Cultures of Computing

Photo of four women holding computer boards.

U.S. Army Photo, number 163-12-62. Left: Patsy Simmers, holding ENIAC board Next: Mrs. Gail Taylor, holding EDVAC board Next: Mrs. Milly Beck, holding ORDVAC board Right: Mrs. Norma Stec, holding BRLESC-I board. (Courtesy of the U.S. Army. Source: Muuss, Mike. "Historic Computer Images.")

Instructor(s)

MIT Course Number

21A.350J / STS.086J / WGS.276J

As Taught In

Fall 2011

Level

Undergraduate

Cite This Course

Course Description

Course Features

Course Description

This course examines computers anthropologically, as artifacts revealing the social orders and cultural practices that create them. Students read classic texts in computer science along with cultural analyses of computing history and contemporary configurations. It explores the history of automata, automation and capitalist manufacturing; cybernetics and WWII operations research; artificial intelligence and gendered subjectivity; robots, cyborgs, and artificial life; creation and commoditization of the personal computer; the growth of the Internet as a military, academic, and commercial project; hackers and gamers; technobodies and virtual sociality. Emphasis is placed on how ideas about gender and other social differences shape labor practices, models of cognition, hacking culture, and social media.

Other Versions

Other OCW Versions

Archived versions: Question_avt logo

Related Content

Stefan Helmreich. 21A.350J Cultures of Computing. Fall 2011. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.


For more information about using these materials and the Creative Commons license, see our Terms of Use.


Close