John Aycock
Biographic Data
| ID | 1095786 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John Aycock |
| GIVEN NAMES | John |
| FAMILY NAME | Aycock |
| SIGNATURE | AYCOCK J |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Calgary |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0352-489X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Close Reading a Close Reading
Mystery House is a game that was released in 1980 for the Apple II computer. It was the first text adventure game known to be illustrated and was the game design debut of celebrated game designer Roberta Williams. The landmark 2008 book Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination performed a close reading of a Mystery Housefloppy disk, and in this paper I turn a critical eye to this previous work. My close reading of Mystery House’s earlie…
Experimental Archaeogaming
Archaeogaming is an area of increasing interest within archaeology. As archaeogaming's theory and practice are being fleshed out, it is worth considering if there are parallels to traditional archaeological methods within the study of video games. Here, we examine one such possibility: is there an archaeogaming equivalent to experimental archaeology? As a case study, we explore the system used for the mid-1980s development of an unreleased video …
Still Entombed After All These Years
The Atari 2600 video game Entombed (1982) left open questions in the design and implementation of its efficient maze-generation algorithm that, through serendipity, we are able to address at last. We have analysed almost 500 artefacts that capture the development process leading up to Entombed, artefacts that have not been seen for decades, including a distinct, unreleased Atari 2600 game. This work is interdisciplinary between the fields of arch…
Decoding the Cauzin Softstrip
Having content in an archive is of limited value if it cannot be read and used. As a case study of extricating information from obsolete media, making it readable once again through deep learning techniques, we examine the Cauzin Softstrip: one of the first two-dimensional bar codes, released in 1985 by Cauzin Systems, which could be used for encoding all manner of digital data. Softstrips occupy a curious middle ground, as they were both physica…
The coming tsunami of digital artefacts
Contemporary life has become deeply entangled with the digital. Every day, huge quantities of data, or digital artefacts, are generated. To date, the archaeological study of these artefacts has been limited, its potential demonstrated by a few initial studies and, more recently, the emergence of archaeogaming. If archaeology seeks to understand human culture, however, the study of these digital artefacts must become mainstream. This will require …
The coming tsunami of digital artefacts
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
A Tale of Two CDs
As an example of how the archaeology of modern/contemporary media can be conducted, we examine the technology behind artifacts with cultural relevance in modern society: video games. In particular, we look at two game artifacts from the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, a game console produced from 1987–1994. A 1× CD-ROM drive could be added on to the console, with a corresponding increase in the amount of data a game could access, and some games took adv…
Inspecting the Foundation of Mystery House
Computer games are recent artifacts that have had, and continue to have, enormous cultural impact. In this interdisciplinary collaboration between computer science and archaeology, we closely examine one such artifact: the 1980 Apple II game Mystery House, the first graphical adventure. We focus on implementation rather than gameplay, treating the game as a digital artifact. What can we learn about the game and its development process through rev…
Copy Protection in Jet Set Willy
Video games, and more generally computer games, are unquestionably technological artefacts that have cultural significance. Old computer games in particular had to function under technical constraints that would be alien to many modern programmers, while at the same time providing something novel and at first foreign to consumers. How did their creators accomplish their technical feats, and what impact did that have for the player-consumer? The s…
TransforMitt
TransforMitt is a Dada art project that makes a statement about political campaigning using a computerized parody of U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney's messages (tweets) on Twitter. The author describes the method used to generate the parody, issues that arose, how and why a human is still required, and whether Twitter is an effective medium
Computer Science Security Research and Human Subjects
This paper explores the growing concerns with computer science research, and in particular, computer security research and its relationship with the committees that review human subjects research. It offers cases that review boards are likely to confront, and provides a context for appropriate consideration of such research, as issues of bots, clouds, and worms enter the discourse of human subjects review
"Good" worms and human rights
The extent of Internet censorship in countries like China is regularly tested, but the testing methods used from within a censored country can entail risk for humans. A benevolent worm can be used for testing instead: the worm's self-replication, long the bane of suggested benevolent viruses and worms, is shown to be essential here. We describe the design of this benevolent worm, along with some other related applications for it. A technical, eth…
Painting the Internet
April 01 2008 Painting the Internet John Aycock John Aycock Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information John Aycock Online ISSN: 1530-9282 Print ISSN: 0024-094X © 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology2008 Leonardo (2008) 41 (2): 112–113. https://doi.org/10.1162/leon.2008.41.2.112 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Views Icon Views Article contents …
The coming tsunami of digital artefacts
Contemporary life has become deeply entangled with the digital. Every day, huge quantities of data, or digital artefacts, are generated. To date, the archaeological study of these artefacts has been limited, its potential demonstrated by a few initial studies and, more recently, the emergence of archaeogaming. If archaeology seeks to understand human culture, however, the study of these digital artefacts must become mainstream. This will require …
Inspecting the Foundation of Mystery House
Computer games are recent artifacts that have had, and continue to have, enormous cultural impact. In this interdisciplinary collaboration between computer science and archaeology, we closely examine one such artifact: the 1980 Apple II game Mystery House, the first graphical adventure. We focus on implementation rather than gameplay, treating the game as a digital artifact. What can we learn about the game and its development process through rev…
A Tale of Two CDs
As an example of how the archaeology of modern/contemporary media can be conducted, we examine the technology behind artifacts with cultural relevance in modern society: video games. In particular, we look at two game artifacts from the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, a game console produced from 1987–1994. A 1× CD-ROM drive could be added on to the console, with a corresponding increase in the amount of data a game could access, and some games took adv…
