TechStyle

BBC Micro computer event at the Science Museum

On January 11^th 1982, the BBC launched its Computer Literacy Project. This involved television programmes seen by millions, an array of books and courses which sold in many thousands, a national advice service supported by the Department of Trade and Industry, and – perhaps the most innovative and remarkable element – The BBC Microcomputer, designed and produced by Acorn Computers.

To celebrate the "Legacy of the BBC Micro" over 25 years on the Computer Conservation Society are holding an event on 20^th March 2008, 14.30 to 17.00, in the Fellows Room at the Science Museum. More information is available from the CCS website: http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/20080320.htm

A history of the future

On Wednesday I went to a BCS talk by Richard Barbrook of Cybersalon fame on his book "Imaginary Futures". A copy of the book can be found here - its an interesting analysis of the history and recycling of ideological ideas, with a focus on how the 'Information Society' has been used and re-appropriated since the 1960s. Although there is a strong argument here I think there has to be a problem with suggesting that the Cold War/McLuhan Information Society is the same as the one we currently discuss. I completely agree that visions of the future are fundmentally linked to our political ideas, and that our future has been consistently wrapped up in the ownership of technology and many of these come round and round again, but there is a problem with suggesting that the Cold War Information Society and Marshall McLuhan Info Society is the same as the one we now grapple with through the onset of the Internet. Barbrook calls for us to get rid of old futures and invent new ones - but isn't that exactly what we have been doing? How much does the Cold War future of the New York World Fair or the geodesic domes of Buckminster Fuller still represent a future we strive to attain?