Here you can find a PostScript (460 Kbytes), gzipped PostScript (146 Kbytes) and pdf (358 Kbytes) version of Shannon's paper. PDF files can be viewed by Adobe's acrobat reader. Tarred and gzipped contents of the directory (63 Kbytes) that contain the LaTeX code for the paper is also available.
"Before the Web" is an online research project designed for the practitioners of the online services industry and its era. It is an interactive, digital variation of the oral history, the most common traditional technique used to collect the first-hand accounts from people who witnessed or took part in important events and eras.
This is a dictionary of algorithms, algorithmic techniques, data structures, archetypical problems, and related definitions. Algorithms include common functions, such as Ackermann's function. Problems include traveling salesman and Byzantine generals. Some entries have links to implementations and more information. Index pages list entries by area and by type. The two-level index has a total download 1/20 as big as this page.
The National Institue of Standards and Technology hosts this dictionary of algorithms, algorithmic techniques, data structures, archetypical problems, and related definitions. Entries are listed by area or type, and there is a search function as well. Each term has provides a definition and related terms, and many have information about implementation from NIST and other sites. This is a very useful resource for anyone working with, or studying, algorithms or data structures.
Technocapitalism is a new form of market capitalism that is rooted in technological invention and innovation. It can be considered an emerging era, now in its early stage, that is supported by such intangibles as creativity and knowledge.
The VL is the oldest catalog of the web, started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of html and the web itself. Unlike commercial catalogs, it is run by a loose confederation of volunteers, who compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert; even though it isn't the biggest index of the web, the VL pages are widely recognised as being amongst the highest-quality guides to particular sections of the web.
The Internet boom and bust of 1996 to 2002 was the most important business phenomenon of the past several decades. In the wake of this historic period, we have an unprecedented opportunity to learn from our past mistakes and successes.
To help us learn from history, we are creating the Business Plan Archive (BPA) to collect business plans and related documents from the dot com era. These plans – the “blueprints” that lay out the assumptions and strategies of Internet entrepreneurs – will enable entrepreneurs and researchers to conduct both qualitative and quantitative research.
The Business Plan Archive, a project of Prof. David Kirsch at the University of Maryland, collects business plans and related documents from the dot com era to preserve and provide them for study of the Internet boom and bust of the last decade. The communication and records of these companies were all created electronically, and in the Archive are the Word documents, Power Point presentations, and emails of more than 2,000 failed businesses. “Top Ten Lessons from the Dot Com Meltdown” and “A Statistical Summary of the Dot Com Shakeout” provide context for the documents, which include funding requests, memos, draft press releases, anecdotal descriptions or images, and contract and investment-related information. For some companies there is a collection overview as well. The Archive can be searched by company name, alphabetical listing, market sector, market audience, or type of available information, making it easy to find companies of interest. Visitors are able to add more information to the Archive about any company’s events, files, or background, or just add a comment. A thorough Question and Answer Section accompanies the materials, along with links to the numerous articles and news coverage of the Archive.
Welcome to the National Academies' Intellectual Property website. From Internet content protection to human gene patenting, Intellectual Property (IP) in many forms have emerged from legal obscurity to public debate. This website serves as a guide to the Academies' extensive work on Intellectual Property and a forum to discuss ongoing work
The history of engineering can be roughly divided into four overlapping phases, each marked by a revolution:
Pre-scientific revolution: The prehistory of modern engineering features ancient master builders and Renaissance engineers such as Leonardo da Vinci.
Industrial revolution: From the eighteenth through early nineteenth century, civil and mechanical engineers changed from practical artists to scientific professionals.
Second industrial revolution: In the century before World War II, chemical, electrical, and other science-based engineering branches developed electricity, telecommunications, cars, airplanes, and mass production.
Information revolution: As engineering science matured after the war, microelectronics, computers, and telecommunications jointly produced information technology.
Research Aids for the Nineteenth Century
Welcome to my website, the Bell System Memorial. For those of us who were old enough to remember the days of "Ma Bell" you should find plenty of memories on this website of the "good old days" - and perhaps some not-so-good old days - under the Bell System monopoly.
A Switchboard to the History of the Telephone: The Bell System Memorial Website
In the golden days of the Bell telephone monopoly, telephones did not beep, chirp or yodel. Telephones made only one sound: they rang. In those golden days, there was no confusing variety of telephone providers, vying with each other to offer better long distance deals. There was one provider for local and long-distance calls, and this was Bell.
Ma Bell, the company of companies, was much more than a telephone provider: it was a symbol of American enterprise, of innovation and progress. Bell was not a company in the strict sense, but was an aggregate term for AT&T encompassing 24 Bell operating companies that provided local phone services. Under the umbrella was also the AT&T long distance service, an equipment manufacturing arm known as Western Electric, and the research and development division "Bell Laboratories." At the time of its break-up after de-regulation in 1984, Bell was the largest employer in the United States. Bell had not only provided a telephone for the majority of American households, but also a regular income for over a million workers.
The Bell System Memorial website is dedicated to an era of the telephone that was lost with de-regulation. It is a memorial to the technology of the telephone, and a memorial to the workers who made the phones ring. The website is a labor of love by David Massey, a private telephone enthusiast who was not associated with any of the former Bell companies.
The design of the website is clear and intelligent, resembling the functionality of a telephone switchboard: The main index site provides four options for different groups to enter the site: for students and teachers, for former employees, for historians and researchers, and for hobbyists and collectors. By providing these different entrance points, David Massey manages to address a wide audience, and at the same time tailors more specific information to a variety of groups.
When entering through the former employee button, visitors can access a fascinating collection of stories by former AT&T, Western Electric, Bell Labs, and Bell Operating Company employees. In this section, former employees recall "the wonders of working at Ma-Bell." They write about the stages of their careers at Bell, their most extraordinary work experiences, and the comradery among Bell employees. Not all stories reflect a harmonious relationship between the employer and the employees: Peter W. Koch, a former Western Electric installer, tells of a long strike in 1952 to raise the per diem rate for traveling installers by one dollar. In 1958, due to a recession, "about a third of the installers were laid off." Among them was Peter W. Koch, who "was never recalled." This section also gives a sense of the skills that were lost in the course of technological progress. Mary Clemence, who worked as a switchboard operator in Michigan in the mid 1960s, recalls her skills in handling a switchboard from the 1920s. "I've realized for some time that I had an incredibly unique experience using that kind of equipment, at a time when most of the country had direct dialing for local and long distance calls."
In addition to these stories, visitors can access a wealth of material through a navigation bar on the left hand side: a short history of the Bell logo, recordings of Jane Barbe's voice, Yellow Pages for telephone collectors and much more. A search engine helps to find pathways through Bell's A-Z. A What's New page keeps regular visitors up-to-date about additions to the site.
For historians of technology, for students and teachers, for anyone who has phone-nostalgia and wants to have a good time, the Bell System Memorial is the place to go. This website rings.
Katja Hering
Center for History and New Media
April 22, 2004
