TIMELINE

1936 – Walter Benjamin publishes the widely discussed essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.”
1940-45 - Vannevar Bush – Primary organizer of the Manhattan Project. Created groundbreaking analog computing projects at MIT. 1940 got grand by Franklin Roosevelt for funding and research between military, industry and academic “iron triangle” which led to new media. 1945 wrote As We May Think. Doug Engelbart – Inspired by Bush’s “As We May Think”, he invented the mouse, word pressor, and the hyperlink.
1950 – Alan Turing worked to decrypt encoded language. He wrote an essay, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, which discusses the many aspects of artificial intelligence.
1952 – “Grace Murray Hopper programmed the first compiler, computer languages began to take shape.”
1954 – Norbert Wiener began working toward cybernetics, which is “the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things.” (Apple Dictionary). Wrote the essay Men, Machines, and the World About.
1957 – Allan Kaprow established a new trend in performing arts where the audience became more and more involved with the performance, these were called “happenings”.
1959 – Brion Gysin was an artist who made popular the “cut-up” technique, where he would cut newspapers into sections and rearrange the text.
1960 – J.C.R. Licklider was an American computer scientist famous for his publication of “Man-Computer Symbiosis”. This article describes the need for the symbiosis of computers and man-power.
1962 – Doug Engelbart invented the computer mouse.
1963 – Ivan E. Sutherland – Sketchpad was created, which is a three dimensional communication program.
1966 – E.A.T. (Experiments in Art and Technology) was founded by Billy Kluver, Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Whitman, and Fred Waldhauer.. Which led to the development of the relationship between artist and engineer.
1967 – Negroponte founded the Architecture Machine Group at MIT.
1968 – “The mother of all demos” Douglas Engelbart and others demonstrated the research behind ARC (Augmentation Research Center) about interactive computing. This led to an explosion of interest in the field.
1974 – Augusto Boal writes “Theater of the Oppressed”, which brought about ideas of interactive theater, further blurring the line between audience and actors.
1975 – Nicholas Negroponte publishes “Soft Architecture Machines”; an article that depicts the importance of humans being empowered by computers, allowing for creative experimentation.
1976 – Joseph Weizenbaum writes “Computer Power and Human Reason”; which brings up concerns about the effects human relations have with the advance of computer interaction.
1977 - Burroughs and Gysin publish “The Third Mind,” a collection of cut-up writings and essays.
1977 – Myron Kreuger publishes “Responsive Environments”. He is the godfather of virtual reality, and interactive computer spaces.
1977 – Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg publish “Personal Dynamic Media”. They developed the ideas that led to the development of the laptop and desktop computer.
1978 – Joseph Weizenbaum publishes “Computer Power and Human Reason”. He wrote one of the most famous chatterbox in the history of computing, and then perceived the dangers of some of the uses that can come from it. He then demanded that scientists and technologists take responsibility for what they develop.
1979 – The first interactive video art installation, “Lorna”, is created by Lynn Hershman.
1980 – “A Thousand Plateaus” is written by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari.
1982 – “Literary Machines: proposal for a Universal Electronic Publishing System and Archive” is published. Written by Ted H. Nelson, it explains Xanadu.
1983 – “Direct Manipulation: A Step Beyond Programming Languages” is written by Ben Shneiderman. He tries to bring about the idea of communicating based on a visual language, rather than a literary language.
1984 – Sherry Turkle publishes “Video Games and Computer Holding Power”. This article explores the psychology behind video games.
1985 – The definition of a cyborg is explored in Donna Haraway’s article, “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century”
1985 – Open source software, the idea that the programming is open to the public, is discussed in “The GNU Manifesto”, written by Richard Stallman. He coins the term “copyleft”.
1986 – “Mythinformation” by Langdon Winner articulates how computers can be used for positive social change.
1987 – Lucy A. Suchman criticizes AI research in “Plans and Situated Actions”. She presents two unsolved problems: the self-explanatory tool, and giving the computer a purpose.
1988 – Bill Nichols publishes “The Work of Culture in the Age of Cybernetic Systems”. This essay updates Benjamin’s essay on mechanical reproduction, and addresses contemporary forms of reproduction.
1988 – Ivan Sutherland won the Turing Award for his invention of the Sketchpad
1990 to 1992 – the “golden age” of hypertext fiction.
1991 - Pelle Ehn and Morten Kyng published “Cardboard Computers: Mocking-it-up or Hands-on the Future” on the human use of comuters. Their focus is on human-relations, and has had a strong effect on the “usability” of computers.
1991 - Chip Morningstar and F. Randall Farmer created one of the first interactive virtual environment called “Habitat”.
1991 - Bolter points out the importance of understanding typography and how computers relate to the movement of writing in his essay “Seeing and Writing”.
1991 – “You Say You Want a Revolution? Hypertext and the Laws of Media” by Stuart Moulthrop is a very in depth discussion on the hypertext, and brings up many interesting observations on the internet
1992 – Robert Coover tries to create a new form of fiction. His essay “The End of Books” describes hypertext fiction, and declares that it will end books as we know them.
1993 – Scott McCloud writes the comic book version of Aristotle’s Poetics. He describes the laws and dynamics of how comics work.