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Annotated Bibliography

Specific Catalysts for the Evolution of Modern Computing

Sharat Vyas
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
October 25, 2015

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Annotated Bibliography
Bszrmenyi, Laszlo. History of Informatics. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 30.3
(2008): 4-7. Project Muse. Web. 20 October 2015.
Laszlo Bszrmenyi is the author of this peer-reviewed article and is a professor at the
University of Klagenfurt in Austria. The Austrian Computer Society, Austrian Society for
the History of Computing Informatics, and Klagenfurt University organized a workshop
at Klagenfurt University. There Bszrmenyi was anointed Guest Editor and was in
charge of summarizing the discussion of the workshop into an article to be published in
the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. Bszrmenyis article is heavily focused
on the methodic and didactic issues of the history of computing. He focuses on the poor
way in which the history of computing is examined as well as the poor way in which the
history of computing is being taught. He provides the reader very little information about
the actual history of computing. After reading this, I think Bszrmenyi wrote the article
primarily for other industry experts and educators. This article is considered a reliable
one because it has been published in a peer-reviewed journal. This means that it has been
written and read by some of the experts in the field of Computer Science. The author did
not present any biases in the paper rather, an issue that is gaining prominence in the
computing community. This article will not be very useful to me because it does not
expand on the actual history of computing. While the article does give very brief
examples of history, it is not at all sufficient for my research.
Ceruzzi, Paul. A History of Modern Computing. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 2003.
Print.

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Paul Ceruzzi is the author of A History of Modern Computing and is the Curator of
Aerospace Electronics and Computing at the National Air and Space Museum. In his
book, Ceruzzi begins by defining what a computer is and then continues on to cover
every major development in computing history from the first computer to the rise of the
Internet. He divides the book into 5 periods in which each has a foundational and
everlasting difference on how we use computers today. Examples include the shift from
mainframe to minicomputers, then the shift to personal computers, and the invention and
evolution of the integrated circuit. The author does not present any bias because his book
is purely factual creating no scope for opinions. I think this source is a very credible one
because it has been published by an expert in the field of computing history. In addition
to that, the book has been published by MIT which is one of the titans in Computer
Science. I believe that Ceruzzis book is geared for researchers because it provides such a
great amount of information as well as citations in the back to help you find even more
resources. Ceruzzis book is packed with major developments in the evolution of modern
computing and is a very reliable source, as a result, I plan on using this book for my
research. It will help me determine the catalysts in the evolution of modern computing as
well as give me a great amount of information on that specific catalyst.
The History of Computing Creation Story: Computings long and twisted past. The
Economist. The Economist. 10 March 2012: 86-87. Print.
In this article, the author focuses on the John von Neumanns vision for computers to not
only do one specific task like they did in WWII and how his ideas became reality. The
author alludes to George Dysons Turings Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital
Universe (Dysons book focuses on creation of Princeton computer) numerous times and

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provides specific examples of what von Neumanns vision really was. He elaborates that
Neumann wanted the computer to be able to do variable tasks such as weather-forecasting
and artificial life. The author continues by giving examples of specific men that in the
early 1950s brought Neumanns wishes to life. I think this article is geared toward
readers that have an interest in computers but are not interested in learning all the gory
details about the history. The article is a reliable one because it has been published in The
Economist which is a widely read and professional new source. In addition to that, the
author alludes to George Dysons book numerous times which is a published book, this
tells me that he has put forth significant research behind the article. In conclusion, I will
use this article to help guide me on what early catalysts were crucial to the evolution of
modern computing. I will then use the list that I compile from this article and research
each topic a bit more individually.

Montecino, Viginia. History of Computing. Education and Technology Resources. George

Mason University. April 2011. Web. 20 October 2015.
This website is made by Virgina Montecino. Monetcino lists milestones of computing
from the abacus in the 14th century till the PDA in 1996. After listing these milestones and
a brief description, she continues by adding a list of influential computer scientists
include Alan Turing(Turing Machine-Codebreaker), John von Neumann(Princeton
Computer) and many more. She finishes her webpage by adding an in-depth history of
the birth of the internet and its rise to prominence including key developments that
altered its evolution. I think that this website is a reliable source because it is affiliated
with George Mason University (url). In addition to that, Montecino provides a list of
sources at the bottom of the page that are all reliable sources. Examples include PBS and

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BBC books. I think her target audience is students researching the history of computing
because she provides key milestones with a brief description as well as a list of the
sources that the reader can access to help them research further. I plan on using this
website to help me create a list of key catalysts. After which, I will narrow down the list
by individually researching each catalyst further.