[SIGCIS-Members] Is Unix racist?

Mon Aug 17 16:43:32 PDT 2015

I apologize for any offense and not achieving your “high bar”. 

My meaning should be obvious. All institutions have limited resources that should be properly allocated to achieve the best results. Funds expended on “UNIX is racist” reduces the possible support for imparting useful knowledge to students.

From: Matthew Kirschenbaum [mailto:mkirschenbaum at gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2015 7:27 PM
To: Ken Strauss
Cc: Sigcis
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Is Unix racist?

"Funding in preference to a . . . "? What does that even mean?

I've taught the McPherson article on multiple occasions, and will do so again this fall. It does not suggest that UNIX is racist (though I appreciate that that's shorthand for purposes of a subject line). The article, however, is not shorthand. It always inspires a good conversation. I'd certainly hope to see a higher bar for discussion of it here, in a forum with so many scholars and historians I respect. Best, Matt

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 7:10 PM, Ken Strauss <ken.strauss at sympatico.ca> wrote:

As a hard-nosed engineer who has been active in software design for almost 50 years I find the article one of the most insignificant pieces of c*ap that I have had the misfortune to waste my time reading. Before I expound on what I *REALLY* think, the article should be condemned as a crime against defenseless bits. I find it inconceivable that intelligent readers could do other than consign it to the dung heap of irrelevance. The worst part is that I suspect that she got funding for her drivel in preference to a fourth-rate computer science student’s project.

From: Members [mailto:members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Nabeel Siddiqui
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2015 5:55 PM
To: Sigcis
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Is Unix racist?

I assign it in my course to discuss race with students, but it does have its problems, specifically correlation vs causality.  While the article doesn't get into it, I think it adds to David Golumbia's Cultural Logic of Computation on how computation provides a set of ideas and metaphors for people to think about the world around them.  The Digital Humanities part is actually a part that was tacked on and doesn't really add much to the article.  

Originally, the article was release as "U.S. Operating System at Mid-Century" in Race After the Internet, edited by Lisa Nakamura and Peter Chow-White. Link to the original article's pdf here: http://history.msu.edu/hst830/files/2014/01/McPherson_2012.pdf

On Mon, Aug 17, 2015 at 4:57 PM, Janet Abbate <abbate at vt.edu> wrote:

Anyone seen this piece by Tara Mcpherson? It starts with some interesting questions, but I found the follow-through to be disappointingly ahistorical. Again and again she argues that there must be a connection between the modularity of Unix and the compartmentalization of race within American culture, but then immediately admits that she has no evidence for any direct connection. As far as I can tell, the only reason she singles out Unix is because it coincides conveniently with the US Civil Rights era. I'm curious to know what others think.

"Why Are the Digital Humanities So White? or Thinking the Histories of Race and Computation."
http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/debates/text/29

Janet

Dr. Janet Abbate
Associate Professor, Science & Technology in Society
Co-director, National Capital Region STS program
Virginia Tech
www.sts.vt.edu/ncr
www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055
www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS

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-- 

Matthew Kirschenbaum
Associate Professor of English
Associate Director, Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH)
University of Maryland
http://mkirschenbaum.net or @mkirschenbaum on Twitter

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