Undergraduate accessible reading on the evolution of the computer user?
Dear all, This fall, I'll be teaching a course on the history of computing. One of my learning objectives for the class is to show students the how the conception of the computer user varied with the social context of the cold war labs where new ways of interacting with computers were invented (e.g. IPTO versus SRI versus PARC). I feel like this helps me bring out in class (a) the importance of patronage (which students could care less but that's another matter) and (b) the idea that early computer users (e.g of ARPANET) were often elites and thereby were able to shape the technology quite actively. I wonder if anyone on this list has suggestions for an article (preferably in a journal, but long-form journalism works too) that explores these themes and which is written in a manner that's accessible to undergraduates. Last year I assigned Bardini and Horvath's "The Social Construction of the Personal Computer User" <https://academic.oup.com/joc/article-abstract/45/3/40/4160211>--which, I think, does a great job at bringing out these issues. Unfortunately, the text itself is quite abstruse and my sense is that students were left shaking their heads. (I paired it with a small section from Neal Stephenson's "In the beginning was the command line ...") Many thanks in advance, Shreeharsh _______________ Shreeharsh Kelkar http://www.shreeharshkelkar.net
Hi Shreeharsh, In the past, I have assigned selections from "Computer" for a similar purpose. You might find passages that offer precisely the comparison you wish to make: - Campbell-Kelly, Martin, William Aspray, Nathan Ensmenger, and Jeffrey R Yost. Computer: A History of the Information Machine, 2018. This year, I am particularly excited to try a new reading in my media history course: - Petrick, E. “Imagining the Personal Computer: Conceptualizations of the Homebrew Computer Club 1975-1977.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 39, no. 4 (October 2017): 27-39. https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2018.1221045. Not only does Petrick's paper dig into the particular concerns of early enthusiasts, but it lends itself well to the classroom. The Homebrew newsletters are widely available on the web so you can ask students to trace the citations in the paper back to their primary sources. I'm looking forward to hearing what undergrads think about these unusual documents. Best of luck! Kevin Driscoll On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 11:38 AM Shreeharsh Kelkar <shreeharsh@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear all,
This fall, I'll be teaching a course on the history of computing. One of my learning objectives for the class is to show students the how the conception of the computer user varied with the social context of the cold war labs where new ways of interacting with computers were invented (e.g. IPTO versus SRI versus PARC). I feel like this helps me bring out in class (a) the importance of patronage (which students could care less but that's another matter) and (b) the idea that early computer users (e.g of ARPANET) were often elites and thereby were able to shape the technology quite actively.
I wonder if anyone on this list has suggestions for an article (preferably in a journal, but long-form journalism works too) that explores these themes and which is written in a manner that's accessible to undergraduates.
Last year I assigned Bardini and Horvath's "The Social Construction of the Personal Computer User" <https://academic.oup.com/joc/article-abstract/45/3/40/4160211>--which, I think, does a great job at bringing out these issues. Unfortunately, the text itself is quite abstruse and my sense is that students were left shaking their heads. (I paired it with a small section from Neal Stephenson's "In the beginning was the command line ...")
Many thanks in advance, Shreeharsh _______________ Shreeharsh Kelkar http://www.shreeharshkelkar.net _______________________________________________ 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 is a different angle on the "conception of the user," but Petrick’s book Making Computers Accessible makes the point that early computer users were assumed to be able-bodied, until disability activists demanded accessible technology. I don’t have the book handy, but maybe a chapter could be excerpted for undergrads. Dr. Janet Abbate Professor, Science, Technology and Society Virginia Tech Co-director, VT National Capital Region STS program liberalarts.vt.edu/sts www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS
On Aug 17, 2018, at 8:17 PM, Kevin Driscoll <kdriscoll@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
Hi Shreeharsh,
In the past, I have assigned selections from "Computer" for a similar purpose. You might find passages that offer precisely the comparison you wish to make: - Campbell-Kelly, Martin, William Aspray, Nathan Ensmenger, and Jeffrey R Yost. Computer: A History of the Information Machine, 2018.
This year, I am particularly excited to try a new reading in my media history course: - Petrick, E. “Imagining the Personal Computer: Conceptualizations of the Homebrew Computer Club 1975-1977.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 39, no. 4 (October 2017): 27-39. https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2018.1221045 <https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2018.1221045>.
Not only does Petrick's paper dig into the particular concerns of early enthusiasts, but it lends itself well to the classroom. The Homebrew newsletters are widely available on the web so you can ask students to trace the citations in the paper back to their primary sources. I'm looking forward to hearing what undergrads think about these unusual documents.
