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Technology - Sunday April 29, 2007, Room RC F

10:30 am to 11:30 am
The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation
Frank O’Brien, Infoage Science/History Learning Center

Abstract :

Perhaps the single spacecraft component that assured the success of the Apollo lunar missions was its guidance computer. Created in the 1960's when most computers filled an entire room, the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) was small, low power, and included capabilities that are advanced by today's standards. The Infoage Science and Learning Center has acquired an early AGC as part of its History of Computing Technologies collection. We will be discussing the computers hardware and software architecture, interfaces and how designers overcame its limitations. Additionally, we will cover the user interface and operations required for a flight from the Earth to the Moon. Attendees will get the opportunity to examine the AGC, its components and review its source code.

Bio :

Frank O'Brien is a volunteer Apollo historian for NASA, primarily as a researcher for the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, and is co-editor of the Apollo Flight Journal. He was responsible for preparing the Lunar Module Simulator and other artifacts for exhibition at the Cradle of Aviation Museum (Long Island, NY), and is an associate director at the Infoage Science/History Learning Center.

11:40 am to 12:40 pm
What is the meaning of Second Life?
Selby Evans, Texas Christian University (retired)

Abstract :

Second Life, its Horse-and-buggy era. Of course it's Web 2.0, whatever that is. Second life, The Next Generation. The Virtual Holodeck. WYSWYG comes to computer graphics. How does it impact global warming? Virutal marketing, real products. New networking and the old question about Internet Isolation. VoIP visiting, LOD Land, Second Language, and other terms to drop on the news media. And now for something completely different.

You can check out presentation notes at http://www.thinkerer.org/Lod/LodPresent.htm

Bio :

Retired Professor of Psychology at Texas Christian University. Selby courses in psychological measurement, computer applications, and systematic problem-solving. Hr did research in pattern perception, and studies of cognitive systems. He was supported by U. S. Military organizations, NASA, National Institutes of Health, and other government organizations. He has written more than 80 technical papers, professional books and journals. Selby operated a consulting business for 25 years, serving companies and government agencies in psychological measurement, problem-solving, cognitive engineering, and computer applications.

12:50 pm to 1:50 pm
Second Life Entrepreneurship
Bryon Ruxton, SLMate.com / Second Life Business

Abstract :

Second Life virtual community and business entrepreneurship.

Bio :

Editor/Web Designer/Web Developer Second Life Entrepreneur

2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Responding to the Call for Information Assurance and Dominance Internationally
Danielle and G. Arthur Mihram, University of Southern California and Princeton

Abstract :

The current nominee for our nation’s Director of National Intelligence called at AFCEA’s Western Conference for a Constitutional basis for attaining superiority in tele-communications: for guidance toward information dominance and assurance. Our translation: the likely need for the invention and the implementation of new technologies to expedite security in tele-communications. Senators Bond and Rockefeller, Co-chairmen of the Select Committee on Intelligence seek a “universal [Internet] service” limited to libraries nationally and provided that each provides pornographic screening. We outline in this presentation a procedure by which not only can our Congress ensure that it meets its Constitutionally mandated duties regarding person-to-person tele-communications, but also can provide a new (2nd-generation) technological ‘V-chip’ with a concomitant new technological procedure for ensuring that concerns about both privacy and governmental censorship can be alleviated.

Bio :

Danielle Mihram is Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Southern California and has co-authored a number of papers on tele-communications policy. G. Arthur Mihram is located in Princeton, NJ and was formerly on the faculties of the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California. Biographical sketches for both speakers appear in Marquis’s Who’s Who in America.