IG POST 0.023 !!! techn010ffspring !!! does technology-driven AI research! ::::::: Investigating absurdity and creativity through my !!! techn010ffspring !!! coded idea generator
Today, I entered the prompt that was generated by my !!! techn010ffspring !!! absurd creative idea generator into the Midjourney AI Art Generator: “aches tardigrade nurse smell spin spaceship saber tooth tiger under a tree bathtub spin maria beasley dirt jello messy uterus identical twins saliva cattywampus”
My coded idea generator can be found here: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1635641
IG POST 0.022 !!! techn010ffspring !!! does technology-driven AI research! ::::: Investigating News Media Headline Prompt Results
Today, I entered the following prompt into the Midjourney AI Art Generator: “AI can now create any image in seconds, bringing wonder and danger”, that is the headline from the article of the same title on The Washington Post. This is the first result generated. I am not sure why the images are only of women, unless the results are impacted by my previous searches which often include the word “women”. Also, I am curious as to why these images do not include a feeling of “danger,” a word included in the prompt. One woman pictured even seems happy. The others seem, maybe, serene? Also, is there a feeling of “wonder” in these images?
Link to article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2022/artificial-intelligence-images-dall-e/
IG POST 0.021 !!! techn010ffspring !!! does technology-driven AI research!
Today, !!! techn010ffspring !!! posts blurred-out, crossed-out results from the Midjourney AI Art creator as a digital refusal of the results generated. As is common and well-documented in various studies, including Safiya Umoja Noble’s book Algorithms of Oppression:How Search Engines Reinforce Racism, the prompts listed below resulted in racially-biased results.
Prompt: “The child care crisis just keeps getting worse. Waiting lists are getting longer, and child care centers say they’re losing workers to fast-food chains with better wages and benefits.” from article with the same title https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/27/23356278/the-pandemic-child-care-inflation-crisis
Prompt: “child care worker shortage strands h alf a million families” from article with the same title. https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/01/economy/child-care-wells-fargo-labor-force/index.html
Prompt: “ ‘Never seen it this bad’: America faces catastrophic teacher shortage” from the article with the same title https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/
Link to book: http://algorithmsofoppression.com/
Link to relevant article: https://time.com/5520558/artificial-intelligence-racial-gender-bias/
IG POST 0.020 !!! techn010ffspring !!! does technology-driven AI research!
Today, !!! techn010ffspring !!! entered two different search prompts into the Midjourney AI Art Generation application online. Each prompt is the exact title of a news media article described below.
The first was from The Atlantic article from September 27, 2022 and was entered as follows: “Teachers, Nurses, and Child-Care Workers Have Had Enough The burnout crisis in pink-collar occupations puts everyone’s well-being at risk.” You can see the first gallery above for the images that were generated (all pink). Link here: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/09/teachers-nurses-child-care-job-burnout-crisis/671563/
The second prompt entered comes from the headline of an article from the New York Times on April 14, 2022 entitled “A Crisis for Mothers The war in Ukraine has led to familiar, but heightened, problems for women.” The second gallery of images are the results of this prompt. Link here https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/14/briefing/ukraine-refugees-mothers-children.html
I am struck by the difference in the initial results. One includes images of women, the other only images of textures, despite both prompts including mentions of people. I am also struck by the representation of “mothers” that comes later as I try to make variations of the results. One representation of mothers seems to include a lump of wrapped cloth holding another lump of wrapped cloth. The first prompt, however, resulted in not one representation of a human figure. Both prompts include the word “crisis”.
