An Ode to a Calculator

Reflection

In this experiment, it frankly felt wrong to take the calculator apart. I did begin my experiment by leaving every piece of the calculator in tack – by just taking off the hard outer case – but for the sake of experimenting I took it apart further, to the point it cannot be reconstructed. That feels wasteful, even if it was just a $5 second hand calculator. Nonetheless, it is interesting to see the different pieces involved in something as seemingly simple as a calculator, even if I don’t understand all their functions.

In reading Balbi and Magaudda’s book chapter Why Study the History of Digital Media and How? I came to understand the ever evolving role that the labels of “digital” and “analogue” have played over the rise of new technologies. Namely, Balbi and Magaudda’s (2018) assertion that “digital is often defined in contrast to analog almost as if they were two extremes on a scale, even if they are not.” allowed me to understand that there are intersections between the two technological modes (p. 7). I think prior to this reading, I had this belief that analogue defined older modes of technological devices or devices lacking screens, rather than understanding the difference in how these technologies transmit information. I chose to take apart a calculator because I would have prior (unsuitably) labeled it digital due to it’s screen appearance, ignoring its contents and the fact that it is really a small computer. Seeing the inner workings of the calculator reiterated for me that the label “digital” is not confined by the technology most of my generation would equate the word with – e.g. iPhone, MacBooks, TVs. A real life example of what Jonathan Sterne said, as quoted by Balbi and Magaudda (2018): “the idea of analog as everything not-digital is in fact newer than the idea of digital ”.

I am not a very tech-savvy person, I know a little bit but I feel like that is more a result of growing up in a generation teeming with technology. So coming out of this experiment, my main question about technology would be “How does a CPU chip work?” and “was my deduction correct?”; is it impossible to hack – in the sense of alter the capabilities of the current calculator – a CPU chip when its encased in the glob? Is there another way to hack a calculator if not through the CPU chip? I do not know.

Also, I took the approach of ease of destruction of a piece of software – a calculator – so what would it look like to make an artistically charged representation of digital technologies? What would I make? and What would I want to say in my art? This I also do not know.

References 

Balbi, G., & Magaudda, P. (2018). A history of digital media : An intermedia and global perspective. Taylor & Francis Group.

Gronlund, M. (2016). Contemporary art and digital culture. Taylor & Francis Group.