CBI Conference-Workshop

Betty Snyder programming ENIAC1

Women were active participants in building and programming the first electronic digital computers, and notably prominent in the first generation of computer programmers in the 1950s, as attentive readers of books and articles by Janet Abbate, William Aspray, David Grier, Jen Light and others can attest.  It is equally important to acknowledge that women have faced serious barriers to full participation in the computing professions.  Today, computing persists as one of the most gender-segregated domains of modern life.  How and when did a male-coded world of computing emerge?  How and why has it has continued?  Where are the exceptions—and what are promising strategies for change?

The Charles Babbage Institute presents a two-day conference-workshop devoted to a much-needed examination of these questions.  While the National Science Foundation and other policy actors have devoted immense resources to increasing women’s participation in computing, over the past two decades there has been a striking drop in women’s participation in computing education (from roughly 2 in 5 undergraduates in the mid-1980s to around 1 in 5 today) and a corresponding tail-off in the U.S. workforce.  Clearly, an important “missing piece” needs to be discovered.  This international conference, with participants from the U.S., Canada, and Europe, examines gender and the diverse uses of computing in offices, libraries, schools, mass media, and the computing profession.  The eight papers will spark lively audience discussion on these themes:

• Automation, skill, and power;
• Gender discourse and imagery;
• Boundaries and identity;
• Gendered cultures of work and play.

Complementing these presentations is a scheduled poster session, showcasing additional views and innovative projects, as well as a viewing of “Gendered Bits: Identities, Practices, and Artifacts in Computing.”  This new exhibit, created by CBI archivist Arvid Nelsen, explores how gender has shaped the professional identities and material culture of computing.  Using materials from CBI’s extensive archival holdings in the history of computing, as well as the Children’s Literature Research Collections, it presents the contributions, struggles, and shifting roles of women as well as raises questions about gender broadly and the specific issues of masculinity.  The exhibit in Andersen Library will be open 28 May through 23 July 2008.

Registration is open now, through 20 May, for the public conference on 30 May; registered attendees get a free lunch.  (Conference presenters reconvene for a smaller “workshop” the following day.)  For conference registration, program, travel and lodging details, a bibliography with core readings and key literature, and a set of useful links, see www.umn.edu/~tmisa/gender/. Please direct questions to cbi@umn.edu.

Generous support is provided by conference sponsors: the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; the University of Minnesota IT Dean's office; Graduate Program in History of Science, Technology & Medicine; Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; and Office of International Programs.

Helpful readings:

Janet Abbate, special issue on "Women and Gender in the History of Computing." IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 25 no. 4  (Oct.-Dec. 2003).

J. McGrath Cohoon and William Aspray, Women and Information Technology: Research on Underrepresentation.  Cambridge: MIT Press, 2006.

David Alan Grier, When Computers were Human.  Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005.

Jennifer Light, "When Computers Were Women."  Technology and Culture 40 no. 3 (July 1999): 455-483.

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