“Frank Lloyd Oop”: microserfs, modern migration, and the architecture of the nineties

If the early development of the computing industry in America was marked by a preoccupation with hardware, as companies like UNIVAC, DEC, and IBM filled the nation’s corporate and government offices with mainframes, then a similar pre­occupation has so far marked the response of cultural criticism t...

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Main Author: Thompson, Graham
Format: Article
Published: University of Toronto Press 2011
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29623/
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author Thompson, Graham
author_facet Thompson, Graham
author_sort Thompson, Graham
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description If the early development of the computing industry in America was marked by a preoccupation with hardware, as companies like UNIVAC, DEC, and IBM filled the nation’s corporate and government offices with mainframes, then a similar pre­occupation has so far marked the response of cultural criticism to contemporary technology. For Michael Menser and Stanley Aronowitz, American technoculture is founded on the way that hardware permeates all sections of society: “The Amish have their wagons and farm equipment, the hippies their Volkswagen buses. The rap DJ has his or her turntable … the cyberpunk has a computer complete with modem” (10). Even in a recent article about the interaction between people and computers, Kevin J. Porter treats the computer, without exception, as a piece of machinery (43-83). Software – the medium through which human-computer inter­action takes place – is nowhere to be found in either of these accounts.
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spelling nottingham-296232020-05-04T16:30:47Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29623/ “Frank Lloyd Oop”: microserfs, modern migration, and the architecture of the nineties Thompson, Graham If the early development of the computing industry in America was marked by a preoccupation with hardware, as companies like UNIVAC, DEC, and IBM filled the nation’s corporate and government offices with mainframes, then a similar pre­occupation has so far marked the response of cultural criticism to contemporary technology. For Michael Menser and Stanley Aronowitz, American technoculture is founded on the way that hardware permeates all sections of society: “The Amish have their wagons and farm equipment, the hippies their Volkswagen buses. The rap DJ has his or her turntable … the cyberpunk has a computer complete with modem” (10). Even in a recent article about the interaction between people and computers, Kevin J. Porter treats the computer, without exception, as a piece of machinery (43-83). Software – the medium through which human-computer inter­action takes place – is nowhere to be found in either of these accounts. University of Toronto Press 2011-07-29 Article NonPeerReviewed Thompson, Graham (2011) “Frank Lloyd Oop”: microserfs, modern migration, and the architecture of the nineties. Canadian Review of American Studies, 31 (3). pp. 119-136. ISSN 1710-114X http://www.utpjournals.press/doi/10.3138/CRAS-s031-03-02 doi:10.3138/CRAS-s031-03-02 doi:10.3138/CRAS-s031-03-02
spellingShingle Thompson, Graham
“Frank Lloyd Oop”: microserfs, modern migration, and the architecture of the nineties
title “Frank Lloyd Oop”: microserfs, modern migration, and the architecture of the nineties
title_full “Frank Lloyd Oop”: microserfs, modern migration, and the architecture of the nineties
title_fullStr “Frank Lloyd Oop”: microserfs, modern migration, and the architecture of the nineties
title_full_unstemmed “Frank Lloyd Oop”: microserfs, modern migration, and the architecture of the nineties
title_short “Frank Lloyd Oop”: microserfs, modern migration, and the architecture of the nineties
title_sort “frank lloyd oop”: microserfs, modern migration, and the architecture of the nineties
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29623/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29623/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29623/