Category Archives: Social Impact

Creating the Public Image of Computers: IBM’s SSEC

Posted on January 27, 2013 by GilPress

Today in 1948, IBM’s Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC) was announced and demonstrated to the public.“The most important aspect of the SSEC,” according to Brian Randell in the Origins of Digital Computers, “was that it could perform arithmetic on, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Computer history, IBM, Libraries, Social Impact | Leave a comment

Life without the Internet in 1,115 Words

Posted on August 16, 2012 by GilPress

Paul Miller reports on the first three months being paid to completely disconnect from the Internet: The first two weeks were a zen-like blur. I’ve never felt so calm and happy in my life. Never. And then I started actually … Continue reading →

Posted in Internet, Internet access, Internet Addiction, Social Impact | Leave a comment

The Rise and Fall of Social Networks

Posted on June 8, 2012 by GilPress

Textfiles.com brings us a 1982 assessment of the “golden age” and subsequent decline of Bulletin Board Systems: What ever happened to real bulletin-board systems? 

Posted in Computer history, Social Impact, Social Networks | Leave a comment

Cattle Logs from 1882 to 2012

Posted on May 2, 2012 by GilPress

After seeing a card catalogue in the Iowa State University library in 1882,  Thomas B. Wales, the secretary of the Holstein-Friesian Association of America, applied the idea to the 40,000 animals in the Holstein-Friesian Herd Book. He estimated that the number … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Big Data, Digitization, Economic Impact, information organization, Social Impact | Leave a comment

The Past and Future of Moving Money

Posted on May 2, 2012 by GilPress

Stephanie Buck, Masahable: “…are consumers ready to wholeheartedly adopt the latest in mobile payment technology? Adults who are unbanked, for instance, may face a barrier to mobile transactions — there are currently 17 million unbanked adults in the U.S. But many … Continue reading →

Posted in Automation, Digitization, eCommerce, Economic Impact, Information Economy, Internet Economy, Mobile, Social Impact, The InfoStory Quant | 1 Comment

The Earth Shrunk in the 19th Century

Posted on April 30, 2012 by GilPress

“A critical fact in the world of 1801 was that nothing moved faster than the speed of a horse. No human being, no manufactured item, no bushel of wheat … no letter, no information, no idea, order, or instruction of … Continue reading →

Posted in Information diffusion, Quotes, Social Impact, Telegraph, Transportation | Leave a comment

On Books and eBooks

Posted on April 29, 2012 by GilPress

“Few technological victories are ever complete, and in the case of books this will be especially true. Bookstores will not disappear but will exploit digital technologies to increase their virtual and physical inventories, and perhaps become publishers themselves. So will … Continue reading →

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The Who’s Who of the World Wide Web

Posted on April 20, 2012 by GilPress

Source: Flowtown

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Harper Lee on Reading

Posted on April 13, 2012 by GilPress

From a letter to Oprah Winfrey Harper Lee wrote in 2006: “Do you remember when you learned to read, or like me, can you not even remember a time when you didn’t know how? I must have learned from having been … Continue reading →

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Carnegie Free Libraries: Building a Very Solid Temple of Fame

Posted on April 10, 2012 by GilPress

LIBRARY: From Fr. libre, meaning free, and proper name ANDY.  Something free from Andy Carnegie–Gideon Wurdz, The Foolish Dictionary, 1904.

Posted in Libraries, Social Impact | Leave a comment