For the last class, we discussed how digital history influences how historians view space and connections. First of all, as I was going through a crazy move with my parents, space was definitely on my mind. Now that things have settled down a little, I’ve been able to think a little bit more clearly about what I want to say about space and digital history.
During the class, I proposed how it would be interesting for my research (for those of you stumbling upon this for whatever reason, that research is on video game history and masculinity.) I think the most intriguing connection that I came up with was how one game (Space War) was able to travel from MIT across the country through different computer science programs in the 1960s to influence future gaming developers, with the ultimate influences being Nolan Bushnell‘s first arcade attempt, Computer Space, and Space War gaming competitions.
Communication in the 1960s obviously was different, but due to the possibilities of digital history, it would be possible and exciting to specially map the travels of the game, as well as the different communication networks that it enabled between developers.
Although the movement of the original game could be done through traditional mapping illustrations, I believe that the different environments, as well as the enhancements, networks, and communication would be much more useful in some type of digital environment that could show what was able to come from these connections beyond the obvious.
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