Digital Industrial Archeology:



What is Digital Industrial Archeology?

The goals of archaeology are to document and explain the origins and development of human culture, understand culture history, chronicle cultural evolution, and study human behavior and ecology, for both prehistoric and historic societies. It is considered, in North America, to be one of the four sub-fields of anthropology. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology>

Industrial Archeology is a sub-discipline of Archeology. Google <"Industrial Archeology" + digital> and one easily finds a list of cases where digital technology is used to preserve the industrial past..... On page 5 one starts to find several references to <Digital Reconstruction> (VR and CAD) ..... One also finds a few references to the role of digital processes in (modern) technology -but an archeology of  the digital industry itself seems less easy to find under this heading.

In order to trace the history of computers and computing one apparently needs to search  specifically on these topics. This reveals a lot of historical material which is perhaps sometimes biased, depending on how one defines the first Computer:


Specialized Digital Topics:


People:


General Sources:

The Virtual Museum of Computing (VMoC)
                  <http://vmoc.museophile.com/> <cached version>
The Turing Archive for the History of Computing
                  <http://www.cs.usfca.edu/www.AlanTuring.net/turing_archive/index.html>
Digital Reconstruction:
                <Digital Reconstruction>
The History Cooperative

   <http://www.historycooperative.org/>
The Victorian Web
   <http://www.victorianweb.org/>

A Taxonomy of Interactions?

History is not a simple (logical) progression -but a series of complex interactions involving different viewpoints from various participants in a continuing dialogue. At best this can imply an ecology of equilibria and at worst a  naked power struggle between the various participants, their aims and available tools.


Perhaps these viewpoints fall into the following main categories -some of which may well contradict viewpoints in other categories:

a: Technical
b: Social
c: Commercial
d. Personal

However, other epistemological elements are possuible:

What do we mean by "Technical", "Culture", "Society", etc....

As often happens, the key to the discovery of recurring patterns that can enhance our understanding lies in the language we use -particularly the analysis and definition of the world that gives structure and meaning to that language.

It would seem that the first step towards "understanding" involves the construction of an epistemological taxonomy of fundamental concepts.


Some Basic Evolutionary Patterns?

Despite the methodological problems involved in creating a "definitive" (objective?) history-it would seem that some basic "patterns" might exist:

a.  Concepts and processes are often discovered or invented much earlier than one might imagine:
It can sometimes take quite a while before the implications of a discovery can be understood and tested in practice. There are also various (social, commercial, ideological) factors that might speed up or delay general appliation and acceptance.

b.  Adaption and adoption seem to be more common than fundamental invention:
It seems that many "inventors" did not directly "invent" that which they are famous for. "Analogy" seems to be an important creative tool which allows processes and ideas that common in one area to be mapped and applied creatively in another area. Trully "fundamental" thinking is not only rare but also seems to be discouraged -perhaps because of the havoc it can cause in the existing system.

c.  Conceptual development is not Linier:
Although some concepts and processes might  be clarified as a result of a wide range of empirical experience -in many cases the clarity of the original concepts can become obscured by subseqent layers of "pragmatic" adaption to fit naturally changing circumstances. Sometimes, trying to "re-invent" the wheel can be very clarifying.


Methodological Problems:

Sources can be biased, based on incorrect or incomplete information and knowledge. Even if honest and well intentioned, people's experiences of the same event can vary according to differences in time, place and cultural background. However, as more people get involved, more material emerges and the more complete (and complex) the picture becomes.

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 The History of Computing Project:

 Starting up.

The project's origin lays in 1986 when somebody asked the original author (Cornelis Robat) during a course he gave: a kind of "101 introduction to computing". At that time he did not have a solid answer. Because who thought about that in those days. Computer people were all very, very busy to keep up with things changing around them at the speed of light. The computer revolution hadn't really started yet! Let alone that someone was interested in the history of it, there was no history.

Is this a complete (his)story?

By all means NO! Mainly because data on a certain period is still missing, or contributors omitted some info not known at the time they have sent us their material.  Another lacuna in our story is for example computer history from Russia, China and Japan. There is little known about these areas. Though in the last few years information is slowly coming on line. And what happened in Africa and South America in this field. No, the story will never be complete.

The above is the main reason that this material is published in electronic form and not as a hardcopy; that would be a book of some 2000 pages thick. ;=) So it is relatively easy to make corrections and publish it, just costing a few bytes on the internet.

About:      <http://www.thocp.net/reference/info/about.htm>
Site map: <http://www.thocp.net/reference/sitemap/sitemap.htm>

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The Lemelson-MIT Program:

The Lemelson-MIT Program celebrates those inventors who have turned their ideas into accomplishments. We foster an enthusiasm for asking—and answering—the questions that change lives. Learn how our acclaimed awards and outreach programs inspire the next generation of inventors, and explore our unique Invention Dimension.

<http://web.mit.edu/invent/>
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Search Pages:

  <http://www.google.com/search?q=%22History+of+Computing>
  <http://www.google.com/search?q=%22History+of+Computers>
  <http://www.google.com/search?q=%22History+of+Computer+Operating+systems>
  <http://www.google.com/search?q=%22History+of+Computer+Programming
  <http://www.google.com/search?q=%22History+of+Computer+Programming+languages>
  <http://www.google.com/search?q=%22History+of+Commercial Computing>                                 

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Further:

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