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Dear all<br>
<br>
Thanks to all who have responded. I'll reply off-list where
appropriate, but I'd like to put out a further call for experiences
relating to something in Kimon's message: the practical side of
sourcing and working with historic objects for hands-on exhibition.
<br>
<br>
Traditional museums, of course, are oriented to collecting and
displaying high-value items in ways that minimise the risk of damage
or alteration. Some of the museum professionals I've talked to about
exhibitions that feature relatively free access to working
disposable items have reported a difficulty that's not really a
culture clash -- there is a lot of sympathy for the hands-on ideal
-- as a shortage of clear precedent. There's no "industry wisdom",
for instance, on acquiring items: those I've spoken to in the UK
have tended to source them informally from eBay. I'd be very
interested to hear from anyone who has already exhibited along these
lines, on the cost and reliability of the machines chosen, rates and
causes of attrition (or steps taken to avoid it), and any challenges
presented by keeping up a replacement cycle for (supposedly
identical) equipment. <br>
<br>
I'm also particularly struck by Kimon's decision to use
custom-designed display applications, which I'm guessing is a
targeted response to a familiar problem: users who are newcomers to
the machines can't have a meaningfully authentic interaction with
authentic period software, because they don't have the investment
and the web of background knowledge that were key to the experience.
There are some exceptions -- I've seen 80s games and educational
software picked up by newcomer audiences, though only a minority
work particularly well. Thoughts welcome, as ever. <br>
<br>
All best<br>
James<br>
<br>
On 20/01/2015 18:06, Kimon Keramidas wrote:<br>
<blockquote
cite="mid:EEBC0D7E-017D-46AA-BABE-2C78E00E57E8@bgc.bard.edu"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
Dear James and Andy et. al.,
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">It is great to see both of your emails at this point
in time as I am in the process of completing an exhibition that
deals with a lot of these questions and ideas, and I’ve wanted
to share information with the SIGCIS listserv for a while. I
work at the Bard Graduate Center, a research institute with
graduate programs and exhibition space on the Upper West side of
Manhattan that focuses on the study of material culture and
design history. I consider myself very interdisciplinary and
incorporate almost all of the people Andrew mentioned from the
worlds of digital humanities and media studies in my work. As
the Director of our Digital Media Lab I’ve been very interested
in the intersection between concepts of materiality and the
history of computing and the idea of computers as designed
objects. I’ve taught courses on interface design from a
sociocultural and design history perspective and that has led to
the exhibition currently under development. </div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">As I began thinking about this exhibition(which I
presented on at SHOT 2014), I thought about how computers are
much more dynamic devices than they are usually presented in
museums. I wanted to be able to display not just the physical
artifacts, but the actual experiences, where possible, of using
computing devices. This opened up a lot of interesting questions
and possibilities. Where we have ended up is an exhibition
comprised almost completely of used computing devices (purchased
on eBay) that visitors will be able to physically interact with.
No velvet ropes, no glass panes, full contact. We were not able
to get all of those devices working fully, settling for tactile
interaction, but five core devices that are of particular
importance (a Commodore 64, Macintosh, Palm Pilot, iPad, and
Microsoft Kinect) will be operational and running custom
applications. These applications have been designed and scripted
to walk visitors through the particular strengths and innovative
affordances of those devices, giving them an experiential idea
of why they were important. It will be a different kind of
experience for most visitors, but one that I think captures the
spirit of using computers in our lives. It also seems that it
addresses a lot of the questions James is asking. The objects
that will be on display sold tens of thousands if not millions
of units making them distinctly banal in a sense, but also
representative of the memories that most of us have of personal
computers.</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">The exhibition will be on display from April 2-July
11, and more information can be found here(<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.bgc.bard.edu/gallery/gallery-at-bgc/the-interface-experience.html"
class="">The Interface Experience: Forty Years of Personal
Computing</a>). I have written an accompanying catalog
available through Univ of Chicago Press (<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/I/bo20339620.html"
class="">http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/I/bo20339620.html</a>)
and we are also developing a media-rich app to accompany the
in-gallery experience and also as a stand alone web site. It
will be available at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://interfaceexperience.org" class="">http://interfaceexperience.org</a>.
