Towards a Museum of Zeroes and Ones

Current displays of computer artefacts do not do justice to the story of computing history. They describe the trajectory of machines, not minds, and this is only half the story.

With sociologist Kris Cohen from the University of Surrey and Professor Hilary Kahn from the Department of Computer Science at the University of Manchester we propose researching and building a narrative of computer history that will value personal perspectives, anecdotes and reminiscences alongside technical developments to build a more complete story of computing.

With its focus on Manchester’s collection of orphan artefacts, from the earliest days of electronic computing, the narrative we create will correct US revisionism that paints the UK out of the history of computing.