London On-line Local Authorities

Centre for Computer History

Brief Background

CfCH - General view of part of the main hall

The CfCH was established as an educational charity to tell the story of the Information Age. Based in Cambridge, England, the computer museum presents a collection of important computers and related artifacts. It is the only museum dedicated to the social and historical impact of computers in Europe .

Its sponsors include ARM and Microsoft Research. The Open University is its education partner.

 

 

 

 

LEO Project

Virtual Leo 1 screenshot from a Leo Society webcast.

In partnership with the LEO Computers Society , and with a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant, the CfCH are preserving, archiving and digitising LEO artefacts, documents and personal memories .

The catering company J. Lyons & Co., who pursued scientific management, was a pioneer in the 1950's in developing, manufacturing and selling computers for business use.

Part of the Lottery grant has been used to create a Virtual Leo I, a immersive experience where viewers can walk around the LEO computer room at Cadby Hall and click on icons to read more and explore the LEO archives.

 

LOLA Project

LOLA was also a pioneer in on-line, real-time and local authority computing at a time when the norm was batch processing with punch cards and reams of paper output. LOLA also inherited and ran one of the last LEO computers, implementing a LEO emulator on its IBM 360 -- 3rd generation computing running 1st and 2nd generation programs!

So it made sense to approach the CfCH to see if they were interested in acquiring the LOLA artefacts as a separate collection. Given that many of the documents are likely to be the only ones still existing, it is important that they, and the stories behind them, are preserved.

LOLA Collection

Unloading LOLA archive boxes and other items at the CfCH

The LOLA artefacts consist of the following:

  1. Artefacts  - 3 archive boxes of mostly documents.
  2. Catalogue  - an electronic Catalogue of all the Artefacts.
  3. CD    - containing the Catalogue, scanned documents and photographs, correspondence, research notes.
  4. Website   - copy of this website.

The above was taken to the museum in September 2024 along with Alan's collection of hardware and software from the 1980s. It is hoped that in due course the lola.org.uk domain name and live website will transfer to the CfCH.

Possible Extensions

  1. Simulator   - a proposed system to simulate the LOLA Rates system, a green screen system typical of the 70s and 80s.
  2. LOLA Display - an illustrative display alongside the simulator (see photo below of a mock-up).
  3. Oral History - former employee' s reminiscences recorded orally.
  4. Research - e.g. into past, present and future of local government computing.

 

Rates Property Details - Mouse over
to see an enlarged b&w version

  1. Simulator

    2. The proposed simulator will support the museum's hands-on educational remit. It could be made available on the web in a similar way as the LEO Virtual Compter.

    The LOLA archive contains a number of Rates screen layouts and other information to support the reconstruction of a simple menu system.

    Delivering this via a modern browser allows pop-up prompts to guide the user as to how to complete each field on the screen. A wide screen would allow further guidance in side panels.

  2. LOLA Display Mock-up

    3. Mouse over to enlarge

  3. Oral History

    4. This could be similar to a AITT Funded LEO project for the LEO Computer Society.

    Over 80 former LEO employees were interviewed, recorded, transcribed and deposited with the Centre for Computing History.

  4. Research

    5. The suggested research topic could identify whether LOLAs ambitious project and partnership model could be used today for guiding councils IT developments in the years ahead.

Could you help?

Are you able to provide practical, technical or financial support to acheive any of the above extensions? As each day passed it becomes more urgent to capture the knowledge and experiences of former LOLA employees before they die. Please contact Alan Cooper via the Contact page.

Statistics

The project has amassed almost 3,000 pages of information plus over 200 photgraphs as well as various manuals and course notes from 1970s retained by a staff member.

References

  1. Centre For Computer History website, retrieved 10 May 2024 View here [⇗]

  2. LEO Computers Society, retrieved 10 May 2024 View here [⇗]

  3. Home of Swiss Rolls, Tea and the Electronic Office, Centre For Computer History, retrieved 10 May 2024 View here [⇗]

  4. The virtual app can be downloaded at view here [⇗]. As at May 2024 it is only available for iOS but an Android version is "coming soon". Alternative you can visit the CfCH and use it.

  5. Cadby Hall was Lyons huge head office and manufacturing centre in Hammersmith, London covering 5 hectare. Lyons was a vertically integrated company supplying it's UK teashops and catering business. The Leo-1 computer room, took up around 250 square metres of floor space at Cadby Hall. A 3D drawing of Cadby Hall can be viewed here [⇗]