The Dead Media Notebook

by Bruce Sterling

  VIEWDATA

  An early name for videotex, and still used as the generic name for the British Prestel system.” British Teletext started in 1975.

  The book used the term “Electronic Highway.” A small town called Elie, Manitoba, was to be the first in the world totally wired with fiber optic cable. Unfortunately, the book is not current enough to say if this actually took place.

  It also doesn’t say when Telidon was abandoned, though I’m sure I saw it operating at Expo 86 in Vancouver. (very very slow screen refresh times, and graphics like some of those early Apple II computer games).

  Source: GUTENBERG TWO, Godfrey & Parkhill eds. (Toronto: Press Porcepic Ltd. 1980)

  Dead tunnels of Chicago, eyewitness report

  From E. J. Barnes

  Dear Bruce, My friend Jim Mulqueeny works for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), so I forwarded him the article mentioning freight tunnels, especially thinking of the flooding of the Chicago tunnels a few years back. Here is his reply. He alludes to current use of the tunnels by cable companies. This may bring the tunnels back into the realm of living “media”, just barely. Jim Mulqueeny: “The lamented Flood occurred April 13, 1992. On my way to work I had heard that the basements of my building (the Merchandise Mart), City Hall, and Marshall Field’s were all flooding. I immediately knew the freight tunnels were the only thing these had in common. By the time I got to work the rest of town had figured it out and we were sent home (down darkened stairways) at 10 AM. Blue Line ridership hasn’t been the same since.

  “There is a book (and video) chronicling the tunnel system, by a friend of mine and co-worker, Bruce G. Moffat, called Forty Feet Below. Until the flood, the tunnels were fresh and clean. They’re not too bad now, though construction of the two subways through them has broken up the network. They are still great for cable companies and may yet have other uses.”

  Source: eyewitness report

  the Optigan

  From Philip Downey

  “So you’ve found yourself at the Optigan page and you’re wondering ‘What is the Optigan? Looks like an organ.’ Sure, it’s an organ, but it’s really not like any other organ you’ve ever heard. The Optigan is unique in the way it produces its lovely sound because it reads its sounds off clear plastic discs. The Optigan Corporation made quite a few of these discs; there seems to be one for every musical genre. To further enhance your Optigan experience, the Optigan Corporation even had music specially arranged for the Optigan and released a number of Optigan Music Books.

  “Still, some people doubt the importance of the Optigan. So what does the Optigan sound like? Listen to a few short sound samples, or you can peruse the list of musical releases where the Optigan can be heard providing sonic assistance.

  “The discs used by the Optigan are made out of the same material as photo negatives. The size is the same as a 33 1/3 vinyl record. Instead of grooves, the Optigan discs have little waveforms which are read by a light bar reader inside the Optigan. The discs sits on a felt pad and a brass wheel drops on top of the disc when the drawer is closed. The wheel spins the disc when the Optigan is turned on. Volume is controlled with a foot pedal.

  “The unique feature of the Optigan is that the chord buttons do not play a chord when pressed, but an entire band jamming in the key chosen in the style of music that the disc is for. So, pressing the A minor chord button on the Nashville Country disc brings to life a whole country band doing a looped riff in A minor. The five switches above the chord buttons are usually percussion, but sometimes have special effects like crowds cheering or monkeys howling. It must be heard to be appreciated (or laughed at).”

  [Bruce Sterling remarks: Pop music in the late 90s has reached such an ecstasy of sampling and appropriation that one might have known that an analog device like the Optigan would enjoy some kind of resurgence.]

  SPARKLEHORSE RIDE IN WITH NEW ALBUM

  SPARKLEHORSE are set to make a return with their second album, the follow-up to 1996’s acclaimed ‘Vivadixiesubmarine transmissionplot’.

