Fall 1998 Computers and Society
Tuesdays 6 - 9:40 PM in 113 Rackham: GST 2710, Section 990 and AGS 3360, Section 983
Mondays 5:30 - 9:10 PM at NWAC: GST 2710, Section 984

Last updated: 10/18/98
Link back to course Welcome...

Computers in the News

Topic: Girls and Computers
Date: 10/19/98
Source: New York Times
A recent study by the Association of University Women (AAUW) reports that schoolgirls mostly take computer classes and use computers for data entry and other clerical types of skills, while boys take classes and use computers for problem-solving and programming. Girls are starting to perceive high-tech as a male domain. Computer games are also mostly male-oriented. This comes at a time, the AAUW says, when girls have made large advances in taking math and science classes, and, on balance, may be ahead of boys in preparing for professional careers.

Topic: Internet Pioneer, development of the Internet
Date: 10/19/98
Source: New York Times
Jonathan B. Postel, an Internet pioneer, died in California at the age of 55. For many years, Dr. Postel was in charge of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), the self-regulating group that assigned IP addresses. He was also the editor of the Request For Comments series (RFC), a series of 2,500 (and growing) informal proposals that largely determined the structure of the Internet. In both areas, Dr. Postel typified the development of the Internet as self-defining and self-regulating, a loose association of workers. The US Government was important in providing financial backing and a charge to develop a universal, robust computer communications system. But the Internet and the World Wide Web were developed outside of the proprietary commercial arena. Today, important commercial companies are on the regulatory boards, but as co-equals. Companies are providing much of the impetus for the explosive growth of the Internet, but for a company to get its technology accepted as a standard, the company must still go through the peer review of the Internet's regulatory bodies.