Dear all This is an excellent discussion. Like some of the other contributors, I don't have an answer to the literal question Paul raised. The undergrad teaching pattern here doesn't generally favour studying whole books: I have one wide-ranging required purchase (Campbell-Kelly and Aspray’s _Computer_) supplemented with individual papers or extracts. Most of the book extracts are copied under a licensing deal which allows only one chapter per volume per course, so we have to be quite wide-ranging in our selection. This approach is not ideal for all topics, but for the PC and mass internet I suspect it's the best approach right now. I'd echo Tom Haigh in recommending Lindsay's "From the shadows"; and, for British context, the intelligent pop history in Chapter 3 of Francis Spufford's _Backroom Boys_ (London: Faber 2003). _Accidental Empires_ and _Hackers_ (and, indeed, _Fire in the Valley_) are perhaps most valuable when used selectively and reflexively, pulling out a chapter or two to address both the content and presentation of computer history. Maybe this approach could be extended to first-hand accounts such as _Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer_ (Asheville, NC: WorldComm 1993), or the various (and highly variable) platform-specific histories. Tom Lean, who works on personal computing in the UK, is still preparing publications, but Frank Veraart has an English-language chapter on Basicode across Europe which is new in print -- details to follow shortly. Internet/web: I used Tom Haigh's chapters in the Aspray and Ceruzzi ed vol successfully with my undergrads this year. They will perhaps not enthuse a reluctant student, but they are great for providing engaged students with solid bridges from the world described in the well-established historical literature to the world they know from first-hand experience. In particular, "Protocols for profit" usefully clarifies how much "internet" culture has its roots outside the formal internet (eg, in proprietary content services such as CompuServe). I like to build up the paths-not-taken side by pointing to Ted Nelson, videotex, and Philip Frana’s 2004 _Annals_ piece on Gopher. Lastly, I find that using plenty of primary source material, including documentary video and emulated software, scores well in the "exciting for undergrads" dept. They may start out by laughing at the unfulfilled predictions / meagre technical specs/ notion that anyone would play SpaceWar all night, but some of them get hooked. And points that would be hard to write up become obvious when you show actual footage of an early dial-up user websurfing (if you can find it: I use footage from _The Net_, a 1994 BBC magazine show), or use sample issues to show how _Byte_ changed over a 20-year period. Hope this helps! I'd be interested to hear from any other listmembers teaching in this area. Best James Paul Edwards wrote:
All -
I'm getting ready to teach an undergrad course (juniors and seniors) on "History of Computers and the Internet" for the first time in 7 years.
I'm looking for suggestions on three things:
1) A recent book on the history of personal computers that's well-written and exciting for undergrads. I used to use Fire in the Valley, but that's very dated now.
2) On history of the Internet, I've been using Janet Abbate's Inventing the Internet for years. It's a great book but somewhat inaccessible for undergrads, and now a bit dated.
3) Books or articles -- again, exciting for undergrads -- on history of the WWW. Please, not Tim Berners-Lee's awesomely self-centered memoir.
Thanks for any and all.
- Paul ————————————————— Paul N. Edwards, Assoc. Professor of Information
School of Information 3078 West Hall University of Michigan 1085 South University Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107 (734) 764-2617 (office) (206) 337-1523 (fax) http://www.si.umich.edu/~pne/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members