The Technology Recapitulation Machine is a “machine” in the Information Technology sense. That is, it is a device that can perform calculations and make decisions. We typically divide the design of such a device into three parts:
- The hardware (the physical structure of the machine) includes all the components that have a material (rather than an electronic) implementation.
- The software includes the components that define and carry out the operations that the machine performs.
- The data includes the components that are primarily present to be acted upon by the software (technically, the software is also data, but it is data that operates on other data).
Software Components
The software should include an operating system, a file system, search technology, document formatting and display, and a variety of applications that can be used to work with the data. Text editing applications will probably be useful, but applications that can perform calculations (for example, a spreadsheet program) will be more important. Two-dimension and three-dimension design programs will be even more useful. Programs that can be used to construct simulations of physical systems will also help users evaluate the information they retrieve. Project planning and management applications will also be useful.
Some interesting examples of applications have begun to appear. The National Geographic Handheld Birds & Software is a multimedia program designed to run on a handheld device (in this case the Palm Pilot, alas). The program has over 1,600 images, more than 600 range maps, and over four hours of song and call recordings. This is an example of a “field guide” that has become vastly more powerful than a printed collection of similar information, because it adds audio to the visual representations and it adds a search mechanism that enables the user to find information much more quickly.
An even better example may be Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a massively hyperlinked collection of articles produced by thousands of contributors. Any topic may be presented in a collection of articles. Search mechanisms make it easy to find information on any topic included in the data collection.
It may be useful to also include software applications to manipulate documents and designs (such as Computer Aided Design applications) to assist users in translating the information provided to concrete plans.