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Revolution: The First 2,000 Years of Computing: The Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California
- Technology and Culture
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 54, Number 3, July 2013
- pp. 640-649
- 10.1353/tech.2013.0094
- Review
- Additional Information
- Purchase/rental options available:
This review essay of the permanent exhibit Revolution: The First 2,000 Years of Computing at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California critiques the new exhibit while placing it in the context of two previous reviews of the museum spanning two decades in Technology and Culture. Within the exhibit, each gallery explores the development of a specific theme in computing history over time, but is anchored by an iconic object representing an important milestone. Additional artifacts and stories that complicate the narrative supplement these principal objects. Examples of failed or obsolete technologies are presented alongside success stories and current technologies to illustrate the development of the industry. The essay ends with a series of questions for historians and curators to consider when interpreting history using objects, images, and audio-visual techniques.