COVER FEATURE THE CENTRE FOR
COMPUTING HISTORY
Centre has been the awarding of ‘Full
Accreditation’ status by the UK Arts
Council, which sets out nationallyagreed
standards, which in turn helps
to inspire confidence in the museum
not only with the public but with other
funding and governing bodies.
“That accreditation was
culmination of 3 years of hard
work in implementing documented
cataloguing systems, preservation
processes, development plans and
working procedures, demonstrating
that the organisation works to a high
standard both in our preservation
efforts and as a visitor attraction,”
Fitzpatrick explained.
“Our vision for the museum was
for it to be completely hands on
and interactive, and at that time, to
my knowledge, there were no other
museums with the same ambition.
A computer consists of hardware
and software, and the only way
to experience the software is to
physically use the hardware. So to
me, a museum with working and
usable exhibits was the only way.”
That approach raised the
suggestion that the museum was not
focused on preserving the artefacts
properly.
“Nothing could have been further
from the truth,” retorted Fitzpatrick.
“An essential and on-going developing
area of the museum’s work is the
understanding of the chemical
make-up of component materials
used in computers. Plastics break
down relatively quickly, sometimes
seen as ‘yellowing’, over time. There
is also the interaction of different
types of plastics when in contact
with each other. Known as ‘cable
burn’, certain PVC sleeved cables will,
under the right condition, ‘melt’ the
ABS plastic that it is in contact with.
At the same time some plastics will
generate harmful gasses that can
negatively affect other materials.
“Another problem area is
batteries. Many vintage computers
have internal batteries that store
configuration information. Some will
‘leak’ over time causing harmful
acids to damage the surround
electronic circuits, so the museum is
making a concerted effort to remove
them and protect the machine from
potential harm.
“The accreditation highlights our
work in maintaining the collection
to a high standard and will help us
to get the funding we need from
the various pots of money that are
available including a full National
Lottery grant.”
Education
One of the most important aspects
of the museum is its engagement
with schools via group visits and its
outreach programme.
“We’ve had over 104 schools
visit the museum in the past year,”
said Kirkpatrick, but the Centre is
also heavily involved in an outreach
programme that brings the museum
and parts of its collection to
the schools themselves.
“We are able to bring a
mini-version of the museum
to them!”
According to Muller one
of the key reasons behind
his decision to provide the
£1million funding boost to the
Centre was its commitment,
through its displays and activities, to
support the teaching of computing.
“The team behind the museum is
full of passion and commitment and
it’s great to be here when it’s full of
kids learning.
“It’s a unique facility with a huge
collection of artefacts which are
supported by demonstrations and a
broad range of activities.
“In the foyer there’s the
Megaprocessor, which is a computer
processor made very large that helps
explain what a computer is and does.
But once kids have had a chance to
look at the collection they can then
join a workshop and find out how to
program a Raspberry Pi to control a
device.
“If we can broaden students’
experience and motivate them to
develop new skills and develop an
interest in computing, then I think it’s
a job well done.
“I put that money into the centre
because I want it to thrive and it
brings a degree of stability which
will enable the museum to focus on
the exhibits and on developing its
educational programme.”
With its long-term future
secured the Centre for Computing
History is able to provide visitors
with a wonderful opportunity to better
understand the impact of computing
in a rapidly changing world.
Above: The range of
devices on display
continues to grow
Below: The Altair
8800, arguably the
world’s first personal
computer
14 10 September 2019 www.newelectronics.co.uk
/www.newelectronics.co.uk