Hi Dag: 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 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10440300), and as such of *unquestionable* value. Cheers Brian On 16 Jan 2015, at 19:09, Dag Spicer <dspicer@computerhistory.org> wrote:
New piece today by the BBC on computer restorations, including the Computer History Museum’s IBM 1401 (1959).
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-30546592
I’d be interested in hearing from SIGCIS members about their perception of the value of doing these kinds of things…
Dag
-- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 1401 North Shoreline Boulevard Mountain View, CA 94043-1311
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-- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 FAX = +44 191 208 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell