Book Announcement: Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing
Hi SIGCISers, I am pleased to announce the publication of my book, Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing? with The MIT Press in the Science, Technology & Society series. The book historicizes computing by thinking about definitions of "digital" as they apply to fingers and button pushing, tracing the roots of a 19th-century society that becomes transfixed with the notion of pushing a button to accomplish work or play. Alongside thinking about electrification and industrialization, it considers everything from push-button warfare, vending machines and cameras to "Like" buttons in social media. It asks questions about how and why buttons became a ubiquitous technology and button pushing became an entrenched practice - one fraught with concerns about skill, effort, gender, age and class. Check out an excerpt here: https://medium.com/@mitpress/pleasure-panic-and-the-politics-of-pushing-123b... And purchase options here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/power-button Thanks and regards, Rachel Rachel Plotnick, PhD Assistant Professor, Cinema and Media Studies The Media School Indiana University http://www.rachelplotnick.com?
Congratulations Rachel - your book promises to be a good read! - Julie Cohn Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 27, 2018, at 12:43 PM, Plotnick, Rachel <raplotni@iu.edu> wrote:
Hi SIGCISers,
I am pleased to announce the publication of my book, Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing with The MIT Press in the Science, Technology & Society series.
The book historicizes computing by thinking about definitions of "digital" as they apply to fingers and button pushing, tracing the roots of a 19th-century society that becomes transfixed with the notion of pushing a button to accomplish work or play. Alongside thinking about electrification and industrialization, it considers everything from push-button warfare, vending machines and cameras to "Like" buttons in social media. It asks questions about how and why buttons became a ubiquitous technology and button pushing became an entrenched practice - one fraught with concerns about skill, effort, gender, age and class.
Check out an excerpt here: https://medium.com/@mitpress/pleasure-panic-and-the-politics-of-pushing-123b... And purchase options here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/power-button
Thanks and regards, Rachel
Rachel Plotnick, PhD Assistant Professor, Cinema and Media Studies The Media School Indiana University http://www.rachelplotnick.com _______________________________________________ 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
What an exciting and important contribution--can't wait to read it. Congrats! MH ______________________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Associate Professor, History of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL USA mhicks1@iit.edu | mariehicks.net | @histoftech Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing www.programmedinequality.com On Sep 27, 2018, at 1:43 PM, Plotnick, Rachel <raplotni@iu.edu> wrote: Hi SIGCISers, I am pleased to announce the publication of my book, Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing with The MIT Press in the Science, Technology & Society series. The book historicizes computing by thinking about definitions of "digital" as they apply to fingers and button pushing, tracing the roots of a 19th-century society that becomes transfixed with the notion of pushing a button to accomplish work or play. Alongside thinking about electrification and industrialization, it considers everything from push-button warfare, vending machines and cameras to "Like" buttons in social media. It asks questions about how and why buttons became a ubiquitous technology and button pushing became an entrenched practice - one fraught with concerns about skill, effort, gender, age and class. Check out an excerpt here: https://medium.com/@mitpress/pleasure-panic-and-the-politics-of-pushing-123b... And purchase options here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/power-button Thanks and regards, Rachel Rachel Plotnick, PhD Assistant Professor, Cinema and Media Studies The Media School Indiana University http://www.rachelplotnick.com _______________________________________________ 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 (3)
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Julie Cohn -
M. Hicks -
Plotnick, Rachel