I hope that many SIGCIS members can make it to the exhibition
and look forward to further conversations. BTW if anyone is
interested I have included the project checklist:</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Cheers</div>
<div class="">Kimon Keramidas</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">Here is a list of objects in the exhibition:</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
</div>
<div class="">
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Xerox Alto OS<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Atari 2600<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Apple II<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Visicalc<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Osborne 1<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Sinclair ZX81<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Xerox Star 8010
Information System<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• IBM Personal Computer
5150<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• MS DOS<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• GRiD Compass<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Commodore 64<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Minitel 1 Terminal<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Radio Shack TRS-80 MODEL
100<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Apple Macintosh Plus<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Nintendo Entertainment
System<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Aldus Pagemaker<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Nintendo Game Boy<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Apple PowerBook 170<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Apple Newton MessagePad
120<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Sony PlayStation<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Netscape Navigator<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Wacom ArtPad II<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Windows 95<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Palm Pilot Professional<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Apple iMac G3<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• VeriFone Omni 7000MPD<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• HP Compaq TC4200<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Nintendo Wii<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Amazon Kindle<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Apple iPad<br class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Apple Magic Trackpad<br
class="">
</div>
<div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span"
style="white-space:pre"> </span>• Microsoft Xbox 360 with
Kinect</div>
</div>
<div class=""><br class="">
<div class="">
<div style="letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align:
start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space:
normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break:
after-white-space;" class="">
<div style="letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break:
after-white-space;" class="">
<div style="letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap:
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">
<div style="letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing:
0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap:
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">
<div style="letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform:
none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;
word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">
<div style="letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows:
auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap:
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">
<div style="letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap:
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">
<div style="orphans: auto; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; widows: auto; word-wrap:
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"
class="">
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align:
-webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;
word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break:
after-white-space;" class="">
<div style="orphans: 2; text-align:
-webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;
word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break:
after-white-space;" class=""><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse: separate;
border-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word;
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break:
after-white-space;" class=""><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse: separate;
orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px;
widows: 2; border-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="word-wrap: break-word;
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break:
after-white-space;" class=""><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse:
separate; orphans: 2;
text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;
border-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="word-wrap:
break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break:
after-white-space;" class=""><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="border-collapse:
separate; orphans: 2;
text-indent: 0px; widows: 2;
border-spacing: 0px;">
<div style="word-wrap:
break-word;
-webkit-nbsp-mode: space;
-webkit-line-break:
after-white-space;"
class=""><font class=""
face="Arial">
<div style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-variant: normal;
letter-spacing:
normal; line-height:
normal;
text-transform: none;
white-space: normal;
word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect:
none;
-webkit-text-stroke-width:
0px; font-weight:
normal; font-style:
normal;" class=""><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(120, 120, 125); font-size:
12px;"><font
class="Apple-style-span"
color="#000000">Kimon
Keramidas, Ph.D.</font><br
class="">
</span><span
style="color:
rgb(111, 166, 141);
font-size: 12px;"
class="">Assistant
Professor and </span><span
style="font-size:
12px; color:
rgb(111, 166, 141);"
class="">Director of
the Digital Media
Lab</span><br
style="color:
rgb(120, 120, 125);
font-size: 12px;"
class="">
<br class="">
</div>
<div style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-variant: normal;
letter-spacing:
normal; line-height:
normal;
text-transform: none;
white-space: normal;
word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect:
none;
-webkit-text-stroke-width:
