ABSTRACT
This chapter takes an historical look at the rarely discussed issue of cleanliness in human-machine interactions. Studying problems such as dirt, dust, fingerprints, smudges, food crumbs, and static – and the counter-movements to prevent these environmental and embodied contaminants – it interrogates how a post-World War II society negotiated the muddy boundary between humans and machines. Examining a number of cases, the chapter focuses on computing “clean rooms” for manufacturing and development (common at organizations such as IBM); behavioral manuals targeted at programmers and other users; advertisements; and popular disk cleaning kits to ensure functioning hardware. Worries about maintaining an aesthetic of neatness and sterility, destroying or “wiping” data, and breaking whole mainframes, necessitated a set of protocols, architectural rearrangements, and user routines to make “clean” computing possible. As the 1980s neared, a number of groups deliberated about personal computing and how to “humanize” computers by exposing them to the rhythms and spaces of everyday life. The chapter studies meanings of dirt/hygiene at the human-machine interface in terms of technology design, production, and use.
