hear hear!
indeed the truth......



Electonetwork observed:>  "even children's
  books about the first computers (circa 1940s) that are
  being burned as waste by libraries today, to make room
  for books by Oprah and Britney Spears autobiographies"

So SMECC asks:>  send all children's and adult books. pamphlets, children's
drawings of early computer systems, old magazines with old ad's in them,
posters etc etc to:

coury house / smecc
5802 w palmaire ave
glendale arizona 85301

We also accept adult books on this subject also, as well as early material
on broadcasting, telephone, telegraph,  nuclear science and more.... the
Library and files are growing daily.

Thanks!

Ed Sharpe Archivist for SMECC

See the Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation
online at:
http://www.smecc.org
Thanks!

Ed Sharpe Archivist for SMECC

See the Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation
online at:
http://www.smecc.org

----- Original Message -----
From: "human being" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2003 6:52 AM
Subject: Re: Keyboards in exhibits


>   Hi Jake (and Ed) and others,
>
>   The Intel Museum is one of my favorite 'small' exhibit spaces
>   that does a lot (in terms of information and conveying complex
>   information in an understandable way) in a relatively short time
>   period. Two things stand out about Intel and the Museum for me:
>
>   One is that there was an exhibit about microprocessors which
>   seemed to be a type of table-top-like flip-grid where one can
>   explore how microprocessors are used and their various types.
>   This was my first encounter with the notion of embedded micro-
>   processors and computing, which was an 'ahah!' moment in
>   terms of better understanding the industry and how ubiquitous
>   yet also invisible computing can and has become- in that one
>   may not even know there are computer chips in, say, a Barbie
>   doll, a streetlight, or espresso machine (for domestic examples).
>
>   The second innovation in this museum, besides a quick study
>   of Intel and the evolution of their microprocessor line (and, it
>   seemed there may have been other chips included in this
>   exhibit, not sure) -- was that Intel also sold jewelry of their
>   defunct chips, as aesthetic artifacts -- which to me is a sign
>   of genius in the cultural importance of computing, of the (Intel)
>   chipset as an icon that is recognizable, yet when seen up-
>   close, it is mysterious as it looks different than on a mother-
>   board. It is hoped Intel someday revives this practice and
>   they have been very receptive to my inquiries, which also
>   indicates to me their commitment to sharing their works.
>   Sad to say, some small museums are not like this in terms
>   of this type of innovative presentation and representation
>   of information (the exhibit but also the artifacts) and, in a
>   sense, the Intel Museum has a lot to teach others, IMHO.
>
>   The Computer History Museum, while I have not seen the
>   physical exhibits, has its website online and while I enjoy
>   this documentation, the 'interpretation' of these artifacts in
>   the much larger context of electrification and cultural change
>   to me awaits investigation. For example, to examine what
>   computing may be, may require an interdisciplinary approach
>   which is less about the museum than a warehouse and a
>   series of ever-changing stagesets in which, like dioramas,
>   vantages of computing in everyday life and its transformation
>   are explored. There is something about the interdisciplinary
>   aspect of computers that is missing in isolating them as
>   independent objects, for in a networked world they ceased
>   to be autonomous, it would seem, and became internetworked
>   in a vast assemblage of connections, from space probes with
>   live video feeds to underseas exploration of the first life on
>   Earth, to telerobotic surgery and e-commerce. Thus, it is this
>   aspect of 'infrastructure' which to me cannot and will not be
>   defined by one exhibit in one place, moreso as an invention
>   of collaborative efforts, bringing these various aspects into
>   one place (networked) to explore the facets of this jewel.
>
>   For instance, in a sense it is like Alvin Toffler's vacation-
>   spending exercises, when traveling to go visit companies
>   and industries and tour their facilities to learn about what
>   they are doing and how they are doing it, to get the 'big
>   picture' view of the artifact or its contextual relationship
>   with other production systems, and its place within it. So
>   too, while the San Jose Tech Museum (I don't believe it
>   is the Intel Museum but I could be wrong) has a working
>   or semi-automated silicon processing facility within the
>   museum itself, separated from the real-world bunny-suit
>   semiconductor industry where the chips are made. This
>   gives a sense to the importance of the size of the platters,
>   their dimensions, how dozens of microchips can then be
>   manufactured on these, and how each batch has some
>   percentage that have flaws even in the most controlled
>   of conditions, as the levels of precision needed for the
>   design and manufacturing of things deemed 'micro' are
>   extraordinarily complex to build and yet, the outcome
>   is this computer universe, these computing devices,
>   and one (a computer one uses now) is not separated
>   nor should it be, from this process, and to understand
>   this connection is to better understand computing. And
>   while this silicon machine may already be outdated, it
>   is speculated that these huge machines and such will
>   be lost to history, unless industrial archaeologists and
>   museum professionals take on the present-day artifacts,
>   including the technical manuals and even chlildren's
>   books about the first computers (circa 1940s) that are
>   being burned as waste by libraries today, to make room
>   for books by Oprah and Britney Spears autobiographies
>   donated to libraries and the Library of Congress. (Not
>   a slam of the former, but yes, of the latter).
>
>   IF instead, like the Tofflers vacations, companies were
>   to include their tours in 'interpretive contexts' and to
>   help teach and convey learning in such tours of their
>   facilities and technologies, in conjunction with museums,
>   then whole worlds and realms of information and a new
>   understandability or comprehension may be available,
>   as with the interdisciplinary aspect of the fine arts and
>   natural history museums teaming up with science and
>   technology and history museums and private collections
>   and galleries to give a larger, more whole sense of the
>   present day, which is more complex than any one curator
>   or their vision of a subject, IMO. designers, curators, and
>   artists, in addition to architects, businesses, organizations,
>   and others can make this happen. And the Intel Museum
>   and others offer glimpses of how this could be done. It is
>   an idea, not a formula, it is a question of how to relate
>   to this culture, in the present moment. There is a book
>   by David McCaully (i forget the title and his name is
>   not spelled right, he is an architectural picture-book/
>   story writer) which was of 'future artifacts', it had things
>   like UPC codes found buried as artifacts from the present
>   that some archaeologist of the future finds, so too with
>   streetlights and other memorabilia. It is this aspect that
>   someday, surely, just like Roman and Greek artifacts,
>   a long-lost computer mouse, of even the most mundane
>   type (say, a Microsoft Mouse, one many many people
>   have) may be found and become a museum's treasure
>   as the rest have been lost, and it is now 200 years old.
>
>   This is to consider both questions of hardware and also
>   software (as information archaeologists and those in
>   library sciences seem to be doing with archiving data
>   that is electronic, especially the rapidly losing battle to
>   keep the record of software programming in existence)
>   -- in relation to the historical past. Any museum that is
>   represented on this list, it is proposed, will be dealing
>   in one way or another with the new electromagnetic
>   science, technology, and culture in their exhibitions,
>   either through interpretation or exhibiting or learning
>   about the artifacts they hold. And it is for this reason
>   that those issues surrounding the history of computing
>   tie in with other initiatives, and many lead back to the
>   record of electrification and electromagnetic culture.
>
>   In any case, a big THANKs for your work which has
>   been very inspiring to me someone who experienced
>   information in a way that helped me learn more about
>   a mysterious and very complex subject, which also has
>   driven so much of culture- by making it accessible to me.
>
>   Brian
>
>
>   bc microsite http://www.electronetwork.org/bc/
>   ~e-list http://www.electronetwork.org/list/
>
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