Mark I: Image courtesy of Encyclopedia Britannica

Long before the net books, desktops and laptops were introduced, the machines used to process information and data were huge and chunky.

How did this essential tool that is part of our everyday life come about?

The origin of the computer can be traced to the English mathematician, Charles Babbage (1792-1871) who made attempts to design a mechanical calculating machine that stores, retrieves and processes data.

It was only in 1944 that the first working digital binary computer known as Mark I was built by Howard Aiken. These computers were huge and sometimes filled an entire room. That was because thousands of switches were needed to compute his binary number system.

It was also this time that the first effective computer programs was written. Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992) created a program for Mark I Computer . She came up with the computer programming language, COBOL (Common Business Oriented Language) and coined the word “bug” to refer to computer program errors. This word came about when her computer broke down and she discovered a dead moth in it

Much credit also goes to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak who founded Apple Computer Inc, and created affordable, personal modern computers. Their personal computer Apple II, came with a keyboard and became an instant hit with the public. And in 1984, the Macintosh computer was then introduced. These personal computers were used to play games and to do simple word processing.

Resources:

BABBAGE, Charles. [serial online]. n.d.;Available from: Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 11, 2010.

JOBS, Steve. [serial online]. n.d.;Available from: Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 11, 2010

HOPPER, Grace Brewster. [serial online]. n.d.;Available from: Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, Ipswich, MA. Accessed January 11, 2010.

The Wonder Workers, Available from : Boys’ Life; Aug95, Vol. 85 Issue 8.
Accessed January 11, 2010.

These encyclopedias can be found at the e-databases available at all NLB libraries

Posted By:

Ms Chen Wanying
Children’s Librarian
Children’s Services

Do you believe that somewhere in the Pacific North-West lies a certain species of octopus that lives in trees, as quoted in this website?

If you believed it, then you’ve been hoodwinked by that bogus website.

And you might not be alone.

On the 1st of September 2008, The Straits Times published the results of their media literacy test for 35 local teenagers aged from 13 to 19 (article titled “Teen Surfers prey to Web of Deception”)*.

These students were asked to access the “Tree Octopus” website and rate the information within for its credibility.

There was cause for worry.

Out of 35 students, 34 of them rated the website’s information as credible, factual, and well-supported. They believed that such a creature actually existed!

The spoof site was set up as an online hoax back in 1998 but has since now been used by various institutions to test Internet Literacy.

As reported by Straits Times, “the website yielded similar results among youngsters in Connecticut, in the United States, when it was used by University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education to test levels of online literacy. There, all the 25 seventh-graders – 12 to 13 years old – tested in one study rated the website as very credible”

In this digital age where the Internet reigns, how does one sift through the sea of Information in the online world to find what he/she is looking for? More importantly, to sift through the sea of information for CREDIBLE and AUTHORITATIVE information?

This is where librarians could help.

The librarians in the public libraries regularly conducts Information Literacy workshops for students and adults. 

Those workshops can be customised for schools and are offered free (for hands-on courses, check out the NLBA website). We share with participants tips on evaluating print and online resources, sources for authoritative information, basic seearch techniques.

Alternatively, you can always ASK! a librarian to help verify the information that you’ve found.

Image was extracted from http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/sightings.html  on 2 Sep 2008.

*To retrieve the newspaper article, you can access the electronic database Factiva at terminals in NLB Library branches or also remotely from home. (Select the header “eResources” and the option “eDatabases”)

If you have any enquiries or comments, please drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg and we will reply within 3 working days.

Posted by
Mr Justin Tan
Librarian
Adult and Young People’s Services

Kids ASK! about Science and Technology

The Internet has changed the way we do things—it has become so much a part of our lives that it is nearly impossible to imagine living without it. But tell me, have you ever wondered how the Internet came about? Sure, you have read about the invention of computers but how about the Internet specifically, what inspired it and when did it become reality?

I picked up this question from a fellow librarian (Chee Boon – you can read about him here) and remembered a dusty article I had from a long time ago (ok not that long – 4 years) about the history of the Internet. After some sneezes and digging through piles of information, I found what I was looking for… Here is the story of what we call the Internet.

