Software
How I Work
A practical, experimental approach to problems that connect software, mathematics, machinery, and the people who use them.
Read the article: How I WorkEssays & notes
Oakfield Gazette
Essays and notes from David Kirby’s work across software, mathematics, machinery, research, publishing, and teaching. These articles also appear within the Oakfield practice and About pages.
Works
On the Construction of a Tape Transport
An investigation into the mechanisms, materials, and manufacturing needed to build a durable, serviceable tape recorder today.
Read the article: On the Construction of a Tape TransportIntelligence
When a Model Crosses a Border
What happens when financial and technical systems encounter a different set of assumptions.
Read the article: When a Model Crosses a BorderIntelligence
Who Builds a Geran-4?
A circuit-board investigation becomes a question about industrial ecosystems and communities of practical knowledge.
Read the article: Who Builds a Geran-4?Press
The Message to the Medium
The intentions behind Channels of Communication: engineering, authorship, and the systems through which ideas circulate.
Read the article: The Message to the MediumPress
From the record counter to a digital label
How years in an Atlanta record shop led to HOMOPHONI and the possibilities of an independent digital label.
Read the article: From the record counter to a digital labelConservatory
How Instruction Works
Teaching through real software projects, with the ambition of helping their operators become progressively independent.
Read the article: How Instruction WorksMy life as a 13-year-old on IRC in 1993
David Kirby recalls IRC, dial-up bulletin boards, ANSI art, and the communities that shaped his teenage years.
Read the article: My life as a 13-year-old on IRC in 1993