👩‍💻 Three years ago we published our research into the history of Human-Computer Interaction. An in-depth report, funded by the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists' Charity, examined the contribution UK pioneers have made over the past 75 years. Read more: archivesit.org.uk/human-comput...

🤖 In 2017 Google’s researchers published "Attention Is All You Need", introducing the Transformer, a revolutionary AI architecture using attention mechanisms. Learn more AI history in Dr Andrew Rogoyski's interview: archivesit.org.uk/interviews/d... #EYAArchitecture @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social

Dr Andrew Rogoyski - Archives of IT

Dr Andrew Rogoyski is Innovation and Partnership Director of the AI Institute at the University of Surrey. He has experienced several winters where interest in AI has nearly evaporated but is excited…

archivesit.org.uk

📢 🙌 We've been awarded a £97,571 grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund. ✳️ The Unlocking Our Digital Heritage project will redevelop the website and create an AI-powered 'Ask the Archive' portal. 🙏 A huge thanks to #NationalLottery players! #HeritageFund ➡️ archivesit.org.uk/archives-of-...

In 2013 Mandy Chessell at IBM created the Data Reservoir Architecture, later the Data Lake Architecture, showing how to manage 'big data' with governance. More about her ground breaking work with Egeria in this oral history youtu.be/1d-fTVsydDM?... #EYAArchitecture @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social

Mandy Chessell CBE

Mandy Chessell's Second Interview with Richard Sharpe for Archives of IT

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Ross Anderson, Professor of Security Engineering at Cambridge and Edinburgh shaped the field, building systems resilient to malice, error, and chance. Watch his oral-history interview to discover the history of cybersecurity youtu.be/jkd-xp4xzlw?... #EYAArchitecture @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social

Ross Anderson

Ross Anderson Interviewed by Elisabetta Mori for Archives of IT

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In her recent interview with AIT Dr Nicola Hodson, Chair of IBM UK & Ireland, talks about how she's working with the government on its industrial strategy including the development of quantum to build hybrid cloud, AI and quantum infrastructure as part of the UK tech ecosystem. youtu.be/KIIn_rqec94

Dr Nicola Hodson on working with the government on its industrial strategy

YouTube video by Archives of IT

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Check out this clip from our interview with historian of computer art Catherine Mason on how in the '70s pioneers in the field were a niche of a niche and had to earn the respect of computer technicians to work on their expensive mainframe machines, often working late at night. youtu.be/AAsd3xy3FHg

Catherine Mason on the pioneers of computer art

YouTube video by Archives of IT

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💳 In the mid-1990s Tim joined BACS as Head of Services. BACS, the UK's critical direct-debit operation, was bank-owned and he updated its ageing systems architecture. Today Visa owns BACS. Find out more in his oral history interview buff.ly/Khk1C9o #EYAArchitecture @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social

Tim Gregory

Tim Gregory interviewed by Tola Sargeant in 2025 for Archives of IT

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This image captures IBM 3090 mainframes at NASA on March 25, 1991. The 3090 series was unveiled in February 1985 and remained in service until 1989🪐 (1/2). Image thanks to US National Archives. @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social #IBM #NASA #ComputerHistory

Thank you to the wonderful primary school students who attended the STEAM Fair at Our Lady’s in Berkshire today, showing such curiosity & enthusiasm. Our CEO Tola Sargeant & trustee Tim Gregory thoroughly enjoyed exploring Archives of IT with you, sharing the stories of amazing tech leaders. 🚀

Happy International Archives Day! 🥳 We are Archives of IT, recording and sharing oral history interviews with anglophone computing pioneers and tech leaders for the past decade. Explore our archive to find out more about how IT and tech has shaped society 👇 archivesit.org.uk/themes-and-t... #IAW2026

What did computing look like in the 1960s? #TeamCompSci

Archives of IT@archivesofit.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This film from the Centre for Computing History shows the LEO III in action at Hartree House youtu.be/IFRder0BLL4?...