0px; font-weight:
normal; font-style:
normal;" class="">On
Display April 2 - July
11, 2015</div>
<div style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-variant: normal;
letter-spacing:
normal; line-height:
normal;
text-transform: none;
white-space: normal;
word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect:
none;
-webkit-text-stroke-width:
0px;" class=""><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.bgc.bard.edu/gallery/gallery-at-bgc/the-interface-experience.html"
class=""><font
class=""
color="#78787d">The
Interface
Experience: Forty
Years of Personal
Computing</font></a></div>
<div style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-variant: normal;
letter-spacing:
normal; line-height:
normal;
text-transform: none;
white-space: normal;
word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect:
none;
-webkit-text-stroke-width:
0px; font-weight:
normal; font-style:
normal;" class=""><br
class="">
</div>
<div
style="font-variant:
normal;
letter-spacing:
normal; line-height:
normal;
text-transform: none;
white-space: normal;
word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect:
none;
-webkit-text-stroke-width:
0px; font-weight:
normal; font-style:
normal;" class=""><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Bard Graduate
Center:</span><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br class="">
</span><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="color: rgb(0,
0, 0);">Decorative
Arts, Design
History, Material
Culture</span><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br class="">
</span><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="color: rgb(0,
0, 0);">38 West 86th
Street, New York, NY
10024</span><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="color: rgb(0,
0, 0);"><br class="">
</span><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="color: rgb(0,
0, 0);"><span
style="color:
rgb(111, 166,
141);" class="">T</span></span><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="color: rgb(0,
0, 0);">212 501 3061</span><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><br class="">
</span><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="color: rgb(0,
0, 0);"><span
style="color:
rgb(111, 166,
141);" class="">F</span></span><span
class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span
class="Apple-style-span"
style="color: rgb(0,
0, 0);">212 501 3065</span><br
class="">
<font class=""><font
class=""
color="#6fa68e">E</font><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:keramidas@bgc.bard.edu"
style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
text-decoration:
none;" class=""><font
class=""
color="#000000"> </font><font
class=""
color="#78787d">keramidas@bgc.bard.edu</font></a><br
class="">
</font><span
style="color:
rgb(111, 166, 141);"
class="">W</span><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://www.bgc.bard.edu/" style="color:
rgb(120, 120, 125);
text-decoration:
none;" class=""> bgc.bard.edu</a><br
class="">
<span style="color:
rgb(111, 166, 141);"
class="">W</span><font
style="color: rgb(0,
0, 0);" class=""
color="#78787d"> </font><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.bgc.bard.edu/research/digital-media-lab.html"
style="color:
rgb(120, 120, 125);
text-decoration:
none;" class="">bgc.bard.edu/digital-media-lab</a><br
class="">
<span style="color:
rgb(111, 166, 141);"
class="">W</span><font
style="color: rgb(0,
0, 0);" class=""
color="#78787d"> </font><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://dml.wikis.bgc.bard.edu/"
style="color:
rgb(120, 120, 125);
text-decoration:
none;" class="">dml.wikis.bgc.bard.edu</a><br
class="">
<span style="color:
rgb(111, 166, 141);"
class="">T</span><font
style="color: rgb(0,
0, 0);" class=""
color="#78787d"> </font><a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://twitter.com/BGCDML" style="color:
rgb(120, 120, 125);
text-decoration:
none;" class="">twitter.com/BGCDML</a><br
class="">
</div>
<div style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-variant: normal;
letter-spacing:
normal; line-height:
normal;
text-transform: none;
white-space: normal;
word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect:
none;
-webkit-text-stroke-width:
0px;" class=""><br
class="">
</div>
<div style="color:
rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-variant: normal;
letter-spacing:
normal; line-height:
normal;
text-transform: none;
white-space: normal;
word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect:
none;
-webkit-text-stroke-width:
0px;" class="">BGC
Exhibitions:<br
class="">
<span style="color:
rgb(111, 166, 141);"
class="">W</span><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.bgc.bard.edu/gallery/gallery-at-bgc.html"
target="_blank"
style="text-decoration:
none; color:
rgb(120, 120, 125);"
class=""> bgc.bard.edu/gallery</a></div>
</font></div>
</span></div>
</span></div>
</span></div>
</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br class="">
<div>
<blockquote type="cite" class="">
<div class=""><span class="" style="font-family:
-webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica,
sans-serif; color: rgb(127, 127, 127);"><b class="">From:
</b></span><span class="" style="font-family:
-webkit-system-font, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica,
sans-serif;">James Sumner <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:james.sumner@manchester.ac.uk" class="">james.sumner@manchester.ac.uk</a>></span></div>
<div class="">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">To: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:members@sigcis.org" class="">members@sigcis.org</a><br
class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">January 19,
2015 at 3:10:19 PM EST<br class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">[SIGCIS-Members]
Mass-market historic computers, display and
interaction</b><br class="">
</span></div>
<br class="">
<br class="">
Dear all<br class="">
<br class="">
I've found the various discussions of computer restoration
projects and visitor interpretation in recent days very
useful. I'd be interested to hear from listmembers on a
related question:<br class="">
<br class="">
For the collection following up on the Science Museum's
recent "Interpreting the Information Age" conference, I'm
currently working up a short paper on the problem of how
to represent, to museum-goers and other general audiences,
the history of computing machines which were *not* iconic,
one-of-a-kind, or of obvious stand-out physical or
technical interest -- in particular, mass-produced boxes
and clone designs which were (often drearily) familiar to
large user populations in their day, yet will nevertheless
mean little to most people today without interpretation.
