Abbate, Janet (Editor)
Dick, Stephanie (Editor)
Johns Hopkins University Press
Physical Details: 472
Language: English
Computers have been framed both as a mirror for the human mind and as an irreducible other that humanness is defined against, depending on different historical definitions of "humanness." They can serve both liberation and control because some people's freedom has historically been predicated on controlling others. Historians of computing return again and again to these contradictions, as they often reveal deeper structures. Using twin frameworks of abstraction and embodiment, a reformulation of the old mind-body dichotomy, this anthology examines how social relations are enacted in and through computing. The authors examining "Abstraction" revisit central concepts in computing, including "algorithm," "program," "clone," and "risk." In doing so, they demonstrate how the meanings of these terms reflect power relations and social identities. The section on "Embodiments" focuses on sensory aspects of using computers as well as the ways in which gender, race, and other identities have shaped the opportunities and embodied experiences of computer workers and users. Offering a rich and diverse set of studies in new areas, the book explores such disparate themes as disability, the influence of the punk movement, working mothers as technical innovators, and gaming behind the Iron Curtain. Abstractions and Embodiments reimagines computing history by questioning canonical interpretations, foregrounding new actors and contexts, and highlighting neglected aspects of computing as an embodied experience. It makes the profound case that both technology and the body are culturally shaped and that there can be no clear distinction between social, intellectual, and technical aspects of computing.
...MoreReview Alma Steingart (2023) Review of "Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 460-461).
Review Alma Steingart (2023) Review of "Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 460-461).
Review Valérie Schafer (2023) Review of "Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society". Technology and Culture (pp. 611-613).
Chapter Laine Nooney (2022) "Have Any Remedies for Tired Eyes?": Computer Pain as Computer History. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Petrick, Elizabeth (2022) The Computer as Prosthesis? Embodiment, Augmentation, and Disability. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Cierra Robson (2022) Broken Mirrors: Surveillance in Oakland as Both Reflection and Refraction of California's Carceral State. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Xiaochang Li (2022) The Measure of Meaning: Automatic Speech Recognition and the Human-Computer Imagination. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Babintseva, Ekaterina Igorevna (2022) Engineering the Lay Mind: Lev Landa's Algo-Heuristic Theory and Artificial Intelligence. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Stevens, Hallam (2022) Computing Nanyang: Information Technology in a Developing Singapore, 1965-1985. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Hicks, Marie (2022) The Baby and the Black Box: A History of Software, Sexism, and the Sound Barrier. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Gibbons, Kelcey (2022) Inventing the Black Computer Professional. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Lisa Nakamura (2022) Indigenous Circuits: Navajo Women and the Racialization of Early Electronic Manufacture. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Jaroslav Švelch (2022) Power to the Clones: Hardware and Software Bricolage on the Periphery. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Michael J. Halvorson (2022) The Help Desk: Changing Images of Product Support in Personal Computing, 1975-1990. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Scott Kushner (2022) The Lurking Problem. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Troy Kaighin Astarte (2022) "Difficult Things Are Difficult to Describe": The Role of Formal Semantics in European Computer Science, 1960-1980. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Bullynck, Maarten (2022) What's in a name? Origins, Transpositions and Transformations of the Triptych Algorithm-Code-Program. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Nichols, Tiffany (2022) Patenting Automation of Race and Ethnicity Classifications: Protecting Neutral Technology or Disparate Treatment by Proxy?. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Con Diaz, Gerardo (2022) Scientology Online: Copyright Infringement and the Legal Construction of the Internet. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Andre Brock (2022) Beyond the Pale: The Blackbird Web Browser's Critical Reception. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Marc Aidinoff (2022) Centrists against the Center: The Jeffersonian Politics of a Decentralized Internet. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Zachary Loeb (2022) Waiting for Midnight: Risk Perception and the Millennium Bug. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
Chapter Elyse Graham (2022) Punk Culture and the Rise of the Hacker Ethic. In: Abstractions and Embodiments: New Histories of Computing and Society.
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