR6m-w5vaY

2.In the lecture we heard about technological innovations that were used by the studios to lure audiences. (mostly to combat the popularity of TV)
What recent innovations are being used to lure us in the movies?


- vmax cinemas with 3d viewing - vmax cinemas have big leather chairs with extra seat space that are more comfortable than the standard cinema chairs fitted in standard cinemas, the screen is bigger than standard cinema screens, there are small tables and lots of leg room.

sourced - http://www.eventcinemas.com.au/WhatIsVmax- other attempts to lure customers include having 3d sport playing in cinemas instead of films - see more more information - http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/blogs/the-vulture/see-the-really-really-big-men-fly/20100517-v76l.html

- Gold Class cinemas - How many times have you been in a cinema and wanted to strangle the teenagers and children talking throughout the ENTIRE movie!!!!!! I have to say i get this feeling almost everytime i go to the cinema. So as an attempt to lure adults to the cinema, Gold Class was created. This means no people under the age of 18!!!! woop woop! Alcholic beverages are available as well as hot food and seats that recline. A personal waitor can also bring you food during the movie.

sourced from - http://www.villagecinemas.com.au/Cinemas/Gold-Class.htm



- other international attempts to lure customers include - http://www.topnews.in/vienna-cinema-starts-monthly-doggy-day-attract-customers-219184

What are they luring us from?

Cinemas and film production studios are attempting to improve the cinema experience by bringing in new features such as 3d experience and both vmax and gold class cinemas. This is an attempt to get people out of the house, away from the Television and into the cinemas and generate profit.

3.Are short films still being made? Why? Who pays for them to be made?

Short films are still being made. We were shown a fantastic short film called "mankind is no island," made by a person in Australia and a person in New York who filmed the entire film on their cellphones. It won the annual Tropfest competition. I found it really touching and have been showing it to all me friends and family. Short films like this one are atill being made because people with a talent for film making are wanting to create and share their thoughts, ideas, passion and observations with the world. The internet acts as one of the easiest mediums utilised by the producers of short films to share their work.

Alot of the time short films made today are funded by the artists/film makers themselves. Because they are short films and alot of the time they dont star HUGE celebritites in them they are alot cheaper to produce.


4.The term viral is thrown about adhoc but what does it mean in film/movie arena? Give some examples.

The term viral, according to dictionary.com means "of, pertaining to, or caused by a virus." So this does not apply directly to "viral videos" because they dont become viral due to a virus, they become viral because they become extremely popular over a short amount of time and spread like a virus would/does.

According to the viral video chart - Eminem's new music video "Love the way you lie," featuring Rihanna is the number one viral video in the last 24 hours with 57, 263 shares in the last 24 hours. Of course these change as new videos are uploaded and viewed.

ref - http://viralvideochart.unrulymedia.com/now

5. Online video distribution isn't limited to the short film format. We are now starting to see television styled shows made solely for internet release (webisodes). Find an example of this style of content and discuss how viewing television content in this way can positively and negatively affect the viewer's experience.


Happy tree friends is an example of a show solely for internet release.


pos + There are no ads
pos + You can watch these at anytime appropriate to you, where as television is scheduled

neg - Viewing tv content in this way is usually undergone by one person at one time, therefore resulting in antisocial behaviour.
neg - this is not possible for those without internet and can use up way too much internet data for those who only have a limited amount of internet data 

Tutespark - week 3

Ok... the week 3 task is to find at least 3 examples of digital devices that are not electronic. Preferably, communication devices.

Ok well... first we will have to define the key words - digital, device, electronic and communication.

