commit 7a59982c042fb03d38208b2522d6cc26be40a461
parent 4c3a46cb42dbe86fd8375f051b5be77f4ab38b8d
Author: Ville-Matias Heikkila <viznut@low.fi>
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2023 11:34:20 +0200
add stuff about non-digital technologies
Diffstat:
4 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/computing.mdwn b/computing.mdwn
@@ -5,3 +5,10 @@ synonymous with counting and calculating.
Permacomputing has so far been mostly concerned about computer-based
computing rather than things like mental calculation.
+
+It should also be noted that even though many problems are currently solved
+with computing or digital technology, this does not always need to be the
+case. Computing has its strengths and weaknesses compared to [[non-digital]]
+technologies – for example, in long-term archival of documents,
+[[microform]]s may be a very feasible alternative and shouldt herefore be
+considered.
diff --git a/games.mdwn b/games.mdwn
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ ever higher hardware requirements. It is a better idea to stick to a less
demanding style (e.g. [[pixel art]]) than to adhere to the mainstream gamer
idea of "up-to-date graphics".
-In the non-digital world, a "game" is often more like an immaterial idea
+In the [[non-digital]] world, a "game" is often more like an immaterial idea
than a product (think about the variety of games that can be played with
playing cards). The same approach can be applied to computer gaming as well:
Tetris is not really a specific program/product, but a game that any
diff --git a/microform.mdwn b/microform.mdwn
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+**Microform** is a miniaturized version of a document used for
+[[non-digital]] archival purposes. The most common formats are **microfilm**
+reels, **microfiche** sheets and **aperture cards** (punched cards that
+contain a piece of microfilm).
+
+Compared to digital storage, microforms have the following advantages and
+disadvantages:
+
+ * Longevity. In proprer conditions, a microfiche may last ~500 years.
+ * Simplicity. Microforms are simply miniaturized photographs of readable documents, so viewing them only requires optical magnification technology. The obsolescence problems of digital formats are nonexistent.
+ * Lossy copies. Like in many non-digital formats, some information is lost every time a copy is made, reducing the image quality.
+
+A lot of early history of computing overlaps with that of microforms.
+Visionaries like [[Paul Otlet]] envisioned things like "a library that fits
+in a suitcase" storing thousands of books and a microform viewer in a small
+space. Also, "Memex", the influential 1945 idea from Vannevar Bush, was
+presented as an application of microform technology. [[Emanuel Goldberg]]
+produced the first aperture card system, i.e. a microfiche storage system
+with an automatic search.
diff --git a/postdigital.mdwn b/postdigital.mdwn
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@ The "digital" in "postdigital" is to be read a bit like the "modern" in "postmod
When distancing itself from this kind of "mainstream digitality", "Postdigital" also distances from many of the destructive ideas whose abolishment is also relevant to permacomputing ([[maximalism]], [[virtualism]], [[obsolescence]], etc).
-"Postdigital" is also a reaction to the digital oversaturation. Computers are no longer "inherently cool" (like many people born in the 1970s and 1980s found them), but now the same kind of coolness can be found in non-digital things such as physical and analog artforms – or things that are digital in alternative and countercultural ways (like permacomputing is).
+"Postdigital" is also a reaction to the digital oversaturation. Computers are no longer "inherently cool" (like many people born in the 1970s and 1980s found them), but now the same kind of coolness can be found in [[non-digital]] things such as physical and analog artforms – or things that are digital in alternative and countercultural ways (like permacomputing is).
