<html>
  <head>

    <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
  </head>
  <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
     Dear members of SIGCIS,<br>
    <div class="moz-forward-container"> <br>
      we plan to hand in a research project about the plastics used in
      electronic artefacts in information and telecommunication
      technologies. <br>
      <br>
      Two topics are being researched:<br>
      <br>
          a) based on selected artefacts from two museums in Munich
      (milestones of the technological development) we aim to
      characterise the plastics used in the production of personal
      computers and of radios. We intend     to understand the reasons
      why plastics were selected for production or for changes in their
      choice. The plastic selection can be based on some or more of the
      following reasons: design, function, costs of production,    
      properties of the plastic in question (weight, workability,
      colour, resistance to shok, resistance to heat, ...), historical
      reasons as availability or non availabilty of raw materials during
      war or post war periods, etc.<br>
              - What were the advantages and disadvantages of past used
      plastics in the production of electronic artefacts?<br>
              - Why were some plastics preferred in a certain period and
      substituted later on?<br>
              - Which development similarities do we find between the
      production of personal computers and radios?<br>
              - What were the main reasons for the selection of plastics
      in which period of the twentieth century?<br>
      <br>
          For the investigation of personal computers we are identifying
      the plastics by means of infrared spectroscopy of the following
      elements:<br>
              - housing<br>
              - power cables<br>
              - operating elements (push buttons)<br>
              - printed circuit board (e.g. mother board)<br>
              - integrated circuits<br>
      <br>
          Below your find the a pre-selection of personal computers
      dating from 1975 to 2000:<br>
      <br>
      <table style="border-collapse: collapse;width:179pt" border="0"
        cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="239">
        <tbody>
          <tr style="mso-height-source:userset;height:50.25pt"
            height="67">
            <td class="xl65" style="height:50.25pt;width:119pt"
              height="67" width="159">Personal Computer<br>
            </td>
            <td class="xl65" style="border-left:none;width:60pt"
              width="80"> Production date<br>
            </td>
          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>
      <br>
      <table style="border-collapse: collapse;width:179pt" border="0"
        cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="239">
        <tbody>
          <tr style="mso-height-source:userset;height:48.75pt"
            height="65">
            <td class="xl65" style="height:48.75pt;width:119pt"
              height="65" width="159">Heimcomputer "MITS Altair 8800"</td>
            <td class="xl65" style="border-left:none;width:60pt"
              width="80">1975</td>
          </tr>
          <tr style="mso-height-source:userset;height:48.75pt"
            height="65">
            <td class="xl66" style="height:48.75pt;width:119pt"
              height="65" width="159">Personal Computer Apple II IA2S2</td>
            <td class="xl66" style="border-left:none;width:60pt"
              width="80">ca. 1980</td>
          </tr>
          <tr style="mso-height-source:userset;height:48.75pt"
            height="65">
            <td class="xl67" style="height:48.75pt;border-top:none;
              width:119pt" height="65" width="159">Personal Computer
              Osborne 1</td>
            <td class="xl67"
              style="border-top:none;border-left:none;width:60pt"
              width="80">1983</td>
          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>
      <table style="border-collapse: collapse;width:179pt" border="0"
        cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="239">
        <tbody>
          <tr style="mso-height-source:userset;height:49.5pt"
            height="66">
            <td class="xl68" style="height:49.5pt;width:119pt"
              height="66" width="159">Personal Computer Apple Macintosh
              512K</td>
            <td class="xl68" style="border-left:none;width:60pt"
              width="80">ca. 1985<br>
              <br>
            </td>
          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>
      <table style="border-collapse: collapse;width:179pt" border="0"
        cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="239">
        <tbody>
          <tr style="mso-height-source:userset;height:51.75pt"
            height="69">
            <td class="xl67" style="height:51.75pt;width:119pt"
              height="69" width="159">Personal Computer Macintosh Plus 1
              Mb</td>
            <td class="xl67" style="border-left:none;width:60pt"
              width="80"><br>
            </td>
          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>
      <table style="border-collapse: collapse;width:179pt" border="0"
        cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="239">
        <tbody>
          <tr style="mso-height-source:userset;height:51.75pt"
            height="69">
            <td class="xl67" style="height:51.75pt;width:119pt"
              height="69" width="159">Personal Computer, sign.:
              Commodore 64</td>
            <td class="xl67" style="border-left:none;width:60pt"
              width="80">1992</td>
          </tr>
          <tr style="mso-height-source:userset;height:44.25pt"
            height="59">
            <td class="xl68" style="height:44.25pt;width:119pt"
              height="59" width="159">Notebook Apple iBook SE 466</td>
            <td class="xl68" style="border-left:none;width:60pt"
              width="80">2000</td>
          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>
      <br>
          b) based on a condition survey of personal computers and
      radios from two museums in Munich (several hundreds of objects in
      storage) we aim to identify the main decay patterns of plastic
      materials (yellowing,         discoloration, desintegration, loss
      of plasticizer). <br>
          After identifying the main weathering decay forms, we will
      analyse the plastics, so that we can correlate material and decay.
      For instance, until now we have noticed that ABS is prone to
      yellowing, plasticized PVC is         prone to loss of plasticizer
      and tha rubber is prone to desintegration. By identifying the
      amount of objects at risk in the collection we can establish
      priorities for the active or passive conservation.<br>
      <br>
      We would like to ask you whether you find this topic interesting
      and kindly ask you to discuss with us our aims and methodology. <br>
      <br>
      Best wishes<br>
      <br>
      Dr. Marisa Pamplona-Bartsch (& Ulf Hashagen, who forwarded
      this Email of his colleague Marisa to sigcis)<br>
      <br>
      <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
Objekt- und Restaurierungsforschungsabteilung
Conservation Science Department 
Deutsches Museum
Museumsinsel 1, 80538 München, Germany
tel + 49 (0)89 / 21 79 512 
e-mail: <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:m.pamplona@deutsches-museum.de">m.pamplona@deutsches-museum.de</a></pre>
      <br>
    </div>
    <br>
  </body>
</html>