[SIGCIS-Members] Books on Women in Computing

Mon Dec 18 10:34:37 PST 2023

Mar makes some great points.  Obviously, context is everything here but a good exhibit designer should help you achieve your goals without creating undesired new problems.

I would add: Joy Buolamwini’s new book, Unmasking AI: My Mission to Protect What is Human in a World of Machines.

Debbie Douglas

Deborah G. Douglas, PhD • Senior Director of Collections and Curator of Science and Technology, MIT Museum; Research Associate, Program in Science, Technology, and Society • Room E28-320B • 314 Main Street • Gambrill Center • Cambridge, MA 02142 • ddouglas at mit.edu<mailto:ddouglas at mit.edu> • 617-253-1766 telephone • 617-253-8994 facsimile • http://mitmuseum.mit.edu • she/her/hers

From: Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Hicks, Mar (avg5bd) via Members <members at lists.sigcis.org>
Date: Monday, December 18, 2023 at 1:07 PM
To: Sigcis <members at sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Books on Women in Computing
Marcin—thank you very much for including me.

Brian—I would mention:

Shetterly, Hidden Figures
Losse, The Boy Kings
Broussard, Artificial Unintelligence
Noble, Algorithms of Oppression
Brock, Distributed Blackness
Bartik, Pioneer Programmer

(I also have a copy of my Women in Computing History course syllabus on my website.)

One other thing I'll mention: I am very glad to see this initiative, but please also look into stereotype threat and be mindful of how a prominent display on "women in computing" can trigger stereotype threat for women already feeling marginalized in the School. If ignored, this could cause your display to backfire a bit in ways I am sure you don't want or intend. Many of us who teach these topics have to be careful not to inadvertently trigger stereotype threat while teaching. So I would suggest looking into methods for lessening the impact of stereotype threat as you design the final display. Happy to discuss more off-list if needed.

I hope you send photos to the list once you have finished it!

Best,

Mar
________________________
Mar Hicks
Associate Professor
School of Data Science
University of Virginia

marhicks at virginia.edu
marhicks.com<https://marhicks.com/>

Research Affiliate, Centre for Democracy and Technology<https://www.mctd.ac.uk/>, University of Cambridge
Member, Scholars' Council, Center for Critical Internet Inquiry<https://www.c2i2.ucla.edu/>, UCLA
Associate Editor, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing<https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an> (feel free to ask me about submitting an article if you work on a topic related to computing history)

Books:
Programmed Inequality<https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/programmed-inequality>: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing (MIT Press, 2017)
Your Computer Is On Fire<https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/your-computer-fire>  (MIT Press, 2021)
________________________________
From: Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of mariann via Members <members at lists.sigcis.org>
Sent: Monday, December 18, 2023 12:41 PM
To: Sigcis <members at sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Books on Women in Computing

