Dr Janet Toland to present oral histories of Wellington IT pioneers at conference next month
Dr Janet Toland from the School of Information Management will present oral histories of eight Wellington pioneers of computing at the Gift of Memory conference to be held in the capital next month.
Dr Janet Toland from the School of Information Management will present oral histories of eight Wellington pioneers of computing at the Gift of Memory conference to be held in the capital next month.
With co-researcher Jim Whitman, she has been struck by the enthusiasm of the pioneers from the early days of computing, which began in the 1960s.
"They really were leaders – not only outstanding in one area but involved in multiple roles across the Wellington region," says Dr Toland.
"They were all innovators at the cutting edge of something new. There were no rules or barriers – if someone said they couldn’t do something, they did it anyway.
"They demonstrated the ability New Zealand has to be a world-leader. For example, they developed a local government IT system and went to the US where they found that what they had developed was in advance of the US."
The eight pioneers interviewed are Frank March, Nat Torkington, Professor John Hine, Liz Eastwood, Marg McLeod, Jim Higgins, Andy Linton and Don Christie.
Dr Toland's research stems from her PhD investigations, part of which was a history of computing in New Zealand that used oral histories produced for the 25th anniversary of the New Zealand Computing Society in 1985.
Twenty-five years later, in 2010, the society published Return to Tomorrow, a book marking its 50th anniversary.
Dr Toland did some research for this book and decided to continue her investigations with further oral history interviews. She received training from the National Library to record the oral histories, which run from one to three hours.
"I've included interviews with two women. Women are traditionally under-represented in the IT industry. Both had high-flying careers, even though they found it difficult to juggle the demands of careers and family.
"The oral histories encompass a range of people across the public and private sectors."
The Gift of Memory conference, organised by the National Oral History Association of New Zealand, will be held in Wellington at the CQ Hotel in Cuba Street from 19-21 September 2014.