The CHM's "From the Archives" podcast recently posted a wonderful two part interview with her: http://www.computerhistory.org/podcast/designer-entrepreneur-ceo-evelyn-bere... http://www.computerhistory.org/podcast/designer-entrepreneur-ceo-evelyn-bere... On Mon, Dec 10, 2018 at 9:42 PM Matthew Kirschenbaum < mkirschenbaum@gmail.com> wrote:
Evelyn Berezin---software programmer, entrepreneur, and creator of the Redactron word processor line---has died. NYT obituary:
While SIGCIS understands that headlines declaring the "first true word processor" are always going to be debatable, the Redactron (née "Data Secretary") was an important early competitor to IBM's better-known products, aided by what was, at the time, a daring advertising campaign in the pages of Ms. Magazine. It was one of the very first commercial products to use integrated circuits, and was arguably more a general purpose computer than a word processor.
In *Track Changes*, where I tell her story at more length, I wrote that Evelyn Berezin "remains a relatively unknown and underappreciated figure, with nowhere near the stature of other women who played significant roles in computer science science and the computer industry and have since been recognized by historians."
(The only novelist I identified as using a Redactron product was Robyn Carr. But perhaps there were others.)
Ms. Berezin was, I believe, in residence at the CHM several years ago, and perhaps someone from there might comment further.
Best, Matt
-- Matthew Kirschenbaum Professor of English and Digital Studies Director, Graduate Certificate in Digital Studies Printer's Devil, BookLab University of Maryland _______________________________________________ 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