Digital Democracies Institute Speaker Series – Reem Hilu

You are invited to join the third session of the Digital Democracies Speaker Spring Speaker Series, featuring Reem Hilu (Washington University in St.Luis).

The Intimate Life of Computers: A Feminist Perspective on the History of Home Computing

The Intimate Life of Computers offers a feminist intervention in the history of personal computing by discussing the influence of women’s culture and feminist critique on the development of these technologies as they were taken up in US homes in the 1980s. As this talk will discuss, although women were often not involved in the production nor even the primary intended audience for most applications of 1980s computing and gaming, in order to adapt these media to the home, hardware and software producers had to contend with middle-class domestic culture, feminist critique, and their perceptions of how women would respond to computing.  Computer applications such as playful therapeutic relationship software, adult sex-themed computer games, and talking dolls and robots powered by microprocessors were examples of the efforts made to integrate computers into the most intimate aspects of family life. The talk argues that, as a result of the encounter with domestic culture, personal computing came to be thought of as an intimate and interpersonal medium, one that could shape and intervene in companionate relationships.

Reem Hilu is assistant professor of Film and Media Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research focuses on the history of computers and games as media of relationality and considers the role of gender, sexuality, and intimacy in shaping these histories. Her work in feminist media histories of computing and gaming has appeared in journals including Camera Obscura, Feminist Media Histories, and The Velvet Light Trap.

Date: March 19, 12.30 – 1.30pm PST

Venue: Digital Democracies Institute, TASC2, room 7460, SFU Burnaby campus.

Contact us to access the Zoom link.