Computing, 1960s and 1970s style

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1960s, 1970s, computers, registry, technology, timetables

No, this is not the control room of a retro spaceship:meet the IBM 360/30, installed at the University of Otago in 1966. It could store a massive 16KB of data! By 1971 it had been expanded and, according to the university calendar, had “32K bytes of storage, a 400 cards-per-minute card-reader, a 240 lines-per minute lineprinter and two disk drives. The computer is available for use by any University department and as one of the disk drives may be used for replaceable disk packs, large amounts of information can be stored.”

University administrators caught on to the new technology and installed their own computer in the registry slightly earlier. Retired Registrar Tim Gray, who worked in the Otago registry for 40 years, remembers its arrival: it took up most of a room. Staff entered data using punch cards, and any new program required a computer expert and extensive wiring of boards. First to be computerised were enrolment data and student records, and the computer also produced bursary cheques. Gradually computer programs took over more and more of the most laborious administrative tasks, such as figuring out the exam timetable. Mr Gray first learned the art of manual exam timetabling from long-serving Academic Registrar Jean Riley. The two of them spent three weeks in August shuffling pieces of graph paper around Miss Riley’s lounge floor, until they had devised a scheme where no student had two exams on the same day!

Then, as now, computers also brought their own problems, as an “Important newsflash to all users” from 1976 reveals (printed, of course, for there was no email in those days). On 23 December disaster had struck: “the whole of the disk storage was corrupted by the writing of ‘PROCES’ in every word. This destroyed all holdfiles, all then current userfiles, the current job file, the log, and the editor tankfile.” This was, the newsflash noted, “quite a Christmas present from System 205!”

Advances in technology are perhaps the greatest change that has come to the university over recent decades. Today computers and other digital devices abound and the libraries are full of students tapping away on laptops. The University of Otago now has one of the largest IT operations in New Zealand (in 2010 only the University of Auckland and Fonterra were bigger). Some of the same rules still apply: don’t forget to back up your data! Do you remember using the early Otago computers?

The history of histories

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bibliography, books, centenary, histories

William Parker Morrell, photographed in 1930 while studying at Oxford. He was Professor of History at Otago 1946-1964 and wrote the centenary history. Image Ref: 1/2-197548-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23023848

The University of Otago has a tradition of producing histories to mark significant anniversaries. A history of the University of Otago (1869-1919) by G.E. Thompson came out to mark the jubilee in 1919, and The University of Otago: a centennial history by W.P. Morrell in 1969. No prizes for original titles there. I’m told that Willie Morrell considered a title along the lines of Southernmost university, but the University Librarian (who also served as editor of the University Press in those days) did a little research and discovered one further south, in Tierra del Fuego.

Morrell was instructed to include a discussion of every professor who had ever taught at Otago in the centennial history. Fortunately for the sanity of future readers, not to mention the writer, this will not be possible for the 150th anniversary publication. In 1969 there were 4880 students enrolled at Otago: today there are over 20,000 and the number of professors has increased accordingly. Squeezing in the details of all professors did not, in any case, keep the staff happy. I’m told that not a few people were offended because they were not mentioned in the book, as they had not reached the heights of a professorial chair!

As well as the two histories of the entire university, there is a wide range of publications about the history of various departments, faculties, residential colleges, and other aspects of the university, often published to mark significant milestones. The medical school is particularly rich in published histories. One very useful – and readable – book is Ritual song of defiance: a social history of students at the University of Otago (1990), written by Sam Elworthy for the students’ association. See the bibliography page of this blog for details of some of these works – and please let me know of others!

Welcome

Kia ora. I’m Ali Clarke, and over the next 5 years I will be researching and writing a history of the University of Otago. With this blog I hope to spark your interest in the project by sharing interesting snippets I come across. Perhaps you can help me solve a few mysteries along the way!