Ada Lovelace Day

Today (Oct. 14, 2014) is International Ada Lovelace Day, a celebration of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). 

In 1833, Lovelace met Charles Babbage for the first time. She was inspired by his Difference Engine, eager to expand upon his ideas. She and Babbage exchanged letters from June 10, 1835 to August 12, 1852. Just to give you a little perspective, it wasn’t until 1834 that the word “scientist” was coined byWilliam Whewell. Ada referred to her work as “poetical science.”

In October 1842, Luigi Federico Menabrea published an article about Babbage’s Analytical Engine in Bibliotheque Universelle de Geneve. Lovelace translated it and added her own notes, about 20,000 words, to the 8,000 word piece. Published in 1843, her notes include a much deeper understanding of the potential for Babbage’s machine, including the suggestion that it was “capable of executing not merely arithmetical calculations, but even all those of analysis.”

Ada Lovelace Day » MobyLives.

Adobe Spyware Reveals Again the Price of DRM: Your Privacy and Security

Disappointing, Adobe:

Two independent reports claim that Adobe’s e-book software, “Digital Editions,” logs every document readers add to their local “library,” tracks what happens with those files, and then sends those logs back to the mother-ship, over the Internet, in the clear. In other words, Adobe is not only tracking your reading habits, it’s making it really, really easy for others to do so as well.

Adobe Spyware Reveals Again the Price of DRM: Your Privacy and Security | Electronic Frontier Foundation.

October Book Display

Domestic violence photoOctober is Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Commemorated since 1987, this month attempts to raise awareness of efforts to end violence, especially against women and children. Come check out items at the Todd Library concerning this major problem, whether it be for a research paper or to gain personal knowledge of the issues involved.

A look at the news and events happening in the Libraries at Waubonsee Community College