Michael Édouard Laurentius (melaurentius@gmail.com

“Opening up new vistas”: Examining Telidon’s ability to (un)successfully transcend and traverse borders in a time of technological transition

In 1978, the Communications Research Centre (an agency of the Department of Communications [Industry]) unveiled to Canadians the Telidon project, a second-generation videotex system that was touted as “one of the key technologies that are leading us into the information age”. Telidon transformed televisions into end-user computer terminals, allowing for graphic-rich two-way communication with other computer systems. Much of the current literature on the system focuses on either its technical underpinnings or attempts to trace the causes for its ultimate failure. Instead, this paper examines the various ‘borders’ this short-lived project traversed, as well as those ‘failed crossings’. While the root ‘tele-‘ might hint towards geographic distance as the primary boundary, this is also a story of the demarcations found within institutions, technology, and commercial markets. The Telidon dwelled in a time of transition, “the beginning of a beginning”, and as we “[reach] for tomorrow" within our disruptive age, it is important to look at and learn from how lasting and displaced technologies assessed and traversed the boundaries of their age.


Matthew Allen (matthewallen@g.harvard.edu) – Harvard University

Bernholtz moves to Toronto: circulation between architecture and computer programming circa 1970

Because knowledge of early computer techniques was highly individual, when someone moved, the technology moved with them. Around 1970, architect and professor Allen Bernholtz moved from Cambridge, MA, to Toronto. Bernholtz had created several cutting-edge spatial allocation programs at Harvard’s Laboratory for Computer Graphics and Spatial Analysis (which was among the first centers of experimentation with computers in an architecture school). Bernholtz worked with other leading architects on these projects, many of which were sponsored by major American firms. Bernholtz’s last two projects at the Lab were sponsored by the NRC (a speculative hospital program layout) and the Canadian Ministry of State for Urban Affairs (a layout for a small town). Bernholtz opened consultancies in Cambridge and Toronto and published lucid and insightful articles on spatial allocation and computer-augmented design. Through an investigation of the projects Bernholtz worked on and the contemporary interests of his sponsors, this paper tells the history of a small but representative technological transfer; this will help illuminate the concerns of architects using computers and the hopes surrounding computation in this era. The transfers were not only across borders, but back-and-forth between disciplines (computer programming and architecture) and professional spheres (academia and private practice). This history is important as a window onto a defining but largely forgotten moment in the professional memory of architects.

In the interwar era, architecture functioned as a powerful tool of neuro-surgery. By engaging material evidence, this paper looks at Operating Room No. 1, the original OR designed for the famous neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield (1891-1976) on the fifth floor of the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI). Penfield and architects Ross and Macdonald shaped the MNI space to privilege view and communication, two key aspects to his surgical method. Constructed in 1934, it featured a spectators’ gallery that was divided from the surgical space by a dramatically canted plate glass screen. Below this gallery was a “cellar” designed for a photographer tasked with capturing the brain during the surgical procedure. Although today the methods of imaging the brain have changed, “OR 1” is still in constant use at MNI. The conference focus on “Science and Technology Across Borders” offers an opportunity to consider the dissolving boundaries between viewer and surgeon at this particular moment, as well as the significance of architecture in Penfield’s vision. The concept of borders also provides inspiration as a methodology to understand the role of architecture in surgery: architecture is brain surgery.

In 1807, the American innovator Robert Fulton ran the first practical, commercially successful steamboat in history along the Hudson River. With his North River Steam Boat, Fulton broke through an important psychological barrier: it was, in fact, possible for humans to use an artificial power to alter where they were faster than by natural means. As such, steam-powered vessels represent the first “high technology” in history. This presentation and paper will describe how from its earliest adoption, this “new mode of transport” served to not only increase the interaction of peoples across international borders, but also compelled governments to alter the way in which they enforced laws. As a result, these two phenomena illustrate how this first high technology served to “soften sovereignty” of the nation-state. Included will be specific examples of how steam-powered vessels forced the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom and British Canada to address the unprecedented abilities of these time-and-space altering machines. These are based upon original archival research in North America and Britain. Finally, the presentation will show why steam-powered vessels should be considered the first high technology, and how this new definition of the term can be used to fundamentally alter the way we view the history of technology, and its impact upon the modern world. I will happily entertain Q&A for as long as time allows.

