I found the computer hardware section from Wikipedia to be EXTREMELY helpful. Yes, I have a computer and know how to do the basic functions necessary for work and school and personal tasks. However, I had no clue what most of those components on my computer really were or what they were called. "That thingy" isn't nearly as informative as saying "The CPU" or "The Motherboard." I know that I will be referring to this printout for some time to come.
I'd seen Moore's Law referred to in several readings, so it was nice to finally figure out what it was. It amazes me that he came up with this back in 1965. For some reason, I keep forgetting that computers have been around for so long. The trend for not only components of integrated circuits doubling every two years, but seeing the same trend basically hold true for other areas (e.g. speed of processing, memory, etc.) just shows how rapid the technology is growing and evolving.
I also had no idea that anything like the Computer History Museum even existed. The catalog search looks like it would be a fantastic reference tool! It was also really interesting to see the evolution of the computer, from the monstrous behemoths of years past to the comparatively tiny personal computers of today. I especially appreciated the online exhibits. What a cool idea!
I mentioned in my blog post about how I tend to take people at their word when they come to the circulation desk where I work and ask me about a problem with their laptop and arbitrarily identify that their 'hard drive is going bad' or is somehow responsible for their computer problems (i.e. - blue screens 'of death'). I never took into account how easy it is to just 'repeat what we hear' and suddenly convince ourselves we know what we're talking about - we lose our hard drive information, so clearly the hard drive is what was wrong with our computer. I think after reading this, I better recognize the fact that (more than likely) there are five or six other items that are likely to be wrong with someone's computer than their hard drive. I think it's also indicative of the fact that we know so little about the technology that we utilize but take for granted every day.
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