Hello world!
Welcome to the first Media Archeology Newsletter! Since this is our very first one, we will be taking some time to describe how these are generally going to be structured.
Who are we?
The Media Archeology Lab is a student-driven research lab that focuses on vintage media, electronic devices, and other such materials. Outside of our research work (during which the lab will often be closed), we occasionally have open hours where anyone can come and visit and demo some of our machines.
Each newsletter will have a Demo of the Week and an Object of the Week, as well as information regarding upcoming Movie Screenings, Workshops, and Events.
The Demo of the Week
Every week, we will have one of our retro computers running a different piece of media—a game, creative software, or other application—that is period accurate for its time. For example, we might run The Oregon Trail on one of our Apple computers from the 80s. During the time the lab is open, anyone is free to head on over to our lab and try out that week’s demo! 😊
Our demo for this week is SimCity 2000 which will be run on the Lime iMac G3. Head on over and build your own city with this classic video game!
We will also be running Apple – An Introduction on the Apple //c, which was one of the original pieces of software bundled with the //c.
The Object of the Week
Our other weekly update each newsletter will be an Object of the Week. Every week, we will highlight a vintage piece of technology. This won’t be limited to vintage computers; we may showcase one of our 1930s Brownie cameras, an old CRT TV, an oscilloscope—anything interesting we have in our collection, with some fun facts about them.
Our object of the week this week is the TRS-80 Model I.
Created by Tandy Radio Shack (TRS!) and released in August 1977, the TRS-80 was one of the most popular home computers of the early 80s. It was designed to be cheap and accessible, so that the average person would be able to use it. The computer itself is located inside the keyboard. You can click here to read more about it.
The Movie Screening of the Month
On the 1st Thursday of every month, starting at around 7pm, we will be screening a different movie from our Laserdisc collection. Come visit the lab during these hours to watch a classic movie with us!
Our upcoming screening, hosted in our lab in ATEC 1.705, will be on November 4th at 7pm.
Come join us and watch a classic film as it would’ve been seen during the 90s!
Workshops and Other Events
Occasionally, we will be holding events or workshops related to our vintage technology, such as home movie nights, repair workshops for older computers, or introductory lessons on BASIC, a programming language commonly used on computers such as the Apple //c or the TRS-80. We don’t have dates set in stone for our next workshop yet, but stay tuned. 😉
Lab Hours and Room Number
We are located in ATEC 1.705, right next to ATEC’s welcome center. Our open lab hours are:
Tuesday: 10:00am-5:00pm
Wednesday: 2:00pm-6:00pm
Thursday: 10:00am-4:00pm
Thank you for reading our newsletter! We hope to see you soon and wish you a stress-free week.
Sincerely,
The Media Archeology Lab
The University of Texas at Dallas
