This exhibition traces the history of BITs magazine – a quarterly newsletter sharing developments in technology to support learning, teaching, and everyday business at the University of Edinburgh since the early 1990s.

While technology may seem to blend into the daily fabric of study and work, the transformations enabled by IT Services have made the experience of higher education almost unrecognisable in comparison to the 1970s or even 1980s. The rapid changes and opportunities created by digital technologies since the 1990s also brought new challenges and questions about social responsibility. These complex histories of how technology has revolutionised education and research often focus on machines and systems. BITs documents the people and teams behind these technologies. These archived IT newsletters bring these stories to life through gradually more professionalised graphic design, raising the profile of central IT Services and increasing transparency of the policies, initiatives, and projects that have shaped and continue to shape University life in the 21st century.

Discover the evolution of the visual and editorial communication of BITs over the years through the graphic design and presentation of these issues. Listen to the words of past editors and contributors as they remember the creation of BITs and the changes happening around them at the University of Edinburgh. We invite you to reflect on what BITs can teach us about the role technology plays in shaping education today, and how we can preserve a record of these experiences and valuable lessons for the future.