[Air-L] TUESDAY: Smash the Mainframe: The Collision Between Civil Rights and Computing (7pm ET on YouTube)

[Christian Sandvig]

I thought this might be of interest to people on this list! Christian

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Christian Sandvig <csandvig at umich.edu>
Date: Mon, Feb 1, 2021 at 7:09 PM
Subject: TUESDAY: Smash the Mainframe: The Collision Between Civil Rights
and Computing (7pm)
To: ESC Center <esc-center at umich.edu>



Dear ESC colleagues and friends,

I'm so excited to speak with Charlton McIlwain tomorrow. We will use an
informal discussion format to talk about his recent book "Black Software:
The Internet & Racial Justice From AfroNet to Black Lives Matter" (Oxford
UP). Recently hailed as "thought provoking" (NPR) and "utterly compelling"
(New Scientist), the book led PC Magazine to write the headline: "Tech
History Is More Than Just 'White, Male Wizards.'" Among other important
questions, McIlwain asks, "Will technological tools ever enable us to
outrun white supremacy?"

This event is open to the public, so please feel free to forward this note
if you know of anyone else who would be interested. I hope you will join me
there!

Christian

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HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Watch on YouTube live during the event at: http://umsi.info/charlton

TITLE
Smash the Mainframe: The Collision Between Civil Rights and Computing

SPEAKERS
A conversation with Charlton McIlwain, Professor of Media, Culture, and
Communication, NYU and Christian Sandvig, Director of ESC, University of
Michigan

DATE / TIME / LOCATION
Online via YouTube
February 2, 2021 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Times are shown in Eastern Time

SPEAKER BIOS
Charlton McIlwain is Vice Provost for Faculty Engagement and Development
and Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication at NYU. His recent work
focuses on the intersections of race, digital media, and racial justice
activism. His latest book, Black Software: The Internet & Racial Justice,
>From the AfroNet to Black Lives Matter, reveals the hidden figures -- from
the 1960s to the present -- who fought the power and sparked a revolution
in computing technology. Charlton will explore how “smashing the mainframe”
became the way to articulate and demonstrate the clash between civil rights
and computing in the 1960s. Moreover, his talk will address what that
moment in history can teach us about how to fight back against today’s
technological threats to racial justice.

Christian Sandvig is Director of the Center for Ethics, Society, and
Computing (ESC) and H. Marshall McLuhan Collegiate Professor of
Information, Communication & Media.

NOTES
This event is sponsored by the School of Information with support from the
William Warner Bishop Lectureship Fund and the Martha Boaz Lectureship Fund.

Link to this event on the Web:
https://esc.umich.edu/event/charlton-mcilwain-smash-the-mainframe/

More information about ESC: The Center for Ethics, Society, and Computing:
http://esc.umich.edu/


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LOOKING AHEAD TO OUR NEXT ESC EVENTS:

ESC ROUTES: Covid, Tech, & China (Workshop)
February 6, 2021 @ 9:00 am - 11:00 am
This event requires advance registration. Working knowledge of Chinese is
recommended. See:
https://esc.umich.edu/event/esc-routes-covid-tech-china/

Ben Green: Using Algorithms in Government
February 8, 2021 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
https://esc.umich.edu/event/ben-green-using-algorithms-in-government/


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ESC is generously supported by the School of Information; the Center for
Political Studies at the Institute for Social Research; and the Department
of Communication & Media in the College of Literature, Science, and the
Arts at the University of Michigan.