The Internet is a product of war technology, more specifically, nuclear war. In the early 1960s, the U.S. authorities were worried that in the event of a nuclear war, the various command posts in the various cities will lose their ability to communicate as switches and wiring can and will likely be damaged by atomic bombs. They would need a command-and-control center that can withstand the atomic bomb and had no specific location so that it cannot be targeted. It was a strategic problem.

That was when RAND Corporation (America’s Cold War think-tank) came up with a proposal, the brainchild of one of its staff, Paul Baran. The year is 1964. The proposal is to have a network that is inherently unreliable. The network will have multiple nodes that have the exact same ability to be a beginning or an end point for the transmitting and receiving of messages. The messages themselves are made up of many packets and each packet will find its way through the network to the end point it is addressed to. The route taken by the packet is inconsequential. What matters is the final destination. Having such a system means that even if pieces of the network is destroyed by a bomb, the message packets in the air will still find its way to its destination with whatever nodes that are left.

In 1969, the first node was installed in UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and by the end of the year there were 4 nodes in total. The first version of the Internet was formed and it was called ARPANET.

It was good. Scientists could share one another’s notes and soon enough, it became an electronic post office. So much for military technology… ARPANET was used for exchanging research, for chatting and even gossiping. The first mailing list had nothing to do with the military, it was, “SF-LOVERS”.

Through the 70s, the network grew and grew. The message packets switching system also became streamlined and more sophisticated. Eventually, for reasons of control and security, the military segment broke off and became MILNET. The technology was replicated and ARPANET became one network of many though they were all linked. As the 80s came, computers became more common and there was nothing to stop people from linking up to one another as the very nature of such a network system is anarchic and decentralised.

ARPANET died officially in 1989, consumed by its own success, taken over by what we now know as the Internet. The rest, they say, is history.

Reference:
Sterling, B. (Feb 1993). Short History of the Internet. The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

If you want to read more about the Internet, here are books you can check out at our libraries.

For Children:

Image retrieved from www.amazon.ca

Computers then and now by Rebecca Weber
Publisher: Minneapolis, Minn. : Compass Point Books, c2005
Call Number: J English 004 WEB

The incredible story of computers and the Internet by Greg Roza
Publisher: New York : Rosen Pub. Group’s PowerKids Press, 2004
Call Number: J English 004.67 ROZ

The computer : passport to the digital age by Joanne Mattern
Publisher: New York : PowerKids Press, c2003
Call Number: J English 004 MAT

All websites are last accessed on 22 August 2008. Please refer to the terms and conditions on the homepages for use.
For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Answered by Felicia Chan,

Librarian, Children’s Services

So.. You may ask.. “What on earth is this RSS actually?”

Watch the following video and you’ll know a little more about RSS

RSS stands for Really Simply Syndication. It is a family of Web feed formats that is used to publish frequently updated content. It is generally used for blog entries, news headlines, podcasts and vidcasts. Besides RSS, other terms used are RSS feeds, Web feeds, or just simply, feeds.

Using RSS is like requesting for a subscription for newspapers, the newspapers will be delivered to your doorstep instead of the need to go to the store to buy the newspaper. By using a RSS reader, you can subscribe to sites that provide RSS feeds and the new content will come to your feed reader instead of you having to visit all the tens or hundreds of sites that you may have bookmarked.

The feed reader could be an online application (such as Google Reader, NewsGator or Bloglines) or a desktop application (such as FeedDemon [Free - Windows] or NetNewsWire [Free - Mac]). If you are adverse to installing too many applications on your computer, then the latest web browsers such as Internet Explorer 7, Mozilla Firefox, Flock, Safari and Opera all have a RSS reader built into them.

