[Yr7-10it] School based digital museums

[Roland Gesthuizen]

Please pass this onto any interested people

As some of you already know, I have taken a side interest in the battle
against the rot of digital decay (no, this is not a dental hygiene issue)
and enthusiasm to throw out the old as we continually upgrade our computer
hardware. Towards this goal, I have been trying to better understand the
preservation issues related to preserving our computer heritage.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/14/2189966.htm
 "Computer artefacts held by the Australian Computer Museum Society face the
scrap heap if they do not find a new home. Relics include one of Australia's
first computers, SILLIAC, and pieces of a 1920s machine used to calculate
odds at horse races."

This got me thinking that some of us already have small collections in 'back
rooms' and cupboards for nostalgic or educational reasons.

Already I have had a good chat to David Demant, curator at the Melbourne
Museum, about how these schools can best handle their collections and he has
made some good suggestions that I would like to follow up. David curated an
exhibition on digital technology that included the first computer built in
Australia, CSIRAC. http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/csirac/

As a start, I would be interested in contacting anybody who is maintaining a
small collection of computer artefacts at their school, college or
university. We may organise some online or face-to-face meetings to discuss
the issues related to the preservation of this heritage and start up a
register of what we have. Importantly, we can do something about recording
the precious stories that surround this equipment before it ruts, rusts or
gets eaten by the rats.

[image: School computer
museum]<http://www.flickr.com/photos/plakboek/1886242223/>

Regards Roland

-- 
Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College
http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead
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