A People’s History of Computing in the United States
Audio only

A People’s History of Computing in the United States

By Joy Lisi RankinNarrated by Bernadette Dunne
Length10h 1m

About this audiobook

Silicon Valley gets all the credit for digital creativity, but this account of the pre-PC world, when computing meant more than using mature consumer technology, challenges that triumphalism. The invention of the personal computer liberated users from corporate mainframes and brought computing into homes. But throughout the 1960s and 1970s, a diverse group of teachers and students working together on academic computing systems conducted many of the activities we now recognize as personal and social computing. Their networks were centered in New Hampshire, Minnesota, and Illinois, but they connected far-flung users. Joy Rankin draws on detailed records to explore how users exchanged messages, programmed music and poems, fostered communities, and developed computer games like The Oregon Trail. These unsung pioneers helped shape our digital world, just as much as the inventors, garage hobbyists, and eccentric billionaires of Palo Alto. By imagining computing as an interactive commons, the early denizens of the digital realm seeded today’s debate about whether the internet should be a public utility and laid the groundwork for the concept of net neutrality. Rankin offers a radical precedent for a more democratic digital culture, and new models for the next generation of activists, educators, coders, and makers.

Audiobook details

GenreTechnology, History, Education and Learning
Length10 hrs 1 min
Narrated byBernadette Dunne
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateOct 8, 2018
LanguageEnglish
Liftoff
LiftoffEric Berger9h 4m$29 · $0.00
Apollo
ApolloCharles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox18h 15m$30
Improvised Weapons and Munitions - The Official U.S. Army Manual
Improvised Weapons and Munitions - The Official U.S. Army ManualU.S. Department of the Army4h 38m$2 · $0.00
Frosty: The incredible true story of the boy from Doonside who became a Bathurst king
Frosty: The incredible true story of the boy from Doonside who became a Bathurst kingMark Winterbottom8h 9m$26 · $0.00
Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated Edition
Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated EditionMarc Reisner27h 56m$30
The Honey Bus
The Honey BusMeredith May9h 31m$25 · $0.00
Operation Pedestal
Operation PedestalMax Hastings12h 29m$29 · $0.00
When the Heavens Went on Sale
When the Heavens Went on SaleAshlee Vance18h 20m$40 · $0.00
The Collected Works of Nikola Tesla
The Collected Works of Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla48h 43m$2 · $0.00
Everybody Has a Podcast (Except You)
Everybody Has a Podcast (Except You)Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Griffin McElroy5h 9m$24 · $0.00
Hands of Time
Hands of TimeRebecca Struthers8h 8m$26 · $0.00
Never Lost Again
Never Lost AgainBill Kilday10h 1m$29 · $0.00
How the Internet Happened
How the Internet HappenedBrian McCullough13h 28m$23 · $0.00
Collected Writings of Nikola Tesla
Collected Writings of Nikola TeslaNikola Tesla, Thomas Commerford Martin21h 50m$1 · $0.00
Just Aspire
Just AspireAjai Chowdhry9h 13m$29 · $0.00
The Little Book of Aliens
The Little Book of AliensAdam Frank8h 20m$26 · $0.00
Kargil
KargilV.P. Malik15h 18m$24 · $0.00
Fire on the Horizon
Fire on the HorizonTom Shroder, John Konrad8h 23m$26 · $0.00
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The Boy Who Harnessed the WindWilliam Kamkwamba, Bryan Mealer10h 5m$29 · $0.00
Mars Rover Curiosity
Mars Rover CuriosityRob Manning, William L. Simon7h 43m$20

You may also like

Do You Remember?
Do You Remember?Trenton Bailey7h 38m$25 · $0.00
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS (Modern Classics Series)
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS (Modern Classics Series)Gertrude Stein9h 37m$2 · $0.00
Earliest Years at Vassar: Personal Recollections
Earliest Years at Vassar: Personal RecollectionsFrances Ann Wood2h 12m$2 · $0.00
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers
The Lives and Opinions of Eminent PhilosophersDiogenes Laertius18h 7m$1 · $0.00
Meet Me in the Bathroom
Meet Me in the BathroomLizzy Goodman19h 42m$40 · $0.00
Memories
MemoriesF. Max Müller3h 17m$1 · $0.00
How to Read Literature Like a Professor [Third Edition]
How to Read Literature Like a Professor [Third Edition]Thomas C. Foster11h 40m$8 · $0.00
The History and Practice of the Art of Photography
The History and Practice of the Art of PhotographyHenry Hunt Snelling4h 21m$1 · $0.00
Christianity for the Rest of Us
Christianity for the Rest of UsDiana Butler Bass10h 51m$29 · $0.00
The Heroic Enthusiasts
The Heroic EnthusiastsGiordano Bruno8h 16m$2 · $0.00
Reading Confederate Monuments
Reading Confederate MonumentsMaria Seger9h 33m$25 · $0.00
My Remarkable Journey
My Remarkable JourneyKatherine Johnson, Joylette Hylick, Katherine Moore7h 41m$26 · $0.00
Rise
RiseJeff Yang, Phil Yu, Philip Wang19h 49m$40 · $0.00
Canada: The Foundations of Its Future
Canada: The Foundations of Its FutureStephen Butler Leacock5h 34m$1 · $0.00
History of Woman Suffrage (Complete Six-Volume Edition)
History of Woman Suffrage (Complete Six-Volume Edition)Various305h 32m$1 · $0.00
C. S. Lewis
C. S. LewisJohn Lawlor4h 40m$12 · $0.00
Library of Congress Classification Outline
Library of Congress Classification OutlineLibrary of Congress8h 48m$1 · $0.00
How the Hippies Saved Physics
How the Hippies Saved PhysicsDavid Kaiser12h 2m$23
Mavericks At Work
Mavericks At WorkWilliam C. Taylor, Polly G. LaBarre5h 54m$24 · $0.00
The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader
The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies ReaderUnknown Author12h 45m$30 · $0.00