may i suggest: sadie plant "zeros and ones“
all the best,
mariann

> On 18. Dec 2023, at 16:54, Brian Randell via Members <members at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Marcin:
>
> Excellent - an embarrassing omission on my part.
>
> Cheers
>
> Brian
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On 18 Dec 2023, at 15:30, Marcin Wichary <mwichary at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>  ⚠ External sender. Take care when opening links or attachments. Do not provide your login details.
>> My recommendation:
>>
>> Mar Hicks. Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing (History of Computing) (2018)
>> https://www.amazon.com/Programmed-Inequality-Discarded-Technologists-Computing/dp/0262535181
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 18, 2023 at 9:00 AM Brian Randell via Members <members at lists.sigcis.org> wrote:
>> Hi:
>>  We are planning to provide a permanent display in our School of Computing, in a prominent location that will be readily visible to our undergraduate students in particular, of published books on Women in Computing. The hope is that this might help to redress the imbalance in the students’ popular perception of computing pioneers as being an almost entirely male crew.
>>  I attach below a first list of contenders (other than Ada Lovelace) for space in this display – comments, both positive and negative, on this list will be welcome. (Ada Lovelace will of course be well-represented – however I’ve already had detailed advice on which of the plethora of works on Ada to include, so I’m keen to make sure that other worthy contenders for display space are not accidently omitted. At present it is undecided whether to include, and if so whether to have a separate set of books on, Women in Code-Breaking – see the presently-separate second list below, on which comments are also sought.)
>>  I’m looking for biographies, autobiographies, and good scholarly accounts on the contribution of women to the computing world, not books aimed at young school pupils. The plan is that copies of all the books on display will also be available for borrowing from the University Library.
>>  My apologies, especially to the authors,  for any accidental egregious omissions from these lists!
>>  Season’s Greetings
>>  Brian Randell
>>     Books on Women in Computing (other than Ada Lovelace)
>>   Janet Abbate. Recoding Gender: Women's Changing Participation in Computing. (2017).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Recoding-Gender-History-Computing-Abbate/dp/0262534533  Crystal Bennes, Klara and the Bomb (2022).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Klara-Bomb-Crystal-Bennes/dp/9492051826  Kurt W. W. Beyer. Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Information Age, (2012).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Invention-Information-Lemelson-Studies-Innovation/dp/0262517264  Claire L. Evans. Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet, (2020).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Broad-Band-Untold-Story-Internet/dp/0593329449/  David Alan Grier. When Computers Were Human. (2007)
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Computers-Human-David-Grier/dp/0691133824  Kathy Kleiman. Proving Ground: The Untold Story of the Six Women Who Programmed the World’s First Modern Computer, (2022).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Proving-Ground-Untold-Programmed-Computer/dp/178738862X  Mark Jones Lorenzo. Everlasting Code: The Education of Grace Hopper and the History of COBOL, (2021).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Everlasting-Code-Education-Business-Oriented-Language/dp/B09CRQP1Q6  Richard Rhodes . Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World. (@012)
>>    https://www.amazon.com/Hedys-Folly-Breakthrough-Inventions-Beautiful/dp/0307742954  Jon T Rickman and Kim D Todd. Pioneer Programmer: Jean Jennings Bartik & the Computer That Changed the World. (2013)
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pioneer-Programmer-Jennings-Computer-Changed/dp/1612480861  Carl J Schneider. Grace Murray Hopper: Working to create the future. (1998).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Title-Murray-Hopper-Working-create/dp/1571636064  Dame Stephanie Shirley. Let It Go: My Extraordinary Story - From Refugee to Entrepreneur to Philanthropist. (2019).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Let-Go-Extraordinary-Entrepreneur-Philanthropist/dp/0241395496  Kathleen Broom Williams. Grace Hopper: Admiral of the Cyber Sea, (2013).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Grace-Hopper-Admiral-Cyber-Sea/dp/1591149789     Books on Women in Code-Breaking
>>   Jason Fagone. The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America's Enemies (2017).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0062430483/  Peter Hore. Bletchley Park's Secret Source: Churchill's Wrens and the Y Service in World War II, (2021).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bletchleys-Secret-Source-Wrens-Y-Service/dp/1784385816  Liza Mundy. Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II. (2018).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Code-Girls-Untold-American-Breakers/dp/0316352543  Patricia Owtram and Jean Owtram. Codebreaking Sisters: Our Secret War. (2020).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codebreaking-Sisters-Our-Secret-War/dp/1913406059  Mair Russell-Jones and Gethin Russell-Jones. My Secret Life in Hut Six: One Woman's Experiences At Bletchley Park, (2014).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Life-Hut-Six-Experiences/dp/0745956645  Jan Slimming. Codebreaker Girls: A Secret Life at Bletchley Park. (2021)
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codebreaker-Girls-Secret-Life-Bletchley/dp/1526784114  Jan Slimming. The Secret Life of an American Codebreaker: Codebreaker Girls. (2022)
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Life-American-Codebreaker-Girls-ebook/dp/B09P47QVDB  Michael Smith. The Debs of Bletchley Park. (2015).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Debs-Bletchley-Park-Michael-Smith/dp/1781313881  Betty Webb and Kerry Howard. No More Secrets: My Part in Codebreaking at Bletchley Park and the Pentagon. (2023).
>>    https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-More-Secrets-Codebreaking-Bletchley/dp/B0C43L3MVJ/   —
>>  School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG
>> EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk   PHONE = +44 191 208 7923
>> URL =  https://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brianrandell.html
>> _______________________________________________
>> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
> _______________________________________________
> This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org

_______________________________________________
This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/attachments/20231218/85522030/attachment-0001.htm>