13 March 2007
Museum of lost interactions is a web sensation
A collection of lost technological devices from the past `discovered’ by students at the University of Dundee has become an internet sensation as people all over the world log in to explore the `Museum of Lost Interactions’.
Launched in December last year by the Interaction Archaeologists of Interactive Media Design at the University of Dundee, the `museum’ contains such innovative devices as the 1950s `Zenith Radio Hat’ and the 1920s Acoustograph, a primitive music downloading tool.
Other items in the collection include such diverse wonders as the Victorian 4-track sampler and the portable Morse code device, hailed as the earliest precursor to the mobile phone.
The museum’s website - at http://www.idl.dundee.ac.uk/moli/index.php - has attracted the attention of some of the internet’s leading technology blogs, from where interest has spread even further, to the point where Google now links 25,000 links to the site.
Among those who have lent their enthusiastic support to the project is the acclaimed American science fiction writier and `dead media’ visionary Bruce Sterling, who described the Museum of Lost Interactons as "the awesomest"!
"The interest in this project has been phenomenal and we are delighted that so many people are now logging on to discover our collection," said Shaun McWhinnie, one of the intrepid `archaeologists’ from the University’s Interactive Media Design course, who has helped put the exhibition together.
"These are amazing artifacts which offer a thought provoking reflection on the ubiquitous technologies of our present society, and show how such devices would have looked in the pre-digital world."
The Interactive Media Design course is aimed at helping to shape the creative thinkers and digital explorers who will develop the information-rich environments of the future.
Within a unique environment drawn from both the School of Computing and the School of Design at the University of Dundee, students explore many kinds of interactive design and cutting-edge technologies, plus the ability to locate and solve design problems and to think critically and commercially about the mushrooming virtual world.
The Museum of Lost Interactions came about after course leader Graham Pullin asked his 3rd year students to engage with a history of interaction design that is much longer than that of digital electronics, and reflect on the social as well as technological changes that have taken place. They had to research Lost and Dead Media and build working models of fictitious historical products that might have been lost precursors to modern products and media. To underpin their authenticity, they filmed documentaries with archive film footage, and uncovered contemporary photography and packaging.
The Module Leader, Graham Pullin, says that "The reaction to the Museum itself, and the subsequent international publicity, has been overwhelming, but thoroughly deserved: the students' attention to detail exceeded even my expectations. This experience has improved their design skills, but they have also learnt how to communicate their designs to a wider audience and been exposed to the role of design as commentary on broader social issues."
In more detail, the text from the front page of the MoLI website reads:
"This website makes available our most recent collection of forgotten communication and entertainment media, to anyone unable to attend the exhibition in December 2006."
These nine exhibits were donated by a group studying Interactive Media Design, who lovingly restored each to working order. Their discoveries were made whilst researching examples of interaction design that pre-dated digital technology. They also uncovered archive film, photography and packaging which places each artefact in its historical context.
I know that everyone involved has been affected by the surprising similarities and profound differences between these and contemporary designs, and of how interchangeable technologies often are but how much more important social change can be. This experience should make these young interaction designers both more inventive and more reflective when they come to create the interactions of our future.
We hope you find the collection equally informative and inspiring.
Graham Pullin, Curator, MoLi"
NOTES TO EDITORS
All of the website images - historical location photographs and contemporary studio product shots - are available as high-resolution images and the documentary videos and archive films are available in a larger format. The exhibits in the Museum of Lost Interactions are functioning models, available here in Dundee for further photographing and filming.
*Interactive Media Design - Course Information*
http://www.idl.dundee.ac.uk/imd
For media enquiries contact:
Anna Day
Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate
Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: a.c.day@dundee.ac.uk
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