Opening Keynote
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple (blurry one on the left, sorry too low light and too far away)
He's entered on an electric scooter of sorts, racing around the very large ballroom. Must be over a thousand here, nearly every seat filled. Certainly an entertaining guy, that Steve Woz. By the way I got a complementary book of his if you want to read it.
Wanted to be a teacher when he was younger, and an engineer. Taught himself how to be digital, and to write his own programs on an IBM computer. His first program taught him that the design of the program is more important than the speed of the computer.
Built his own computer with chips as they came out, trying to reduce the number of parts in his computer. Would sneak into university libraries and labs to read all the computer manuals available, learned to engineer computers himself. Was intensely intrinsicly motivated.
Single-handedly ran the class computer budget 5 times over during his introduction to computer class - by running some many programs (that printed out all the outputs, since it was punchcards).
Built a device to make the TV go fuzzy, drove his friends crazy trying to fix the TV, balance the antenna or smack the TV. Later broke into the computer lab with his friend to program all night until 4am.
Programmed a computer for one year to earn money for his third year of university. Eventually met Steve jobs through a friend at the company who gave him chips to build computers with.
Then he got hired by HP to work on their new scientific calculators (the first in the world). Made a dial-a-joke phone line in San Francisco area. You didn't own any phone lines or an answering machine - you had to rent them for a ton, and he decided it was worth the money to do this. Met his first wife there.
Saw Pong in a bowling alley. Decided he wanted to make his own version of Pong at home using a TV and computer chips. When Steve Jobs got a job at Atari, he would go look at the newest games there. Designed a game called Breakout for Steve Jobs to build in 4 days and nights, which was a bit hit.
Got to see ArpaNet, the forerunner of the Internet, which linked together colleges and universities in the US. Then got his TV to show text and send it to other computers. Determined that adding a microprocessor would enable you to communicate with your own computer and get it to do things.
First person to get rid of switches and dials on a panel, and have a keyboard and monitor instead. Also added colour to their screens for the first time. Also got floppy disks rather than cassette tapes as they were really slow.
Decided to go into business, got a 50,000 dollar order really quickly. Eventually left HP to found Apple with Steve Jobs and another guy who had the cash and engineering experience.
Made the floppy disks in two weeks to try to show it at the technology expo in Los Angeles.
Humans are more important than the technology - don't have humans learn how to use the technology, but have the technology work hard to be the way humans think. Hired people to design human user interfaces, and watched test subjects learning to use the computers.
Finally finished his last year of university to degree. Signed up to teach a computer class at school - for 5th graders. Taught design and appearance rather than just how to build computers. Also taught how to fix computers when they break, and finally networking with other computers. Let the kids play tricks on each other as long as it could be undone. Were able to use AOL for networking.
Notes that the teachers didn't learn as quickly - wishes he had taught the teachers more rather than just the students. Students tended to lower their expectations and results to the level of the teacher.
Pointed out that the computer can't detect the emotions and mental state of students, as that can affect their ability to learning. Computers can't respond to people and check they are ok. In this way, teachers are irreplaceable right now.
Hopes that we could reach a point of one computer per student. Points out that motivation is way more important than the content, as students will find a way to learn when motivated. Computing should be interesting and fun. Don't oversimplify questions at a younger level, it's ok to challenge why things may not be as simple as first thought.
Overall an interesting keynote, as he is a good storyteller. There was not as much of a message or key point as you might expect at a keynote; instead it was a story about his life and some correlations to education. Probably a good thing he stopped when he did though as he started to get a bit stretched towards the end.
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple (blurry one on the left, sorry too low light and too far away)
He's entered on an electric scooter of sorts, racing around the very large ballroom. Must be over a thousand here, nearly every seat filled. Certainly an entertaining guy, that Steve Woz. By the way I got a complementary book of his if you want to read it.
Wanted to be a teacher when he was younger, and an engineer. Taught himself how to be digital, and to write his own programs on an IBM computer. His first program taught him that the design of the program is more important than the speed of the computer.
Built his own computer with chips as they came out, trying to reduce the number of parts in his computer. Would sneak into university libraries and labs to read all the computer manuals available, learned to engineer computers himself. Was intensely intrinsicly motivated.
Single-handedly ran the class computer budget 5 times over during his introduction to computer class - by running some many programs (that printed out all the outputs, since it was punchcards).
Built a device to make the TV go fuzzy, drove his friends crazy trying to fix the TV, balance the antenna or smack the TV. Later broke into the computer lab with his friend to program all night until 4am.
Programmed a computer for one year to earn money for his third year of university. Eventually met Steve jobs through a friend at the company who gave him chips to build computers with.
Then he got hired by HP to work on their new scientific calculators (the first in the world). Made a dial-a-joke phone line in San Francisco area. You didn't own any phone lines or an answering machine - you had to rent them for a ton, and he decided it was worth the money to do this. Met his first wife there.
Saw Pong in a bowling alley. Decided he wanted to make his own version of Pong at home using a TV and computer chips. When Steve Jobs got a job at Atari, he would go look at the newest games there. Designed a game called Breakout for Steve Jobs to build in 4 days and nights, which was a bit hit.
Got to see ArpaNet, the forerunner of the Internet, which linked together colleges and universities in the US. Then got his TV to show text and send it to other computers. Determined that adding a microprocessor would enable you to communicate with your own computer and get it to do things.
First person to get rid of switches and dials on a panel, and have a keyboard and monitor instead. Also added colour to their screens for the first time. Also got floppy disks rather than cassette tapes as they were really slow.
Decided to go into business, got a 50,000 dollar order really quickly. Eventually left HP to found Apple with Steve Jobs and another guy who had the cash and engineering experience.
Made the floppy disks in two weeks to try to show it at the technology expo in Los Angeles.
Humans are more important than the technology - don't have humans learn how to use the technology, but have the technology work hard to be the way humans think. Hired people to design human user interfaces, and watched test subjects learning to use the computers.
Finally finished his last year of university to degree. Signed up to teach a computer class at school - for 5th graders. Taught design and appearance rather than just how to build computers. Also taught how to fix computers when they break, and finally networking with other computers. Let the kids play tricks on each other as long as it could be undone. Were able to use AOL for networking.
Notes that the teachers didn't learn as quickly - wishes he had taught the teachers more rather than just the students. Students tended to lower their expectations and results to the level of the teacher.
Pointed out that the computer can't detect the emotions and mental state of students, as that can affect their ability to learning. Computers can't respond to people and check they are ok. In this way, teachers are irreplaceable right now.
Hopes that we could reach a point of one computer per student. Points out that motivation is way more important than the content, as students will find a way to learn when motivated. Computing should be interesting and fun. Don't oversimplify questions at a younger level, it's ok to challenge why things may not be as simple as first thought.
Overall an interesting keynote, as he is a good storyteller. There was not as much of a message or key point as you might expect at a keynote; instead it was a story about his life and some correlations to education. Probably a good thing he stopped when he did though as he started to get a bit stretched towards the end.
1 comment:
Could I get first dibs on the Woz book?
I've been struggling to get hold of a copy ever since it was launched! Amazon seem to be flakey with stock.
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