ICAM 40 / VIS 40: Introduction to Computing in the Arts


History of human-computer interface (HCI) and invention of cultural computing

General Ideas:

People who turned digital computer into a machine for production and distribution of media and culture have often worked outside of computer industry establishment.
Their inspiration came from art, education, psychology, philosophy, and other fields.

Current computer technology is not necessary uses all the best ideas developed by the generations of computer scientists. Sometimes best ideas are not implemented, or implemented poorly, or implemented much later. The example is Alan Kay's vision to design a computer which will be easy to program so the users will be able to use it as a "metamedium" - a platform to invent "a wide range" of "not-yet-invented media."

The development of computing is connected to the rise of information society - a new type of society which comes into being after the World War II. It is focused on processing of information and creation of knowledge from information. A digital computer which originally was developed as a faster calculator gradually becomes as the new powerful toolbox for working with information. The examples of some of the earliest tools:
- Bush's Memix (the imaginary machine which introduced the idea of hypertext - organization of information through hyperlinks like the web today);
- Engelhart's outline tools (part of NLS system) shown in his 1968 demo - working with information and ideas by making category, sorting information, changing what information is displayed, etc.
- Sutherland's Sketchpad gave the designer new ways to created and edit 2D designs.




Selected figures and their contributions:
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MIT's development of computer systems for SAGE ("Semi Automatic Ground Environment" -- 1950s):
- graphical display;
- interaction with a computer via a screen (first real-time interactive interface)

screened in class: SAGE film (1956)

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Ivan Sutherland
Sutherland's Sketchpad program (1963):
- popularized the idea of controlling a computer by manipulating graphical objects on the computer screen;
- the ancestor of modern computer-aided drafting (CAD) programs;
- developed many key principles of computer graphics.
- illustrates Kay's point that simulation of existing physical media in a computer does not need to exactly recreate these media but can add many new properties thus essentially turning this media into new media.

screened in class: Alan Kay shows and discusses Sketchpad

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Douglas Engelbart
Douglas Engelbart and colleagues at Augmentation Research Center develop main principles of modern GUI (Graphical User Interface) (1960s):
- mouse control, multiple windows, hypertext, the use of text and graphics within one computer document, word processing;
- also first groupware, teleconferencing.

screened in class: segment of the demo where Engelbardt shows:
"Word processing beginning with "blank piece of paper," text entry, Illustrates cut, copy, file creation including header with name, date, creator. Formatting, hierarchical view control. Doug illustrates the many different levels and views a file can be given. Example using a file with lists, graphics. Doug show how it is possible to rearrange the items by categories and by invoking hierarchical view control for displaying contents of different levels."  (source of the summary)

Complete video of 1968 demo

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Alan Kay
Alan Kay's team at Xerox PARC (1970s):
- building on the work of earlier computer pioneers, Kay and his colleagues developed the concepts and techniques of modern Graphical User Interface
- Alto computer built at PARC used bit-mapped graphics and was connected to a local network.
- other innovations include laser printing.
- Kay also developed the idea of a personal computer which be affordable and would look like today's laptops (around 1970)
- most importantly, Kay and his colleagues developed a new programming language (Smalltalk) which was used to program all applications running on Alto and was also used by users to write new applications.

related reading (required): Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg | "Personal Dynamic Media" (1977)

DISCUSSION LAB

screened in class:
The Machine That Changed the World - Episode III: The Paperback Computer