Decoding the Past with Dan Bricklin

 We had a wonderful conversation with Dan Bricklin and Ken Wasch! We weren't able to record the event, but you can watch Dan Bicklin's Ted Talk HERE. 

Upcoming Event in Our Speaker Series

The time has come for our next Decoding the Past: Conversations with PC Innovators event!

This event is an opportunity to join a conversation with Ken Wasch, founder and CEO of the Software and Information Industry Association, and Dan Bricklin, inventor of VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet.

You can register for the event here. 

Dan Bricklin is currently full-time CTO of Alpha Software Corporation. He is also president of Software Garden, Inc., a small consulting firm and developer of software applications that he founded in 1985. Its most popular product is Note Taker HD for the Apple iPad. Mr. Bricklin is best known for codeveloping VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet, while he was a student at the Harvard Business School. VisiCalc is widely credited for fueling the rapid growth of the personal computer industry.

To hear the origin story of VisiCalc, you can watch Mr. Bricklin’s TED.com talk here.

Ken Wasch founded the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) in 1984, and served as President and CEO until his retirement in 2018. SIIA is the principal trade group of the computer software and information content industries. SIIA's 600 members include leading firms such as Oracle, McGraw Hill, Dow Jones, Bloomberg, Thompson, and Reed Elsevier. Organized into five divisions-- Content, Software, Financial Information Services, Education Technology, and the Public Sector-- SIIA helps its members develop markets and build business connections.

Decoding the Past: Conversations with PC Innovators

The Paul Gray PC Museum's Decoding the Past: Conversations with PC Innovators is a conversational series with key players in the personal computer revolution. The first engagement, held on September 30 via Zoom Webinar, featured Jack Nilles, internationally known as the father of telecommuting and teleworking, Len Jessup, President of CGU, and Lorne Olfman, Professor and Director of CISAT.

Dr. Nilles opened the event with a keynote address describing the historical narrative of telecommuting. He began with his early inspiration in the late 1960's and discussed the subsequent decades of social, cultural, and technological  challenges and advancements that led to the realization of his vision today. Dr. Jessup and Dr. Olfman then joined the conversation, reflecting on telework, telecommuting, and distance learning in the context of the global pandemic. We dedicated the final portion of the event to audience questions and answers, and were left with some lingering questions and insights:

    What do you miss most in telework and distance learning?

    How can we address issues of access and equity in telework?

    What will the "new normal" look like when the pandemic subsides?

You can watch the recording of our webinar event HERE. 

12 Month Plan

My 12 Month Plan for the museum is organized into five main initiatives: organization, outreach, public programming, education, and exhibition development. 

Throughout my tenure, I will organize, catalogue, and conserve the collection as it continues to grow with new donations. My plan for outreach begins with the museum's immediate community and expands outward, utilizing our digital resources and increasing our online presence. So far I have updated the museum's website, created a virtual tour of the current exhibitions, and created this blog to document my work as director. The cornerstone of my public programming initiative is Decoding the Past: Conversations with PC Innovators, a conversational speaker series with key players in the personal computer revolution. I hosted the first engagement last week, and we're preparing for the next event later this Fall. For my education initiative, I will develop resources for students and educators engage with the museum, starting with an upper elementary investigation-based curriculum guide to use as a model for future expansion, using digital resources to lay the groundwork for in-person engagement. Finally, I am in the very early stages of planning a new exhibition, drawing upon the permanent collection for inspiration. 

Overall, my plan is guided by the museum's mission to "inspire creativity and innovation for all ages through engagement with technology."

New Year, New Director

 I am thrilled to introduce myself as the new Executive Director of the Paul Gray Personal Computing Museum!

I am a second year MA student in CGU's Cultural Studies program with a concentration in Museum Studies, returning to Claremont where I earned my BA from Pitzer College.  After graduating with a triple major in International and Intercultural Studies, Studio Art, and Spanish,  I spent a year working with AmeriCorps where I found my passion for education. I then went on to earn my Teaching Credential and MA in Education from Antioch University, and for the last decade worked as an elementary school Visual Arts teacher. I am eager to apply my background in education to a new career in museums, and couldn't be happier with this opportunity to apply theory to practice as the PGPCM's second executive director. 

-Allison