Joseph Marie Jaquard of France was the first to conceptualize the computer with a machine that used punched wooden cards that automatically weaved fabric designs, computers of the future would feature a similar punch card system to his invention. English engineer, Charles Babbage was the first to invent the computer in the early 19th century, while working on an engine designed to aid in navigational calculations. He created a more generalized design called an analytical engine. Alan Turing presented a universal machine in 1936, which would be later called the Turing machine. This device was capable of computing any material. The modern computer would later be based on Turing's ideas. In 1981, the first IBM personal computer is used, it has an Intel chip, two floppy disks and a color monitor that is optional. This device was marked as the first computer available through outside distributers, with the term PC being popularized. By the 2000's, search engines like Google, and video sharing services like YouTube came into being, as the World Wide Web expanded into the decade.

Computers have come a long way from the analytical hand-made engines of the past to the portable convenient models of today. In Lindner's Jane, Jane Moore utilizes a computer to do research on her employer, Nicholas Rathburn, who played in the famous Rathburn Band (p.11, Lindner). Jane's brother Mark is mentioned to have worked in a software company before he ended up living with his sister Jenna, due to his alcoholism and abuse of his girlfriend (p.183, Lindner).  The usage of a laptop is featured in The Autobiography of Jane Eyre when Jane (Alysson Hall) uses it as a relationship reference for Mary (Emily Henney), as it stored her previous recordings, when she was living at Rochester's residence. (3:30, "Binge", Ep:71"). The computer in these texts not only symbolize the ways in which the characters interact with each other and the world around them, but they also indirectly reflect the prominence computers have in the lives of people in today's contemporary society.

Bibliography

Hall, Alysson/Jane Eyre. The Autobiography of Jane Eyre. "Binge-Ep:71" YouTube, 8 Mar. 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14ZNvDz5CSM&list=PL3NxAiyc-89HP3wHV2y5mbwi2TidvocKZ&index=77

Lindner, April. Jane. Poppy: Hachette Book Group, Inc., 2010.

Information Source:  Zimmermann, Kim A. "History of Computers: A Brief Timeline." livescience.com. Live Science, 7 Sept. 2017. Web. Date Accessed, 22 Oct. 2019. https://www.livescience.com/20718-computer-history.html

Image Source: https://www.livescience.com/20718-computer-history.html