Living Computer Museum

[Josh Dersch]

On Thu, May 28, 2020 at 1:36 PM William Donzelli via cctalk <
cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:

> > This is one of the things that disappointed me most about the Computer
> History Museum in Mountain View, CA. Sure you can’t let the public interact
> with *everything*, but since so much of computing since its inception has
> been about interaction with active systems, just displaying them is leaving
> out a large amount of what really makes them interesting. The CHM does a
> lot of great preservation, archival, and curatorial work, but this really
> feels like a glaring omission.
>
> The problem is that the public wrecks stuff. Big time. And they steal
> stuff. Just for the thrill. Even just the stupidest little thing, like
> a keycap.
>

You know, in general I don't disagree with this statement, but I'll go on
record here and say that in my 5 years at LCM, I don't recall a single
keycap going missing, or anything getting stolen.  Nor were any switches
broken off of the various front-panel systems.  Teletypes did occasionally
need repair, but that's par for the course for those.  People seemed to
have a good deal of respect for our equipment, and yes, sometimes kids did
get a bit rough but you'd be surprised what your average C64 can put up
with.

We had consumables for things like joysticks and mice that would tend to
get more abuse, but the only things that tended to break incredibly
frequently were the modern tech devices on the 1st floor.  No end of
trouble with those.

- Josh



>
> A long time ago, I volunteered on BB-59 (battleship MASSACHUSETTS),
> and dealt with the radars. I was warned about people stealing stuff.
> One night I was in the ET shack (radar technician compartment) - a
> small room maybe 15 by 5 feet. Normally locked with a USN padlock, I
> was at the bench with a radar scope, door unlocked so visitors could
> come in and ask questions. I left the padlock open and hanging from
> the latch. Yup, some kid stile the lock.
>
> So yes, every museum must weigh public interaction against artifact
> damage, and what is the mission of the museum. CHM is more
> conservative, LCM more liberal*. I think it is good to have both
> sides.
>
> --
> Will
>
> * 100 percent not political, but in the more classic sense. If you
> bring this up politically, I will shit down your throat.
>