Still Entombed After All These Years
The Atari 2600 video game Entombed (1982) left open questions in the design and implementation of its efficient maze-generation algorithm that, through serendipity, we are able to address at last. We have analysed almost 500 artefacts that capture the development process leading up to Entombed, artefacts that have not been seen for decades, including a distinct, unreleased Atari 2600 game. This work is interdisciplinary between the fields of arch…
Copy Protection in Jet Set Willy
Video games, and more generally computer games, are unquestionably technological artefacts that have cultural significance. Old computer games in particular had to function under technical constraints that would be alien to many modern programmers, while at the same time providing something novel and at first foreign to consumers. How did their creators accomplish their technical feats, and what impact did that have for the player-consumer? The s…
Computer Science Security Research and Human Subjects
This paper explores the growing concerns with computer science research, and in particular, computer security research and its relationship with the committees that review human subjects research. It offers cases that review boards are likely to confront, and provides a context for appropriate consideration of such research, as issues of bots, clouds, and worms enter the discourse of human subjects review
"Good" worms and human rights
The extent of Internet censorship in countries like China is regularly tested, but the testing methods used from within a censored country can entail risk for humans. A benevolent worm can be used for testing instead: the worm's self-replication, long the bane of suggested benevolent viruses and worms, is shown to be essential here. We describe the design of this benevolent worm, along with some other related applications for it. A technical, eth…
Painting the Internet
April 01 2008 Painting the Internet John Aycock John Aycock Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information John Aycock Online ISSN: 1530-9282 Print ISSN: 0024-094X © 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology2008 Leonardo (2008) 41 (2): 112–113. https://doi.org/10.1162/leon.2008.41.2.112 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Views Icon Views Article contents …
Computer Science Security Research and Human Subjects
This paper explores the growing concerns with computer science research, and in particular, computer security research and its relationship with the committees that review human subjects research. It offers cases that review boards are likely to confront, and provides a context for appropriate consideration of such research, as issues of bots, clouds, and worms enter the discourse of human subjects review
TransforMitt
TransforMitt is a Dada art project that makes a statement about political campaigning using a computerized parody of U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney's messages (tweets) on Twitter. The author describes the method used to generate the parody, issues that arose, how and why a human is still required, and whether Twitter is an effective medium
Copy Protection in Jet Set Willy
Video games, and more generally computer games, are unquestionably technological artefacts that have cultural significance. Old computer games in particular had to function under technical constraints that would be alien to many modern programmers, while at the same time providing something novel and at first foreign to consumers. How did their creators accomplish their technical feats, and what impact did that have for the player-consumer? The s…
A Tale of Two CDs
As an example of how the archaeology of modern/contemporary media can be conducted, we examine the technology behind artifacts with cultural relevance in modern society: video games. In particular, we look at two game artifacts from the PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16, a game console produced from 1987–1994. A 1× CD-ROM drive could be added on to the console, with a corresponding increase in the amount of data a game could access, and some games took adv…
Inspecting the Foundation of Mystery House
Computer games are recent artifacts that have had, and continue to have, enormous cultural impact. In this interdisciplinary collaboration between computer science and archaeology, we closely examine one such artifact: the 1980 Apple II game Mystery House, the first graphical adventure. We focus on implementation rather than gameplay, treating the game as a digital artifact. What can we learn about the game and its development process through rev…
Decoding the Cauzin Softstrip
Having content in an archive is of limited value if it cannot be read and used. As a case study of extricating information from obsolete media, making it readable once again through deep learning techniques, we examine the Cauzin Softstrip: one of the first two-dimensional bar codes, released in 1985 by Cauzin Systems, which could be used for encoding all manner of digital data. Softstrips occupy a curious middle ground, as they were both physica…
The coming tsunami of digital artefacts
Contemporary life has become deeply entangled with the digital. Every day, huge quantities of data, or digital artefacts, are generated. To date, the archaeological study of these artefacts has been limited, its potential demonstrated by a few initial studies and, more recently, the emergence of archaeogaming. If archaeology seeks to understand human culture, however, the study of these digital artefacts must become mainstream. This will require …
The coming tsunami of digital artefacts
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. Please use the Get access link above for information on how to access this content
Still Entombed After All These Years
The Atari 2600 video game Entombed (1982) left open questions in the design and implementation of its efficient maze-generation algorithm that, through serendipity, we are able to address at last. We have analysed almost 500 artefacts that capture the development process leading up to Entombed, artefacts that have not been seen for decades, including a distinct, unreleased Atari 2600 game. This work is interdisciplinary between the fields of arch…
Experimental Archaeogaming
Archaeogaming is an area of increasing interest within archaeology. As archaeogaming's theory and practice are being fleshed out, it is worth considering if there are parallels to traditional archaeological methods within the study of video games. Here, we examine one such possibility: is there an archaeogaming equivalent to experimental archaeology? As a case study, we explore the system used for the mid-1980s development of an unreleased video …
Close Reading a Close Reading
Mystery House is a game that was released in 1980 for the Apple II computer. It was the first text adventure game known to be illustrated and was the game design debut of celebrated game designer Roberta Williams. The landmark 2008 book Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination performed a close reading of a Mystery Housefloppy disk, and in this paper I turn a critical eye to this previous work. My close reading of Mystery House’s earlie…
Computer Science (10 works) · Digital Games and Media (6 works) · History (6 works) · Archaeology (5 works) · Art (4 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Digital Humanities and Scholarship (4 works) · History (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Political science (4 works)