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Jeffrey Yost

@justcode.bsky.social
6.2K followers 412 following 262 posts

Writer I Speaker I Professor I Historian I Ctr. Dir. I Director, CBI for Computing Info. & Culture; Prof. HST/STS, U of MN Co-Edit JHUP Computing & Culture bk srs. Research-Social Study of AI, Privacy/Sec., Labor, Race, Gender & Inequality. JUST CODE

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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
CBI's MOSAICS (Meanings, Ontologies & Structures of AI in Culture & Society) Symposium Program/Registration now open (link below). Org. Cmt.: Sareeta Amrute; @babintsevak.bsky.social @anitachan.bsky.social; G. Con Diaz; me. 32 terrific critical AI scholars. Oct 15-16. cse.umn.edu/cbi/mosaics-...
Poster/flyer for CBI's MOSAICS Symposium. Photos of keynote speakers Paula Chakravartty, Roderic Crooks, Tiara Roxanne, Janet Vertesi, image of a laptop keyboard with hands typing, co-sponsors names and logos.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
We saw a great performance of Bob Mould's band Sugar last night at Minneapolis' legendary club First Avenue, where he, w/ Husker Du (who I saw a bunch at this club decades back), The Replacements, & Prince got their start. #Sugar #BobMould #FirstAvenue
First Avenue Music club a photo of three person band Sugar on stage performing Bob Mould at right.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
In Mpls burbs...So pleased today to attend a history doc. film showing of "A Chip Odyssey" on Taiwan Semi. Mfrg. Co. & an AMAZING panel organized by @honghongtinn.bsky.social @waynesoon.bsky.social (moderating) & @Gier Dullerud, Molly Steenson, @seungjoonyoo.bsky.social & I-Chun Catherine Chang
On stage L to R. Wayne Soon moderating, Honghong Tinn , Gier Dullerud, Molly Steenson, Seungjoo Yoon (not yet at table...soon to join stage & on screen) & I-Chun Catherine Chang
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Please join Us!! (Sept. 16th 1pm C.). Absolutely thrilled to announce an online book talk w/ thought-leading scholar @stanforduniversity.bsky.social @xiaochang.bsky.social on her stellar new book Divination Engines on NLP & AI! #criticalAI #histtech Registration (free): cse.umn.edu/cbi/events/d...
Flyer for talk with an image of Prof. Xiaochang Li other images and maroon, gold, and gray design elements and info on the event.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Deeply honored to have given a Keynote yesterday on AI History and Policy at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs' "7th World Conference on Remedies to Racial and Ethnic Economic Inequality." So glad to be a part of this wondrous and vital three-day global conference! #histtech #criticalai
Jeffrey Yost delivering lecture with a microphone in his right hand and gesturing with his left hand.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Nearly through reading @xiaochang.bsky.social brilliant new book Divination Engines!! This is the best historical study on Natural Language Processing, & imo, the most insightful monograph on AI history! CBI was so fortunate have Xiaochang as a keynote at our 2023 "Automation by Design" symposium!
Cover of Xiaochang Li's Divination Engines sitting on computer desk. Black cover with gray symbolic notations and white and yellow lettering of author's name and title.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
New from Interfaces, a review essay I just published on STS of blockchain with RMIT's Dr. Kelsie Nabben's insightful book Decentralised Digital Security as the centerpiece. Also discusses work of @ntnsndr.in others.. #histtech #eth #ethereum #cybersecurity #ethnography share.google/F55gFHqTfnnm...
Cover of Decentralised Digital Security hooded faceless figure
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
So glad to be at the '26 SIGCIS Meeting! @sigcisconf.bsky.social @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social I-School. Grateful to the incredible Organizing Committee, a terrific program! @honghongtinn.bsky.social @babintsevak.bsky.social @cperold.bsky.social Jason Ludwig, Gili Vidan, Morgan Ames. #histtech
I School at Berkeley/South Hall building facade.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Terrific new (Special Issue) of IEEE Annals... on theme of “Sex and Sexuality" Feature articles by Sheila C. Murphy; Alex D. Ketchum, Alison Langmead, & Christopher J. Phillips; & Heewon Kim. Fantastic Dept. content too! #histtech #histsci www.computer.org/csdl/magazin...