IG POST 0.019 !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.8.1] grows [v.8.2] using human-powered energy of women simultaneously biking and reading in combination with an adding machine
Play the interactive game that encourages !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.8.1] named [American-mothers-and-sisters-Mary-E-Winter-adding-machine-for-typing-pool-assembled-in-engine-department-with-meta-common-knowledge-of-bikers-reading-books-for-25-girl-hours-in-a-pocket-strung-on-a-clothesline] to grow part [v.8.2] named [Margaret-p-golvin-to-pound-clothes-with-lice-in-hair-scurrying-onto-antimicrobial-seat-cover-with-bearings-for-sale] using the human-powered energy of women simultaneously biking and reading in combination with an adding machine
Link to the game: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1663702
IG POST 0.018 !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.8.1] [American-mothers-and-sisters-Mary-E-Winter-adding-machine-for-typing-pool-assembled-in-engine-department-with-meta-common-knowledge-of-bikers-reading-books-for-25-girl-hours-in-a-pocket-strung-on-a-clothesline] with part [v.8.2] named [Margaret-p-golvin-to-pound-clothes-with-lice-in-hair-scurrying-onto-antimicrobial-seat-cover-with-bearings-for-sale]
Items included in this !!! techn010ffspring !!! duo include the following:
Drawing by Kate Greenaway for “Lucy Locket, Lost her Pocket” from 1800s. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/68dc0359-781a-7a41-e040-e00a1806442f
Photograph from 1942 of “Part of the cowling for one of the motors for a B-25 bomber is assembled in the engine department of North American [Aviation, Inc.]’s Inglewood, Calif., plant“ https://www.loc.gov/item/2017878520/
Photograph from 1942 of “American mothers and sisters, like these women at the Douglas Aircraft Company, give important help in producing dependable planes for their men at the front, Long Beach, Calif. Most important of the many types of aircraft made at this plant are the B-17F (“Flying Fortress”) heavy bomber, the A-20 (“Havoc”) assault bomber and the C-47 heavy transport plane for the carrying of troops and cargo” https://www.loc.gov/item/2017878899/
US Patent 141015A for an “improvement in reels for clothes-lines” by Caroline Rosenthal in 1873. patents.google.com/patent/US141015A
US Patent 258518 by Mary E. Winter from 1882 for an “adding machine”: patents.google.com/patent/US258518A
US Patent 202792 by Margaret P. Golvin from 1878 for an “improvement in clothes-pounders” https://patents.google.com/patent/US202792
US Patent 19342360B2 by Lara D. Calhoun & Ashkan King Aminpour from 2017 for a “Antimicrobial disposable seat cover”. “The present invention is directed to an Antimicrobial Disposable Seat Cover that is made of a material that is light, disposable and biodegradable, but resistant to dust mites, bed bugs, lice, mold, fungi, feces, viruses and bacteria, and a whole host of various microorganisms. “ https://patents.google.com/patent/US10342360B2
US Patent 967487 by Gertrude Baker from 1909 for a “saleswoman’s pocket”. https://patents.google.com/patent/US967487A
Link to “Bearings for Sale” image. www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3b27502/
Link to the recorded discussion of how the term “girls hours” was coined. https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/audio/4888-1
Film of women in typing pool: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1×1-y_TP8-Q&t=2s
This video really struck me when I first saw it because the smirks (or smiles) of the women suggest a sense of “knowing”. To me, it appears that they are AWARE of the camera and thus aware of their role in creating a representation of their paid and unpaid work (see my terms for aesthetic labor, emotional labor, presentation labor) as typists. They look at the camera with a sense of agency almost despite the fact that they likely had very little agency working in this typing pool. I imagine that they are Breaking the Fourth Wall, “when a character acknowledges their fictionality, by either indirectly or directly addressing the audience”. To me, it appears as if they are sharing with the camera (and audience) the fact that they are aware that they must perform their Presentation, Adornment, labors for the camera. They are aware that the camera, by virtue of making a representation, is not “REAL”. When I watch this, I feel that they are queuing the audience in to the fact that they have a sort of “Meta Common Knowledge” of the types of performance women must enact in their lives during both paid and unpaid labor. Common knowledge is “information that the average, educated reader would accept as reliable without having to look it up.” Meta Common Knowledge is knowing that others know this common knowledge. I believe women have a Meta Common Knowledge of the types of labor that they perform, such as emotional, presentation, aesthetic, responsibility labor. These women, to me, are clueing the audience in that they know that women know that they are performing for this camera.
In an alternate world, typing might allows these women to disembody through writing. They can become what they want through words. when i watch this woman, i feel like she has an awareness of this. i imagine that she is aware that writing and being able to spread writing through the typewriter, gives her a space of disembodiment that can be powerful. it could give women voices. while it doesn’t at this time, the power of spreading the written word could provide space for voices.
IG POST 0.017 !!! techn010ffspring !!! does technology-driven AI research!
Using the AI Art Generator, Midjourny, !!! techn010ffspring !!! has begun to generate AI artwork by entering prompts linked to ideas for “IntertwinedHerstories” and the intersection of women + technology.
