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Used In Computer Memory: Also in 1967 Alphanumeric Inc. had a more revolutionary photocomposing machine in operation. The speed was approximately the same as that of the Linotron. There is no picture of the type face in the Alphanumeric machine. Instead, a computer causes the spot on a picture tube to draw each character, using instructions stored in the computer memory. The type face can be changed merely by writing new instructions into the memory.
What are the essential technological tools that make this progress in education feasible? Consider an example: Each school could have a reliable, relatively low-cost information-handling system, or computer, that can store and manipulate enormous quantities of information. A large number of students would be able to communicate simultaneously with the central computer through individual terminals that would include a visual display device, such as a television picture tube, on which each student could view words, numbers, and pictorial information retrieved from the computer's memory store. The student might use a typewriterlike device to "converse" with the computer and to respond to the problems that he views on the display screen.
Potential applications of the computer made possible by microelectronics include a small computer in every home or a pocket computer terminal that can be connected to a powerful central computer via the telephone. Such devices may be used in computer memory to solve our numerical problems (e.g., income tax, or our bank balance) or as a creative tool to relate our knowledge and experiences to our future actions. |
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