Some Web feeds that you might be interested in are as follows:
- NLB RSS Feeds
- Channel NewsAsia
- BBC News
- CNN

You might also be interested in the following tutorials:
- Rai, Preetam. “Using Bloglines (or How to keep up with dozens of blogs everyday)”. (April 25, 2005). Retrieved April 14, 2008 from http://preetamrai.com/weblog/archives/2005/04/25
/bloglines-how-to-keep-track-of-hundreds-of-blogs-and-some-news-and-
some-podcasts-and-some-flickrs-photos-etc-etc/
- Wibbels, Andy. “How to Use Google Reader” (video) (n.d.). Retrieved April 14, 2008 from http://andywibbels.com/flash/google_reader.htm

And, finally, some printed materials that you can borrow from the public libraries:
Secrets of RSS by Steven Holzner
Publisher: Berkeley, CA : Peachpit Press, c2006
Call No.: English 006.76 HOL-[COM]

Developing feeds with RRS and Atom by Ben Hammersley
Publisher: Sebastopol, CA : O’Reilly., c2005
Call No.: English 006.76 HAM-[COM]

Syndicating web sites with RSS feeds for dummies by Ellen Finkelstein
Publisher: Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley, c2005
Call No.: English 005.276 FIN-[COM]

Sources:
- RSS. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_(file_format)
- What Is RSS? RSS Explained. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2008 from http://www.whatisrss.com/
- What Is RSS? on USA.gov. (August 1, 2007). Retrieved April 11, 2008 from http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Reference_Shelf/Libraries
/RSS_Library/What_Is_RSS.shtml
- Help | RSS | News feeds from the BBC. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/help/3223484.stm

Posted by
Mr Justin Tan
Librarian
Adult and Young People’s Services

Contributed by 
Mr Isaak Kwok
Librarian
Adult and Young People’s Services

Just yesterday, some of my fellow colleagues brought to my attention on two newspapers articles from The Straits Times: “Caller ID shows 999? It’s not the police, it’s a fraudster” (1 Apr 2008) and “Court summons scam: 35 complaints filed“ (27 Oct 2007)*.

Essentially, these two articles tells us about the same story — That people (gullible perhaps) are falling victims to tricksters in swindling our money thru either telephone or Internet means.

It is by far and large, impossible to nab all of these fraudsters. One may be caught, but yet others will emerge very soon. The only realistic way of protecting ourselves against these scams is to be armed with the necessary knowledge of how the Internet works and of the various ways to prevent (or at least minimize) such security lapses.

We have prepared a pathfinder on ways to surf the Internet safely. Please feel free to download it but do note that the materials and their copyrights belong to NLB, and the downloads are for personal use only. Drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg for further enquiries.

Safer Internet pathfinder
(downloadable)

In the meantime, do watch your back (or rather watch your front)!!!

If you have any enquiries or comments, please drop us an email at ask@nlb.gov.sg and we will reply within 3 working days.

*To retrieve the newspaper article, you can access the electronic database “Factiva” at terminals in NLB Library branches or also remotely from home. (Select the header “eResources” and the option “eDatabases” from NLB’s homepage)

Posted by
Mr Justin Tan
Librarian
Adult and Young People’s Services

ASK! about Science & Technology

Spam ® is the trademark of a type of canned pork and ham, created and produced by Geo. A. Hormel company of Austin, Minnesota, USA.

The same word, ‘spam’ also refers to ‘unsolicited commercial email’, that is the junk mail we received sent to us without our consent. Such mail were named after the famous ham as it was parallel to how offensive “SPAM®” thrown at the walls of a restaurant would be for diners looking at it.

In the begining, ‘spam’ was conceived from a competition held by its creators to find a catchy name for the canned pork. The convenience and shelf life of Spam made it an important food during the Second World War, when fresh meats were scarce. Spam fed many civilians and militray men.

References:

Spam
Call No.: 641.664 PAT – [COO]
A cookery book containing a brief history of Spam and its role in WWII.

Credo Reference
A NLB e-Database containing links to information from various sources, such as dictionaries and encyclopaedias. useful for getting concise information.
“spam.” Hargrave’s Communications Dictionary, Wiley. 2001. CredoReference. 12 January 2008
You can access the databases by going to www.nlb.gov.sg>eResources>eDatabases. To find out more about the NLB databases, visit our ASK guide .

Posted by Ms Ang Mei Jun

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to mailto:ask@nlb.gov.sginstead of sending a comment.