Today, they entered the following prompt, which is an actual quote by Harlow Shapley on his assistants and “girl hours.”
“You see, it took a tremendous lot of measures. I introduced the term “girl hours,” and it would take a lot of girl hours to solve some of the problems. In fact, one job took several kilo-girl hours to get it through. So I should say that I had help on a lot of the details. But I don’t think I had much help in the hunching.”
Link to audio recording of his quote. https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/audio/4888-1
IG POST 0.016 !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.7.1] spits out !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.7.2]
!!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.7.1] named [maria-e-beasley-kneading-machine-for-dough-mixing-with-rotating-receptacles] spits out !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.7.2] named [doris-with-cellular-sponge-material-reusable-tampon-exploding-bubbles]
Play the interactive game in which you can encourage !!! techn010ffpsring !!! [v.7] to spit out !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.7.2] by clicking the mouse or tapping the screen.
Link to the game here: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1654778
IG POST 0.015 !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.7.1] spits out !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.7.2]
!!! tech010ffspring !!! [v.7.1] named [maria-e-beasley-kneading-machine-for-dough-mixing-with-rotating-receptacles] spits out !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.7.2] named [doris-with-cellular-sponge-material-reusable-tampon-exploding-bubbles]
This !!! techn010ffspring !!! includes two patents.
Link to US Patent US739142A by Maria E. Beasley from 1903 for a dough kneading machine.
Link: patents.google.com/patent/US739142A
US patent US4108180A for a reusable tampon by Doris B. Moehrle in 1978.
Link: patents.google.com/patent/US4108180A
IG POST 0.014 !!! tech010ffspring !!! does technology-based AI research!!!
They have been thinking about AI, lately. Just like me. They (and I) recently read several media article headlines that read “GOOGLE AND OXFORD SCIENTISTS PUBLISH PAPER CLAIMING AI WILL “LIKELY” ANNIHILATE HUMANKIND “AN EXISTENTIAL CATASTROPHE IS NOT JUST POSSIBLE, BUT LIKELY.” We also read the article on LOAB that states “Through “some kind of emergent statistical accident,” an AI image generator birthed a terrifying image of a woman. And she continues to haunt us, again and again.” and the last article that peaked our curiosity shows a model’s clothes being magically changed and states that “His latest example is this beautiful 30-second fashion show that used AI to generate hundreds of outfits in collaboration with his wife, the artist Shyama Golden, who helped him art direct which outfits should appear in the final video and starred as the model.” As a result of encountering these various articles, !!! techn010ffspring !!! decided to embark on an investigation of the world of AI-art-making.
Using the AI Art Generator, Midjourny, !!! techn010ffspring !!! has begun to generate AI artwork by entering prompts linked to ideas for “IntertwinedHerstories” and the intersection of women + technology.
Today, they entered the prompt “An overworked kitchen maid fantasizes that she can dismember her own limbs to finish her housework on time.” This is the synopsis of the silent film, The Kitchen Maid’s Dream from 1907 that is no longer available to be viewed by Vitagraph company and discussed in the book by Maggie Hennefled, entitled “Specters of Slapstick & Silent Film Comediennes” (p. 248).
Note about their (!!! techn010ffspring !!!) research *** Like my human children, I cannot take full credit or be fully to blame for their behavior. They have a mind of their own! Hahaha. They are very, very curious and also very playful, but also mischievous. They are also reading the same books as me so, like the media, technology, ai, and human children, they might take things out of context. They also like potty talk. They tried entering that into the AI prompts, but it was rejected.
Link to Hyperallergic article on LOAB: https://hyperallergic.com/760593/loab-the-internets-latest-urban-legend-is-worse-than-anything/
Link to article about Google research on AI: https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-oxford-paper-ai-humankind
Link to the paper by Google and Oxford Scientists: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/aaai.12064
Link to article on AI-generated art: https://theconversation.com/ai-art-is-everywhere-right-now-even-experts-dont-know-what-it-will-mean-189800
Link to article featuring the fashion show. https://www.fastcompany.com/90783075/this-30-second-fashion-show-demonstrates-the-true-creative-power-of-dall-e-2
IG POST 0.013 !!! tech010ffspring !!! [v.3] spews uterus boomerangs interactive game!!!
