[SIGCIS-Members] Analogue vs. Digital

[NOVEMBER, JOSEPH]

Thanks, Debbie and Nathan, for the publicity and the kind words!

The dissertation covers the development and use of LINC through 1965. I suspect it would indeed be helpful reading to anyone examining the A vs D controversies surrounding work with the machine (a wonderful research topic, by the way).

Among other things the LINC was a superb analog-to-digital converter, and its ease of use laid bare many of the problems associated with digitizing analog data. LINC was also specifically designed with neurophysiologists in mind, and many of the controversies that cropped up in the late 1960s have roots (with which the LINC's developers were familiar) going back to early 1950s.

Besides the dissertation, I published a brief introduction to LINC in Endeavour (Joe November, "LINC: biology's revolutionary little computer," Endeavour Volume 28, Issue 3, September 2004, pages 125-131).

I am happy to send a PDF of the dissertation or the article to anyone who requests it. I am traveling, however, so it make take a few days for me to honor such a request.

Joe

Joseph November
Assistant Professor
Department of History
University of South Carolina
212 Gambrell Hall
Columbia, SC 29208
november at sc.edu

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