This document discusses the history and evolution of major information technologies from ancient calculating devices to modern computers and databases. It covers early manual calculators like the abacus, Napier's Bones, and slide rules. Mechanical calculators that performed calculations automatically were then developed. The Difference and Analytical Engines were early mechanical computers, though they were never fully realized. The punched card system and tabulating machines led to the development of computers using binary. Computers transitioned through generations using vacuum tubes, transistors, integrated circuits, and microprocessors. Databases emerged to organize and distribute collected data, with relational databases linking related tables. Microfilm was also used to preserve and reduce the size of documents.

1. Revolutionary
Technologies In the
Field of Information
Science

2. Major Technologies
Calculators
Manual
Mechanical
Difference and Analytical Engines
Punched Card System/Tabulating Machine
Computers
Databases
Microfilm

3. The Beginnings of
Calculators
Manual Calculators
Abacus – used in Rome, Greece, India, China,
Japan
Rectangular in shape – columns of beads
mounted on rods
Each column of beads representing different
values: specific algorithms for manipulating the
beads
Napier’s Bones – invented by John Napier
Device for multiplication and division – several
rods divided into 10 squares, each square
possessed two numbers
Rods positioned according to different
calculations

4. Manual Calculators Cont.
Slide Rule
English mathematician, William Oughtred, derived
the slide rule from Napier’s logarithms
Early example of an analog computer

5. Mechanical Calculators
Implement algorithms autonomously
Schickard’s Calculator
Interlocking gears – each had 10 spokes which
represented a specific digit
Every time a gear completed a full rotation it
moved one notch to the left
In essence, this movement represented the
“carrying of a one”

6. Difference Engine
Run by steam power
Calculates large tables
of numbers
Unable to make gears
with enough precision
– machine was not
successfully

7. Analytical Engine
Also, this machine was
never fully completed
The design of the
machine paralleled
with the modern day
computer: memory,
programmable
processor, output
device, input of
programs/data

8. Punched Card
System/Tabulating
Machine
Punched Card System
Began with Joseph-Marie Jacquard and the
programmable loom
First practical use of the binary system, which led
to the development of the computer
Hollerith Tabulating Machine
Census Bureau held a competition – best way to
tabulate the 1890 census
Herman Hollerith won  cards had areas to
represent different fields and then they were
punched
Card reader used metal rods to read the data

9. Transition to Computers
First-Generation Computers
Vacuum tubes used to store individual bits of data
– controls flow of electrons
Two distinct states – 0 or 1
Custom application programs
Second-Generation Computers
Use of transistors instead of vacuum tubes
Advantages – smaller, cheaper, more reliable, didn’t
consume as much power
Supported operating systems that supported
standard routines
Programming language compilers – used English
instead of binary

10. Computers Cont.
Third-Generation Computers
Development of integrated circuits – comparable
to thousands of vacuum tubes or transistors in a
miniature chip
DEC PDP-8 – first successful minicomputer
Fourth-Generation Computers
Ted Hoff – developed the first general-purpose
microprocessor
Intel 4004 – miniature in size, possessed the power
of the ENIAC

11. Databases
Functions:
Collect/store data
Update data
Organize data
Distribute data
Find data
Analyze data
Relational Databases
A collection of related tables
Entity-Relationship
Focuses on how each individual entity relates to
another

12. Microfilm
Reducing the size of images
Reprographic science – preservation of written
materials
Becoming a large part of library services
because a lot of printed documents are
deteriorating
Negatives can be kept for approximately 500
years