The Human Touch

Like most history, the role of women and minorities is not highlighted when it comes to computers and writing, though this is not surprising. As inman says, "No one is safely out of reach of technologies..." (62), so it seems natural that no one (regardless of gender or ethnicity) is beyond helping establish and improve technology. Inman's inclusion of some of the more prominent accomplishments by women and minorities, however, seems like an "after the fact" attempt to include key "token" players. History, then, tends to exclude certain voices that usually get discovered later, when the world is ready. Countless anthologies and academic books come into print for the sole purpose of bringing forth lost voices. How might we apply this trend I'm noticing to today's technology situation? Surely there are voices being ignored this very minute. Who will discover them, and what will it take to do so?
The readings from the historical document provide a fitting supplement to the Inman reading because they are an actual interpretation of history, and we clearly see that some voices have been left out. Chapter 2's history of what technologies emerged when (such as the Macintosh) seems to almost leave people (human beings!) out. People, as we discussed before, are a part of technology. It's not just about the machines. Sometimes I get the sense that technology simply happened and grew between 1979-1994, as it's all too easy to forget the role of human beings. Perhaps the trend for writers to focus on the machines is an indication of technology's tendency to leave behind the human touch or connection.

Bethany