ASK! about Computers & IT

While there are numerous definitions of hacking, media definition commonly refers to unauthorized access into a computer system. In fact, there are ample examples of hackers charged for the offence under the Computer Misuse Act (Chapter 50A).

This Act states that “..any person who knowingly causes a computer to perform any function for the purpose of securing access without authority to any program or data held in any computer shall be guilty of an offence..” Please click here to read up more about this Act.

Yet an article by Samantha Santa Maria published in the Straits Times highlighted the controversy of a “good hacker”. In that article, self-confessed “ethical” hacker, Mr Tom Cervenka illustrates with his own example how ethical hacking “can benefit service providers by locating security holes in Internet systems”.
(Source: Factiva: Is there such a thing as a good hacker? By Samantha Santa Maria, 9 December 1999, Straits Times )

The following definition from Whatis.com (claiming to be the leading IT encyclopedia and learning center) suggests hackers may be a profession hired by the companies who want to be hacked:

“An ethical hacker is a computer and network expert who attacks a security system on behalf of its owners, seeking vulnerabilities that a malicious hacker could exploit. To test a security system, ethical hackers use the same methods as their less principled counterparts, but report problems instead of taking advantage of them. Ethical hacking is also known as penetration testing, intrusion testing, and red teaming. An ethical hacker is sometimes called a white hat, a term that comes from old Western movies, where the “good guy” wore a white hat and the “bad guy” wore a black hat.”

( Source: http://whatis.techtarget.com/ )

Recommended B O O K S
======================
* Please check online catalogue for location & book availability.
——————

Title Hacker’s challenge 3 : 20 brand-new forensic scenarios & solutions / David Pollino … [et al.].
English 005.8 HAC -[COM]

Title Hacking for dummies / by Kevin Beaver ; foreword by Stuart McClure.
English 005.8 BEA -[COM]

Title Certified ethical hacker / Michael Gregg.
English 005.8 GRE -[COM]

Title 1337 h4x0r h4ndb00k / Tapeworm.
English 005.8 TAP -[COM]

Title Unofficial guide to ethical hacking / Ankit Fadia.
English 005.8 FAD -[COM]

W E B S I T E S
==================
Last accessed date to all sites listed below: 21.Sep.07

Hack This Site
www.hackthissite.org/
Desc on site: ” A free, safe and legal training ground for hackers to test and expand their hacking skills.”

Hacker’s Wisdom
www.ee.ryerson.ca:8080/~elf/hack/
Desc: A page with extensive links to everything from hacker’s profiling to hacker’s humour.

Hacker’s FAQ
www.plethora.net/~seebs/faqs/hacker.html
Desc on site: “The list [of FAQ] is an attempt to cover some of the issues that will invariably come up when people without previous experience of the hacker community try to hire a hacker.”

Hacker’s Dictionary
www.catb.org/jargon/
Desc on site: “A comprehensive compendium of hacker slang illuminating many aspects of hackish tradition, folklore, and humor.”

Answered by Goh Yee Ling, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think?
Post your comments, or send further questions about this or any other topic to ask@nlb.gov.sg

Blogging can be fun, but there are several issues to be aware of lest you end up on the wrong side of the law. Here are some web resources that can give you an overview of some of such issues. These websites refer mostly to the Singaporean context.

Legal Issues:
Radio Singapore International: Blogwatch on the Legal Pitfalls in Blogging
WWLegal.com [Look for FAQs on the left link bar and click on the subject "Bloggers" when on the FAQ page]
Law Gazette by the Law Society of Singapore: Bloggers Beware, The Five Commandments for Bloggers

Corporate Issues:
ZDnet Asia: Want to blog? Stick to the rules
ST701: Itching to write? Blogging about work
Radio Singapore International: Blogwatch, Foreign Affairs Minister, George Yeo, on the role of blogs in society and the media

Other useful resources:
SPRING Singapore: Singapore Online Safety Guide (scroll down the page, find the link and download it)

All websites last accessed 24th November, 2006.

For more information, you could also refer to the books in our earlier post.

