TechStyle

Ada Lovelace Day '09

 Its Ada Lovelace Day, so I've dusted off the old blog to join in with over 1000 blogs and promote Women in Technology and the joys of Ada Lovelace. Ada gets a lot of press and some question whether she really deserves all of it, especially her label as the world's first computer programmer. But frankly - does it matter? She certainly had an ability to take Babbage's work towards the realm of programming, and that merits a piece on the Science Museum's web page. So I've written about Ada here and her strong collaboration with Charles Babbage and the Science Museum's collections. And I'm looking forward to watching the 'real' Ada Lovelace walk the galleries of the museum alongside the Analytical Engine all day.

The Material of the Digital

The Material of the Digital talk that I gave at the Oxford Internet Institute is now up on their webcast. The talk looks at the development of the new computing gallery at the Science Museum and the need to display the material culture of computing alongside the ephemeral world of software and applications. If you have any thoughts of displays of computing culture in museums and galleries you can add them to the comments part of Bill Dutton's blog.

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

KINETICA

Last weekend I went to the new Kinetica Museum in Spitalfields, which focuses in kinetic electronic and experimental art. Set to be one of the new spaces for new media art in London the opening display is The Amorphic Robot Works.

Walking round the display of hydraudic, pneumatic and computer automata as the warmed up for their musical interlude I was fascinated at how little mechanical art/toys/robots had come on from the 18th century mechanical chess playing Turk to Charles Babbage's dancing Silver Lady. Why do people continue to be so  intrigued by these relatively low-tech machines when technological ability has advanced so far? Or perhaps are we intrigued precisely because of the playful and rudimentary technology?

Look out for the next exhibition by Jasia Reichardt: 'From the Common Room to Cybernetic Serendipity' from the 17th October. Jasia curated the seminal 1968 ICA exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity which put computer arts on the map and brought Norbert Wiener's concept of cybernetics into the gallery.

Pixar at the Science Museum

I recently went to the opening of the Pixar exhibition at the Science Museum. As well as some wonderful pastel drawings that show you one place art is at work in the world today, it contains a magnificent xoetrope that animates the characters of Toy Story. I've always loved Buzz and the Aliens, but this display not only brings to life the characters but the science of animation. It was great to hear all the visitors explaining (wrongly) to each other how it works - "its because its spinning so fast all the people look like they are moving". One of the  guys at Pixar said he had spent so long trying to explain to one man how the small green aliens jumping into a hole were not really falling into a void, that in the end he had given in and exclaimed "OK - at the end of the day we take them all out of the bottom of the machine and we fill it up at the top again." It was only then that the enquirer was happy that they had understood how it works.

The other highlight to me was the film at the end, which was 3D without having to wear any groovy glasses. We cornered the technical guyto find out how come it had such a strong 3D effect that it even made you feel giddy. Apparently it is nothing more complicated than a trick of the eye. The film uses the same layering of the animation used in early animation films such as Snow White, but its projected at much higher resolution that a normal film, and with a much higher frame rate. And its well worth seeing if you are at all intersted in computers or animation.

Archiving new media

One of the issues that I've been failing to tackle, but know I must get around to facing, is how we can capture, collect and archive new media for the long term. Museum's are great at preserving objects, but so far have yet to tackle the enormity of software and ephemeral technology and media. The issue of digital preservation and archiving is one that various groups are looking at (including the Computer Conservation Society with the Science Museum, the Internet archive and the Digital Curation Centre), but the importance of capturing significant advancements and the culture of this technology was emphasised to me recently when I curated a small exhibition on A Decade of Interactive Content. Looking at the last 10 years we drew together the most significant websites, interactive TV, CD Roms and installations, but these were only on graphic panels. There was very little you could still display that was interactive.  Some projects can just about pull together a few images (thanks BBC New Media archivist) but many don't exist any more and there is no code saved on a dusty old drives somewhere. Something else to put on the 'to do' list of the Curator of Computing...

ContentLab 2005

PACT's ContentLab 2005 starts tomorrow in Birmingham and if last year is anything to go by it should be a fun event. With a keynote by Hilary Cottam from the Design Museum and sessions on online learning and Ofcom's 'big idea', the Public Service Publisher, it should be set to raise an interesting agenda about the future of interactive content. The most lively session looks likely to be  iRoom 101, where Peter Cowley from Endemol will be placing his most hated interactive content. This will be inspired by my own exhibition on the walls of the conference, looking at 'A Decade of British Interactive Content'. Watch this space for updates.

Cragside

A highlight of our summer was staying  in a cottage on Lord Armstrong's Cragside estate in Northumberland. Tucked away in the rugged hillside above Rothbury, Cragside brings together landscaped pine trees with Victorian technology.

The house was the first in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity and Amstrong installed many innovative machines to help his staff with the domestic chores. Cragside boasts the first hydraulic lift, used by Armstrong's domestic staff to carry coal and heavy pans between floors, a hydraulic spit, a Turkish steam room for the men, and was one of the earliest installations of Joseph Swan's  'incandescent lamp'.

Armstrong's money initally came from the invention of a hydraulic crane, and then from the foundation of the Elswick Works in the West End of Newcastle. Later he developed the breech-loading gun and moved into armament production and shipbuilding. The firm merged withJoseph Whitworth & Co, later becoming Vickers Armstrong.

Pier pressure

After much pressure during a weekend in Suffolk we headed down for our annual visit to Southwold Pier. I've written about the joys of Hunkins games before, but this year the kids imaginations went really wild. SO wild that we couldn't go into the the 'deep sea experience' which introduces you to the wilds of the North Sea and radioactive waste. We didn't even get a s far as going under when the girls leapt out of the box crying. We did manage Hunkin's quick holiday from your armchair, where you go on a sustainable and environmentally sound virtual holiday experience and the Expressive Photobooth. None of it is to be missed if you have a lot of one pound coins and some time to kill in East Anglia.

Computer History in the New Scientist

The New Scientist ran an article this week about the new enthusiasm for digital history and our work at the Science Museum on computer conservation and digital preservation. The journalist Will Knight came on one of my magnificent tours of the computing collection stores and was so inspired that he took it upon himself to write a short piece on the history of computing. Shame he only quoted me as saying I was an eighties girl, and failed to attribute any of the great intellectual and historical insights I passed on to him!