The Intimate Life of Computers: Digitizing Domesticity in the 1980s - Couverture souple

Hilu, Reem

 
9781517916657: The Intimate Life of Computers: Digitizing Domesticity in the 1980s
Couverture souple
ISBN 10 : 1517916658 ISBN 13 : 9781517916657
Editeur : University of Minnesota Press, 2024

Synopsis

A feminist perspective on the early history of personal computing, revealing how computers were integrated into the most intimate aspects of family life

The Intimate Life of Computers shows how the widespread introduction of home computers in the 1980s was purposefully geared toward helping sustain heteronormative middle-class families by shaping relationships between users. Moving beyond the story of male-dominated computer culture, this book emphasizes the neglected history of the influence of women's culture and feminist critique on the development of personal computing despite women's underrepresentation in the industry.

Proposing the notion of "companionate computing," Reem Hilu reimagines the spread of computers into American homes as the history of an interpersonal, romantic, and familial medium. She details the integration of computing into family relationships--from helping couples have better sex and offering thoughtful simulations of masculine seduction to animating cute robot companions and giving voice to dolls that could talk to lonely children--underscoring how these computer applications directly responded to the companionate needs of their users as a way to ease growing pressures on home life.

The Intimate Life of Computers is a vital contribution to feminist media history, highlighting how the emergence of personal computing dovetailed with changing gender roles and other social and cultural shifts. Eschewing the emphasis on technologies and institutions typically foregrounded in personal-computer histories, Hilu uncovers the surprising ways that domesticity and family life guided the earlier stages of our all-pervasive digital culture.

Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

À propos de l?auteur

Reem Hilu is assistant professor of film and media studies at Washington University in St. Louis.

Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.

Éditeur
University of Minnesota Press
Date d'édition
2024
Langue
anglais
ISBN 10 
1517916658
ISBN 13 
9781517916657
Reliure
Broché
Nombre de pages
240
Coordonnées du fabricant
non disponible
Personne responsable
non disponible

Autres éditions populaires du même titre

9781517916640: The Intimate Life of Computers: Digitizing Domesticity in the 1980s

Edition présentée

ISBN 10 :  151791664X ISBN 13 :  9781517916640
Editeur : University of Minnesota Press, 2024
Couverture rigide