January 24 marked Macintosh Computer Day, which celebrates the same day in 1984 when the very first Macintosh computer, the predecessor of today’s Apple computers, was introduced to the public. To honor such as occasion, we popped up in the Ponce lobby early that morning to invite members to play some computer history trivia over complimentary breakfast.
Over 65 community members stopped by to participate, with the instruction of scanning the QR code provided in order to partake in a four-question quiz:
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WORD PAIRS BEST SYMBOLIZES THE ONES AND ZEROS IN BINARY CODE?
SIGHT AND SOUND
YES AND NO*
RED AND BLUE
WANT AND NEED
WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS BEST DESCRIBES THE AVERAGE COMPUTER BUYER IN THE 1960S (BEFORE APPLE)?
SMALL BUSINESS
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
LARGE ORGANIZATION*
AMATEUR HOBBYIST
HOW WAS THE APPLE I DIFFERENT FROM THE FIRST MACINTOSH?
IT WAS DESIGNED FOR USE BY CORPORATIONS
IT WAS DESIGNED FOR USE IN PEOPLE'S HOMES*
IT ALLOWED USERS TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER ONLINE
IT COULD PERFORM MORE COMPLEX MATHEMATICAL CALCULATIONS
WHAT IS ADA LOVELACE KNOWN FOR?
INVENTING THE COMPUTER
INVENTING THE CALCULATOR
WORKING WITH HERMAN HOLLERITH
BEING THE WORLD'S FIRST PROGRAMMER*
*CORRECT ANSWER
We then collected and reviewed their submissions, seeing how, as a whole, they fared in answering the four questions correctly:
Interestingly, the percentage of correct answers declined with every question asked. Nonetheless, attendees enjoyed the pop-quiz and the opportunity to not only learn something new, but meet someone new as well!