Campbell-Kelly M., Aspray W.F., Yost J.R., Tinn H., Diaz G.C. Computer - A History of the Information Machine

Monograph. — 4th Edition. — New York and London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis, 2023. — IX, 384 p. — ISBN 9781003263272, 1003263275.Since the appearance of the third edition in 2014, computing has continued to evolve rapidly. Most obviously, the internet has grown to maturity such that it is now an integral part of most people’s lives in the developed world. Although computing was widely diffused by the end of the twentieth century, it has become truly ubiquitous only in the present century – a transition brought about by internet commerce, consumer computing in the form of smartphones and tablet computers, and social networking.The study of the history of computing has also matured as an academic enterprise. When the first edition of this book appeared in 1996, the history of computing had only recently begun to attract the attention of the academy, and research on this topic tended to be quite technically oriented. Since that time many new scholars with different perspectives have joined the field, and it is rare to find a science, technology, or business history conference that does not discuss developments in, and impacts of, computing technology. In short, the user experience and business applications of computing have become central to much of the historical discourse.Computer: A History of the Information Machine traces the history of the computer and its unlimited, information-processing potential.Comprehensive and accessibly written, this fully updated fourth edition adds new chapters on the globalization of information technology, the rise of social media, fake news, and the gig economy, and the regulatory frameworks being put in place to tame the ubiquitous computer. Computer is an insightful look at the pace of technological advancement and the seamless way computers are integrated into the modern world. The authors examine the history of the computer, including the first steps taken by Charles Babbage in the nineteenth century, and how wartime needs and the development of electronics led to the giant ENIAC, the first electronic computer. For a generation IBM dominated the computer industry. In the 1980s, the desktop PC liberated people from room-sized mainframe computers. Next, laptops and smartphones made computers available to half of the world’s population, leading to the rise of Google and Facebook, and powerful apps that changed the way we work, consume, learn, and socialize.The volume is an essential resource for scholars and those studying computer history, technology history, and information and society, as well as a range of courses in the fields of computer science, communications, sociology, and management.Before the Computer.
When Computers Were People.
The Mechanical Office.
Babbage’s Dream Comes True.Creating the Computer.
Inventing the Computer.
The Computer Becomes a Business Machine.
The Maturing of the Mainframe: The Rise of IBM.Innovation and Expansion.
Real Time: Reaping the Whirlwind.
Software.
New Ways of Computing.Getting Personal.
The Shaping of the Personal Computer.
Broadening the Appeal.
The Internet.The Ubiquitous Computer.
Globalization.
The Interactive Web: Clouds, Devices, and Culture.
Computing and Governance.