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Computer Historian?
mike sollanych writes: "Is there any sort of job in the world for someone who's really interested in computer history? I love it, myself, but I'm just approaching the end of high school, and it's time to make some life decisions. So, is there any place in the industry for a computer historian?" How about it? Many businesses and government agencies employ company historians to record activities which might otherwise get overlooked as mundane. What skills would a most benefit a computer historian, and where are such people needed? Does such a job exist in any but the largest of companies now? Tell us what you think.
There's a computer museum in Boston, and Bruce Sterling has written about it.
I don't know if you could get a formal position, but by all means, start a web site! Even a lucid history with pointers to resources would be nice.
I have a good book from ~'86 that goes over the languages and the computer internals of the day (specs on the C64 hardware, a basic memory layout of the TRS-80, etc., etc.), and I'm sure you can find more of that at your local library. I got that one from a library book sale, actually!
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Personally, I've always been a bit of a computer history geek myself (as my .sig probably attests) and I'd sure as hell be willing to buy yet another book on the subject... so write it.
My only suggestion is start at Alan Turing (or if you go back to babage, at least include him). Most people look at the pre-dawn of computers as a hardware-only affair and tend to skip over Good Ol' Al's contribution on the software front....
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This is typically the domain of Information Science, a combination of Library Science and Computer Science. Particularly you would be looking at a combined degree in IS plus potentially Sociology. Your best bet would be to pursue a government-level position if possible (think Library of Congress) as these people generally have the budget to fund computer history. Also keep in mind there is a big emerging field of data/format archival (ie, how do I read an 8 inch floppy disk on a modern computer etc. etc. etc.) which extends nicely to the field of computer history and human factors. Good luck! ;chroohan
I think if its REALLY interesting to you, you should consider entering Academia and studying (and teaching) it there. I would have LOVED having a Comp. History course, but, as of yet, few professors are young enough to NOT remember when computers were a "new thing".
I think it might be interesting to see the very specific patterns and progression of computing throughout history. If you wrote some papers on it, I'd certainly read them!
Best of luck!
If you're interested in history, you might be interested in perusing the wealth of information at Iowa State's John Vincent Atanasoff Archive. It has some great information on the inventor of the Electronic Digital Computer.
IMO, students should be required to take detailed courses in computer history. Why? Not for the trivia, but to understand why decisions were made, and what has been tried before.
Too many students come out of school thinking they know it all, but understanding only a tiny bit of computers beyond the present generation for which they learned to program. Understanding the computers of the past would be useful.
Alas, I have found no such position, or I would apply for it tomorrow.
Nah, I doubt it. I'm sure that most of the old information and stuff that might have been on vintage machines has long been rendered obsolete or transferred off onto a newer computer.
Antique computers, like antique radios or antique TV sets, will never have any value except to Hollywood for use as props and as toys for hobbyists and collectors.
Let's face facts: my Trinitron uses a lot less power than my 1954 General Electric TV set. The Sony has stereo sound, a remote control, goes beyond channel 13 and - get this - it's color! But the old GE is a really neat piece of history, and while I only ever turn it on every now and then, it has a prominent place in my living room.
Now, here's a funny thing: ubiquitous as the TV set is, it has, perhaps, been a victim of its own success. There are less pre-WWII TV sets out there now than there are Stradavarius violins. 1950s and 1960s TV sets are getting rare, too. People tend to hang onto old radios because they're usually rather small or have more decorative cabinets.
There are lots of antique radio museums and collectors around the world, but there are only a handful of antique TV collections. (One of the best is the MZTV Museum in Toronto.)
Early computers are even less useful, from a practical standpoint, than a 40-year-old TV set; at least anyone can figure out how to use the 40-year-old TV, but few of us here could use even a 20-year-old computer effectively. Old TV sets often had gorgeous woodwork and great polished brass and chrome accents that were futuristic for their day. Early computers had that sort of retro feeling of "high-tech" too - a plastic prop out of the movie "Tron". But they lack the handmade qualities of earlier antique electronics.
So, what's the fate of my Commodore 64 in twenty years? Cherished museum piece that people will love to turn on, try out and admire; or will it be reviled and ridiculed for its age, simplicity and primitive design?
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I'm sure that there would be considerable interest in the future, if by studying the future, you discover trends that facilitate discovering future products and technologies.
Let me state that again. Look at game designers. There are some very good game developers and companies that spend serious money by looking at old games to determine how successful they were from different aspects and trying to determine why they were successful.
If you like the history of computing, I'd say to try find an application of it that looks at the computing of yesterday to determine what the computing of tomorrow will be like.
How to do this? Research, writing articles, and create a demonstrated need. Show companies what they'd gain by reading your articles and getting your opinion in their R&D.
It's a neat idea. Takes some work, but there will probably be a strong demand for it in the coming days.
You know, you certainly could ask Al Gore for a job as a computer historian. He needs all the help he can get proving that he invented the internet. You could be on CNN tomorrow telling everybody, "I was there with Vice President Gore when he invented the Internet. I helped him bind the servers into one connection. If it weren't for Mr. Gore, there would be no internet. The built-in CAT 5 data port in Al's neck allows the Father of the Internet to jack into his child every day...." and so forth, ad nauseum. Everything I say is just because I'm a history major forced into the IT world. These computers are so naughty, with their fancy Illudium processors.
Windows is going the way of phlogiston...
IBM has a public gallery space in their NYC office. At one time there was some display of historical computers (made by IBM, of course.) You may want to contact them.
Yes. Picture it. Spend your days on a college campus, teaching classes on the history of computers. You just come up with some random BS thesis on the ways in which computers have affected and changed society, and run with it.
The advantages? It's tough to get a job as a colleger professor, but once you do, you're good to go. Plus, you spend the rest of your life around college-age women.
Come over to the dark side, Luke.
A lot of this history can be found in everybody's favorite textbook: "Computer Architecture:A Quantitative Approach" by Hennessy and Patterson.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the often overly-pragmatic replies of many of the posters here, but there would seem to be more to this issue than transcribing old code and keeping 20 year old machines running.
:P), there's no record of the progression of style or theory beyond what we remember and can tell one another. That's a far cry from the abundant paper trail design has left through the 20th century.
Historians not only analyze the past; they also often catalogue the present. This is vital in a field in which massive change over small amounts of time is a matter of course.
As a designer, I'm fascinated by the effect the internet has had on the history of my discipline. When there is no physical record, there is little in the way of history beyond oral tradition. When websites are redesigned (all of them every day, it seems
I imagine everyone who works with, on or around computers has similar issues to face.
How will future students investigate history without a physical record? The answer would seem to be found in people like the kid who asked the topic question, people who can archive, catalogue, analyze and synthesize information about the information age as it happens. There's no time for traditional history, in which we sit back years later and disect a great battle or read through ancient manuscripts in search of insight... because the record will be gone after the next daily big breakthrough.
I think there's a great deal of promise for this pursuit. Computer historians will ensure that we will continue to be able to learn from "the experience of our predecessors, [and] to sustain an imaginative grasp of posterity*"
*quote from Rick Poyner
I think there's definitely a need for computer historians. They probably belong in Universities (I don't know whether it would be in the CS or the History department, though). It's not because computer science is such a young field that there aren't some interesting questions to be studied yet.
Possible areas of study include:
The resident computer historian at the Smithsonian is Paul Ceruzzi; a very knowledgeable guy. So they already have someone, but other museums might not.
Stupid people will be persecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law.