  “The new album, ‘Good Morning Spider,’ contains 17 tracks and was produced by Sparklehorse main man Mark Linkous. It is released by Parlophone on July 20. Briefly describing the album, Linkous says: ‘There’s a lot of piano and cello and an organ made by Mattel Toy Corporation in the ‘70s called an Optigan, which I broke. Some rhythm tracks were built from samples I made of steam-powered engines.’” “Like its predecessor, ‘Good Morning Spider’ works like an impressionist’s paintbrush. Simple songs, derived from the most traditional forms (folk, country, the drunkest drunk punk) and crudely rendered by Linkous and his daunting armoury of arcane instrumentation (including ‘70s relic the Optigan, the Mattel Corporation’s abortive proto- sampler), gradually assume supernaturally emotive qualities, thanks to their author’s gauche yet profound lyricism (‘The tree you planted has become fecund with kamikaze hummingbirds,’ wheezes Mark on ‘Thousands Of Sparrows’) and an ear for melody that could stir fossilised reptiles.”

  Source: optigan.com

  the Railway Panorama

  From Patrick Lichty

  “This 45-minute experience was an essay in detail. It offered a chance to experience the 14-day journey by rail from Moscow to Peking, a 6300-mile journey over tracks not yet completed at the time of the Paris Fair of 1900.

  “There were three realistic railway cars, each 70 feet long, with saloons, dining rooms, bars, bedrooms, and other elements of a luxury train. Totally detailed and lavishly equipped, the cars were elevated a little above a place for spectators in conventional rows of seats. The gallery faced a stage-like arena where the simulated views along the train trip were presented by an inventive contraption.

  “The immediate reality of a vehicular trip is that nearby objects seem to pass by more rapidly than distant ones. So, nearest to the participants was a horizontal belt covered with sand, rocks, and boulders, driven at a speed of 1000 feet per minute! Behind that was a low vertical screen painted with shrubs and brush, travelling at 400 feet per minute. A second, slightly higher screen, painted to show more distant scenery, scrolled along at 130 feet per minute. The most distant one, 25 feet tall and 350 feet long painted with mountains, forests, clouds and cities, moved at 16 feet per minute.

  “Real geographical features along the way were depicted on this screen: Moscow, Omsk, Irkutsk, the shores of great lakes and rivers, the Great Wall of China, and Peking. The screens, moving in one direction only, were implemented as a belt system. Due to the inexact speeds of the scenery,the ‘journey’ never repeated itself exactly, providing an ever-changing combination of scenes and a reason to pay to see the attraction again.” [Bruce Sterling remarks: this is the best physical description I’ve yet seen of the railway panorama. The eerie mix of mechanical stage effects, panorama, thrill ride and immersive virtuality gives this contraption a very high Cahill Rating.]

  Source: Digital Illusion: Entertaining the Future with High Technology Clark Dodsworth, Jr., editor. ISBN 0201847809 Addison Wesley/ACM Press, 1997 545 pp.

  the Mareorama; the Cineorama

  From Soeren Pold

  The Mareorama is described in an old Dutch article from “De Natuur,” which is quoted in Oettermann

  “The spectator himself is in motion and actually feels the roll and pitch of a ship while making a sea voyage by way of Nice, the Riviera, Sousses, Naples, Cape Pausilippe and Venice to Constantinople.

  “The plan for the Mareorama presented two problems: two screens, each 2,500 feet long and forty feet in height, were to be unrolled, and a double, swinging movement was to be imparted to the spectator’s platform, which was shaped like a ship. The mechanism required for this was conceived by Mr. Hogo d’Alesi, a well-known painter who specialises in rendering the most beautiful vistas for the posters of the large railway and shipping companies. The screen is also his work, painted after the sketches made by him during a voyage of one year especially made for the purpose.

  �
��For eight months, a team of painters worked under him to transfer these to the 215,000 square feet of screen, which was to be unrolled before the visitor’s eyes.

  “One of the screens moves on the port side, the other on starboard. Both are coiled upon cylindrical reels situated near the ends of the building, where they are concealed from the view of the ship’s passengers by sails and ornaments. In the engraving (fig. 3.19) one of the screens has been removed in its entirety to show the mechanism for the movement of the two screens, as well as one of the vertical cylinders round which the second screen will be rolled.

