Elisabetta Mori

• Pompeu Fabra University

The articles in this special section focus on the evolution of human-computer interaction. The articles include a review article and three case studies that examine the theme of human–computer interaction (HCI), exploring how humans and computers relate to each other. The issue analyzes the history of human–computer interfaces through interdiscipli...

This paper uses the case of ELEA 9000, the first Olivetti computer series, to demonstrate the close relationship between industrial design, semiotics, ergonomics and the history of computing. A focus on the Olivetti ELEA series invites scholars to reconsider the history of computer interface design well before the emergence of HCI as a widely recog...

At the beginning of the 1960s, several Western European computer firms faced financial issues and pressure from U.S. competitors. A series of negotiations attempted to create a consortium of European manufacturers, and while some of these had a positive outcome, in general they did not succeed; by 1964 IBM had more than a 60% share of the European...

“I HAVE MADE MY DECISION: We are going to scrap the first version of our computer, and we will start again from scratch.” It's the autumn of 1957, and Mario Tchou, a brilliant young Chinese-Italian electrical engineer, is speaking to his team at the Olivetti Electronics Research Laboratory. Housed in a repurposed villa on the outskirts of Pisa, not...

LEO is the acronym of Lyons Electronic Office, a series of computers manufactured in the 1950s and 1960s by the UK catering company J. Lyons & Co., which was established in London in 1894. LEO I is acknowledged as the “first business computer”, and was operational at the end of 1951, some months before its US counterpart UNIVAC I. This contribution...

Efficient and reliable computing is based on validity and correctness. Techniques to ensure these essential features have been in place since the early days of computing. The present study focuses on the hardware testing, data validation and program correctness techniques designed and implemented for LEO I and II machines in the UK during the 1950s...