My key question is how to make the machines not only
intelligible, but interesting. Much of the answer I want
to give revolves around the expected "look at how they
were used", but I also want to give some attention to how
to keep the nature of the machines in the picture.<br
class="">
<br class="">
In particular, I'd be keen to hear people's experience of
providing hands-on access to machines, in ways that are
not possible for older, rarer and more valuable survivals
(or, indeed, painstakingly engineered and authentic
re-creations). There are, of course, quite a few museums
and display collections internationally that include
working models of representative machines -- I'm
interested to hear of people's experiences of the
practicalities, and in particular of interaction with
audiences who *don't* remember the machines from "first
time around". Please drop me an email if you would be
happy to discuss.<br class="">
<br class="">
All best<br class="">
James<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
On 18/01/2015 17:02, Andrew Russell wrote:<br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">Dag’s email made me think
of fascinating work in media archaeology, digital
humanities, and related areas by scholars such as Matt
Kirschenbaum (see his book _Mechanisms: New Media and
the Forensic Imagination_), Lori Emerson (<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://mediaarchaeologylab.com/" class="">http://mediaarchaeologylab.com/</a>
at CU-Boulder), Andreas Fickers (playing with
‘Experimental Media Archaeology’ at Univ. Luxembourg),
and others.<br class="">
<br class="">
There are some clear differences between these scholars
and the types of computer restoration projects mentioned
below - for example, Kirschenbaum and Emerson are both
in English Departments and link their work to cultural
theory in ways that the Science Museum and Computer
History Museum do not. But there are also some clear
areas of overlapping interest, especially a deep
appreciation for machines (and their ‘materiality’) and
the value that comes from preserving and working closely
with them.<br class="">
<br class="">
To respond to Dag’s question, I think this is an
incredibly valuable area of work. There’s a lot more to
say about this -- in part because it is linked to the
discussion triggered by Tom Haigh’s recent CACM column
on the “tears of Knuth” -- but I’ll restrict myself to
two observations for now:<br class="">
- if we broaden the scope of inquiry from “computers” to
“media technologies,” we will find many more areas of
intersection between museum professionals and academics
who identify not strictly as “computer historians” but
instead as media historians, media scholars, etc.
(scholars such as Mara Mills and Lisa Gitelman come to
mind). Jen Light described some of this overlap in her
SIGCIS keynote address in Dearborn, and I hope we’ll
hear much more about this at future SIGCIS workshops.<br
class="">
- I bet that antiquarians, hobbyists, and museum experts
working with cars and trains have put a lot of thought
into the value of restoration and the extent to which
they interact with academics. This is familiar
territory for SHOT members, to put it mildly. To put
this another way: I wonder if Wolfgang Schivelbusch
likes going to railroad museums, and if staff at those
museums know about or appreciate his work?<br class="">
<br class="">
Cheers,<br class="">
<br class="">
Andy<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">On Jan 18, 2015, at
10:20 AM, Brian Randell <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:brian.randell@newcastle.ac.uk" class="">brian.randell@newcastle.ac.uk</a>>
wrote:<br class="">
<br class="">
Hi Dag:<br class="">
<br class="">
Though I wouldn’t call them actual restorations, I
think the Science Museum’s construction of Babbage’s
No 2 Difference Engine, and the late Tony Sale’s of
the Colossus Mk 2, were wonderful examples of what I
understand is called “experimental archaeology”, up
there with the Chateau de Guedelon (<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10440300" class="">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10440300</a>),
and as such of *unquestionable* value.<br class="">
<br class="">
Cheers<br class="">
<br class="">
Brian<br class="">
<br class="">
On 16 Jan 2015, at 19:09, Dag Spicer <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:dspicer@computerhistory.org" class="">dspicer@computerhistory.org</a>>
wrote:<br class="">
<br class="">
<blockquote type="cite" class="">New piece today by
the BBC on computer restorations, including the
Computer History Museum’s IBM 1401 (1959).<br
class="">
<br class="">
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30546592"
class="">http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30546592</a><br
class="">
<br class="">
I’d be interested in hearing from SIGCIS members
about their perception of the value of doing these
kinds of things…<br class="">
<br class="">
Dag<br class="">
<br class="">
--<br class="">
Dag Spicer<br class="">
Senior Curator<br class="">
Computer History Museum<br class="">
Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of
Computing<br class="">
1401 North Shoreline Boulevard<br class="">
Mountain View, CA 94043-1311<br class="">
<br class="">
Tel: +1 650 810 1035<br class="">
Fax: +1 650 810 1055<br class="">
<br class="">
Twitter: @ComputerHistory<br class="">
<br class="">
_______________________________________________<br
class="">
This email is relayed from <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a>, the
email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions
