Editing Digital media (section)

==History==
Codes and information by machines were first conceptualized by [[Charles Babbage]] in the early 1800s. Babbage imagined that these codes would give him instructions for his Motor of Difference and Analytical Engine, machines that Babbage had designed to solve the problem of error in calculations. Between 1822 and 1823, [[Ada Lovelace|the mathematician Ada Lovelace]] wrote the first instructions for calculating numbers on Babbage engines.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Frank |first1=J. Swetz |title=Mathematical Treasure: Ada Lovelace's Notes on the Analytic Engine |url=https://maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/mathematical-treasure-ada-lovelaces-notes-on-the-analytic-engine#:~:text=In%20her%20%E2%80%9CNotes%2C%E2%80%9D%20Lovelace,%2Dby%2Dstep%20mechanical%20operations. |website=maa.org |publisher=MAA Publications |access-date=2023-09-29 |archive-date=2023-12-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224180052/https://maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/mathematical-treasure-ada-lovelaces-notes-on-the-analytic-engine#:~:text=In%20her%20%E2%80%9CNotes%2C%E2%80%9D%20Lovelace,%2Dby%2Dstep%20mechanical%20operations. |url-status=dead }}</ref> Lovelace's instructions are now believed to be the first computer program. Although the machines were designed to perform analysis tasks, Lovelace anticipated the possible social impact of computers and program writing. "For in the distribution and combination of truths and formulas of analysis, which may become easier and more quickly subjected to the mechanical combinations of the engine, the relationships and the nature of many subjects in which science necessarily relates in new subjects, and more deeply researched […] there are in all extensions of human power or additions to human knowledge, various collateral influences, in addition to the primary and primary object reached." Other old machine readable media include instructions for pianolas and [[weaving]] machines.
[[File:Cabac1binar.png|thumb|Binary Code shown here which can used to represent the whole alphabet]]

It is estimated that in the year 1986 less than 1% of the world's media storage capacity was digital and in 2007 it was already 94%.<ref name="HilbertLopez2011">{{cite journal|title= The World's Technological Capacity to Store, Communicate, and Compute Information|first1= Martin|last1= Hilbert|first2= Priscila|last2= López|date= 2011|journal= [[Science (journal)|Science]]|volume= 332|issue= 6025|pages= 60–65|doi= 10.1126/science.1200970|pmid= 21310967|bibcode= 2011Sci...332...60H|s2cid= 206531385|url= http://www.martinhilbert.net/WorldInfoCapacity.html/|access-date= 2020-02-18|archive-date= 2017-07-03|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170703165444/http://www.martinhilbert.net/WorldInfoCapacity.html/|url-status= live|doi-access= free}} especially [https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1200970 Supporting online material] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612163431/http://science.sciencemag.org/content/332/6025/60 |date=2018-06-12 }}</ref> The year 2002 is assumed to be the year when human kind was able to store more information in digital than in analog media (the "beginning of the [[digital age]]").<ref name="Hilbertvideo2011">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIKPjOuwqHo| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/iIKPjOuwqHo| archive-date=2021-10-30|title=World_info_capacity_animation|last=Martin Hilbert |date=11 June 2011|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Digital computers===
{{see also|Digital electronics|History of computing|History  hardware|History of programming languages|History of the transistor}}
[[Image:Wikipedia in binary.gif|thumb|right|Digital codes, like [[binary code|binary]], can be changed without reconfiguring mechanical parts.]]