At the inaugural meeting of the Science Council, in 1966, Prime Minister Pearson described its establishment as the beginning of a new relationship between science and government in Canada. The federal government’s mechanisms for managing science policy, of which the Council was intended to be a major part, were rapidly changing at that time. This transformation not only produced the Science Council, it also led to a shift away from the Council’s original purpose as an advisor to the federal government on policy for science. The Council soon came to see its task as raising public awareness about the impact of science and technology on society. This talk will review the Council’s origins, exploring what was new in its creation, why a new relationship was thought to be needed, and why its role changed.

The decade 1970-89 was startlingly different from the decade just ending 2005-15. The federal government was confident of its policies and was strongly engaged in pollution cleanup; moreover it had confidence in the scientists (freedom of publication) and engineers in the agencies fighting pollution to maintain quality of life. The Science Council of Canada (SCC) and the Senate’s science policy committee provided extensive advice that was generally accepted. Startlingly in 1972, the OPEC doubling of oil prices created public consternation and hostility between Ottawa and provinces like Alberta that wanted the same price increase, Ottawa set a much lower increase to sustain Ontario and Quebec manufacturing competitiveness internationally. Furthermore Ottawa developed a conservation strategy that made citizens and industry aware of the limits of oil and gas resources and enlisted to reduce energy wastes, develop interest in renewables and accept about 50% reduction in projected annual growth rate. The development of university research was entrusted to the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council with growth in equipment, fundamental and applied research funding. The National Research Council expanded industrial research as well as satellite and manned space activity. Having provided advice on every industrial sector, the SCC put forward a holistic proposal for a Conserver Society that would require all industries to pay for environmental clean-up and give up any subsidies. These costs would be passed on to consumers who would prioritize their purchasing but would have much reduced taxes. While this inspired some citizen groups, the general public and industry did not welcome it. Today conserver social ethics has been transformed into developing plans for sustainability.

En 1942, Geigy offre le DDT aux militaires américains et britanniques. À l’automne 1943, les Américains enrayent une épidémie de typhus à Naples. Dès lors, le DDT a un intérêt majeur pour les armées alliées, et pour les scientifiques, y compris au Canada. L’Armée canadienne forme au printemps 1944 un comité conjoint Défense nationale et Agriculture Canada pour tester le DDT, d’abord pour combattre le typhus et la malaria, ensuite en vue d’usages civils dans l’après-guerre. Les premières observations canadiennes se font dans des laboratoires américains, puis des tests sont entrepris sur des conscrits en Ontario et au Labrador. L’intérêt pour l’épandage aérien contre la tordeuse des bourgeons de l’épinette se manifeste rapidement, même si ce sont les usages agricoles qui suscitent le plus d’intérêt. Cette recherche est conduite à partir des dossiers de recherche opérationnelle du ministère de la Défense du Canada.

In this talk I explore how early Canadian computer experts built professional networks from the 1950s to the 1970s. Modern computing expanded across the country relatively slowly after the first computer was installed in 1952, so many Canadians sought professional links through American computer societies such as the Data Processing Managers Association (DPMA). The Canadian presence within the DPMA was relatively high with early chapters in Montreal and Toronto and several major "international" conferences held north of the border. Nonetheless, the DPMA remained remarkably tone-deaf to Canadian concerns, such as when it sent renewal forms to Canadian members with self-addressed return envelopes with unusable American stamps. Similar events led to the creation of DPMA Canada, a semi-autonomous organization for Canadians and led by Canadians. Ultimately, my talk shows how the Canadian computing landscape differed from in the United States. With fewer total computers and greater distance between computing centers, professional networks were essential to technological growth, knowledge diffusion, advocacy, and social camaraderie. While links to the United States were inevitable, Canadian professionals were also able to establish distinct identities and autonomy for themselves.

