26th February 2025

The Centre for Computing History launched its exciting new project, Broken Tech: Broken Earth on Saturday, 22nd February, with community events taking place from 11am to 4pm. £2 per person entry tickets to the centre could be booked online, on a first-come, first-served basis. He hoped to make this event as accessible as possible to the local community. 

Broken Tech: Broken Earth is an innovative two-year project exploring the impact of technology on our planet and our lives. It will include a particular focus on how Cambridge residents have been impacted by the city's important history of technological innovation.   

This exciting event used fun, thought-provoking activities, games and competitions to help visitors explore the museum’s collection from an environmental perspective. Eight themed stalls offered hands-on opportunities to explore the impact of technology on environment, our society and culture. Visitors’ opinions and knowledge gathered on the day will help inform the future development of the project. After interacting with all the stalls visitors were able to get a prize from the reception. 

To develop this launch event, CCH has worked with local partners including Abbey People, Cambridge Carbon Footprint, Cambridge Online, Cambridge Shared Waste Service, Decerna, Digital, Digital Poverty Alliance, Flora & Fauna International and Museum of Cambridge, plus volunteers from the local community.  

As well as the project activities, visitors got the chance to explore the history of computing and enjoy the museum’s vast range of hands-on retro gaming experiences.   

Lisa McGerty, CEO of The Centre for Computing History, said, “We are so excited to launch Broken Tech: Broken Earth with this fun day of activities. We are actively looking for the wider community to get involved and help us shape this project, so we cannot wait to put our ideas out there and get some feedback!” 

We were absolutely blown away by the success of the event, with 216 people visiting we ere able to engage children and adults in interesting discussions and were able to get X2 the number of volunteers to sign up as community participants for the project! The art stall especially was a success with so many children and families excited to get creative and paint! It was so high in demand that we used up all the allocated CD E-waste for the day! 

A huge thank you to all the visitors, we are so excited to see where the project goes next! The feedback the visitors had was so valuable! Keep an eye out for future BTBE events! 

The Broken Tech: Broken Earth project is funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Collections Fund, run by the Museums Association.