Archiving Machines: From Punch Cards to Platforms

by Amelia Acker

Overview

The story of the rise of networked data through the evolution of archiving and digital storage.

Archiving Machines advances our understanding of memory, information, and data by charting the struggle between the computing technologies that archive data and the cultures of information that have led to platforms that assert control over its use. Amelia Acker examines the origins of data archives and the computing processes of storage, exchange, and transmission. Each chapter introduces data archiving processes that relate to the evolution of data sovereignty we experience today: from magnetic tape and timesharing computer models from the 1950s, to the establishment of data banks and the rise of database processing and managed data silos in the 1970s, to file structures and virtual containers in cloud-based information services over the past 40 years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262384575
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	11/11/2025
Series:	The Information Society Series
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	258

About the Author

Amelia Acker is Associate Professor in the School of Communication & Information at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Her research has been funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Acker’s astoundingly intelligent book reveals how evolving logics of digital data storage have promoted overwhelming social, legal, and epistemic transformations. Archiving Machines is essential, foundational work for understanding modern societies.”
—Paul N. Edwards, Stanford University; author of The Closed World and A Vast Machine

“A generous and essential contribution for anyone seeking to understand the politics of data and digital technologies at a time when such knowledge seems more indispensable than ever.”
—Nanna Bonde Thylstrup, University of Copenhagen; author of The Politics of Mass Digitization

“Accessibly written and impressive in its historical breadth, Archiving Machines tracks the seismic shifts in data collection, storage, and use since the 1950s. It’s a lovely piece of work that highlights the subtle power acts designed into everyday technology.”
—Mark Burdon, Professor, Queensland University of Technology; author of Digital Data Collection and Information Privacy Law