Act I

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 05:54:19 GMT

I'm new to all of this and find myself feeling non-committal to all of this. Will blogging actually add value to my scholarship, or will it be a time sink? I tend toward the empirical in these matters; I’ll give it a shot.

I’m a historian of technology and science. I teach at four-year private university on an urban campus.

My fascination with technology and its uses centers on issues of policy and power. I teach and write about ways in which technology is used to assist, resist, or mediate the exercise of power. Violence and the military, gender relations, globalization's impact on poorer nations, environmental policy and remediation, and information science and technology have all been the focus of courses and publications.

My research interests range broadly, and for that reason, I’ve become interested in the systems sciences and systems approaches of the 20th century (operations research, systems analysis, systems engineering, cybernetics, game theory, etc.). While generally considered arcane (I can’t tell you how many eyes glaze over when I tell new acquaintances when I tell them I study the history of the systems sciences), their fingerprints are actually all over the scientific, technological, and medical enterprises from 1940 onward. As a metaphysics, they helped imagine a more sophisticated technological order of tomorrow; as a practice, they were deployed statistical modeling and computer simulations to coordinate and rationalize the activities of governments, businesses, and professions and universities. From military planning to health care administration, from industrial projects to environmental regulation, the systems sciences became one conduit through which the late-20th century world articulated technology, science, and medical policies.

So much for the “who am I.” That’s probably enough for now. Future posts will be more accessible, and I look forward to whatever conversation comes my way.

Homo ex Machina

Act I