Yesterday I watched Triumph of the Nerds (1996), an edutaining documentary by the technology journalist Robert X. Cringely, which tells the story of how personal computers took over the world. This is some of my reflections after having watched the film:
The film was originally made for British television, and is divided into three parts. The first two episodes describes the period from 1975 when Ed Roberts invented the first personal computer, the Altair 8800, to 1984 when Apple launched the first user-friendly PC, the Macintosh. But, how fascinating and interesting this crash course in computer history may be, it is not until episode three I get truly excited, because here we enter the era of digital convergence and the Internet. Although the documentary is almost 15 years old, it still makes some intriguing points. Hearing Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, talk about how much he loves the Internet is nothing but inspiring. It also reminds us of the fact that we are living in an extremely exciting period right now; a period where we have a constant flow of information, where old and new media are coexisting side by side and we are starting to learn the meaning of social media (see video below). All these things have changed the way we live, work and communicate, and it makes me happy to be a part of this period of time.
(You should probably watch this video with a grain of salt at hand, but admit that social media is exciting?)
6 Comments
29 October 2009 at 15:34
[...] Triumph of the Nerds October 29, 2009 chimac Leave a comment Go to comments Ever wonder what it was about. Find out here. [...]
04 November 2009 at 21:18
Wow, great post! Though i haven’t had the time to check all facts given in the Youtube video, i must still be impressed – or scared – by how fast everything is moving right now. Like get on the train – or be left behind.
05 November 2009 at 10:43
Thank you, Kim! Here you can find the sources for the facts/stats given in the video: http://socialnomics.net/2009/08/11/statistics-show-social-media-is-bigger-than-you-think/. Maybe we should put Socialnomics the book on our wish lists for Christmas?
04 November 2009 at 22:09
I agree! Really nice blogpost! The small video was like we say in Sweden “a plus in the edge”. This is more than I have learned to do! How do you make hyperlinks and how do you post a video in your blog?
05 November 2009 at 11:14
Thank you, Emelie!
You can create a hyperlink this way:
1. Mark the word you want to be a hyperlink.
2. Click at the “Infoga/redigera länk” button in the tool box just above the box in which you are writing.
3. Insert the link address.
4. Done!
You can post a Youtube video in your blog this way:
1. Visit Youtube and find the video you want to post.
2. Mark the link in the “Bädda in” box.
3. Copy the link and paste it in your blog post.
4. Done!
Hope that my explanations were helpful. Otherwise, let me know, or ask if you wonder about something else.
19 November 2009 at 23:12
I think you’ve done a great job with this post, and I agree with Emelie and Kim that the video really did that little extra! The thing you wrote about Larry Ellison made me watch that part again, and it really is inspiring!!