  “These extremely heavy cylinders are supported by floats in a water-basin. To simulate the roll and pitch of a ship, and to impart these movements to the boat-deck carrying the spectators, it is supported by a system of Cardanic rings, similar to that used for accommodating ship’s compasses. This involved the use of floats in water, hydraulic piston engines, and pumps driven by electric motors (fig 3.20).

  “Few visitors to the Exhibition will be able to resist the temptation of this opportunity to make an inexpensive voyage which involves no hazard whatsoever, yet is so natural that one can even make acquaintance with the less agreeable sensation to which passengers on board ships are likely to be subjected. While this may also deter many, it is a reassuring thought that even on the high seas, amid the raging elements, one can get out and tread on terra firma at any moment.”

  [Soeren Pold remarks: Oettermann’s book of course also has the illustrations mentioned in this quote. Regarding the tone of the passage, it is remarkable how similar it is to descriptions of Virtual Reality a couple of years back, praising the naturalness and the technology. Probably VR will qualify as a dead medium in ten years, and descriptions of it will read just like the above.] [Bruce Sterling remarks: I especially admire the tactful 1900-style reference to the nausea of simulator sickness, an ailment with roots going back almost a hundred years.]

  Source: The Panorama: History of a Mass Medium by Stephan Oettermann, Zone Books, MIT Press, 1997 390 pages ISBN 0942299833

  Newspaper via Radio Facsimile

  From David F. Gallagher

  “Station W9XZY, the experimental radio facsimile broadcasting station operated by the St. Louis Post- Dispatch, last month inaugurated the world’s first regular broadcast on ultra-high frequencies of specially-prepared facsimile newspapers.

  “Number 1 of Vol. I of the Post-Dispatch’s first radio edition consists of 9 pages 8 ½ ins. long and 4 columns wide, using the newspaper’s regular 7-point type... The range of station W9XZY is from 20 to 30 miles.

  “On the first page of this ‘radio newspaper’ now being received in every home in the St. Louis service area of W9XZY equipped with a facsimile receiver, are the leading news articles of the day. Then following sports news, several pages of pictures, Fitzpatrick’s editorial cartoon, a summary of radio programs and radio gossip, and a page of financial news and stock market quotations..

  “The receiver, a closed cabinet with no dials to be operated or adjustments to be made by the owner, contains continuously-feeding rolls of paper and carbon paper which pass over a revolving metal cylinder from which a small stylus projects.

  “Pressure, varying with the intensity of the radio waves, is exerted on a metal bar, parallel to the axis of the cylinder, beneath which the paper and carbon is fed. It requires 15 minutes to transmit one page.” Photo caption: “Arrival of the afternoon ‘radio newspaper,’ on schedule at 2 P.M., rain or shine, is the signal for the folks at home to gather around the facsimile receiver to see the cartoons, news photos, etc., that regular radio programs leave to the imagination.”

  Source: First Daily Newspaper by Radio Facsimile, Radio-Craft Magazine, March 1939.

  Ultra-Personal Sony Handycam

  From Stefan Jones

  “Sony halts camera that can see through clothes”

  “TOKYO (August 12, 1998) Electronics giant Sony Corp. said Wednesday it had halted shipments of some video cameras after finding they could be used for filming more of their subjects than meets the eye.

  “Some versions of the Handycam have infrared technology which lets users shoot at night or in darkness in a ‘night shot’ mode.

  “But magazine reports revealed that when the special feature is used in daylight or a lighted room with a special filter it can ‘see through’ clothing, underwear can show up, especially on those lightly dressed, and people wearing swimsuits look almost naked.

  “A Sony spokesman said the first the company knew of the camera’s surprise feature was when reporters started asking for comments on the ‘new way’ of using the camera.

  “Sony technicians then experimented and confirmed that the technology had the unintended capability.

  “’When we developed this feature for the Handycam, we were thinking of people filming night views, their children sleeping, or perhaps the nocturnal behavior of animals,’ the spokesman said.

