Discarded Digital

Investigating the amateur re-use of digital rubbishes

Research bulletin #1

The project started two months ago, and we’re slowly figuring out how to communicate about our activities. Along with this blog, we chose to produce short “research bulletins” that describe various issues such as research methods, analytical and vernacular idioms… Continue Reading →

Different levels of interventions

“Hacking” electronic toys isn’t homogeneous, as attested by these two examples, taken from (1) Game Boy Modding (a boo about to modify GameBoys) by Greg Farrell, (2) A fanzine by T.A.C.O. Team about toys hacking. While the formats of the… Continue Reading →

Cosmodule, Lyon

Had a chance to visit the Cosmodule Art R&D Lab in Lyon yesterday. Not strictly focused on recycling electronics, but still highly interesting in the way some of their projects deal with old consoles, use video game spare parts (such… Continue Reading →

Retrospeculative Design

This afternoon on the INPUT POKE SAVE Discord server that the UNIL-EPFL Gamelab put together, I attended a presentation by my colleague Douglas about is projects. Based on a series of examples, he used the term “retrospeculative Design” that he… Continue Reading →

Permacomputing and recycled electronics

In the latest instalment of his newsletter, Robin Sloane mentions the notion of “permacomputing”: There’s an idea simmering out there, still fringe, coaxed forward by a network of artists and hobbyists: it’s called “permacomputing” and it asks the question, what… Continue Reading →

“Garbage Watch”

Garbage Watch is a wristwatch “built from the tech the world threw away in the trash”. “Launching in 2022, the waiting list is now open”.

Making new games for old consoles

The Guardian has a piece about new games designed for consoles of the past. And more specifically, about this wave of new games released on “old-school cartridges”. As usual with this kind of piece, the topic of “authenticity” is mentioned,… Continue Reading →

Homebrew game characteristics

Listening to a talk by Melanie Swalwell about her recent book called “Homebrew Gaming and the Beginnings of Vernacular Digitality”. Her definition of homebrew game characteristics are quite relevant to us in the project, as they clarify what it corresponds… Continue Reading →

Playful repurposing of digital technology through sculpture

Game ? Advance, by Alex Custodio, is an inspiring project that repurposes digital artefacts through sculpture. The aim is both to provide a critique of “how hardware and software reproduce dominant ideologies around gender and power”, and to imagine an… Continue Reading →

“Design for Obsolete Devices” by Anaëlle Beignon

Anaëlle’s thesis addresses “the obsolescence of technology through the lens of accessibility to public services”. Her design work explores “the ageing processes of electronic devices in regards to a technological normativity that marginalizes owners of obsolete devices.” Check the PDF… Continue Reading →

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