CPSC 110-08: Computing with Mobile Phones

Reading: Blown to Bits, Chapter 1
Due: Wednesday 9/14 (before class)

Required Textbook

We will use Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness After the Digital Explosion by Abelson, Ledeen, Lewis for reading assignments about the digital revolution. You are required to acquire this book, either by purchasing it or by downloading PDF copies of its chapters.

Reading Assignment

Principles addressed: Key Concept IIA. A combination of abstractions built upon binary sequences can be used to represent all digital data. Learning Objective IIA5: The student can describe the combination of abstractions used to represent data. [P3] Learning Objective IIA6: The student can explain how binary sequences are used to represent digital data. [P5] Big Idea VII. Impact: Computing has global impacts. Key Concept VIIA. Computing affects communication, interaction, and cognition. Key Concept VIIB. Computing enables innovation in nearly every field. Key Concept VIIC. Computing has both beneficial and harmful effects. Key Concept VIID. Computing is situated within economic, social, and cultural contexts. Corresponding Lecture Ideas: * Bits and Bytes - Representing numbers with bits - Representing letters with bits (ASCII) - Same bit string can represent either a number or a letter or part of an image * Moorse Law and exponential growth - Graph of Moore's law; question what is the limit ? - Exponential growth in computing power - Exponential growth in data and information - Limits on computation

Read Chapter 1 of Blown to Bits (17 pages). This chapter makes the point that today everything is digital -- that is, everything is represented by binary digits or bits. And it provides some provocative examples of the implications of this digital explosion.

    Reading Questions. Keep these questions in mind as you read the assigned chapter. For each question, write a short answer. Don't worry if you think you don't know the right answer. Just give it your best shot. Create page on your Portfolio and post your answers to these questions on that page. You can revise your answers after we discuss this reading in class.

  1. What does it mean to say that the bit is the natural unit of information? What information is today represented by bits?

  2. Describe Moore's Law.

  3. Someone offers you a summer job and offers you two payment schemes: (1) $10 per hour for 40 hours per week for 30 days or (2) One cent on day 1, two cents and day two, four cents on day three and on (doubling each day) for 30 days. Which play would you choose? Explain.

  4. Give an example of how the digital explosion is "neither good nor bad" but has both positive and negative implicaitons.

Portfolio

Your answers to the above questions should be recorded on a new portfolio page. Name it "Blown to Bits, Ch1" or something similar.