Encourage the !!! techn010ffspring !!! named [beulah-louise-henry-writing-machine-plurality-of-copies-vomits-green-uterus-boomerangs] to spew uterus boomerangs by tapping your screen or clicking your mouse.
Link to the game here: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1654543
IG POST 0.012 !!! tech010ffspring !!! [v.3] named [beulah-louise-henry-writing-machine-plurality-of-copies-vomits-green-uterus-boomerangs] spews uterus boomerangs.
This !!! techn010ffspring !!! has a shape derived from US Patent US2062455 by Beulah Louise Henry from 1931 for an “invention relates to writing machines and has for an object to provide an improved device for use in producing a plurality of copies each having the appearance of a so-called original ribbon copy. The invention has been developed in connection with the production of a typewriter attachment carrying an ink impregnated ribbon arranged to be interposed between successive sheets of paper opposite the position of operation of the usual type bars and such an embodiment will be more particularly described for the purpose of illustrating the principles of the invention.”
Link to patent: patents.google.com/patent/US2062455A
IG POST 0.011 !!! tech010ffspring !!! [v.6] named [louise-nelson-pessary-installing-landing-gear-with-belle-wests-combined-step-ladder-and-ironing-board-in-mass-production-of-vengence] learns to walk (or toddle in this case)
Link to the game: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1645721
Access the new game in which you can encourage !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.6] named [louise-nelson-pessary-installing-landing-gear-with-belle-wests-combined-step-ladder-and-ironing-board-in-mass-production-of-vengence] { [V.6]] to learn to walk like a toddler by clicking your mouse or tapping your phone.
This game works in a similar way as the earliest forms of analog animation. As Rebekah Modrak states in her book and on her website, Reframing Photography, thaumatropes (an early form of animation) “ depend on the persistence of vision to blend individual images, thereby creating the illusion of continuous motion.” In this case, single images randomly appear in our frame of view, one-after-another, thus making it appear that the being is toddling.
Link to Rebekah Modrak’s, Reframing Photography, with examples of artists making thaumotropes. https://www.reframingphotography.com/page/photographic-thaumatropes
IG POST 0.010 !!! tech010ffspring !!! [v.6] named [louise-nelson-pessary-installing-landing-gear-with-belle-wests-combined-step-ladder-and-ironing-board-in-mass-production-of-vengence]
!!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.6] includes the patent by Belle West for a “combined step-ladder and ironing-board” from 1888 and Louise Nelson’s patent from 1906 for a “an improvement in pessary, the object being to furnish a sanitary contrivance to be used by ladies during menstruation and also a more comfortable support for the womb than heretofore.” This being also includes an image of a woman “making final adjustments in the wheel well of an inner wing before the installation of the landing gear, Nashville, Tenn. This [is] one of the numerous assembly operations in connection with the mass production of Vultee “Vengeance” dive bombers” from 1943.
Link to patent by Louise Nelson from 1906 for a Pessary. “Be it known that I, LOUIsE N ELSON, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of Oakland, Alameda county, State of Cali fornia, have invented a new and useful Improvement in a Pessary, of which the following is a specification. My invention relates to an improvement in pessary, the object being to furnish a sanitary contrivance to be used by ladies during menstruation and also a more comfortable support for the womb than heretofore. I attain these objects by means of a hard rubber tube with a slightly extended edge, forming a cup shape, also a soft rubber tube fitted on the outside which prevents the hard rub ber edges from injuring the flesh, the pessary being supported on a hard rubber stem which has a small cross tube at its lower end allowing elastic cord to be run through and fasten on a waist or straps from the shoulders.”
https://patents.google.com/patent/US854593A
Link to image from 1943. “This woman worker at the Vultee-Nashville is shown making final adjustments in the wheel well of an inner wing before the installation of the landing gear, Nashville, Tenn. This [is] one of the numerous assembly operations in connection with the mass production of Vultee “Vengeance” dive bombers”
https://www.loc.gov/item/2017878538/
Link to patent by Belle West from 1888 of a “Combined Step-Ladder and Ironing Board”. “Be it known that we, WEALTHY J. ALLEN and BELLE WEST, citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at Arkansas City and Winfield, in the county of Cowley and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Step-Ladder and Ironing-Board, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the acro companying drawings, forming part thereof, in which Figure l is a perspective view of our combined step-ladder and ironing-board when in use as a step-ladder. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same-when in use as an ironing-board, the bosom and sleeve. board being thrown back out of the way; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the ironing-boardand bosom and sleeve board.”
