[Air-L] 'MEN Invented the Internet'?

[Deen Freelon]

The thing that bothered me third-most about that lede, after its 
flagrant inaccuracy and sexism, is that the issue of who invented the 
Internet is irrelevant to the article's content. Venture capitalists 
don't invent anything--they tend to leave that to the folks on the 
payroll. So that makes the lede inaccurate, sexist, and a red herring--a 
trifecta of terribleness. ~DEEN

PS. You may be interested in the recent edited volume "Race After the 
Internet" (eds. Lisa Nakamura and Peter Chow-White), which contains an 
entire section on "The History of Race and Information."

On 6/5/2012 1:28 PM, Conley, Tara wrote:
> Hi list members,
>
> In case you haven't already seen David Streitfeld's controversial NYTimes
> piece this weekend, here it
> is<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/technology/lawsuit-against-kleiner-perkins-is-shaking-silicon-valley.html?_r=4&pagewanted=1&seid=auto&smid=tw-nytimes>.
> The controversy stems from his lede, "MEN invented the Internet'. You may
> also be interested in the response from tech journalist Xeni
> Jardin<http://boingboing.net/2012/06/03/nyt-men-invented-the-inter.html>
> .
>
> I also wrote a response piece about the controversy from an historical
> perspective for Ms.
> Magazine<http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2012/06/04/the-women-and-people-of-color-who-invented-the-internet/>
>   today.
>
> Interesting to think about the history of the Internet in terms of gender
> and 'race' consciousness, no?
>
> Also, if any list members could recommend further reading on Internet
> history (including computing) that includes discussions about gender,
> 'race', and so forth, I'd appreciate it!
>
> Tara
>


-- 
Deen Freelon, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
American University School of Communication
Office: Asbury 228A
dfreelon at gmail.com
http://dfreelon.org