<div dir="ltr">Dear Martin,<br><br>In Kyoto, Japan, floppy disks are still used in weaving looms for Nishijin-ori, which is  traditional silk fabrics. <br><a href="https://kyoto.travel/en/see-and-do/nishijin-ori.html">https://kyoto.travel/en/see-and-do/nishijin-ori.html</a><br><br>The Nishijin weaving factories introduced jacquard looms in the late 19th century (probably in the 1870s), and since then the weaving patterns were input by punchcards, which were gradually replaced by floppy disks around the end of the 20th century. Even now, some factories still use looms with such floppy disks. Since it has become difficult to obtain floppies, some Nishijin-ori companies sometimes ask for donations of floppy disks through SNS. I heard there are a few factories that still use old punchcard, although these cards for jacquard looms are heavy and difficult to handle.<br><br><br>Mai Sugimoto<br>Associate Professor<br>Faculty of Sociology, Kansai University<br>3-3-35, Yamate-cho, Suita-shi<div><a href="http://www4.plala.or.jp/maisugimoto/index2.htm">http://www4.plala.or.jp/maisugimoto/index2.htm</a><br>Osaka, Japan 564-8680 <br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">2021年11月5日(金) 19:58 Schmitt, Martin <<a href="mailto:martin.schmitt@tu-darmstadt.de">martin.schmitt@tu-darmstadt.de</a>>:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">



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Dear SIGCIS,
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<div>today, I got a request by a German journalist asking about current uses of floppy disks. Are they still is use somewhere? Are there still users, for example power plants, airlines, banks or so who are using floppy disks? If so, why do they do
 that? I am sure that you can address this question, that was forwarded to me by Daniela Zetti, way better than I could. My first thought were computer hobbyists who are working with old computers and presenting them at Vintage Computing Festivals – cool stuff,
 but I do not think that is what the journalist wants to hear.</div>
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<div>Best </div>
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Martin</div>
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Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter | Post-Doc | digital enthusiast<br>
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<font color="#688821">Technische Universität Darmstadt</font></div>
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Institut für Geschichte</div>
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Fachgebiet Technikgeschichte<br>
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Mail: <a href="mailto:martin.schmitt@tu-darmstadt.de" target="_blank">martin.schmitt@tu-darmstadt.de</a></div>
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<font color="#005493">LEIBNIZ-ZENTRUM FÜR ZEITHISTORISCHE FORSCHUNG</font><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><span> </span>| </span>POTSDAM <br>
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Vice Chair IFIP WG 9.7 „History of computing"<br>
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Zuletzt erschienen: Leslie, Christopher und Martin Schmitt (eds.): Histories of Computing in Eastern Europe, Cham: Springer International Publishing 2019 (IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology 549), <a href="https://www.springer.com/978-3-030-29159-4" target="_blank">https://www.springer.com/978-3-030-29159-4</a><br>
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