Date: January 19, 2015 at 3:10:19 PM EST
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Mass-market historic computers, display and interaction
Dear all
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:
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.
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.
All best
James
On 18/01/2015 17:02, Andrew Russell wrote:
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 (http://mediaarchaeologylab.com/ at CU-Boulder), Andreas Fickers (playing with ‘Experimental Media Archaeology’ at Univ. Luxembourg), and others.
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.
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:
- 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.
- 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?
Cheers,
Andy
On Jan 18, 2015, at 10:20 AM, Brian Randell <brian.randell@newcastle.ac.uk> wrote:
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
Tel: +1 650 810 1035
Fax: +1 650 810 1055
Twitter: @ComputerHistory
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--
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NE1 7RU, UK
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Date: January 19, 2015 at 11:49:03 AM EST
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] InfoAge Science Center
Hello everyone,
I wanted to mention about the wonderful visit Lee Vinsel and I had last week to the InfoAge Science Center, courtesy of Evan Koblentz.
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).
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.
Elizabeth Petrick
Assistant Professor
Federated History Department
New Jersey Institute of Technology
Date: January 19, 2015 at 8:42:11 PM EST
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] InfoAge Science Center
Thank you Elizabeth! We enjoyed hosting you and Lee and are excited
to hopefully show your students too.
On 01/19/2015 11:49 AM, Elizabeth
Petrick wrote:
Hello everyone,
I wanted to mention about the wonderful visit Lee Vinsel and
I had last week to the InfoAge Science Center, courtesy of
Evan Koblentz.
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).
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.
Elizabeth Petrick
Assistant Professor
Federated History Department
New Jersey Institute of Technology
_______________________________________________
This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, 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 http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
Date: January 19, 2015 at 8:47:21 PM EST
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Wes Clark @ VCF East
SIGCIS'rs,
...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.
Thus the latest statistics for VCF East:
- Sixteen technical classes (Friday)
- Three keynotes (Saturday/Sunday)
- Twenty-one exhibits (thirty-plus expected -- Saturday/Sunday)
Full details are at
http://www.vintage.org/2015/east.
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.
So: Come to VCF East. Leave your necktie and sportjacket at home. Get your hands dirty with some hardware and code.
Date: January 20, 2015 at 1:54:51 AM EST
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Mass-market historic computers, display and interaction
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
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