
Jessamyn West, Technology Lady (2015) - Tomte
https://medium.com/@jessamyn/transcription-jessamyn-west-technology-lady-6c6f5fefa507#.s75d93ntw
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jessamyn
Hey!

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scrame
Makes me wonder how much cross-pollination there is between HN and MeFi.

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archagon
I feel MeFi is a bit allergic to the politics of HN. For example, the recent
Google discussion would have gone over very differently there. (I say this
without passing judgement, since I tend to ping-pong back and forth between
both sites.)

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nether
If you want a taste of MeFi politics, here's a fun one:
[http://www.metafilter.com/151267/Wheres-My-Cut-On-Unpaid-
Emo...](http://www.metafilter.com/151267/Wheres-My-Cut-On-Unpaid-Emotional-
Labor)

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archagon
I do in fact love those kinds of MeFi threads, and I credit them with
broadening my understanding of the world and helping me become a better
feminist. I think many HN users wouldn't feel comfortable in that sort of
discussion, however.

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pavel_lishin
HN always felt like a bit of the agora, with the occasional thunderbolt from
dang to shut down flagrant shitposting; MeFi seems more civil. People seem
more caring there.

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packetslave
As an aside, Jessamyn is also the daughter of Tom West (of Data General and
"Soul of a New Machine" fame).

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mschaef
It took me longer than I'd like to admit to get around to reading it, but that
book's an absolute classic if you like the story of how things are built.

A few others:

* Kerry Nietz - FoxTales (FoxPro, mostly pre-Microsoft)

* Mary Walton - Car: A Drama of the American Workplace

* Chase Morsey Jr. - The Man Who Saved the V8 (Ford's flathead V8)

* Dealers of Lightning (Xerox PARC)

Related to that last, there's also a great Youtube video on the development of
the laser printer. It goes into all sorts of details regarding the design of
the laser scanning system, some corporate politics, etc.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Z6JNnIXgo&t=3297s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Z6JNnIXgo&t=3297s)

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kwindla
Also Andy Hertzfeld - Revolution in The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of
How the Mac Was Made.

Many of the stories in that book are here, as well:
[https://www.folklore.org/](https://www.folklore.org/)

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markbnine
Our local library is more like a free internet shop with half the terminals
taken up by transients and the other half by kids from the nearby jr. high,
playing shoot-em ups. It's impossible to get a terminal. They also have a huge
DVD collection that rivals the old blockbusters. Not sure who's checking out
books anymore.

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booksnobbery
What makes anyone's needs or social status less valid than any other library
patron?

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rwallace
I don't think it's valid to prioritize access on the basis of social status,
but I do think it's valid to prioritize need before entertainment. If you're
playing a game and someone comes along who needs to fill out a job application
form and there are no free terminals, you have a moral obligation to give up
your seat.

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sillysaurus3
I'd disagree with this. Entertainment is one of the basic human needs. Many
games also require a certain amount of time to complete, and some games have
severe penalties associated with leaving because it ruins the experience for
all the other players.

One way to deal with this situation is to disallow entertainment on certain
computers. That way there are always computers available. Still, in the era of
everybody having an internet-capable mobile phone, the original premise seems
suspect. In fact, the people using library computers to play games seem _more_
likely to be the ones who need it most. Many kids don't have a home PC capable
of running the games, whereas pretty much everybody has the internet.

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cowpatcallr
That is ridiculous.

You think that someone who wants to play WoW in a library is of the same
importance as someone finishing a highschool assignment in the library because
their parents can't afford a computer at home?

Get real.

How about going back to library of alexander and letting the commoners play
dice games in it.

> Entertainment is one of the basic human needs.

Ok, if you believe that, then fine. But where is it writ-large that
entertainment == playing video games on a free, public library computer?
There's lots of entertaining books in the library too. Grab one and sit
quietly on a chair if free entertainment is so important to you.

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sillysaurus3
No, not WoW. You can leave WoW whenever you want and come back later. It also
consumes huge amounts of time, so it's not at all the same.

Dota / LoL / CSgo matches last an hour and have severe penalties for leaving,
and they are very popular at internet cafes so I wouldn't be surprised if that
was what's being played.

Let's be honest: that highschooler will almost certainly spend as much or more
time on Facebook than on their assignment. The poorer the person, the more
likely this becomes.

Meanwhile you get to use that extremely-uncommon corner case to penalize
everybody else just because you dislike video games.

Those people reserved their computer time like everybody else. You don't get a
say in how they use it as long as they're following the rules. It's doubly
important to protect a shared public resource: we live in an era where anyone
can attack X as immoral, especially when X is harmless.

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Nullabillity
> No, not WoW. You can leave WoW whenever you want and come back later. It
> also consumes huge amounts of time, so it's not at all the same.

> Dota / LoL / CSgo matches last an hour and have severe penalties for
> leaving, and they are very popular at internet cafes so I wouldn't be
> surprised if that was what's being played.

Perhaps not the most fair comparison, as soon as you get into even casual
raiding/mythic+ dungeons.

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jordigh
> the community blog Metafilter, which is like the civilized version of
> Reddit.

Wait, what?

That sounds wonderful, I'm signing up.

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deepspace
Unfortunately you are several years too late. The site and community used to
be amazing when Matt and Jessamyn ran the show, but went it started going
downhill after Josh Millard took over and is now a shadow of its former self.

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arkitaip
Nonsense. Cortex (Josh) and mods have been working hard and it shows in that
quality is what it's always been.

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joezydeco
I also didn't realize Cortex now owns Metafilter.

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jedanbik
It just happened. There's a stickied MetaTalk post about it still I think.

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joezydeco
Was the banner at the top of the blue only recently added? I don't really read
MetaTalk.

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jessamyn
Banner's been there for at least a week.

