82 research outputs found
Beware the Cat (2018): Adapted from William Baldwin by Frances Babbage, Terry O’Connor and Rachel Stenner, introduced and edited for publication by Frances Babbage and Terry O’Connor
No full textWilliam Baldwin’s Beware the Cat was adapted for performance in 2018 by Frances Babbage, Terry O’Connor and Rachel Stenner, in collaboration with artist Penny McCarthy and the original cast. The full script from this performance is published here. Prefaced by a short commentary which contextualises the project and explains the strategies used to bring it to the stage, the main body of the script incorporates elements of creative documentation that seek to reflect the character of Beware the Cat as a live event. To this end, the co-authors mimic Baldwin’s use of marginalia and annotation in a commentary that runs parallel to the actors’ dialogue; additional visual and textual interventions on the page demonstrate the way in which the original performance consciously explored the power of contrasting expressive languages
Oral history interview with Frances E. Holberton
No full textTranscript, 46 pp. Audio file available at http://purl.umn.edu/94962Holberton discusses her education from 1940 through the 1960s and her experiences in the computing field. These include work with the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation, David Taylor Model Basin, and the National Bureau of Standards. She discusses her perceptions of cooperation and competition between members of these organizations and the difficulties she encountered as a woman. She recounts her work on ENIAC and LARC, her design of operating systems, and her applications programming.Holberton, Frances E.. (1983). Oral history interview with Frances E. Holberton. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/107363
THE SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY OF CHARLES BABBAGE
No full textA description of the history, contents, and present
location of the scientific library of Charles Babbage. The contents are classified
under 21 headings. Babbage is shown to have had an interest in the collection
of rare scientific works.We are currently acquiring citations for the work deposited into this collection. We recognize the distribution rights of this item may have been assigned to another entity, other than the author(s) of the work.If you can provide the citation for this work or you think you own the distribution rights to this work please contact the Institutional Repository Administrator at [email protected]
Acts of Unsettling: An Immersive Adaptation of Berger and Mohr’s A Seventh Man
No full textThis article examines Michael Pinchbeck and Ollie Smith’s theatrical adaptation of A Seventh Man, the 1975 book by John Berger and photographer Jean Mohr studying the experience of migrant workers in Europe. Pinchbeck and Smith’s 2020 adaptation uses immersive performance strategies in dialogue with a multi-voiced, cross-disciplinary publication that itself aims to produce an immersive or ‘animated’ reader engagement. In this article, Babbage and Pinchbeck present source text and performance as examples of practice-as-research, referencing Nelson’s paradigm that establishes different modes of knowledge and points of connection- and dissension-between them. They discuss the book’s cross-disciplinarity and the attempt to reflect this in a new creative context that is spatiotemporal, embodied, social, visual, verbal and aural. The article’s theoretical context draws on writing by Barthes, Berger, Said and Sontag, applying Barthes’ notion of the studium and the punctum to reflect on the dramaturgical rendering of the source text’s ‘interruptive shocks’. Babbage and Pinchbeck argue that, in book and performance, the juxtaposition of different formal languages elicits an encounter with the material that is productively ‘unsettling’
Staging Angela Carter
No full textBabbage considers the challenges of staging Angela Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’ and ‘The Company of Wolves’. Discussing several contemporary productions, Babbage shows that while Carter’s Gothic iconography has been effectively represented, theatre adaptations have struggled to sustain the fluidity of position that is equally important in her work. Referencing examples from 18th and 19th century drama, and the insistence of Burke and Radcliffe that terror requires obscurity and ‘boundlessness’, Babbage examines treatments of Carter in non-theatre sites. Grid Iron’s The Bloody Chamber, a promenade production in Edinburgh catacombs, and Burn the Curtain’s The Company of Wolves, a night-time performance in woodland, exploit the potential of space, proximity and obscurity; both adaptations thereby structure a relationship to Carter’s writing that is exciting, unsettling and potentially liberating
Re-visioning myth : feminist strategies in contemporary theatre
No full textThis thesis examines the strategy of re-visioning myth within contemporary European
feminist theatre, a strategy which has proved popular over time and across cultures but
which has received insufficient critical attention. This study seeks to fill that gap by
offering a framework through which this practice can be considered, exploring the
diverse motivations of individual playwrights, and evaluating the achievements of
particular plays in context. Twelve case studies are included, grouped together to
demonstrate a variety of approaches to re-visioning ranging from utilisation of myth as
pretext for examination of social issues, to an apparent abandonment of contemporary
reality for a utopian otherworld. However, it is argued first that mythical, social and
psychological strands remain intertwined, and second that the diversity of approaches
reflects the importance for feminist theatre of selecting strategies to meet specific needs,
and that these strategies can thus be viewed as complementary rather than in conflict.
