March 2011 – loriemerson

Vectrex game console (1982) | a life in computing

Keith Moore, the AML‘s donor for our beloved Vectrex game console (as well as a number of other valuable vintage computers) kindly wrote in with this story about the Vectrex and his life in computing since the mid-1970s, the era of the punch card. I have a small confession regarding my life in computers and […]

by Lori Emerson

the Compaq III | on the importance of garage sale hopping

Wade Peterson, the generous donor of the AML‘s Compaq III portable laptop, kindly took the time to write me an email detailing how he came across this latest jewel of the lab: Two years ago my mother and I enjoyed going to garage sales together. At 84 today, she’s not quite as interested in getting […]

by Lori Emerson

E-Poetry Festival: May 17-21st, Buffalo NY

I’ve just received a copy of the preliminary program (pdf) for the upcoming 10 year anniversary E-Poetry Festival in Buffalo, New York and it’s little short of astonishing. With critics, poets, and performers from Canada, the U.S.A., Scandinavia, the U.K., France, and Australia (among others), it promises to be yet another field-defining event. (And you […]

by Lori Emerson

the lab’s latest addition: Compaq Portable III “laptop”

Thanks to a very generous donation by Wade Peterson, the Archeological Media Lab is now the proud owner of a Compaq Portable III “laptop” from, I believe, 1987 – a year which was heralded “the year of the laptop.” This early version of a portable computer weighs in at a mere 20 pounds and, as […]

by Lori Emerson

the Apple Lisa | a life in computing

One of the latest additions to the Archeological Media Lab, and one that I’m very proud of, is the Apple Lisa. The Lisa, named after Steve Jobs’ daughter, was introduced in 1983 and it was the first commercially available computer to have a GUI (graphical user interface) – an interface that today we recognize as […]

by Lori Emerson

history of the term “dirty concrete”

Earlier today I wrote a long-ish blog post on netpoetic (a communal blog on digital poetry/poetics and e-literature) on my (not-over-yet) search for the origin of the term “dirty concrete.” I have been trying to figure out who first came up with this term for an essay I’m working on, “Marking as Meaning: Reading Steve […]

by Lori Emerson

Welcome to my new virtual home–

I’m migrating all my web material – which will include blog posts as well as the texts of any conference papers and talks I give – to this new page. Thank you for visiting – stay tuned for more!