The Archaeology of the Digital Periphery
Computer Mice and the Archaeology of the Early Digital Era
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.33422Keywords:
computer mouse, digital technology, material culture, personal computerAbstract
The computer mouse is one of the most familiar artefacts of the developed world to have been devised in the late twentieth century. The essential form remains the same as when it was first invented, but during this time the mouse has transformed our physical interaction with and perception of computers. With increased attention being paid to curating and collecting technologies of the contemporary world, and within the context of an archaeological research culture that extends to the contemporary, an archaeological examination of this ubiquitous object appeared timely. There are millions - if not billions - of mice in circulation, including models that are now outdated or obsolete. Despite their apparent uniformity they differ in significant ways, and examination of these differences can help us to understand human experiences of technology in ways that resonate with artefact types of much earlier periods. With that time depth in mind, this paper will therefore focus on the form and function of the computer mouse and its place in the contemporary imagination. This will be followed by a detailed study of five specific examples which together illustrate some of the key issues and challenges that face us, as archaeologists and curators.
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Agar, J. 2006. “What Difference Did Computers Make?” Social Studies of Science 36 (6): 869–907. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306312706073450
Atkinson, P. 2000. “The (In)Difference Engine: Explaining the Disappearance of Diversity in the Design of the Personal Computer.” Journal of Design History 13 (1): 59–72. https://doi.org/10.1093/jdh/13.1.59
____. 2007. “The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men: The Computer Mouse in the History of Computing.” Design Issues 23 (3): 46–61. https://doi.org/10.1162/desi.2007.23.3.46
Auchard, E. 2015. “Logitech Moves Away from Computer Mouse, Looks to Wireless.” Reuters website. Available online: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-logitech-inter-results-idUSKBN0NE03R20150423
Baldry, C., P. Bain and P. Taylor. 1998. “‘Bright Satanic Offices’: Intensification, Control and Team Taylorism.” In Workplaces of the Future, edited by P. Thompson and C. Warhurst, 163–183. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan Education UK. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26346-2_9
Blyth, T. and A. Prugnon. 2015. “Storytelling in the Information Age.” In EVA London 2015: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts. Proceedings of a Conference Held in London 7th-9th July, edited by J. Bowen, with N. Lambert and G. Diprose, 7–9. London: British Computer Society, The Chartered Institute for IT.
Borup, M., N. Brown, K. Konrad and H. Van Lente. 2006. “The Sociology of Expectations in Science and Technology.” Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 18 (3–4): 285–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537320600777002
Boyer, K. and K. England. 2008. “Gender, Work and Technology in the Information Workplace: From Typewriters to ATMs.” Social & Cultural Geography 9 (3): 241–256. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360801990462
Buchli, V. and G. Lucas, eds. 2001. Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past. London and New York: Routledge.
Bunnell, K. 2004. “Craft and Digital Technology.” Paper presented at the World Crafts Council 40th Anniversary Conference in Metsovo, Greece. Available online: http://repository.falmouth.ac.uk/537/1/craft%20and%20digital%20technology.pdf
Clegg, S. 2001. “Theorising the Machine: Gender, education and computing.” Gender and Education 13 (3): 307–324. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540250120063580
Doel, R. E. and T. Söderqvist. 2006. The Historiography of Contemporary Science, Technology, and Medicine: Writing Recent Science. London and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203323885
Edgerton, D. 2006. The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History Since 1900. London: Profile Books.
Engelbart, D. C. and W. K. English. 1968. “A Research Center for Augmenting Human Intellect.” In AFIPS Conference Proceedings: Volume 33 Part One: 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference, December 9-11, 1968, San Francisco, California, 395–410. Washington, DC: Thompson Book Company. http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1476589.1476645.
English Heritage. 2008. Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance for the Sustainable Management of the Historic Environment. Swindon: English Heritage. Available online: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/conservation-principles-sustainable-management-historic-environment/
Ferraby, R. 2017. “Geophysics: Creativity and the Archaeological Imagination.” Online. Internet Archaeology 44. https://doi.org/10.11141/ia.44.4
Graves-Brown, P. 2014. “Plugging In: A Brief History of Some Audio Connectors.” World Archaeology 46 (3): 448–461. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2014.909099
Grosz, B. J. 2005. “Beyond Mice and Menus.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 149 (4): 529–543.
Haigh, T. 2006. “Remembering the Office of the Future: The Origins of Word Processing and Office Automation.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 28 (4): 6–31. https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2006.70
Harrison, R. and J. Schofield. 2010. After Modernity: Archaeological Approaches to the Contemporary Past. Oxford. Oxford University Press.
Jones, A. M. and B. Alberti (with C. Fowler and G. Lucas). 2013. “Archaeology after Interpretation.” In Archaeology after Interpretation: Returning Materials to Archaeological Theory, edited by B. Alberti, A. M. Jones and J. Pollard, 15–35. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Kirkpatrick, G. 2007. “Meritums, Spectrums and Narrative Memories of ‘Pre-Virtual’ Computing in Cold War Europe.” Sociological Review 55 (2): 227–250. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2007.00703.x
Lin, S.C., Z. Rezek and H. L. Dibble. 2017. “Experimental Design and Experimental Inference in Stone Artifact Archaeology.” Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 25 (3): 663–688. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-017-9351-1
Mahoney, M. S. 1988. “The History of Computing in the History of Technology.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 10 (2): 113–125. https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.1988.10011
Moshenka, G. 2014. “The Archaeology of (Flash) Memory.” In “Notes and News.” Post-Medieval Archaeology 48 (1): 255–259. https://doi.org/10.1179/0079423614Z.00000000055
Olsen, B. 2010. In Defense of Things: Archaeology and the Ontology of Objects, Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.
Pels, P. 2010. “Magical Things: On Fetishes, Commodities, and Computers.” In The Oxford Handbook of Material Culture Studies, edited by D. Hicks and M. Beaudry, 613–633. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Perry, S. and C. Morgan. 2015. “Materializing Media Archaeologies: The MAD-P Hard Drive Excavation.” Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 2 (1): 94–104. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.v2i1.27083
Schiffer, M. B. 1991. The Portable Radio in American Life. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.
____. 2011. Studying Technological Change: A Behavioral Approach. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press.
Simon, B. 2007. “Geek Chic: Machine Aesthetics, Digital Gaming, and the Cultural Politics of the Case Mod.” Games and Culture 2 (3): 175–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/1555412007304423
Sterne, J. 2003. “Bourdieu, Technique and Technology.” Cultural Studies of Science Education 17 (3–4): 367–389.
Strand, E. A., S. Lindgren and C. Larsson. 2016. “Capturing Our Cultural Intangible Textile Heritage, MoCap and Craft Technology.” In Digital Heritage: Progress in Cultural Heritage: Documentation, Preservation, and Protection, 10–15. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Strom, S. H. 1994. Beyond the Typewriter: Gender, Class, and the Origins of Modern American Office Work, 1900-1930. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Turkle, S. 1982. “The Subjective Computer: A Study in the Psychology of Personal Computation.” Social Studies of Science 12 (2): 173–205. https://doi.org/10.1177/030631282012002001
Webster, J. 2014. Shaping Women’s Work: Gender, Employment and Information Technology. London and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315843971
Published
2019-01-26
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Beale, G., Schofield, J., & Austin, J. (2019). The Archaeology of the Digital Periphery: Computer Mice and the Archaeology of the Early Digital Era. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 5(2), 154-173. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.33422