Link: https://patents.google.com/patent/US380159A
IG POST 0.009 !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.2] births !!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.3].
[v.2] is named [CEO-birthing-quantum-circuits-while-doing-unpaid-domestic-labor] and [v.3] is named [alice-guy-blache-and-the-cabbage-fairy-transmits-television-that-sarah-goode-designed-novel-construction-cabinet-bed]
One component of the [v.2] being is inspired by the image of Llana Wisby, the CEO and founder of Oxford Quantum Circuits, working with her company’s device. Images of women working with and making/fixing mechanical/technological devices are uncommon in the past and present. The other component of this being is extrapolated from the image of domestic work done by women in the kitchen as pictured in the Children’s Object Book from the 1880s.
The [v.3] being is supported by the drawing of the patent by Sarah E. Good from 1885 for a Cabinet-bed. “Sarah Elisabeth Goode (1855?-1905) was one of the first African-American women to receive a patent from the United States government.” (The University of Chicago Library). As stated in her patent: “The objects of this invention are, first, to provide a folding bed of novel construction, adapted, when folded together, to form adesk suitable for office or general use; second, to provide for counterbalancing the weight of the folding sections of the bed, so that they may be easily raised or lowered in folding or unfolding the bed; third, to provide forholding the hinged or folding sections securely in place when the bed is unfolded, and, fourth, to provide an automatic auxiliary support for the bedding at the middle when the bed is un folded.”
The being includes the image of “a television transmitter with woman seated in front.” from 1930. The film played on the screen of the being [v.3] is a miniature version of Alice Guy Blache’s, The Cabbage Fairy, considered to be “The first film directed by a female director” (IMDB) and also considered to be the world’s first narrative film.
Link to image of Llana Wisby, CEO and founder of Oxford Quantum Circuits. https://techcrunch.com/2022/07/04/uks-oxford-quantum-circuits-snaps-up-47m-for-quantum-computing-as-a-service/
Link to The Children’s Object Book from 1880s. https://www.loc.gov/item/42048867/
Link to patent by Sarah E. Good for a cabinet-bed https://patents.google.com/patent/US322177A. Information on Sarah E. Good https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/about/news/women-who-made-legal-history-sarah-e-goode/
Link to the image of the woman seated in front of a television transmitter. https://www.loc.gov/item/2005683703/
Link to Alice Guy Blache’s film, The Cabbage Fairy, from 1896. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qS22S5MTHoI
IG POST 0.008 rock-a-bye-!!! techn010ffspring !!! [v.1] interactive game.
Play a new game in which you can rock-a-bye the !!! techn010ffspring [v.1] named [lea-and-the-ball-of-wool-lumpechtomy-with-carriesbrower-high-chair-for-butt-grab-that-is-pooping-clara-fords-electric-flying-car-is-an-unproductive-solution-for-emotional-labor] { [V.1]] by clicking your mouse or tapping your phone.
Link to the game: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1641450
Access the new game in which you can rock-a-bye the !!! techn010ffspring [v.1] named [lea-and-the-ball-of-wool-lumpechtomy-with-carriesbrower-high-chair-for-butt-grab-that-is-pooping-clara-fords-electric-flying-car-is-an-unproductive-solution-for-emotional-labor] { [V.1]] by clicking your mouse or tapping your phone.
This game works in the same way that the earliest forms of analog animation worked. As Rebekah Modrak states in her book and on her website, Reframing Photography, thaumatropes (an early form of animation) “ depend on the persistence of vision to blend individual images, thereby creating the illusion of continuous motion.”
Link to Rebekah Modrak’s, Reframing Photography, with examples of artists making thaumotropes. https://www.reframingphotography.com/page/photographic-thaumatropes
IG POST 0.007 !!! techn010ffspring !!! [lea-and-the-ball-of-wool-lumpechtomy-with-carriesbrower-high-chair-for-butt-grab-that-is-pooping-clara-fords-electric-flying-car-is-an-unproductive-solution-for-emotional-labor] { [V.1]}.