Cover image of new issue of IEEE Annals of the History of  Computing
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Congratulation to CBI's 2026 Norberg Travel Grant Recipients Cornell University's Andra Sonia Petrutiu & Jordan Ali, and Harvard University's Max Kwass-Mason! Read about their fascinating dissertation projects in the short article in CBI Bits & Bytes. #histtech #sts cse.umn.edu/cbi/news/jor...
Portrait images of Andra Sonia Petrutiu, Jordan Ali, and Max Kwass Mason
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Thrilled to announce Prof. of Media Study, SUNY, Buffalo, Andrew Lison CBI Book Launch Lecture for his MIT Press book, entitled, "100% Utilization." Wed. June 3, '26. 1 PM Central Online. #histtech umn.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Flyer for Andrew Lison's Book Launch talk, his photo and book design elements.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
New Interfaces article! "The Surprisingly Ancient History of Digital Facial Biometric Systems" U. of Essex Prof. of History Edward Higgs #biometrics #history www.cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces
From Edward Higgs' book. A composite image of faces and the pseudoscience of facial traits/biometrics and associations with certain maladies such as Tuberculosis, as well as social characterizations such as criminality.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
CFP (2 wks to deadline) CBI's MOSAICS Symposium on Interdisciplinary AI Studies. We welcome paper proposals from the humanities, social sciences, arts, law, policy... Prog Comm. @anitachan.bsky.social @babintsevak.bsky.social Sareeta Amrute, Con Diaz & me. #aistudies cse.umn.edu/cbi/call-pap...
Flyer for event
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Today at CBI, w/ her brilliant Architectural Intelligence as a foundation, ASI President Dr. Molly Steenson built vital new framing for understanding AI today. So grateful to Molly for this wondrous CBI Fellow Lecture @univofminnesota.bsky.social today!! #artificialintelligence #HCI #History
Book cover Architectural Intelligence, yellow, gray, distributed network
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
CBI in @cse.umn.edu is thrilled to host ASI President, CBI Research Fellow, TEDx speaker Dr. Molly Steenson @maximolly.bsky.social for "Generating AI History Through Architecture" May 6th at noon (free lunch, 11:45am), Andersen Lib. Rm 120C. #ai #sts #histech Register at: z.umn.edu/SteensonAITalk
Flyer with Molly Steenson's photo and design and text on the event.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Grateful to Purdue University, Junto Conf., & to session colleagues. Saturday, I participated in the "Computing, Power & Politics" session (on Critical AI, Cybernetics & Blockchain) w past Tomash Fellow Aaron Mendon-Plasek, Erin Wilcox, Daniel Melbert. #aistudies #blockchain
Aaron Mendon-Plasek presenting.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
THRILLED to announce Smart as a City: A CBI Virtual Book Release Day Talk by @baykurt.bsky.social Burcu Baykurt on her tremendous book!! #mediastudies #aistudies #urbanstudies Register today at share.google/ygVx7xFGmaLR...
Talk flyer with Burcu Baykurt image and text on the May 5th event.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
Call for Papers for CBI's MOSAICS Symposium: cse.umn.edu/cbi/call-pap... Thrilled to announce this & to work with Sareeta Amrute, @babintsevak.bsky.social, @anitachan.bsky.social & Gerardo Con Diaz!! MOSAICS Symposium: October 15-16, 2026 Proposal Deadline: May 29, 2026 #AIstudies #histtech
CBI's MOSAICS logo, basic information on the MOSAICS Symposium, and list of the members of the Program Committee.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Past CMU Vice Provost, American Swedish Inst. CEO, & CBI Research Fellow Molly Steenson just delivered a fascinating & insightful lecture on AI History to @honghongtinn.bsky.social "Digital World" UMN class. So glad to attend!!