Best of luck! Kevin Driscoll
On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 11:38 AM Shreeharsh Kelkar <shreeharsh@gmail.com <mailto:shreeharsh@gmail.com>> wrote: Dear all,
This fall, I'll be teaching a course on the history of computing. One of my learning objectives for the class is to show students the how the conception of the computer user varied with the social context of the cold war labs where new ways of interacting with computers were invented (e.g. IPTO versus SRI versus PARC). I feel like this helps me bring out in class (a) the importance of patronage (which students could care less but that's another matter) and (b) the idea that early computer users (e.g of ARPANET) were often elites and thereby were able to shape the technology quite actively.
I wonder if anyone on this list has suggestions for an article (preferably in a journal, but long-form journalism works too) that explores these themes and which is written in a manner that's accessible to undergraduates.
Last year I assigned Bardini and Horvath's "The Social Construction of the Personal Computer User" <https://academic.oup.com/joc/article-abstract/45/3/40/4160211>--which, I think, does a great job at bringing out these issues. Unfortunately, the text itself is quite abstruse and my sense is that students were left shaking their heads. (I paired it with a small section from Neal Stephenson's "In the beginning was the command line ...")
Many thanks in advance, Shreeharsh _______________ Shreeharsh Kelkar http://www.shreeharshkelkar.net <http://www.shreeharshkelkar.net/>_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org <http://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/ <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 <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
An anecdote following Janet’s post that could help you show this extended to other computer applications and is more much recent than what most of today’s undergraduates may assume: Since their inception in the late 1960s until 1992, cash machines (and later ATMs) were desgined assuming users were able-bodied. The change came about with the introduction of a hearing jack (later on a change the height of the fascia to suit wheelchairs - but I think this only applies to the European Union) roots to the passign of the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) and a subsequent successful legal challenge by a Sn Fco-based lawyer called Lainey Feingold. There is a bit of this story in chapter 9 of her book “Structured Negotiations”: http://www.lflegal.com/structured-negotiation-book-table-contents/ Hope this helps Bernardo Bangor University (Wales)
On 18 Aug 2018, at 22:20, Janet Abbate <abbate@vt.edu> wrote:
This is a different angle on the "conception of the user," but Petrick’s book Making Computers Accessible makes the point that early computer users were assumed to be able-bodied, until disability activists demanded accessible technology. I don’t have the book handy, but maybe a chapter could be excerpted for undergrads.
Dr. Janet Abbate Professor, Science, Technology and Society Virginia Tech Co-director, VT National Capital Region STS program liberalarts.vt.edu/sts www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS
On Aug 17, 2018, at 8:17 PM, Kevin Driscoll <kdriscoll@alum.mit.edu> wrote:
Hi Shreeharsh,
In the past, I have assigned selections from "Computer" for a similar purpose. You might find passages that offer precisely the comparison you wish to make: - Campbell-Kelly, Martin, William Aspray, Nathan Ensmenger, and Jeffrey R Yost. Computer: A History of the Information Machine, 2018.
This year, I am particularly excited to try a new reading in my media history course: - Petrick, E. “Imagining the Personal Computer: Conceptualizations of the Homebrew Computer Club 1975-1977.” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 39, no. 4 (October 2017): 27-39. https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2018.1221045.
Not only does Petrick's paper dig into the particular concerns of early enthusiasts, but it lends itself well to the classroom. The Homebrew newsletters are widely available on the web so you can ask students to trace the citations in the paper back to their primary sources. I'm looking forward to hearing what undergrads think about these unusual documents.
Best of luck! Kevin Driscoll
On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 11:38 AM Shreeharsh Kelkar <shreeharsh@gmail.com> wrote: Dear all,
This fall, I'll be teaching a course on the history of computing. One of my learning objectives for the class is to show students the how the conception of the computer user varied with the social context of the cold war labs where new ways of interacting with computers were invented (e.g. IPTO versus SRI versus PARC). I feel like this helps me bring out in class (a) the importance of patronage (which students could care less but that's another matter) and (b) the idea that early computer users (e.g of ARPANET) were often elites and thereby were able to shape the technology quite actively.
I wonder if anyone on this list has suggestions for an article (preferably in a journal, but long-form journalism works too) that explores these themes and which is written in a manner that's accessible to undergraduates.
Last year I assigned Bardini and Horvath's "The Social Construction of the Personal Computer User"--which, I think, does a great job at bringing out these issues. Unfortunately, the text itself is quite abstruse and my sense is that students were left shaking their heads. (I paired it with a small section from Neal Stephenson's "In the beginning was the command line ...")
Many thanks in advance, Shreeharsh _______________ Shreeharsh Kelkar http://www.shreeharshkelkar.net _______________________________________________ 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
participants (4)
-
Batiz Lazo, Bernardo -
Janet Abbate -
Kevin Driscoll -
Shreeharsh Kelkar