Chapter One introduces selected critical perspectives on myth, re-visioning and feminist
theatre, framing these within Rita Felski's model of the feminist counter-public sphere.
Chapter Two discusses plays by Hella Haasse, Franca Rame and Sarah Daniels, which
examine myth as ideological narrative. Plays by Maureen Duffy, Caryl Churchill and
David Lan, and Timberlake Wertenbaker, considered in Chapter Three, investigate
myths of female violence. Chapter Four looks at plays by Andree Chedid and Angela
Carter which use myth to confront women's complicity in maintaining the status quo.
Plays by Serena Sartori, Renata Coluccini and Helene Cixous, discussed in Chapter
Five, offer psychological investigations into women's relationships with myth,
language and power. The thesis concludes with a summary of the research findings,
and assesses their significance
UNIVAC conference
No full textTranscript, 171 pp. Audio file is available at http://purl.umn.edu/96272The introduction of the UNIVAC computer is among those subjects in the history of computing that has received wide attention. The issues and sequence of events leading to the development of the UNIVAC have been covered in such writings as Nancy Stern's "From ENIAC to UNIVAC" and Herman Lukoff's "From Dits to Bits," and was the subject of the 1981 AFIPS Pioneer Day. However, less attention has been devoted to the place of the UNIVAC from approximately 1952 to 1956, after its initial development. A two-day oral history conference was convened in May 1990 to examine the role and effect of the UNIVAC on computing and the computer industry in the mid-1950s.
The meeting involved over twenty-five engineers, programmers, marketing representatives, and salesmen who were involved with the UNIVAC, as well as customers who had worked with the machine. Many of these persons were key to the development and use of the computer, although this was the first time that most had been part of the historical analysis of the UNIVAC. Of particular note was the attendance of individuals from General Electric and Arthur Andersen. Both firms were early purchasers of the UNIVAC and had an important influence on the sale of UNIVACs to other businesses. Also represented in the group was the U.S. Census, which purchased the first UNIVAC from Remington Rand.
The conference was organized and supported by the Unisys Corporation in concert with the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) and the Smithsonian Institution. Anne Frantilla, corporate archivist for Unisys, was responsible for developing the conference and bringing together the participants. The Smithsonian hosted and recorded the conference. CBI undertook the production of this transcript, and has added the audio tape(s)s to its oral history collection.
Editing of this transcript has been minimal. The text was altered only when an exact transcript of the spoken word did not adequately convey the intended meaning. More substantive changes and editorial remarks are enclosed in square brackets ([ ]). Also note that "UNIVAC" (all caps) conveys the computer, and "Univac" generally means the Univac Division of Remington Rand, later Sperry Rand. The editing of this transcript is unlike other oral interviews conducted by the Charles Babbage Institute in that participants were not given a chance to review their comments. The number of participants simply made CBI's standard practice infeasible. However, John Swearingen and Frances and Richard Woltman graciously agreed to review the transcript, and most of their recommendations were incorporated in the final transcript. Bruce Bruemmer edited the transcript.
Participants include: Armand E. Adams, Dorothy P. Armstrong, Lancelot W. Armstrong, Jean Bartik, Lee S. Carter, M. Paul Chinitz, George Danehower, Eugene L. Delves, Donald B. Dixon, Carl Hammer, Frances Elizabeth Holberton, Morgan W. Huff, Florence K. Koons, Donald W. Marquardt, H. W. Matter, Jean E. Sammet, Joseph E. Sberro, Cecil M. Shuler, John K. Swearingen, Albert Tonik, Louis D. Wilson, Frances B. Woltman, Richard D. Woltman.
