1.) Consider the analogy drawn in the film between computers and books in medieval universities. Why had computers become such an exclusive technology? Was this development inevitable? What precise historical factors produced it? Before books could be liberated from the priests and the other authorities of the medieval university that controlled them, a complex set of social and technological transformations had to occur. How did society and technology conspire after 1970 to liberate computers from the priestly caste that controlled them?

2.) The film introduces you to the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), a key institution in the history of Silicon Valley after 1970. Why did Xerox create PARC? What other institutions does it remind you of? Considering it as a site of scientific innovation, what institutional factors made it conducive to innovation and what factors hindered it?

3.) Ivan Sutherland, Doug Englebart, and the research team at Xerox PARC were important innovators of the personal computer. What did they have in common? How might you account for their ability to see the future when others were not able to?

4.) The film introduces you to the famous story of Xerox allegedly "fumbling the future." Why didn't Xerox commercially exploit the technology developed at their Palo Alto research lab? What considerations led them to their decision? What comparisons do you see between the Xerox story and the stories of other big technology companies you have encountered? Generalizing from the Xerox story and from others like it what lessons do you draw about the commercial application of innovative technology?

5.) What role did gender play in the development of the new microcomputers of the 1970s? How were microcomputers a challenge to the gender structures of early computing? How did gender thinking shape the innovations that led to the new microcomputers? In what ways were the deep-seated gender assumptions of American society nevertheless inscribed in this new technology just as in the old?

6.) Focus on the transformations in the computer industry triggered by the advent of microcomputers? What barriers to the commercial success of microcomputers existed? How were these barriers overcome? What institutions proved most conducive to the commercial exploitation of microcomputers? Return to a question asked before: "Which was more important in the development of microcomputers: individual innovators, the federal government, or the forces of free-market capitalism?"

7.) Using this film as your evidence, what role did the youth protests movements of the 1960s play in the development of the PC industry? Was one of the particular movements of the 1960s more influential than others (i.e. the counterculture, the Civil Rights movement, the Free Speech Movement, etc.)? Were other forces more influential than the 1960s protest movements? What were the key influences that led to the PC revolution?

8.) This film introduces you to the history of Apple Computer, a key company in the history of Silicon Valley. In what way was Apple Computer emblematic of the culture of the new PC? In what ways was it idiosyncratic? Which was more important in the success of Apple Computer: innovative technology, countercultural values, or the forces of free-market capitalism?

9.) This film also introduces you to Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, two key figures in the history of Silicon Valley. What united the two Steves? In what ways were they different? How was Apple Computer a product of Steve Wozniakís outlook? How was it a product of Steve Job's vision? What were the strengths and weaknesses of each.

10.) The film also introduces you to Bill Gates. How do you compare him to Jobs and Wozniak? Considering each figure as emblematic of one dimension of the new PC industry, what are the key forces driving this industry? How do these forces compare to the forces that drove the early computer industry?

11.) The personal computer served as the bridge between the old Silicon Valley of the semiconductor industry and the new Silicon Valley of the computer industry. Was this transformation merely accidental or did the first pave the way for the second? How would you compare the old Silicon Valley with the new? In narrating the history of the transformation of one into the other, is it better to stress continuity or rupture? If rupture, is revolution an appropriate term to describe the change? If so, how?
 

The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author.
The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by the University of Minnesota.