expressed here are those of the member posting and
are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The
list archives are at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/">http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/</a> and you can
change your subscription options at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a><br
class="">
</blockquote>
<br class="">
--<br class="">
School of Computing Science, Newcastle University,
Newcastle upon Tyne,<br class="">
NE1 7RU, UK<br class="">
EMAIL = <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk" class="">Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk</a>
PHONE = +44 191 208 7923<br class="">
FAX = +44 191 208 8232 URL = <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell"
class="">http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell</a><br
class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
_______________________________________________<br
class="">
This email is relayed from <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:members@sigcis.org" class="">members@sigcis.org</a>,
the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions
expressed here are those of the member posting and are
not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list
archives are at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/" class="">http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/</a>
and you can change your subscription options at <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members"
class="">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a><br
class="">
</blockquote>
_______________________________________________<br
class="">
This email is relayed from <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:members@sigcis.org" class="">members@sigcis.org</a>,
the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions
expressed here are those of the member posting and are
not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list
archives are at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/" class="">http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/</a>
and you can change your subscription options at <a
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href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members"
class="">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a><br
class="">
</blockquote>
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Elizabeth
Petrick <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:elizabeth.r.petrick@njit.edu" class="">elizabeth.r.petrick@njit.edu</a>><br
class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">To: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">members <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:members@sigcis.org" class="">members@sigcis.org</a>><br
class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">January 19,
2015 at 11:49:03 AM EST<br class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">[SIGCIS-Members]
InfoAge Science Center</b><br class="">
</span></div>
<br class="">
<br class="">
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">Hello everyone,<br class="">
<br class="">
</div>
I wanted to mention about the wonderful visit Lee
Vinsel and I had last week to the InfoAge Science
Center, courtesy of Evan Koblentz. <br class="">
<br class="">
</div>
Evan gave us a personal tour of the computer
collection he runs there. It was great to see (and in
many cases, see running) computers that I've only ever
read about (Bendix G-15, PDP-8, Altair, Apple Lisa,
Osborne).<br class="">
<br class="">
</div>
If you're in the New Jersey area, I highly recommend
paying a visit here. I'll be teaching a course on
computer history next year and I'm hoping to arrange to
bring my students. I think they'll get a lot out of
being able to experience these machines in person.<br
class="">
<div class="">
<div class=""><br class="" clear="all">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">Elizabeth Petrick<br
class="">
<br class="">
Assistant Professor<br class="">
</div>
Federated History Department<br class="">
</div>
New Jersey Institute of Technology<br
class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Evan Koblentz
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:evan@snarc.net" class="">evan@snarc.net</a>><br
class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">To: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">members <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:members@sigcis.org" class="">members@sigcis.org</a>><br
class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">January 19,
2015 at 8:42:11 PM EST<br class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Re:
[SIGCIS-Members] InfoAge Science Center</b><br
class="">
</span></div>
<br class="">
<br class="">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" class=""> Thank you
Elizabeth! We enjoyed hosting you and Lee and are
excited to hopefully show your students too.<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 01/19/2015 11:49 AM,
Elizabeth Petrick wrote:<br class="">
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CALwHdbbAD6-jfUaLz-RAd4aNzvUD03GMYpwnuAAL5hWsf=K0iQ@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite" class="">
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">Hello everyone,<br class="">
<br class="">
</div>
I wanted to mention about the wonderful visit
Lee Vinsel and I had last week to the InfoAge
Science Center, courtesy of Evan Koblentz. <br
class="">
<br class="">
</div>
Evan gave us a personal tour of the computer
collection he runs there. It was great to see (and