Molly Steenson presenting at the front of an auditorium classroom with slide on AI history above.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Wonderful New Interfaces article by ASU's Arthur Daemmrich & Smithsonian NMAH's Eric Hintz "Sports in an Algorithmic Era." On #ai #data #sports #histtech (A bases clearing, slam dunk, hole-in-one, hat trick of insights!) cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces (Article Link)
Inventor Nathan Ramasarma demonstrates his formsense smart leggings, which create a real-time virtual avatar of the athlete with data overlaps to help improve performance. Credit: Nathan Ramasarma.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
New Interfaces article!! (link below) Insightful article on the history of Indian supercomputing by Cornell U. STS scholar Andra Sonia Petrutiu "Disrupting Flattening Universal Ambitions: The Case of Supercomputing in India." #histsci #supercomputing #india #history cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces
The PARAM Pravega supercomputer at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (image by Andra Sonia Petrutiu). Glass enclosed raised floor computer room with double glass door entrance.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Join us for UPenn ABD & CBI Tomash Fellow @samfranz.bsky.social for the Tomash Fellow Lecture. Sam's talk "Calculating Knowledge: Computing, Capitalism, and the Modern University, 1945-1990." March 10th 1pm C. Register today (free) at link below. #Histtech #Capitalism z.umn.edu/FranzTomashL...
Flyer with portrait photo of Sam Franz for his CBI Tomash Lecture
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Tremendous Twin Cities Pavek Museum of Electronic Communication opening gala/event this evening for the visiting IEEE exhibit "Unseen Signals" on E. Howard Armstrong, the inventor of FM radio!! #histtech
Unseen Signals exhibit photo
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
New Interfaces article by CBI Senior Research Fellow William Aspray & Union College Prof. Emeritus David Hemmendinger "Using Reference Works to Study the Intellectual and Cultural History of Computing." It reflects on their new book pictured below #histsci Interfaces: cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces
Cover of the book The Making and Meanings of a Computing Reference Work, teal with white lettering
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Thrilled to announce an online lecture by Indiana U. Prof. & CBI Research Fellow @rachelplotnick.bsky.social entitled, "Computers are a Mess: What Hygiene Can Bring to the History of Computing." Wed., Feb. 11, '26, 1 pm Central. Via Zoom #histsci #histtech Register: umn.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Portrait photo of Indiana U. Prof. Rachel Plotnick in front of blurred background setting of grass and trees.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Our special issue is out! "Automation by Design: Politics, Culture & Landscape in an Age of Machines That Learn"! Eds. Colette Perold, me, Gerardo Con Diaz. Authors: David Dunning, Christos Karampatsos, Polyxeni Malisova, Eliza Pertigkiozoglou, Jason Ludwig, Megan Wiessner, & Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal
Cover of Automation by Design special issue of IEEE Annals. The image is the US Census' FOSDIC installation with three professionals at a desk and two behind by the mainframe computer in the background. B&W image.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
New Interfaces essay! Toni Weller et al.'s rich & insightful historiographical essay on information history... cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces "Reflections on The Routledge Handbook on Information History." Framing the Field: Reflections on The Routledge Handbook of Information History" #HistSci
Book cover with watercolor or watercolor like red, blue, green and yellow design of two spheres on a surface but oriented horizontally.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
So grateful to be a guest at UC Davis' STS today & to share my "Of MYCIN Men: Medicine, Mottos, & Meanings in Symbolic & Generative AI". Such a wonderful, helpful,& generative conversation!!! #histsci
UC Davis STS conf room and title slide
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Very grateful to Yale's (& CBI Research Fellow) @lmesseri.bsky.social for her brilliant talk today (a CBI & UMN Anthro event) on the history & ethnography of VR in LA & more broadly, social imagineries for good in tech! Also, I am grateful for the terrific audience, Qs & coversation. #histsci
Prof. Lisa Messeri at podium giving a talk at UMN.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
CBI & UMN Anthro are delighted to host Nov. 14th lecture (noon to 1pm, Andersen Lib. 120) by Yale U. Prof. of Anthropology & CBI Research Fellow @lmesseri.bsky.social Lisa Messeri!! "IN THE LAND OF THE UNREAL" Free talk & lunch, reg. req. Registration: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #HISTSCI
