Papers & Essays

 

• A brief history of digital computers (html format)
  In amongst the most choatic and busy period in recent history (for me that is) I managed to get together a chapter on the history of early digital computer for a forthcoming Encyclopedia of 20th Century Technology. It's more that just facts, figures and chronology - who built these computers, why and what were they used for? - hopefully give these developments covered in this brief essay some context. Most noteworthy in this story is Goldstine, von Neuman et al insistence that the report on their work on ENIAC be placed in the public domain.
  
  
  
• Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the Information Society - Synergy and Antagonism (PDF format)
  Presented to an esteemed gathering at an International IKS Conference on the 12-14 Sep 2001 up at Univen up in the far Northern Province. It's my first essay since my MSc, and it sure was hard work to get back into writing. My intention with this paper is to open up some dialogue in the History of Science and Technology within this IKS movement, since I do believe that the past should be informing the present and the future. The conference had a distinctly Africanist theme, but I must say I felt at home.
  
  
  
• MSc Thesis - The Primordial Soup of Cyberspace (PDF format)
  Finale for my MSc in the History of Science, Technology & Medicine at Imperial College in London. September 2000. Although I belive it's a substantial and informative work, it didn't go down too well with the examiners. Maybe it was just my 'style' , or the lack of grammatical polish that only afforded me a C+ for my efforsts. Or perhaps they just didn't understand it , after they didn't even know the technological paradigm shift between the Relay and the Valve ;)