in many cases, see running) computers that I've
only ever read about (Bendix G-15, PDP-8, Altair,
Apple Lisa, Osborne).<br class="">
<br class="">
</div>
If you're in the New Jersey area, I highly recommend
paying a visit here. I'll be teaching a course on
computer history next year and I'm hoping to arrange
to bring my students. I think they'll get a lot out
of being able to experience these machines in
person.<br class="">
<div class="">
<div class=""><br class="" clear="all">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">
<div class="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr" class="">
<div class="">
<div class="">Elizabeth Petrick<br
class="">
<br class="">
Assistant Professor<br class="">
</div>
Federated History Department<br
class="">
</div>
New Jersey Institute of Technology<br
class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" class=""><br class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br class="">
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br class="">
<pre class="" wrap="">_______________________________________________
This email is relayed from <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/">http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/</a> and you can change your subscription options at <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a></pre>
</blockquote>
<br class="">
</div>
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Evan Koblentz
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:evan@snarc.net" class="">evan@snarc.net</a>><br
class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">To: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Sigcis <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:members@sigcis.org" class="">members@sigcis.org</a>><br
class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">January 19,
2015 at 8:47:21 PM EST<br class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">[SIGCIS-Members]
Wes Clark @ VCF East</b><br class="">
</span></div>
<br class="">
<br class="">
SIGCIS'rs,<br class="">
<br class="">
...Previously announced that Ted Nelson and Bob Frankston
will keynote the Vintage Computer Festival East this
spring. Now we are very pleased to announce a third major
speech there: Wes Clark.<br class="">
<br class="">
Thus the latest statistics for VCF East:<br class="">
- Sixteen technical classes (Friday)<br class="">
- Three keynotes (Saturday/Sunday)<br class="">
- Twenty-one exhibits (thirty-plus expected --
Saturday/Sunday)<br class="">
<br class="">
Full details are at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.vintage.org/2015/east" class="">http://www.vintage.org/2015/east</a>.<br
class="">
<br class="">
We know that some of you respect the artifacts of computer
history. As stated in recent discussions on this list, we
in MARCH / InfoAge Science Center take a "pro-restoration"
stance toward them.<br class="">
<br class="">
So: Come to VCF East. Leave your necktie and sportjacket
at home. Get your hands dirty with some hardware and code.<br
class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">From: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">Melanie
Swalwell <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:melanie.swalwell@flinders.edu.au"
class="">melanie.swalwell@flinders.edu.au</a>><br
class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">To: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">James Sumner
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:james.sumner@manchester.ac.uk" class="">james.sumner@manchester.ac.uk</a>>,
"<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:members@sigcis.org" class="">members@sigcis.org</a>"
<<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:members@sigcis.org" class="">members@sigcis.org</a>><br
class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">Date: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">January 20,
2015 at 1:54:51 AM EST<br class="">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px;
margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" class=""><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif; color:rgba(127, 127, 127,
1.0);" class=""><b class="">Subject: </b></span><span
style="font-family: -webkit-system-font, Helvetica
Neue, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class=""><b class="">Re:
[SIGCIS-Members] Mass-market historic computers,
display and interaction</b><br class="">
</span></div>
<br class="">
<br class="">
Dear James,<br class="">
<br class="">
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 <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://playitagainproject.org/contribute" class="">http://playitagainproject.org/contribute</a>
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. <br class="">
<br class="">
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 <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2513570"
class="">http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2513570</a>
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. <br class="">
<br class="">
Regards,<br class="">
<br class="">
Melanie<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
<br class="">
_______________________________________________<br
class="">
Members mailing list<br class="">
<a moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:Members@sigcis.org"
class="">Members@sigcis.org</a><br class="">
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a><br class="">
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br class="">
</div>
</blockquote>
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