Canadian computer heritage is extensive. However, its study, preservation, and promotion persistently faces the problem of how to conduct research that requires an access to and experimentation with historically significant hardware and software. Computing environments of the past have long been dismantled. Hardware and software of interest may no longer be available or be in a fragile state preventing their use -- those artifacts that survived in the museums, can be displayed but neither fully demonstrated to the visitors nor experimented with by scholars. In this paper I will discuss computer emulators -- software designed to accurately recreate historically significant computing artifacts and environments, to bridge physical systems with their virtual representations and interpretations. I will assess the role and value of emulators as research and preservation tools. I will also discuss major emulation projects done at York University Computer Museum and illustrate the discussion with emulators' demonstrations.

What makes a culture digital? During the 1950s and 1960s digital computers came to Winnipeg, purchased by private corporations, by the University of Manitoba, by the municipal and provincial governments. By 1970 Manitobans throughout the province had been touched in some way by computing, though very few were direct users of computers. The mundane and routine reality of most computer usage contrasted with representations of computing in the hyped-up headlines of the news media or in Hollywood movies, and resulted in discordant perceptions of computing among non-computer users. I am in the early stages of a history of computing in Manitoba. My paper will describe the contours of my project and present some preliminary findings. My work blurs rather than crosses borders, probing ambiguities between research computing at the University of Manitoba and applied computing in industry and government; between computing in an R&D hub like Toronto or Ottawa and in Winnipeg; between representations of computing and actual computing; and between analogue culture and digital culture.

Over the last 40 years, video game development has become a significant industry in Canada, generating approximately two billion dollars yearly. Electronic gaming has become such a pervasive form of entertainment that 61% of Canadian households reported by 2012 that they owned at least one game console. While modern play has become intertwined with technology, the technological history of the Canadian video game industry remains to be written, but a database of nearly 1,000 associated commercial operations has been compiled, going back to the 1970s. Data analysis reveals the increasing foreign ownership of the largest developers as well as a history of cross-border partnerships. Rarely initiated by Canadian firms, such alliances have transformed Canada into a games powerhouse (first in the world by employees per capita). The respective roles of government policy, technological handicaps (the paucity of Canadian-made platforms), and commercial trajectories (lock-in) will be assessed.

“Round the Empire by Canadian Pacific”: The Canadian Pacific Railway Company’s Transport Network, the St. Lawrence Route, and Imperial Tourism in the Early 20th Century

Starting in the 1880s, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company decided to get involved in the lucrative steamship business. While the most lucrative routes were those connecting European and American ports, CPR decided to develop the St. Lawrence River route. By the 1920s, with its extensive network of hotels and railroads across the Canada, CPR decided to market itself as an integrated trans-imperial network of tourism. This network would carry the traveller from England Atlantic steamships, across Canada on CPR trains, and to East Asia on the company’s Pacific fleet. The company promoted its imperial transportation network as a convenient, hassle-free, way of travelling the world on a single system, one that additionally allowed passengers to see the world while staying within the predictable comforts of British accommodations. Using amongst other sources promotional pamphlets, posters, and newspaper advertisements, this presentation explores CPR’s attempt to market the St. Lawrence route and its imperial network as a transportation solution to travel across the world, while remaining in the reassuring convenience of the Empire. It also reveals how CPR sought to make Canada the lynchpin of the Empire’s communication and transport network.
Suzanne Beauvais (sbeauvais@technomuses.ca) - Société des musées de sciences et technologies du Canada

La revue Châtelaine et les consommatrices canadiennes : son rôle d’influence depuis les années 1960

D’abord publiée en anglais par Maclean-Hunter Ltd à compter de 1928 , la revue Chatelaine ajouta une version française à compter de septembre 1960 avec l’achat de La Revue Moderne. Chatelaine/Châtelaine La Revue Moderne, constituaient alors la seule revue canadienne qui s’adressait au public féminin. Elle était aussi la plus populaire au sein de la maison de publication Maclean-Hunter. La revue jouera un rôle d’influence auprès de son lectorat au niveau des activités domestiques et les achats d’appareils ménagers. La revue jouera aussi le rôle de pourvoyeur d’échantillonnage de lectrices pour des études de marché à propos de divers produits et appareils domestiques démontrant ainsi l’importance accordée par les publicitaires au rôle des femmes en tant que consommatrices.

