The Monash University Museum of Computing History: Ten Years On - History of Computing: Learning from the Past - page 224

5 Public Program
The MMoCH has developed a number of public activities to raise the profile of the
Museum and introduce aspects of the collection and display to a larger audience.
5.1 Museum Website
The Museum has developed a website to provide information on the Museum and
its operational matters. The site also allows access to some of the current research
projects being undertaken at the Museum. A number of leaflets on specific topics
are also posted. These include a brief history of computing at Monash University,
the Ferranti Sirius computer in the collection and notes on early calculators. An-
other aim of the site is to provide resources for further study and indicates other
locations for information on computing history. The website can be found at
http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/about/projects/museum/
5.2 Seminar with Gordon Bell - Bits and Bytes
In May 2008 the MMoCH hosted a seminar with guest Gordon Bell giving an address
on his view of current uses for the recording of personal information as well as a
seminar on the Computer History Museum, California. Gordon Bell spoke about his
latest work in developing the MyLifeBits project which is an experiment in using
multimedia to record every aspect of his daily life. The MyLifeBits project seeks to
record these in a personal transaction processing database [13].
Gordon Bell has a long career in the computing industry starting with 23 years
(1960-1983) at Digital Equipment Corporation. He has been involved with a number
of advisory committees, including the Sector Advisor Committee of the ICT Division,
CSIRO, encouraging the development of new computer technology. Currently
Gordon is a principal researcher in the Microsoft Research Silicon Valley Research
Group. In 1979 Gordon Bell and Gwen Bell were co-founders of the Computer Mu-
seum, Boston, Massachusetts. This museum developed in Boston but the collection
was later transferred to California and became the Computer History Museum
in Mountain View, California. Gordon's background gives him a unique perspective
on computer technology and the role of computer museums.
This seminar was a joint project between the Monash University's MMoCH, eRe-
search and the Centre for Community and Organisational Informatics (COSI). The
seminar drew an interested group from the academic, museum and professional IT
areas. The success of this event has encouraged the MMoCH to organize more events
in the future.
5.3 Computer History Tours
In 2008 Associate Professor Graham Farr approached the MMoCH to collaborate on a
new initiative to create a history of computing tour using the Melbourne tramway sys-
tem to connect different museum exhibitions and sites with a general theme of com-
puter history. The tour groups usually number between 30-40 people with Graham
Farr, Judithe Sheard, Chris Avram and Barbara Ainsworth providing a narrative at