Our Friend the Computer

Our Friend the Computer
  • 5,0 (5)
  • TECHNOLOGIES
  • TOUS LES 2 MOIS
Our Friend the Computer

A podcast exploring alternative computing histories and their relationship to society. Hosted by Camila Galaz and Ana Meisel.

  1. 27/12/2023

    i-mode and Japanese mobile internet (Mobile Phones)

    Ana tells Camila about the flashing success of early Japanese smartphone tech. The girls discuss how the Japanese tech giants of the '90s and early '00s created exceedingly advanced and snazzy smartphone features and how such phones warranted the creation of the "second internet”. Circling the debate around Japan’s “economic miracle”, they talk about the politics and interrelation with the US that came after WW2.Join us over at Patreon for more tech chats! www.patreon.com/OurFriendtheComputer...

    41 min

  2. 21/11/2023

    Fashion Phones and L'Amour (Mobile Phones)

    We’re back chatting about the early 2000s Nokia “Fashion Phones”! These phones preferenced a positioning of mobile phones as a fashion accessory, or fashion statement, over technological functionality. Following from the first two episodes of the season, Ana and Camila discuss gendered product design and marketing, aesthetic obsolescence, what “retro” really means, and why Nokia may have had an interest in creating these “experimental” designs in the first place.Join us over at Patreon!Follow...

    50 min

  3. 02/11/2023

    The Real Housewives of Bell Telephone (Mobile Phones)

    Although telephones were instated into the home as a business communication tool, the women of the house soon appropriated the technology for “sociability” - checking in with family and friends, gossiping, chatting and connecting with the community. Ana and Camila aptly chit-chat about how this phenomenon became so pronounced over the years that it shaped the evolution of phones and outlined the ways in which we use phones now.Join us over at Patreon and follow us on Twitter @OurFriendComp An...

    43 min

  4. 26/09/2023

    Nokia and the Mobira Cityman (Mobile Phones)

    We’re back for season 3! Cell phones! Camila and Ana chat about the history of Nokia (the town and the company), the connection between car phones and mobile phones, and 80s naming conventions. They also discuss Gorbachev's famous phonecall on the Nokia-Mobira Cityman—a PR stunt that led to the phone being nicknamed the “Gorba” in Finland.Follow us on Twitter @OurFriendCompAnd Instagram @ourfriendthecomputerAnd Patreon! Main research for the episode was done by Camila. Ana does our editing.Bi...

    48 min

  5. 11/07/2023

    Poly-1 New Zealand (Edu-Computers)

    The girls talk cricket before launching into the final episode of this Education Computers season! We're heading over to New Zealand and talking about the Poly-1. It's another homegrown micro computer destined for schools and funded by a government program, but this one was crushed by corporate (specifically... Apple) interference. Before its time (and 18 months before the BBC micro), we plot its rise and then its downfall which coincided with some pretty dark moments in recent history. Foll...

    47 min

  6. 13/06/2023

    ICON Canada (Edu-Computers)

    Camila and Ana chat about Canada’s first standardised and purpose-built computer for eduction, the Icon. Prior to launching in 1984, it made promises of a hypertext learning utopia where it simplified lives of both students and teachers. The girls kick off by exploring the definition of failure (after Camila had gone to see the Minitel at the Museum of Failure), and end by discussing the criticisms of top-down government projects that stumped potential hypertext projects.Follow us on Twitter ...

    57 min

  7. 13/05/2023

    BBC Literacy Project (Edu-Computers)

    Camila is super excited about a children’s toy computer and then the girls chat about the BBC Computer Literacy Project from the 70s/80s. They discuss the TV programing which brought the need for it to the eyes of parliamentarians, how it built on previous literacy projects which combined TV shows with adult education curriculums, the creation of the BBC Micro computer and BBC Basic, and the state of computers in the mind of the public at the time. Are we in need of a new Computer Literacy Pr...

    1 h

  8. 10/03/2023

    One Laptop Per Child (Edu-Computers)

    Ana introduces the One Laptop Per Child scheme which auspiciously deployed millions of laptops to children in the Global South between 2005 - 2014. The girls discuss the impacts of the campaign, whether the charismatic idea of “fixing the world” via access to digital literacy actually translated to reality, the issues with constructivism, while analysing Morgan G. Ames’ study in Paraguay from her book “The Charisma Machine: The Life, Death, and Legacy of One Laptop per Child”. They kick thing...

    59 min
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À propos

A podcast exploring alternative computing histories and their relationship to society. Hosted by Camila Galaz and Ana Meisel.

Informations

  • Création
    Our Friend the Computer
  • Années d’activité
    2022 - 2023
  • Épisodes
    24
  • Classification
    Tous publics
  • Copyright
    © 2023 Our Friend the Computer
  • Site web de l’émission
    Our Friend the Computer

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