How did the book do, and How are we Doing?

Wow, a mere nine years ago is when I finished the book about "Preserving our Digital Revolution Heritage" coupled with some lamentations about the ennui surrounding such history by those who created the revolution.   What happened in the meantime?  How come I never came back to the topic, or indeed, HOW DID THE BOOK DO?

Well, truth be told--we've made some progress, or at least I would define it as such.   In 2012, the Computer History Museum basically eschewed doing video or audio interviews because 'true historians' disdained such imperfect or even self-serving anecdotal material.   They had 43 captured interviews over a 30 year period, not quite one and a half per year.  WHEW!

Since then, due to some somewhat surprising circumstances (for which I might claim partial credit), they now have over 1,600 published interviews publically available, and a trove still in preparation.  And Steve Smith, then interim director for CHM, called my book's back cover the best statement he'd read.  

In addition, I personally have done several hundred interviews, for the Cisco Foundation, for CHM, and for the ACM Award Archive.   Such fun, to be sure, and it is amazing that people are willing to talk, even if they don't want to 'donate' for history.  And the stories are priceless.   I'll maybe spend some time in a few blog posts describing some key findings.

Meanwhile, I thought about a related topic = the role and interplay between writing things down (call it diary notes, or journaling), recalling from memory, and reflecting on 'the past'

And it is perhaps worth putting in the next post.  You decide.