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Creative Computing Magazine

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Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#31

Post by jean_claude »

johansch wrote: post #4
PaulHoule wrote: post #2

This is great! One problem with Creative Computing is that most libraries seemed to think it was ephemeral and they got rid of their holdings in the early 1990s, so it has been really hard to find. Even my mom thought it was ephemeral and she threw out most of my collection.

That's the thing I don't really get about libraries. They are incredibly deletionist. My pet theory: the librarians feel they have power that way, by "curating" the collection that will presented to the peasants.

While there may be some power-mad librarians out there in terms of 'there will be silence in the library!', they curate the library's collection for many reasons: to meet the requirements of stakeholders, to meet the needs and shifting interests of the community, to make room for new material...

Really, there are a whole host of reasons for deaccession of library materials that include financial, space, and other concerns that hit the bottom line.

The great thing about technology is we have the ability to collect, classify, add metadata[1], and make all human knowledge accessible to everyone. If only insanely long copyrights and restrictions on scanning and lending copyrighted works were not in the way.

[1] This is not really something a busy librarian has time for, so other methods, such as user-driven tagging and folksonomies[2] are an interesting solution that is being tried.

[2] http://interactivearchivist.archivists.org/technologies/tagg...

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#32

Post by vidarh »

waqf wrote: post #17
DanBC wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Libraries are underfunded. Climate controlled storage for stuff that most people won't use is expensive. There are some libraries the do keep everything, so it's not "lost".

But they don't scan everything or even ILL everything, so it's pretty lost by contemporary standards.

It'll get there. We have a gap now, but many national libraries and other large collections do understand the value of scanning and making available. Part of the challenge is that they then to will prioritise old and rare publications to things like these magazines, especially when copyright limitations makes it challenging to publish the newer material.

There are many quite decent publicly accessible collections of computer magazines, though, because of the audience - other types of magazines are in a worse position.

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#33

Post by sitkack »

I found an copy of The Best of Creative Computing Vol 2 http://www.atariarchives.org/bcc2/ at a thrift store years ago and was immediately hooked. It reminded me of all the neat hobby projects that would come across fidonet when I was a kid. Now everything is an acqui-hire or flip, the ratio of exploration and art in coding projects has definitely dropped.

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#34

Post by vidarh »

johansch wrote: post #4
PaulHoule wrote: post #2

This is great! One problem with Creative Computing is that most libraries seemed to think it was ephemeral and they got rid of their holdings in the early 1990s, so it has been really hard to find. Even my mom thought it was ephemeral and she threw out most of my collection.

That's the thing I don't really get about libraries. They are incredibly deletionist. My pet theory: the librarians feel they have power that way, by "curating" the collection that will presented to the peasants.

Every librarian I've ever spoken to has been incredibly good at pointing me in the right direction if they didn't have anything in the local library. They understand the need for archival, but they are also limited in space and money and need to focus on what their typical users actually read.

If you can't find something, ask your librarian where it might be available. Generally they can give suggestions, and may even spend time helping you search.

In my teens had libraries contact specialist libraries and dig obscure translations of works out of vaults for me where they could have just told me sorry and pointed me to the several newer/more mainstream editions of the same work they had out (I was transcribing some books where the newer translations were still in copyright and where I was also hunting for additional forewords), despite being young enough at the time that they could've easily dismissed me as not having any "important" reasons to trouble them with asking for just those editions.

My experience is that if you're nice, most librarians love it when they are asked for something unusual by someone who clearly cares about the books.

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#35

Post by Lord_Nightmare »

jejones3141 wrote: post #30

Oy, I wish I'd kept a listing of the Algol W snowflake curve program I wrote up for Creative Computing and that they published in the Nov-Dec 1978 issue. The printout combined with the scan makes it hard to read. Ah, well; I did it to myself.

It looks reasonably readable to me if zoomed in. It should be possible to retype from the scan, if someone wanted to.

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#36

Post by [deleted] »

tomcam wrote: post #24
WalterBright wrote: post #3

I loved that magazine. The first years of it had a charming quality to them I've never seen anywhere else. The early issues are treasures. The later ones got more conventional.

Very well put. The issues in that first year made those of us who weren't programmers feel like we could be. It was thanks to them and COMPUTE! that I actually did become one, and eventually a consumer of Walter Bright products!

[deleted]

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#37

Post by [deleted] »

[deleted] wrote: post #36
tomcam wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very well put. The issues in that first year made those of us who weren't programmers feel like we could be. It was thanks to them and COMPUTE! that I actually did become one, and eventually a consumer of Walter Bright products!

[deleted]

[deleted]

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#39

Post by DonHopkins »

sitkack wrote: post #33

I found an copy of The Best of Creative Computing Vol 2 http://www.atariarchives.org/bcc2/ at a thrift store years ago and was immediately hooked. It reminded me of all the neat hobby projects that would come across fidonet when I was a kid. Now everything is an acqui-hire or flip, the ratio of exploration and art in coding projects has definitely dropped.

I love the cover by Gilbert Shelton, with Fat Freddy's Cat fleeing in front of the the pick-up truck!

http://www.atariarchives.org/bcc2/showpage.php?page=cover

Re: Creative Computing Magazine

#40

Post by JoeDaDude »

Like Creative Computing, I remember the pleasure I got from Algorithm Magazine, which included pseudocode for fractals, neural nets, cellular automata, and all those things that attracted me to computers. Algorithm Magazine was put out by noted computer scientist and author Alexander Dewdney (http://www.csd.uwo.ca/faculty/akd/akd.html).

I would gladly scan the few hardcopies I still have (not a complete set though) if someone else would host them.

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