‘Good-bye Central’—Introducing Dial Telephone Service to Bell Canada Subscribers, 1924-29

This paper examines the early years of Bell Canada’s conversion from manual operator service to dial telephone service as an opportunity to interrogate the taken-for-grantedness of modern technological arrangements, artifacts, and practices. Although dial service had been invented in the late 1800s, but Bell delayed its introduction until 1924. Bell’s reluctance was also in keeping with its goal of controlling any technical and human variables that might affect the quality or profitability of telephone service. Operators played an important role resolving both system and human errors. While dial service promised to reduce labour costs, it also made the telephone company reliant on the telephone user’s ability and willingness to replace established habits, etiquette, and knowledge with new practices and conceptions of telephony. Subscribers unwilling to place their own calls or not doing so correctly could significantly compromise efficient network operation. When Bell Canada finally introduced automated exchanges, first in Toronto in 1924 and then in Montréal and Québec City in 1925, it paid great attention to how to best anticipate and manage the human variables that subscribers presented. By the time dial service was introduced in Hamilton in 1929, Bell had developed a comprehensive programme to educate both Bell employees and subscribers about dial service and to promote its proper use. Drawing on documents and images from the Bell Canada archives as well as media accounts, this paper examines the extensive educational and promotional strategies implemented by Bell to prepare its employees and subscribers for the introduction of dial service. It argues that Bell’s programme not only taught its subscribers how to properly use dial telephones, but also helped to redraw the boundary between humans and machines, integrating users and non-experts into the operation of large technological systems.
Rénald Fortier (rfortier@technomuses.ca) - Musée de l'aviation et de l'espace du Canada

« Napier + Convair + Canadair = Cosmopolitan » - D. Napier & Son, Canadair et l’avion de ligne moyen courrier Convair Cosmopolitan

Le thème de la conférence biennale de l’AHSTC pour l’année 2015 offre de nombreuses avenues de recherche à quiconque s’intéresse à l’histoire de l’aviation. En effet, la nature même de l’industrie fait en sorte que bien des projets débordent les frontières du pays où ils naissent. Dans le cas présent, c’est en 1957 que Canadair acquiert l’outillage de production d’un avion de ligne moyen courrier produit jusqu’alors par une compagnie sœur américaine, Convair. L’avionneur montréalais s’allie avec un fabricant de moteurs britannique, D. Napier & Son, pour offrir une version plus moderne du Convair Metropolitan. Le gouvernement fédéral force l’Aviation royale du Canada à accepter dix aéronefs. Cela dit, la piètre fiabilité du turbopropulseur Napier Eland et le coût élevé du Canadair Cosmopolitan ne tardent pas à faire fuir les clients potentiels, des lignes aériennes américaines pour la plupart. Ces mêmes facteurs portent un coup fatal à un projet d’usine au Brésil.

In 1867, Abbé Ovide Brunet, a Catholic priest and botany professor at the Université Laval, and the noted Québec City photography studio of Livernois and Co. presented a portfolio of thirty-five albumen print photographs, entitled "Sites et végétaux du Canada", as part of the Canadian displays at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. This 'photographic herbarium' applied the new technology of photography to the task of communicating Canada’s botanical, geographic, and historical assets. I argue that these photographs explore the scientific potential of photography in the service of botany, while employing Canadian imagery as a tool for asserting Canada’s place as a centre of cutting-edge scientific investigation. In considering the place of Brunet, Livernois, and the portfolio itself, within international networks of influential individuals and groups, which actively sought to collect, categorize, catalogue, and store the world’s botanical data, this paper presents an analysis of "Sites et végétaux du Canada" across the various contexts which imbued the images with meaning.

This story of wax fruit, spanning two continents and six decades, highlights an intricate web of knowledge exchange among artists and artisans, scientists, innovators, manufacturers and suppliers of various specialty products and techniques. It begins during the Crimean War with the development of plaster casts to set broken bones. This technology lent itself to the manufacture of realistic reproductions of native fruits and flowers, initially as home decor, but later as teaching tools by horticulturalists in North America. During a visit to the Chicago Exhibition in 1893, H.L. Hutt, Professor of Horticulture at the Ontario Agricultural College, persuaded Sarah Potter to create a set of wax fruits, root vegetables and mushrooms for the College, for the new and popular program in economic horticulture. As well as being a part of the global history of science and technology, this story is a fine example of natural and mutually beneficial collaboration among the arts and the sciences.