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Category Archives: This day in information
The PC: Machine of the Year
Today in 1983, Time magazine put on its cover the PC, calling it “machine of the year.” Roger Rosenblatt wrote: “Inventions arise when they’re needed. This here screen and keyboard might have come along any old decade, but it happened to pop up when … Continue reading
The crossword puzzle at 100: “A primitive form of mental exercise” according to the New York Times
Today in 1913, journalist Arthur Wynne published the first crossword puzzle in the New York World. According to Jen Carlson, a New York Times editorial in 1924 called it “a primitive form of mental exercise.” See also NPR’s “100 Years Of Solvitude” and the Atlantic’s interview with Deb … Continue reading
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First Computer-Based Predictions of Presidential Elections
Today in 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected U.S. President, taking over 55% of the popular vote and winning 39 of the 48 states. It was the first time two of the major television networks used computers to predict the … Continue reading
The 1772 Internet and the Commitment to Informed Citizenry
Today in 1772, the town of Boston established a Committee of Correspondence as an agency to organize a public information network in Massachusetts; the Committee drafted a pamphlet and a cover letter which it circulated to 260 Massachusetts towns and … Continue reading
Posted in Internet, Social Impact, This day in information
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Meteorological Observations, the Telegraph, and Metcalfe’s Law
Today in 1870, the U.S. Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations using 24 locations that provided reports via telegraph. For the first time, weather observations from distant points could be “rapidly” collected, plotted, and analyzed at one location. It’s … Continue reading
Posted in Big Data, Telegraph, This day in information
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Edison’s First Movie Projector: A Phonograph for Pictures
Today in 1888, Thomas Edison filed a patent for the first movie projector, the “Optical Phonograph,” which projected images just 1/32-inch across. Steven Lubar in InfoCulture: “Thomas Edison was thinking about the phonograph when he decided to invent a moving picture machine. … Continue reading
Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson Present UNIX
40 years ago today (October 15, 1973), Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson presented their first paper on Unix at the fourth ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles (SOSP) held at Purdue University. The paper will later be published in the … Continue reading
Earliest Surviving Motion Picture
Today in 1888, Louis Le Prince shot Roundhay Garden Scene, the earliest surviving motion picture. It features Adolphe Le Prince, Sarah Whitley, Joseph Whitley and Harriet Hartley walking around in the garden of Oakwood Grange, the home of Joseph and Sarah … Continue reading
Posted in Film, This day in information
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Birth of the American Library Association
Today in 1876, during the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, 103 librarians, 90 men and 13 women, responded to a call for a “Convention of Librarians” to be held October 4-6 at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. At the end of … Continue reading
Posted in Libraries, This day in information
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What Has Steve Jobs Wrought?
[First published October 12, 2012] Steve Jobs had an insanely great ride on the waves of digitization that have transformed the way we work and play over the last few decades. But taking a cursory look at the hundreds of tributes … Continue reading
Posted in Apple, Digitization, This day in information
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The Story of Information 