Making history relevant through the provision of education, stories and interactive experiences

What makes the history of something real and relevant to people? In this paper we suggest that people find artefacts and ideas more relevant when they can see where they fit into their own world - how they relate to their own society. The world has entered a time when Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are becoming increasingly embedded in the way we live. ICT has become something we just take for granted. On the other hand, its history is often not seen as relevant. The mature ubiquity of ICT points to the importance of understanding its story. The history of computing should be presented in a way that opens the pathway to understanding the future. In this paper we examine some of the issues of presenting such an historical perspective, through the provision of education, stories and interactive experiences.