Digital - adjective


1. of or pertaining to a digit or finger.
2. resembling a digit or finger.
3. manipulated with a finger or the fingertips: a digital switch.
4. displaying a readout in digital form: a digital speedometer.
5. having digits or digitlike parts.
6. of, pertaining to, or using data in the form of numerical digits.
7. Computers . involving or using numerical digits expressed in a scale of notation to represent discretely all variables occurring in a problem.
8. of, pertaining to, or using numerical calculations.
9. available in electronic form; readable and manipulable by computer.
Device - noun

1. a thing made for a particular purpose; an invention or contrivance, esp. a mechanical or electrical one.
Electronic - adjective


1. of or pertaining to electronics or to devices, circuits, or systems developed through electronics.
2. of or pertaining to electrons or to an electron.
4. of, pertaining to, or controlled by computers, or computer products and services.

Commmunication - noun

1. the act or process of communicating; fact of being communicated.
2. the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs.

sourced - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ on 23.8.10

Ok... so if we put all of these together to form a definition of digital communication device we can assume that a this device is: a thing made for the particular purpose of imparting or intechanging thoughts, opinions or information that resembles a digit or finger, which can be manipulated by a human finger or by a computer is the information is in an electronic form.

Therefore digital devices that are not electronic or also known as analogue could include:

1 - an abacus - which has movable counters that are manually moved by a person's fingers, it communicates numbers and values and assists in making mathematical calculations.

2. an analogue clock - communicates time with numbers

3. smoke signals - are able to communicate a message over a large distance. Most of the time smoke signals are used to signal distress - like in Lord of the Rings, when Gandalf gets Pippin to lift the beacon of Gondor to send Rohan a distress message so they will come to Gondor's aid.

4. Morse code - is a code made up of long and short pulses or "dots and dashes." This code can be communicated by sound and light.
sourced - http://www.omniglot.com/writing/morsecode.htm

treasure hunt for week 3

1. What is the weight of the world’s biggest machine? How much did it cost to build?


Liebherr T 282B: is the Largest Earth-hauling Truck in the World

Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/40463_worlds-largest-machines-ever-built#ixzz0wRuavtR3 
(accessed 13.8.10)

The Liebherr T 282B is the world's largest earth-hauling dump truck. It was designed by a German manufacturer in 2004, when it became the largest earth-hauling truck in the world. This beast of a truck is driven by a 10.5 ton, 90 liter disel engine, producing 3650 horsepower (2700 kW).Read more: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/40463_worlds-largest-machines-ever-built#ixzz0wRvrBugg

Features:

Weight: empty - 203 tons; maximum capacity - 365 tons; maximum operating weight - 592 tons

Length: 14.5 m long

Height: 7.4 m tall

Wheelbase: 6.6 m

Top Speed: 40 mph or 65 kph

Costs: US$3.5 M

2. What is the best way (quickest, most reliable) to contact Ozzy Osborne?

Ozzy Osbourne's Manager:

Sharon Osbourne

Sharon Osbourne Management

9292 Civic Center Drive

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Phone: 310-859-7761

sourced from - http://famous-relationships.topsynergy.com/Ozzy_Osbourne/Contact.asp
(accessed 13.08.10)

3. When and what was the first example of global digital communication?
Digital communication is the "electronic transmission of information that has been encoded digitally (as for storage and processing by computers)."

sourced - http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/digital+communication (accessed 1.9.10)

Morse Code is one of the earliest forms of digital communication because it was a form of communicating via a specific code (which could be a message or information) that was transmitted over a distance via the electric telegraph which was invented by Samuel Morse in 1836.

reference - http://www.omniglot.com/writing/morsecode.htm (accessed 1.9.10)

4. What is the cheapest form of travel from the Gold Coast to Melbourne?

Jet has Jest saver flights with carry on luggage only for $89 from Gold Coast to Melbourne.

 sourced on 1.9.10 -http://travel.webjet.com.au/webjettsa/home.aspx?flight_search_action=http%3A%2F%2Ftravel.webjet.com.au%2Fwebjettsa%2Fhome.aspx&TripType=OneWay&CityFrom=OOL&DateOut=2010%2F9%2F1&CityTo=Melbourne&DateBack=2010%2F9%2F9&TravelClass=ECONOMY&NumAdult=1&NumChild=0&NumInfant=0&EntryPoint=Flight&RequestFrom=Outside&x=57&y=12