Flyer with elements from her book design and portrait photo of Lisa Messeri.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
Latest Interfaces... Dr. Lea Beiermann's "From the Backroom to the Ballroom: (Re)framing Open Source for the Public Sector" offers a fascinating & insightful essay looking back & looking forward with Open Source Software (OSS) in Europe. #histsci Essay article: cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces
Guests (including the author, left) at the black-tie cocktail reception following the European OS Awards Ceremony. Photo courtesy of the European Open Source Academy, https://europeanopensource.academy/.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
So enjoyed Rice U.'s. Liz Petrick's engaging, insightful lecture at UMN HSTM yesterday!! "Embodiment and Mobility in Online Technologies: From Computerized Conferencing to Tablets." #histsci
Rice U.'s Liz Petrick delivering a lecture holding a tablet.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Delighted that Rice University's Elizabeth Petrick will be joining us at University of Minnesota for the HSTM Colloquium Talk: "Embodiment and Mobility in Online Technologies: From Computerized Conferencing to Tablets" October 24th 216 Pillsbury Drive, Room 125 (3:35 pm), Minneapolis, MN #histsci
Woman at EIES terminal (circa 1979), b & w photo, she is seated with her right hand on the keyboard looking at the screen. EIES was a pioneering bulletin board and conferencing networked system.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
Just published in Interfaces-- tremendously insightful & timely essay by U. of Toronto's @hopelatta.bsky.social "People-in-Progress: 'Debate Escrow,' and the Language of Delay in Tech Research on Adolescent Digital Health." #histsci cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces
1960 Lucky Strike ad with woman smiling as she holds a lit cigarette--Wikimedia Commons
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
Grateful to Pavek Museum Curator @pelithehistorian.bsky.social for inviting me to speak on AI history today at The Pavek Museum & UMN HSTM colleagues & family making the trip to the burbs for it-- @honghongtinn.bsky.social, @waynesoon.bsky.social, & Jennifer Alexander !! #histsci
UMN HSTM group photo from the Pavek Museum today!
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Talk tomorrow on history, power, & ironies & paradoxes of rhetorical & infrastructural appropriations of AI. #histsci
Flyer of talk w headshot
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Esteemed colleague in HSTM & CBI Asst. Prof. of HST & ECE, UMN @honghongtinn.bsky.social is giving ECE's Colloquium talk from her tremendous book Island Tinkerers on Sept. 4th 4 to 5:15 pm C. in 3-230 Keller Hall, U of MN MPLS. #Histsci
Cover of Island Tinkerers, which is an illustration of Taiwan on a map with cartoonish images of digital tech and people using digital tech.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
New Interfaces Essay, Aug. 2025. A super creative & insightful essay by Eóin Phillips, a Prof. of History and Sociology of Sci/Tech/Econ at La Salle-Ramon Llull Univ. "Computational Schemes and Technological Routines: A Wet History of the Phillips Machine." #histsci cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces
Rochdale Canal Lock 91, industrial setting with lock and water flowing. David Dixon Wikimedia Commons
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Sharing a book review of Thomas S. Mullaney The Chinese Computer that I just published in the British Journal of the History of Science. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Cover of The Chinese Computer, blue and gray with a woman sitting at a keyboard/machine and QWERTY keys magnified above with smaller Chinese characters on the keys.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
Copies of JUST CODE just arrived! Partnering w Con & teaming w 19 brilliant STS authors on the vital topic of code/codes & inequality was so special! Authors (full list ToC below) On bsky: @mysdick.bsky.social @histoftech.bsky.social @dmulvin.bsky.social & blurb from @anitachan.bsky.social #histtech
Open box of books with two out showing front and back covers propped up on the balcony railing of my Minneapolis condo. Trees and sunshine are in the background.  The book's full title is JUST CODE: Power, Inequality, & the Global Political Economy of IT, and it is in bold black lettering with pastel fading trails of the letters.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
CBI is delighted to announce that Carnegie Mellon U. Prof. of CS Brad A. Myers is co-recipient of the 2025 CBI Human Computer Interaction ( @benbendc.bsky.social )‬ History Award for his monumental book Pick, Click, Flick!: The Story of Interaction Techniques. #histsci cse.umn.edu/cbi/news/mye...
