Since 2021, I have been the creator and co-host of the podcast Our Friend the Computer, where, alongside Ana Meisel, researching and presenting under-known and non-U.S. centric stories from tech history. Our three main seasons include pre-internet networks, the evolution of educational computers from the 1980s to the 2000s, and the global history of cell phones. The podcast is a sister project of the Media Archaeology Lab (MAL) at the University of Colorado and this engagement has also extended to co-curating and editing issue no.4 of the lab’s ephemerMAL journal titled ‘The myths of information’ which examined the myths surrounding our technological attachments. By delving into these varied histories, Our Friend the Computer contributes to a richer, more nuanced conversation about technology. We emphasize multiplicity and representation, aiming to advocate for a digital culture that recognizes the many paths and stories that have brought us to where we are today—and that can inspire us to imagine new possibilities for the future.

Our Friend the Computer is a podcast hosted by Camila Galaz and Ana Meisel highlighting lesser-known histories of computing. Across three seasons, OFtC explores niche histories which challenge popular narratives of computing and the World Wide Web.
OFTC is a sister project of the Media Archaeology Lab (MAL) at the University of Colorado.

https://www.ourfriendthe.computer/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/our-friend-the-computer/id1607419717

Our Friend the Computer
Podcast

Episodes

Mini-Season: Fin-Tech & Micro Loans for the Mobile Phone

  • Grameen Village Phone Project

  • M-Pesa

OFTC ZINE

We published a free digital zine in celebration of two years and 24 episodes of OFtC.

Designed by Katherine Leon and featuring essays and interviews key figures in the field such as a discussion with dr. libi rose striegl from MAL and an essay from the head of Rhizome, Michael Connor, we detail each of our episodes and then test you with a very niche crossword puzzle.

It's available to download via our website!

The zine launch was kindly hosted by Rhizome through an online discussion about the podcast and our research.

Ephemer-Mal no.4

OFtC guest edited the Media Archaeology Lab’s zine ephemerMAL no.4 titled “The Myths of Information” available on archive.org or via the lab.

From our intro:
Information can be data, material and tales. Our attachments to technology can bring myths to the fore by creating cultural schisms and enabling new ways of experiencing information. In this edition of EphemerMAL’s 4th zine, we have partnered up with Media Archeology Lab to collect a series of text and image pieces via an open call that question the relationship between technology and material well-being.

Themes in the subsequent pieces touch on the subject of technology playing on myths, in the instance of the delusions of time (Dylan Simon), obsolescence of memory (Matthew Atkinson), and rudimentary uses and subversions of hardware (Doug MacDowell). We explore the lie of tech democratisation (Eryk Salvaggio), the phenomenon of “techlore” (Dasha Ilina), narratives of clicks (John Schuch) and conveniences (libi rose striegl), and texts inked for both human and machine readability (Beau Mathew Farris).

We invite you to look through the following intimate, eccentric and revealing interpretations and accounts of moments when tech and fallacy meet.