5. Who is Hatsune Miku? What company does she belong to? What is her birthday?

this is Hatsune Miku

Miku Hatsune (初音ミク Hatsune Miku) is the first product in the Vocaloid2 Character Vocal Series created by Crypton Future Media. It is considered as the most popular and well known Vocaloid. The name of the title and the character of the software was chosen by combining Hatsu (初, first), Ne (音, sound), and Miku (未来, future) thus meaning "the first sound from the future."^[2] The data for the voice was created by sampling the voice of Saki Fujita (藤田 咲, Fujita Saki),^[3][4]a Japanese voice actress.

Other names	初音未来 (Unofficial name in Nico Nico Douga Chinese broadcast)
Developer	Crypton
Release date	August, 31 2007
Gender	Female
Age	16
Height	158 cm (5'3")
Weight	42 kg (92.4 lbs)
Optimum genre	Pop idol, pop dance
Optimum tempo	70 ~ 150 BPM
Optimum range	A # 3 ~ E # 5
Character Item	Negi[1]

sourced - http://vocaloid.wikia.com/wiki/Miku_Hatsune (accessed 13.08.10)

6. Find a live webcam in Antarctica. Find a place to stay in Antarctica.

sourced - http://www.awi.de/NM_WebCam/neumayerT.last.jpg (accessed 1.9.10)

As far as I know there are no types of accommodation physically on Antarctica but you can stay on a ship which is close enough.

Polar Star

Converted Ice-Breaker for Expedition Cruises in Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctic Peninsula & Weddell Sea, Antarctica

Ratings:

5 out of 5 (1 votes)

The M/V Polar Star is an ex Swedish icebreaker and was converted in 2000 specifically for expedition cruising. She is an Ice 1A* class vessel, is 4998 GRT and has a fleet of 10 Zodiacs. She is owned b...

Price from:

A$1740 per room

Spirit of Enderby

Spirit of Enberby Ice Breaker in Invercargill (East Antarctica Embarkation), Ross Sea, Antarctica

Ratings:

5 out of 5 (1 votes)

The Spirit of Enderby spends most of her year voyaging around the Polar waters of Antarctica and is perfect for Expedition Travel, carrying just 48 passengers in very comfortable accommodation (r...

Price from:

A$3094 per room

http://www.addictedtotravel.com/accommodation/default.aspx?regionid=12 (accessed 13.8.10)


















7. What song was top of the Australian pop charts this week in 1980?


Funky Town by Lips inc.  - It was number 1 on from the 4th til the 11th August.

 - 4 August Lipps Inc Funkytown 2 weeks


 - 11 August Lipps Inc Funkytown 2 weeks


sourced - http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/List_of_number-one_singles_in_Australia_during_the_1980s#1980_.28Kent_Music_Report.29

8. How would you define the term 'nano technology'? In your own words, what does it really mean?

Nanotechnology is the science of working with, producing, or using materials that are the size of or smaller than a nanometre which is a 100 millionth of a millimetre. This means working with materials that cannot be seen by the naked eye.

reference - http://www.greenfacts.org/en/energy-technologies/glossary-energy-technologies.htm

9. What type of camera is used to make ‘Google Street View’?

The Google Maps Street View Camera

Google licensed shots from Immersive Media, a company that specializes in 360-degree videos, in order to fill out their coverage in cities like NYC.

As you can see, IM mounts a 11-camera contraption on top of their vehicle as they drive in order to capture the 360-degree view you get on Google Maps. 

sourced - http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/office-voyeurism/the-google-maps-street-view-camera-264972.php


10. Translate these questions into Klingon.


Well since there is no translation for the word "questions" in Klingon, I translated the words "these words"  which translates to: "Dochvammey mu'mey "


sourced - http://sites.google.com/a/klingonword.org/klv/klingon-translator-and-dictionary