Yesterday’s Google, rethought

Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was once one of the world’s most influential computer companies – described as “the Google of its day”. While fondly remembered by those who lived through its heyday, public awareness of Digital’s role in shaping modern computing had faded.

As part of a National Lottery Heritage Fund–supported project marking 60 years of Digital in the UK delivered in partnership with Reading Museum, The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) wanted to reintroduce DEC to modern audiences. The challenge was not a lack of technology, but how to make that technology meaningful again.

Vision
Our team’s ambition was not simply to explore why DEC mattered but how it affected people. We wanted to present DEC’s achievements through a human lens – showing how culture shaped innovation and profoundly transformed the lives of those associated with the company.

Approach
Blended Past began by creating an adaptable interpretative framework, providing a consistent set of guiding messages across both museums while allowing each to emphasise different aspects of Digital’s story: technology at TNMOC, and social and local impact at Reading.

At TNMOC, we worked closely with curators, engineers and an external design team to tell Digital’s technology story through the experiences of DEC staff and customers, with vintage systems used as interpretative tools. Our treatment pitched complex technology for context, tone and clarity to ensure accessibility and relevance for all visitors regardless of background.

DEC’s distinctive workplace culture – founded on the ethos of “do the right thing” – formed a central plank of our narrative. The exhibition drew on a collection of oral histories created by Blended Past specifically for the wider DEC project. These were paired with a rich body of personal material loaned by former staff and customers – from share certificates and job-offer letters to everyday objects – assembled through sustained engagement with the DEC community.

Finally, we collaborated with TNMOC’s technical team to transform vintage DEC systems into hands-on storytelling tools. Working within the constraints of historic hardware, we carefully crafted content that enabled visitors to engage direct with these remarkable machines including online shopping through an original Digital computer.

Outcome
TNMOC’s exhibition delivered a playful, immersive experience that brought Digital’s technology vividly back to life. Long-time DEC insiders discovered new stories while newcomers encountered the company through hands-on interaction with its machines.

The project reasserted Digital’s place in the history of Britain’s early modern digitisation from the late 1960s to the 1990s – not just as a manufacturer of pioneering computers and early leader on the internet, but as a driver of innovation and an organisation that continues to be admired.