Twenty-Two Columns of Lowbrow Revolution

[orion70]

Hi all, I just found this 2017 article written by a post-doc assistant professor at Ohio State University. It's pretty infested by typos for a peer-review publication, but very interesting nonetheless. Of course, it tells a story many of us already came to know from various sources, including Bagnall's book, Tomczyk's crackling narrations, and so on. But the originality lies elsewhere.

Indeed, the work addresses the conception, design, development, mass production, implementation of software and peripherals, and presentation (manuals and advertising) of the Commodore VIC-20 as an artistic process, rather than an engineered, scientifically programmed one. AFAICR, it's the first time the development of a computer is seen in this light.

Moreover, the inception and diffusion of the VIC is described as the real birth of home computing worldwide (hello Apple!) and therefore of a completely new, huge market. A posthumous gold medal for our beloved “cozy pillow with a CPU inside" - another nice citation from the article. I won't write the final words of the article here, but must say I'm tempted to make them my signature .

So here's the place where you can download the PDF (10 pages).

[chysn]

Obviously it's infested by typos because it's from The Ohio State University.

I kid, it's an interesting paper. It has a lot of stuff that's been hashed over before, but it raises some interesting issues. The culture of tech has always had an uncomfortable relationship with buttoned-down business. I saw a documentary in which Atari was portrayed as pretty much running on vast quantities of marijuana.

It's really a hybrid. There's always this sort of counterculture undercurrent in tech, which is something usually associated from artistic communities; but there's also a high degree of pressure for measurable results and sales.

[mathom]

Obviously it's infested by typos because it's from The Ohio State University.

Spoken like a true Michigander!