Though they used machine-readable media, Babbage's engines, player pianos, jacquard looms and many other early calculating machines were themselves [[analog computers]], with physical, mechanical parts. The first truly digital media came into existence with the rise of [[digital computer]]s.<ref name=stanford>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Copeland|first=B. Jack|title=The modern history of computing|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/computing-history/|encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|publisher=Stanford University|access-date=31 March 2014|date=Fall 2008}}</ref>  Digital computers use [[binary code]] and [[Boolean logic]] to store and process information, allowing one machine in one configuration to perform many different tasks. The first modern, programmable, digital computers, the [[Manchester Mark 1]] and the [[EDSAC]], were independently invented between 1948 and 1949.<ref name=stanford /><ref>{{cite news|title=Sci/tech pioneers recall computer creation|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/317437.stm|access-date=29 March 2014|newspaper=BBC|date=15 April 1999|archive-date=30 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330064757/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/317437.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Though different in many ways from modern computers, these machines had digital software controlling their [[logical operation]]s. They were encoded in [[binary code|binary]], a system of ones and zeroes that are combined to make hundreds of [[Character (computing)|characters]]. The 1s and 0s of binary are the "digits" of digital media.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebetterindia.com/27331/12-projects-you-should-know-about-under-the-digital-india-initiative/|title=12 Projects You Should Know About Under the Digital India Initiative|date=2 July 2015|access-date=3 May 2016|archive-date=5 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505121028/http://www.thebetterindia.com/27331/12-projects-you-should-know-about-under-the-digital-india-initiative/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==="As We May Think"===
While digital media did not come into common use until the late 20th century, the ''conceptual'' foundation of digital media is traced to the work of scientist and engineer [[Vannevar Bush]] and his celebrated essay "[[As We May Think]]", published in ''[[The Atlantic Monthly]]'' in 1945.<ref name=symposium>{{cite news|last=Simpson|first=Rosemary|title=50 years after "As We May Think": the Brown/MIT Vannevar Bush symposium|url=http://cs.brown.edu/~rms/50YearsAfter.pdf|access-date=29 March 2014|newspaper=Interactions|date=March 1996|author2=Allen Renear|author3=Elli Mylonas|author4=Andries van Dam|pages=47–67|archive-date=14 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514102637/http://cs.brown.edu/~rms/50YearsAfter.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Bush envisioned a system of devices that could be used to help scientists, doctors, and historians, among others, to store, analyze and communicate information.<ref name=symposium /> Calling this then-imaginary device a "[[memex]]", Bush wrote:
<blockquote>The owner of the memex, let us say, is interested in the origin and properties of the bow and arrow. Specifically, he is studying why the short Turkish bow was apparently superior to the English long bow in the skirmishes of the Crusades. He has dozens of possibly pertinent books and articles in his memex. First, he runs through an encyclopedia, finds an interesting but sketchy article, and leaves it projected. Next, in history, he finds another pertinent item and ties the two together. Thus he goes, building a trail of many items. Occasionally he inserts a comment of his own, either linking it into the main trail or joining it by a side trail to a particular item. When it becomes evident that the elastic properties of available materials had a great deal to do with the bow, he branches off on a side trail which takes him through textbooks on elasticity and tables of physical constants. He inserts a page of longhand analysis of his own. Thus he builds a trail of his interest through the maze of materials available to him.<ref name=AWMT>{{cite news|last=Bush|first=Vannevar|title=As We May Think|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/?single_page=true|access-date=29 March 2014|newspaper=The Atlantic Monthly|date=1 July 1945|archive-date=29 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140329022429/http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/?single_page=true|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>
Bush hoped that the creation of this memex would be the work of scientists after World War II.<ref name=AWMT /> Though the essay predated digital computers by several years, "As We May Think" anticipated the potential social and intellectual benefits of digital media and provided the conceptual framework for [[digital scholarship]], the [[World Wide Web]], [[wiki]]s and even [[social media]].<ref name=symposium /><ref>{{cite web|last=Mynatt|first=Elizabeth|title=As we may think: the legacy of computing research and the power of human cognition|url=http://www.cra.org/ccc/component/content/article/309-as-we-may-think-the-legacy-of-computing-research-and-the-power-of-human-cognition|publisher=Computing Research Association|access-date=30 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407053914/http://www.cra.org/ccc/component/content/article/309-as-we-may-think-the-legacy-of-computing-research-and-the-power-of-human-cognition|archive-date=7 April 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> It was recognized as a significant work even at the time of its publication.<ref name=AWMT />