Dear SIGCIS Members,

My colleague and I have submitted an open session proposal for the upcoming SHOT meeting in Milan, Italy titled: Technologies in Transition: Exploring the Expansion of Accessibility (details below). If you are interested in joining the panel, please submit a CV and abstract (250-500 words) via email to both Kera Allen (kera.allen@gatech.edu) and Mario Bianchini (mbianchini6@gatech.edu) by March 25th, 2019.

Details:

This panel will explore attempts at broader access for technological adoption, both successes and failures. Such attempts may include the development of technical features toward inclusivity or economic, political, and social actors aligning with and accelerating adoption. We will be discussing VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet for the microcomputer, and East German computer toys as accelerating (or attempting to) the adoption of personal computers. Panelists may examine how various groups shaped technologies, intending and allowing for a wider spectrum of users to expand access and grow user bases.

Potential topics include:

• Educational methods for increasing access, such as expanding STEM development for marginalized groups
• Successes and failures of attempts at access, such as technology that directly included or indirectly excluded groups along race, gender, (dis)ability, sexuality, etc
• Killer application histories. Killer applications are those of new technologies or products seen as indispensable or superior to those before
• Projects (attempts and failures) to disseminate technologies globally

More information about the panel can be found here:

https://www.historyoftechnology.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/SHOT2019_open-session-Allen-Bianchini.pdf

Thank you!