  [Bruce Sterling remarks: This weird incident received lavish media attention. It’s remarkable that Sony removed this product from the market merely because of unforeseen prurient applications. It’s been said that one of the major reasons for the failure of Sony Betamax was Sony’s unwillingness to see Betamax used for video pornography. Given the notoriously seamy history of home video technology, one can bet good money that this infrared device will be re-released specifically because it has imaginary abilities to make people seem people nude.]

  Source: Reuters wire service August 12, 1998 09:36 a.m. EDT

  Vinyl Record with Zoetrope

  From Bill Burns

  In 1956, Morgan Development Laboratories, Inc. in Westport, Connecticut, made 78 RPM records with zoetrope- style images on the label. The manufacturer called them “Red Raven Movie Records.”

  The oversize label has sixteen images, which create a Zoetrope-style moving image when viewed in a mirror device placed on top of the record. The web site has animated GIFs of three of the records, plus RealAudio files which can be played while viewing the GIFs, a very effective presentation of this double dead-media format.

  A quote from the site: “On the Red Raven Movie Records, the 16 image cycle, (in that image one begins where image 16 left off) is printed on the outer two inches of the larger-than-normal label. When the Red Raven mirror device is placed on the turn table atop one of these ‘Movie Records’ the images appear to move. Of course there are 16 mirrors aligned at an angle to the surface of the record, which does the same job that the slits in the [Zoetrope] cylinder did.”

  Source: Wolverine Antique Music Society

  British Foreign Office Abandons Telegrams

  From Charles Crouch

  [Charles Crouch remarks: After almost 150 years, the UK Foreign Office is switching from telegrams to e-mail for notifying London of important local events.]

  “Stiff upper lips at the Foreign Office must have quivered yesterday at the news that the telegram is to be usurped by new technology. The Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, has ordered embassies abroad to use e-mail to inform mandarins back home of important events, rather than slower telegrams.

  “The telegram from Our Man Abroad has long been an FO emblem. The first known example, sent from Paris in December 1852, recorded that ‘Galliard is arrested’, the subject’s identity and crime are unknown.

  “Using telegrams for matters of great import is now absurd. They can take 24 hours between dictation and delivery, by which time London already knows about issues thanks to the media.”

  Source: The Times, London, Monday August 17, 1998, page 17

  Gilbreth’s Chronocyclegraph

  From Deac Rossell

  [Dead Rossell remarks: Chronocyclegraphs were first developed by Frank B. Gilbreth, one of the pioneers of industrial time-and-motion studies in the 1910’s.] “Gilbreth was the first to apply the analysis of the path of movement to solving industrial problems. He developed his technique without any knowledge of Marey’s work and, when his atten
tion was drawn to it as the result of correspondence with a friend in England, he felt that it would have helped him considerably if he had known of it earlier.

  “His technique differed from Marey’s in that instead of taking a series of photographs on one plate, he took a single photograph of lights placed on the operator’s hands or on some other part of the body. He used a stereoscopic camera, opening the shutter at the beginning of the work cycle, and closing it at the end. This gave him a line graph in three dimensions when the result was viewed through a stereoscope.

  “He was not satisfied with the information given by this ‘cyclegraph’ and continued his experiments until he had developed an apparatus which interrupted the light of the lamps at regular intervals, giving a graph made of rectangular spots, of a length varying according to the speed of the movement, and showing the acceleration and deceleration along its path.

  “Finally, by re-arranging the interruption of the lights so that they came on quickly and went off slowly, he developed the chronocyclegraph as we know it, with its characteristic pear-shaped spot showing the direction of the movement.

  “Gilbreth was still working on the development of the chronocyclegraph technique when he died in 1924. He had taken many successful chronocyclegraphs himself, but the method had not been sufficiently standardised for others to use it easily. He was planning to adapt his material so that it would be in a suitable form for teaching others, but unfortunately, in the inevitable rearrangements after his death, the apparatus was lost.”

  “

  “Since Gilbreth died, chronocyclegraphs have been very little used by other motion study experts. Alford, in his “Production Handbook” published in 1945, lists the chronocyclegraph among present day research techniques, but most other writers only refer to it as one of Gilbreth’s experiments...