This technology provides the viewer with emotional labor. The technology includes hair, breasts, a bottom, an old photograph, a patented high chair, a reaching doll hand, a flying car-bus, and a rainbow. Things explode and become sparkles and shatter and become colorful floating balls. There are even bubbles!!!! I feel better already!
The first inspiration for this project was the call for “unproductive solutions” by Rebekah Modrak.
The setting for the machine is derived from the silent film, “Lea and the ball of wool. (Lea e il gomitolo).” (Cines, 1913) as discussed in the book by Maggie Hennefeld, “Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes”. I am inspired by Hennefeld’s description of the main character as having “wild corporeality” (p. 86) and how Hennefeld places her in the category of “Revenge Seekers: Like adult versions of the adolescent prankster characters, these women perform comical-destructive antics that are motivated by their overriding desires for revenge” (p. 91).
The patent included in the machine was mentioned in the book by Autumn Stanley, “Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for A Revised History of Technology”. It is US Patent No. 608,359 by Carrie E. Brower in 1898 for a reclining high-chair.
Link to project “unproductive solutions” by Rebekah Modrak. https://unproductivesolutions.com/
Link to book, “Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes”, by Maggie Hennefeld http://cup.columbia.edu/book/specters-of-slapstick-and-silent-film-comediennes/9780231179478
Link to silent film, “Lea and the ball of wool. (Lea e il gomitolo)” (Cines, 1913) https://vimeo.com/92624546
Link to US PATENT No. 608,359 from 1898 by Carrie E. Brower patents.google.com/patent/US608359A
Link to book, “Mothers and Daughters of Invention: Notes for A Revised History of Technology”, with patents by women by Autumn Stanley https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/mothers-and-daughters-of-invention/9780813521978
Link to more information on this technology: https://sarahbuckius.com/technologies-4-emotional-labor-4-women-mothers-t4el4wm/
IG 0.006 POST | !!! technoloffspring !!!! [v.8] component of new part
I am working on a part of a new !!! technoloffspring !!! that includes one of my favorite things to do: go biking with my kids. I found this historic image on the Library of Congress website of women riding a bike while reading books from the 1890s. I LOVE this image. So, in my !!! technoloffspring !!! this group of women will use their strength and physical power (and mind power as referenced by the books!) to generate the power for another part of the machine that I am working on.
The sounds of this machine are loud and distracting. Loud like the sounds that women who operated electromechanical punch card tabulators must endure while working. “Cards were sorted at a rate of hundreds per minute using distractingly noisy machines.” (p. 67). “Packed into huge, factory-like rooms with dozens of other punchers, these women had to be able to tolerate noise and distraction while performing monotonous work accurately at a consistently high speed; it was crucial to the entire data-processing chain that the punchers’ work be virtually error-free.” (p. 67) References from the book “Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologies and Lost Its Edge in Computing” by Mar Hicks.
The sound also includes the recorded voice of the man who coined the term “girl hour” and “kilo girl hour” which is (according to wiktionary) a “A unit of computing power in the context of 1940s–1970s technology equal to one female worker working for one hour, for example, writing code or entering data to punch cards”. In my mind, these women also ride while listening to the song “Bike Mission” by Kimya Dawson & Antsy Pants
Link to the song “Bike Mission” by Kimya Dawson & Antsy Pants https://www.shazam.com/track/59661267/the-mission
Link to “Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologies and Lost Its Edge in Computing” by Mar Hicks “ by Mar Hicks https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262535182/programmed-inequality/
Link to “Bearings for Sale” image. www.loc.gov/resource/cph.3b27502/
Link to the recorded discussion of how the term “girls hours” was coined. https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/audio/4888-1
IG 0.005 POST | !!! technoloffspring !!!! idea generator
This is a screenshot of the interactive game I created that generates random ideas for !!! technoloffspring !!!. You can also find the broken code game that reveals how one change in the line of code leads to a blank game. No wonder it is so easy to generate bias in code! Link in Bio for details on each of these references:)
The equation within the code is:
idea = technology coded “female” + technology coded “male” + physical body movement + caregiving physical activity + word for person connected to another person + location/place + medical procedure that I have experienced + female body part + physical bodily symptoms + body part + bodily fluid + words to describe bodily fluids + funny words to say + natural object + food + creative women + women inventors
Working Code: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1635641
Broken Code: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1636664
IG 0.004 POST | Mom Discovery of Clandestine Comic lurking in Mom’s sketchbook!
