The Tech in My Life #8: Overhead Projectors

Posted on October 27, 2026 by Content in Context

As with Roneo and Banda machines, school also introduced me to overhead projectors – the presentation tool that pre-dated PowerPoint and digital projectors.

Some teachers would diligently prepare the transparent sheets in advance, and hope that the ink wouldn’t rub off or smudge ahead of time. I seem to recall that some lessons involved pre-printed crib sheets, that teachers would annotate by hand in real time. Others simply made it up as they went along – hopefully, they remembered not to write directly on the projection bed with a permanent marker, but used the special pens whose ink could be easily wiped off afterwards.

This rudimentary technology survived into my time at university, and even into my early corporate life – before laptops became ubiquitous. Nowadays, even a Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote or Google Slide presentation can seem quaint, as audiences increasingly demand/expect more immersive content. But maybe a return to simpler formats would prove the adage that “less is more”?

Next week #9: Borrowing Library Books

The Tech in My Life #7: Stencil and Spirit Duplicators

Posted on October 20, 2026 by Content in Context

Before Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop and print-on-demand services, “desktop publishing” meant stencil machines and spirit duplicators. Mostly known by their brand names such as Roneo (mimeograph or stencil duplicator) and Banda (ditto machine or spirit duplicator), these printing presses were small enough to be operated on an actual desktop. They were perfect for self-publishing small print runs of home-made magazines and newsletters.

At school, teachers used them to make handouts and quizzes. In years 11 and 12, my friends and I produced several issues of an alternative school magazine using a Gestetner stencil duplicator. Fiddly work, but highly satisfying when everything went right.

Most people will probably remember them for the heady smell of the chemicals they used. Thanks to health and safety concerns (as well as cheaper photocopying and better flatbed scanners), these machines are no longer anywhere to be seen.

The core technology lives on in the form of Risographs, a 1980’s invention that has seen renewed interest in recent years among zines and comics – mainly because the economics can work out better than photocopying, inkjet printing, laser printing or traditional offset printing, and because the process uses more organic soy-based inks.

Next week #8: Overhead Projectors

The Tech in My Life #6: Microfiche

Posted on October 13, 2026 by Content in Context

If we accept that knowledge is power, power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely*, then librarians are potentially the most corrupt people in the world: they have access to infinite sources of information, over which they often hold the keys.

I was reminded of the power that lies within libraries during a tour of the recently refurbished State Library of Victoria. In the newspaper archive, there were cabinets full of microfiche, the old analogue technology that has outlived many digital formats.

Microfiche is ideal for preserving volumes of old newspapers, given its ability to capture facsimile images of each page, reduce storage space and avoid acid decay of old newsprint. And, with tools like optical character recognition (OCR), it is even possible to create detailed indexing and metadata not previously available with physical microfiche itself.

I recall the first time I used a library microfiche – for a school history project, researching 19th century newspapers. Later on at university, I had access to numerous archives, but you still needed to know how to navigate the index files to locate the specific records and documents (this was long before the wide availability of library computers, databases and online search). In one instance, students were required to undertake a short course on how to use the materials before they were given access – a perfect example of librarians as knowledge gatekeepers!

* Apologies to Sir Francis Bacon and Lord Acton for this conflated mashup…

Next week #7: Stencil & Spirit Duplicators

The Tech in My Life #5: Home Electronics Kits

Posted on October 6, 2026 by Content in Context

When I was 10 or 11, my favourite Christmas present was a Gakken 150 IC-in-1 Home Electronics Kit (model no. 81357).

This Japanese-made toy (marketed via Tandy and RadioShack) gave me a solid education in the fundamentals of electronics: circuits, components, DC and PV power (it had a solar battery), photo-resistance (it had a cadmium sulphide light-sensitive receiver switch), short-range radio transmission and reception. It also had an integrated circuit board, as well as a range of resistors, capacitors, rheostats, relays, tuners, and transformers.

There was even an experiment for making electronic percussion – this involved wrapping some wires around my wrists, and connecting other wires to some pieces of aluminium kitchen foil. By tapping my hands on the foil (and completing the circuit), the resulting sound was like electronic bongos, and not a million miles from the electric drum pads Kraftwerk played during their appearance on BBC TV’s “Tomorrow’s World” in 1975.

This dabbling later led me to dismantling an old television, and repurposing some of the components to make a very rudimentary synthesiser (with bits of tin can for the keyboard) for a school science project.

More importantly, playing with this kit drove my curiosity as to how things work, learning to take them apart and repair them, and triggered an equal frustration with sealed-unit devices and labels saying “no user serviceable parts” inside.

Next week #6: Microfiche