How Computers Transformed Baby Boomers

theodp writes "Newsweek's Steven Levy takes a look at how the baby boomer generation formed our tech landscape. Many of the realities boomers grew up with are today's metaphors, including cut-and-paste, the origin of which the 56-year-old Levy had to explain to 20-something Google employees. Levy cites two texts as crucial in pushing the boomers' vision toward power-to-the-people computing — Ted Nelson's Computer Lib/Dream Machines, which inspired Mitch Kapor, and the January 1975 Popular Electronics, which got Bill Gates jazzed. You kids might want to check out Dad's bookshelf — used copies of Computer Lib are going for $130-$225 at Amazon."

Comments

I've *done* cut-and-paste...

[david.given]

...and it works spectacularly well.

The modern version works like this: you need a photocopier, your source material, a pair of scissors, and a stick of solid glue. Photocopy all your source materials. Cut them up. Stick them onto a blank piece of paper in the order you want. Photocopy. All the seams miraculously vanish, and you end up with an extremely professional-looking end result.

It's a great deal easier than scanning and using a DTP package, it's faster, and it can also produce better results depending on your photocopier and scanner. I wouldn't use it for anything that needed to be stored for long periods of time --- your template is fragile and will fall apart if stored --- but for quickly putting together posters, exam questions (I inherited the technique from my father, who was a teacher), simple fliers, news clipping collections etc, it's first rate.

Don't get glue on the photocopier plate. It'll never come off.

Re:I've *done* cut-and-paste...

[Skadet]

I can't tell if you're being a little snarky or not, but I wanted to add anyway. I worked in a copy center for a number of years, and copy and paste (the manual kind) is more common in non-professional publishing than one might think.

A few tips, while we're at it: don't worry about getting the seams glued down. They'll show up anyway -- lighten the document, or if your copier supports it, decrease the contrast and increase the brightness. If you're working on a relatively recent and well-kept copier, you can simply tape down the edges rather than use glue at all. Make sure your hands are clean, or the tape will lift the dirt right off of them and appear on your paper. Double-sided tape works well, also.

A good technique for storage is to use *removable* tape to lay out your template, make a copy on an *analog* copier (if you can find a good one) to get a real nice, defined master, and keep that (remove your actual masters from the template - removable tape, remember - and store them in a sheet protector to keep them together. Make your photocopies on a newfangled digital printer from your "analog" master.

Working in a copy shop was some of the most fun I had as a youngster. It's surprisingly gratifying to manipulate documents with your hands and instruct the machine to create your finished product.

Oh, and about the glue on the platen -- goo gone works wonders. I've never seen a platen I couldn't clean ;)

Re:Scrollbars

[Anonymous McCartneyf]

Oh, yes. Old-fashioned typewriters had cylinders to wrap paper around, and the typewriter users had to roll the paper around by hand.

Sell Dad's back issues??

[Felius]

"You kids might want to check out Dad's bookshelf -- used copies of Computer Lib are going for $130-$225 at Amazon."

Just for the record, kids - you try pulling this shit and Dad will spank your arse, no matter whether you're bigger than him now or not.

Re:I've got a copy

[Felius]

nitpick: NCSA HTTPd *wasn't* the first web server - it did appear very early on, but Tim Berners-Lee wrote the first web server at CERN (which is obvious, when you think about it..)

Re:I've got history.

[HaveNoMouth]

I have no idea who Ted Nelson is. Should I care?

Well, you're using a hypertext system right now. Guess who thought that up?