This 1962 photograph shows the LEO III computer at the company offices Hartree House, Queensway, London. LEO III computers were installed in Customs & Excise, Inland Revenue, The Post Office and in Australia, South Africa and Czechoslovakia. Photo thanks to Prof. Frank Land/The LEO Computer Society

Tom Povey created one of the earliest electronic newsletters — the VOGON News Service, named after Douglas Adams' fictional bureaucratic overlords — to keep DEC expats connected to home. Learn about this pre-internet innovation: archivesit.org.uk/interviews/t... #DigitalHistory

Tom Povey on editing one of the world’s first electronic newsletters - Archives of IT

The VOGON News Service was a pioneering electronic newsletter sent over email. It was launched 45 years ago by Digital Equipment Corporation software engineers.

archivesit.org.uk

We are sad to hear of the death of tech pioneer Frank Land OBE at the age of 97. Here, Frank demonstrates the workings of LEO, the world's first business computer, launched by J Lyons & Co in 1951 Photograph thanks to the Centre for Computing History, LEO Computers Society Ref: CMLEO/LS/PH/5/63632.

Digital archives are older than you think. In the 1970s librarians and archivists were already managing digital data on magnetic tape. Here, Mrs. E.T. Brown is pictured in the US Navy's NMDSC medical library that held nearly 4,000 reels by 1975. Photo thanks to Navy Medicine.

Australian ICT Pioneer Dr Trevor Pearcey (1919-1998) with one of the world's earliest digital computers, the CSIR Mark 1, later known as CSIRAC. Only the UK and then the USA beat Australia into the computer age, and that was by months, not years. Image thanks to Museums Victoria.

In 1963, LEO III utilized transistors and tape drives, replacing mercury valves. LEO, the first commercial computer, was created in 1951 for J. Lyons & Co, a UK bakery, to automate payroll, processing 40 payslips per minute. #TechHistory #Innovation

Jodrell bank's radio telescope, made by Ferranti, in August 1966. At the time it was completed, it was the world's largest fully steerable radio telescope and is still used to observe space. Photograph @sciencemuseum.org.uk (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). #SpaceHistory

Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan in 1972. Cernan and his crewmate Harrison Schmitt spent three days exploring the Taurus-Littrow valley, collecting a record 115 kg (249 pounds) of lunar samples. To date, he is the last human to walk on the moon. Photograph thanks to NASA. #SpaceHistory

Astronaut Franklin R. Chang‑Diaz works with a grapple fixture during EVA on the International Space Station 9 June 2002. STS‑111's first spacewalk installed the fixture for the station's robotic arm on P6 truss. Photograph thanks to NASA #SpaceHistory

#OnThisDay 50 years ago, Apple Computer Company was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. They launched their first product, the Apple I computer, a few months later. You can see the Apple I on display in our Making the Modern World gallery: https://bit.ly/4sNNULJ

Professor Sir Martin Sweeting receiving Digitalker signals from UoSAT-1, a British amateur radio satellite. Built at the University of Surrey, it launched into low Earth orbit on October 6, 1981. #SpaceHistory

The iconic Jodrell Bank radio telescope, crafted by UK tech giant Ferranti in 1966. Discover Ferranti's legacy here 👉️ archivesit.org.uk/iconic-compa... Photo courtesy of Science Museum Group Collection Online. (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). @jodrellbank.bsky.social @sciencemuseum.org.uk #TechHistory

Here's a glimpse of a factory worker inspecting circuits on computer equipment at the DEC Galway plant in 1972, just in time for St. Patrick's Day! 🍀 Big thanks to DEC Galway for the image. #StPatricksDay #TechHistory

English Electric, formed after WWI by merging five UK companies, initially focused on aviation, trams, and electric locomotives. During WWII, they produced the Handley Page bomber and Comet tank, and continued making aircraft for the RAF, like the Canberra and Lightning.

If you shop online, please consider signing up to #Giveasyoulive for us this year. Every time you make an online purchase, order a grocery delivery, book a trip or switch your energy providers, you can generate donations that support our work, for free 👍 👉 bit.ly/4skr65B

A technician from DEC , testing heart monitors before dispatch. 💓 This photo, taken in the 1970s is thanks to DEC Galway.

Link to illuminating discussion IT professionals about how the industry responds to the Horizon scandal. Thanks to @archivesofit.bsky.social archivesit.org.uk/horizon-less...

Horizon: Lessons Learnt? Highlights from Archives of IT's 2026 Forum - Archives of IT

Highlights of Archives of IT's 2026 Forum Focusing on the Post Office Horizon IT scandal and what we have gleaned so far from one of the UK’s greatest miscarriages of justice.

archivesit.org.uk

☎️ In this poster from BT Group Archives, a career in telephone engineering is being advertised by the General Post Office. Wondering why? Telecommunications and the Post Office came under the same government department until the Post Office Act in 1969. (1/2)