Cover of Brad A. Myers' book Pick, Click, Flick! The Story of Interactive Techniques. black colored book with purple, white and gray design elements and computer keyboard keys in the background.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
CBI is delighted to announce Stanford Univ. 's Tom Mullaney is co-recipient of the 2025 CBI Human Computer Interaction @benbendc.bsky.social ‬ History Award for his masterful book The Chinese Computer: A Global History of the Information Age. #histsci cse.umn.edu/cbi/news/mul...
Cover of Thomas Mullaney's book The Chinese Computer, blue book with gray image and lettering, a woman sits at a stenography machine and in the background a QWERTY keyboard with many Chinese Characters on each key.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
Just published in Interfaces (May '25). Delighted to publish James (Jim) Cortada's new essay! "When Tacit Knowledge Meets Artificial Intelligence" (drawn in part from his forthcoming book Beyond the Facts). #histtech cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces
Cover of Beyond the Facts book by James W Cortada. In pastel blue and green and white it shows a stack of books with a ladder up to a light bulb.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
An absolute joy to read & discuss the amazing, indisciplinary research on automation & resistance at @zwtz.bsky.social @maidino.bsky.social "Shady Subjects" workshop & so honored to share my own "Of MYCIN Men" & get such generative, helpful comments! Thx to Malte, Marc & everyone!!! #histsci
Group photo of "Shady Subjects" Workshop Cornell U. April 24-26, 2025
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
If still charged up Edmund Berkeley's Squee, "the light-sensitive electronic beast," would be dancing to the industrial beat... Oops, wrong AI & wrong Squirrely.
Radio Electronics with robot squirrel Squee 1951
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Just published, April 2025 Interfaces essay, "Business History Conference 2025, & CBI's Participation." In this historiographical essay, I focus on oral history, & IT, gender, political economy, & labor history (in spotlighting many CBI fellows/grantees @BHC). #histtech cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces
Business History Conf. 2025 in Atlanta. Session on IBM and Work with left to right Corinna Schlombs, Jim Cortada, and David Stebenne.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 08/03/2025
So grateful to the incredible Prof. @anitachan.bsky.social for her tremendous lecture (& wonderful conversation) in MPLS "Predatory Data: Feminist Resistance to Eugenics in Big Tech," on Thursday!!! Hosted by CBI for Computing, Info. & Culture & HHH Ctr. on Women, Gender, & Public Policy. #Histsci
Prof. Anita Say Chan delivering her talk on Predatory Data in MPLS for CBI & CWGPP at UMN.Prof. Anita Say Chan in Q & A discussion following her lecture, she is seated and is holding a microphone.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
How did television help to shape early conceptions of personal computing & computer dating? See standout media studies scholar Dr. @myrnamoretti.bsky.social 's insightful (just published) Interfaces essay "Part of Our Lives Now: The Personal Computer on "Family Ties” "! cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces
Streaming shot of laptop with 1980s sitcom Family Ties playing--pictured is Alex and Mallory Keaton using an early personal computer in the family's living room.
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Jeffrey Yost @justcode.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
THRILLED to announce @anitachan.bsky.social will be giving a Humphrey Forum talk "Predatory Data: Feminist Resistance to Eugenics in Big Tech" co-hosted by CBI for Computing, Information & Culture, & Humphrey School of Public Affairs' CWGPP (March 6 @ 5pm CST). #hstsci cse.umn.edu/cbi/events/p...
Flyer with information on the talk and Anita Say Chan picture & short bio in the middle of the flyer. Coloring is U of Minnesota maroon and gold.
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