Answered by Jillian Lim, Librarian, Public Library Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think?
Post your comments, or send further questions about this or any other topic to ask@nlb.gov.sg

The blogosphere (a term to describe the all blogs collectively) has at least 57 million blogs and is growing at an average of 100,000 new blogs each day (Source: David Sifry’s State of the Blogsphere, October 2006).

With this huge amount of blogs, it is very difficult to find the type of blogs that are of interest to you. However, there are a number of blog search engines or blog directories that can make finding a blog that shares your interests or hobbies much easier. There are also awards given out by the blogging community for the best blogs.

Blog Search Engines
These search through blogs to find blogs or blog entries that match what you input. Eg. Key in Singapore to find blogs that mention Singapore. Here are some search engines:
Technorati
Google Blog Search
Feedster
Blogdigger
Ice Rocket

Blog directories
These are compilations of blogs according to subject matter. Here are some blog directories:
Yahoo Blog Directories (a compilation of various directories)
Google Blog Directories (a compilation of various directories)
Forbes blog directory

There are many more blog search engines out there, though the above are some of the more popular ones. If are interested to find more, you can peruse this “Big List of Blog Search Engines“.

There are also Mandarin blog search engines as well:
Blogcn
Blogchina.com
Sina Blog

You may also like to check out this book, which provides blog recommendations:
Blogsphere : best of blogs by Peter Kuhns and Adrienne Crew
Indianapolis, Ind. : Que, c2006
Call No.: 006.7 KUH -[COM]
Description:
You probably have your favorite blogs to visit each day, but there are countless other blogs that you could never find on your own and that could potentially be added to the top of your favorites! Blogosphere: Best of Blogs is a collection of the blogs you’ve heard about and the ones still waiting to be discovered. Organized into sections based on interests and moods, you’ll find a listing of the best blogs out there, along with the reasons why they’ve made the list. Complete with searching tips and strategies, Blogosphere will help you find the greatest voices in the blogging universe.

How do I find blogs by Singaporeans or about Singapore?
You could try using a blog search engine as mentioned above or visit some or the following Singapore blog directories:
BloggerSG
Blogflux: Singapore blogs

Or try these Singaporean community metablogs (simply put, a metablog is a blog about blogs)
Tomorrow.sg
Ping.sg

All websites last accessed 24th November, 2006.

Answered by Jillian Lim and Isaak Kwok, Librarians, Public Library Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think?
Post your comments, or send further questions about this or any other topic to ask@nlb.gov.sg

ASK! about Computers & IT

What is a blog?

According to the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia:

“The blog (from Web log) is a new form of electronic publishing on the World Wide Web. A typical blog takes the form of an online diary consisting of short entries displayed in reverse-chronological order with links to other blogs or Web sites commented on by the blog’s author. Blogs may contain random personal observations, or they may be devoted to a single subject such as politics. A blog may be written by one or more people, and it may be read by an audience ranging from friends and acquaintances to enough readers to make the blog a profitable publishing enterprise for its author.”

blog. (2006). Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Retrieved November 23, 2006, from Grolier Online http://gme.grolier.com/cgi-bin/article?assetid=0035945-0

Another introduction to blogs and blogging from the Encyclopaedia Britannica Online:

“in full Web log or Weblog online journal where an individual, group, or corporation presents a record of activities, thoughts, or beliefs. Some blogs operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and Internet links. Other blogs concentrate on presenting original material. In addition, many blogs provide a forum to allow visitors to leave comments and interact with the publisher. “To blog” is the act of composing material for a blog. Materials are largely written, but pictures, audio, and videos are important elements of many blogs. The “blogosphere” is the online universe of blogs.”

blog. (2006). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved November 24, 2006, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9404269

The Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and the Encyclopaedia Britannica Online are databases available via our Digital Library. More details here.

Here are some websites that give an overview of the various blog software/tools:
Problogger’s post on choosing a blog platform
Forbes.com Blog Tools
PC Magazine’s article on Blog Tools
Wikipedia: Weblog hosting

All websites last accessed 24th November, 2006.

For more on information on blogging and how to do it, read on for our book recommendations!

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