Hi Eric and Ian, I want to echo Ian's point that this is a good opportunity to widen the young man's perspective on what computation is and how people have done it over the years. However, kids bent on completing school assignments are often frustrated by us curious adults leading them down paths of interest to us and not to them. He may have a very narrow conception of "computer" as a box/screen combination you by from CostCo and use to play games on, send emails and do homework. Many kids don't even realize that their microcomputer, tablet and smart phones all have calculators in them. You might want to start by asking him for a few examples of things that are and are not computers in his opinion. I'm guessing he'll want to learn about the first example of what he thinks of as a computer. Are you familiar with the "cardiac <https://archive.org/details/CardiacCardboardIllustrativeAidToComputation>"? This little manual has a pretty good review of the history of computing machines and how they work. His reaction to this will give you a better idea of what other material will turn him on. I have lots of other resources if this one strikes a positive chord, including the very first Apple Computer (clearly not the first "computer"). Also, I'd suggest you try to discern whether the emphasis in this school project is on how to interview an expert or on the content of the history. It may be just as important to disclose how you got to be "an expert" and what an historian is as it is to identify the "first" computer. Best of luck, Liza Liza Loop Executive Director, LO*OP Center, Inc. Vision Keeper, the History of Computing in Learning and Education www.hcle.org Guerneville, CA 95446 www.loopcenter.org 650 619 1099 (between 8 am and 10 pm Pacific time only please) On Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 10:18 PM Ian S. King <isking@uw.edu> wrote:

Hi Eric,

I think this is a wonderful teachable moment on more than one level. At least when my daughter was a 6th grader, I could have seen her digging into this topic with gusto.

Instead of thinking of these qualifiers as "hedges", I think this is a great opportunity to educate him and his classmates on all of the ways humans have done computing. There are two basic categories, analog and digital - continuous vs. discrete domain and range. For each category, there are differing media: mechanical, electrical, electronic, even water! (I'm trying to envision a liquid-based digital computer - maybe biocomputing?) Since he is researching "the first", this avoids the tar pit of the first "personal" computer - now that would confound a 6th grader, as well as most adults!

Sources are tough, though - there won't be one across all (but that's a fun lesson in library method). I'd certainly agree that Paul Ceruzzi's book is very good for the early digital electronic computer, and the transition to stored-program, than being something else I'd consider a key concept for a non-expert. One could go all the way back to the Antikythera device for mechanical analog computing, but it might be better to focus on things like Bush's Differential Analyzer for that. ENIAC is obviously in there for electronic digital, but how does one come down on the ABC? And outside the US, Zuse's machines were early to the gate.

So many fun dimensions! One would need to bound this rich set appropriately, but perhaps thinking of this as an opportunity to teach deeper concepts about what it means to compute through an examination of how we've been doing it for decades if not centuries.

Just one opinion -- Ian King

On Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 9:13 PM Hintz, Eric <HintzE@si.edu> wrote:

...

Hi SIGCIS-

My buddy emailed and said (paraphrasing): “My son’s a 6th grader; he and his classmates are doing research projects. They have to interview an expert on some topic. His classmate wants to research ‘the first computer.’ Can my son’s classmate interview you?” Being an all-purpose “expert,” I said yes!

As historians, we tend to reject absolutes, hedge, and use qualifying adjectives like the first “electronic” or “programmable” or “personal” computer. But this is a 6th grader, so I don’t want to confuse him with too many carefully constructed hedges. So I appeal to the wisdom of this crowd…

Q: How would you approach this 6th grader’s legitimate interest in the first computer? Which computer(s) should I/we focus on? Best books or other resources (e.g. Ceruzzi’s *Concise History*) to help me and the sixth grader get the facts straight?

Many thanks!

Eric Hintz

======================

-- Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu> Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens

Principal Investigator, "Reflections on Early Computing and Social Change", UW IRB #42619

Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org>

University of Washington

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