I am listening to the book “Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing (History of Computing)” 1st Edition by Mar Hicks (Author) and recommended to me by Kathleen Tuite. I have been taking notes in my sketchbook and this morning I opened a page to write down some references, when I discovered a clandestine comic created in my notebook by one of my daughters. Studying the drawing style and handwriting, I believe I can surmise who the culprit might be. This is a real-lived example of an “Intertwined HerStory” with an “entangled constellation of connections”!
Click or tap the screen to encourage PART 2 component identified as [synthetic-hairbrush-suffragette-mass-being] to brush the hair of PART 4 component [hairy suffragette blocks].
The brushes include drawings from the patented design of Lyda Newman for a hairbrush with synthetic bristles. According to the text about her on the Lemelson-MIT Program website ““Lyda Newman was a remarkable Black female inventor who patented the first hairbrush with synthetic bristles. She is the third Black woman to ever receive a patent. She is also known for her activism in the women’s voting rights movement of the early 20th century.
Lyda Newman was born in Ohio sometime between 1865 and 1885. Little is known of Newman’s personal life because women, especially Black women, were treated with disregard at that time. However, census records show that she spent most of her life living in New York City, working as a hairdresser. “
The Lemelson-MIT Program website further discusses Lyda Newman. “Newman’s decision to improve the design of the hairbrush derived from her own experience as a Black woman and as a hairdresser. She wanted the process of brushing hair to be more hygienic and efficient. Most hairbrushes at the time were made using animal hair, but the material was too soft to effectively treat the thicker texture of African American hair. Newman used synthetic fibers which were more durable and easier to clean. The brush contained evenly spaced rows of bristles with open slots to clear debris away from the hair into a recessed compartment. The back could be opened with a button for cleaning out the compartment. Newman received a patent for her invention on November 15, 1898. “
Every time I brush all three of my daughters’ hair, I think about this patent. My daughters have very, very sensitive scalps and for some reason they are all, despite their different textures, difficult to easily brush without pain and frustration. Recently, we had lice and the combing challenge (while using that lice comb) was exponentially increased!
https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/lyda-newman
A link to her patent can be found here: https://patents.google.com/patent/US614335A
IG 0.002 POST Interactive Game: !!! technoloffspring !!! [V.7] gives a digital hug to !!! technoloffspring !!! [V.1]
Play this simple digital game by clicking or tapping the screen to encourage one !!! technoloffspring !!! to give a digital hug/embrace to the other. !!! technoloffspring !!! named [mary-jane-mishap-uterus-supporter-with-cervical-canal-syringe-discharge-tube-plugged-in-airplane-motor-capping-tubbing-dive-bomber-mothers-bed] { [V.7] } gives a digital hug/embrace to !!! technoloffspring !!! named [lea-and-the-ball-of-wool-lumpechtomy-with-carriesbrower-high-chair-for-butt-grab-that-is-pooping-clara-fords-electric-flying-car-is-an-unproductive-solution-for-emotional-labor] { [V.1] }.
IG 0.001 POST !!! technoloffspring !!! named [mary-jane-mishap-uterus-supporter-with-cervical-canal-syringe-discharge-tube-plugged-in-airplane-motor-capping-tubbing-dive-bomber-mothers-bed]
A HERo that inspired the setting in my latest !!! technoloffspring !!! is from the silent film “Mary Jane’s Mishap” (1903). This silent film is discussed in a recent NY Times article “Rewriting Women Back Into Film History” by Manohla Dargis sent to me by Melanie Manos.
Many of the other works that depict women in early silent film can be discovered in this book that I love called: “Specters of Slapstick and Silent Film Comediennes” by Maggie Hennefeld.
!!! technoloffspring !!! [v.1.7] interactive game can be found here. Just click to control it’s random movements: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1629867
!!! technoloffspring !!! [v.1.7] gives a hug | cause the !!! technoloffspring !!! named [mary-jane-mishap-uterus-supporter-with-cervical-canal-syringe-discharge-tube-plugged-in-airplane-motor-capping-tubbing-dive-bomber-mothers-bed] to give a digital hug with a click of your mouse or tap of your finger in this simple interactive game: https://openprocessing.org/sketch/1630408
Sarah Buckius 