On Wed, Dec 30, 2015 at 4:46 AM, Huw Davies < huw.dav...@kerberos.davies.net.au> wrote:
> > > On 30 Dec 2015, at 11:58, Ian S. King <isk...@uw.edu> wrote: > > > But it is intriguing to see the computer as pop-culture artifact within a > > broader grouping of like artifacts. (You're welcome, Jay.) In my > academic > > work, I use the term 'consumer computer' rather than 'personal computer' > > because the latter term is so overloaded and controversial. > > Great terminology. Can I have permission to use it too :-) > Citation is the sincerest compliment. :-) > > > I do have to say, though, that in the '80s many if not most phones had > > transitioned to touch-tone 'dialing' (what a delightfully archaic term!). > > Nit picked. — Ian > > Not in Australia where the article was written. Government regulations > meant that phones still had dials and modems were both hard to get and very > expensive. > > > Ah, good point. And to hie back to an earlier part of the thread, when I worked for Pacific Telecom in the early 1990s, there was still a crossbar exchange in Forks, Washington. Also in the PTI world was a very modern ESS (the model escapes me) that replaced an old system that could not keep up with regional growth. As a result, the rather small town of Kalispell, Montana enjoyed high-speed data services superior to anything I could get in the Portland/Vancouver area! -- Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu> Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org> University of Washington There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
