About HEAP

The UCT Computer Science Historical Equipment Archive Project (UCT CS HEAP) is a collection of computer equipment of historical interest, initially starting with equipment used in the department and later including equipment from staff, students and donations.

Some equipment was acquired at great cost over the years to support research in the department, while other pieces supported research into novel uses of hardware within local environments and to address local problems. A significant aspect of research as been the use of mobile devices and this is reflected in the large collection of mobile phones.

Our goal is further to create a dual physical display and online display with links going between the two, as an example of a dual affordance archive based on simple links and QR codes.

This project was conceived back in the early 2000s, when we started to collect equipment and only formally initiated in 2021, with the creation of display cases and online tools.