Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
A genealogical relationship leading from Musicolour to SAKI and Eucrates is
evident. 14 Just as Musicolour got bored with musicians and urged them on to
novel endeavors, so these later machines responded to the performance of the
trainee, speeding up or slowing down in response to the trainee's emergent
performance, identifying weaknesses and harping upon them, while progres-
sively moving to harder exercises when the easier ones had been mastered. 15
Stafford Beer tried Eucrates out in 1958 and recorded, “I began in total igno-
rance of the punch. Forty-five minutes later I was punching at the rate of eight
keys a second: as fast as an experienced punching girl” (Beer 1959, 125). 16
SAKI was an analog machine; like Musicolour, its key adaptive components
were the usual uniselectors, relays, and capacitors. Later versions used mi-
croprocessors and were marketed by System Research Developments (Sales).
SAKI itself formed the basis for the Mavis Beacon typing trainer, widely avail-
able as PC software today.
The link to Solartron in the development of adaptive training machines was
very consequential for Pask and System Research. Much of Pask's paid work
Figure 7.6. eucrates. source: Pask 1961, pl. i, facing p. 32. (reproduced by per-
mission of amanda heitler.)
Search WWH ::




Custom Search