[SIGCIS-Members] Mass-market historic computers, display and interaction

[Melanie Swalwell]

Dear James,

There was a conference in 2013 at the London Science Museum devoted to the question of "Making the history of computing relevant".  A colleague, Helen Stuckey, gave a paper on behalf of some of the Play It Again team which I lead.  This project is focused on the history and preservation needs of 1980s microcomputer games from Australia and New Zealand, so pretty much the mass market machines you are talking about.  In considering the question of how to present the history of 80s micro games we have emphasised the role of popular memory, and -- through a web interface that we call the Popular Memory Archive -- asked the public to share their memories of particular games and computing generally.  User reflections (and uploads) on what these computers mean and meant to them are often very animated and frequently much more entertaining than, say, museum didactics.  We have a nice emerging collection of photos of computers in domestic interiors, also, dotted throughout the various parts of the site, with several at http://playitagainproject.org/contribute We see the fact that these machines weren't unique but mass produced and familiar to many as a plus, rather than a negative -- it means that many people remember them and can share their memories.  

The papers from the London conference were published by Springer/IFIP so I can't just put it online (another version is published in the ACM Digital Library at http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2513570 which may be more accessible to those with library access).  I'm also happy to make a copy of our paper available to anyone who's interested individually -- just email me off list.  

Regards,

Melanie