Moderators include: Paul Ceruzzi, Bernard A. Galler, Michael S. Mahoney, Arthur L. Norberg, Robert F. Rosin, and Henry S. Tropp.Woltman, Richard D.; Woltman, Frances B.; Wilson, Louis D.; Tonik, Albert B.; Swearingen, John K.; Shuler, Cecil M.; Sberro, Joseph E.; Sammet, Jean E., 1928-; Matter, H. W.; Marquardt, Donald W.; Koons, Florence K.; Huff, Morgan W.; Holberton, Frances E.; Hammer, Carl, 1914-2004; Dixon, Donald B.; Delves, Eugene L.; Danehower, George; Chinitz, M. Paul; Carter, Lee S.; Bartik, Jean; Armstrong, Lancelot W.; Armstrong, Dorothy P.; Adams, Armand E.. (1990). UNIVAC conference. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/104288
Charles Babbage: theology, technique, and economy in the Ninth Bridgewater Treatise
No full textCharles Babbage (1791-1871) foi um polímata, economista e engenheiro formado pela Universidade de Cambridge, hoje reconhecido por ser o primeiro a projetar máquinas de cálculo programáveis. Seu renome, comumente associado à história da computação, no entanto, acabou por ofuscar as outras facetas do autor, de tal modo que a diversidade de temas de sua obra passou despercebida pela maioria de seus comentadores. Neste trabalho, propomos uma interpretação ampla dessa menos explorada diversidade do pensamento babbageano, adotando como ponto de partida a sua teologia natural, presente em The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise (1837). Através da articulação de suas reflexões teológicas, de sua experiência como designer de máquinas de cálculo programáveis e de suas propostas para o desenvolvimento econômico e tecnológico enfatizamos, ao longo do trabalho, as linhas guias da obra do matemático de Cambridge. A fim de melhor fundamentar nossa hipótese interpretativa geral, na primeira e segunda parte desta dissertação, contextualizamos tanto o período histórico de Babbage quanto a relação entre a teologia natural babbageana e aquela adotada pela coleção dos Tratados de Bridgewater. Passamos, em seguida, ao comentário de trechos importantes do Nono tratado e, por fim, à conclusão, na qual apresentamos as possíveis críticas ao projeto teológico e econômico babbageano.Charles Babbage (1791-1871) was a polymath, economist and engineer graduated from the University of Cambridge, today recognized for being the first to design programmable calculating machines. His reputation, commonly associated with the history of computing, however, ended up overshadowing the other facets of the author, in such a way that the diversity of themes in his work went unnoticed by most of his commentators. In this work, we propose a broad interpretation of this less explored diversity of the Babbagean thought, taking as its starting point its natural theology, present in The Ninth Bridgewater Treatise (1837). Through the articulation of his theological reflections, his experience as a designer of programmable calculus machines, and his proposals for economic and technological development, we emphasize, throughout the work, the guidelines of the work of the Cambridge mathematician. In order to better base our general interpretive hypothesis, in the first and second part of this dissertation, we contextualize both the historical Babbage period and the conflicting relationship between Babbagean natural theology and that adopted by the Bridgewater Treaties collection. We then proceed to comment on important passages from the Ninth treaty and, finally, to the conclusion, in which we present possible criticisms of the Babbagean theological and economic project
An Oral History Interview with Meg Leta Jones
No full textAn Oral History Interview with Meg Leta Jones conducted by Gerardo Con DiazThis oral history interview is sponsored by NSF 2202484, “Mining a Usable Past: Perspectives, Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy,” at the Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. The interview is with Meg Leta Jones, Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor in the Communication, Culture, and Technology program at Georgetown University. Jones discusses her upbringing in rural Illinois, her education in engineering, law, and communication studies, and her path to interdisciplinary privacy scholarship. She reflects on her work on the right to be forgotten, data deletion, and comparative privacy regimes. Then she discusses her engagement with design, infrastructure, and information ethics, as well as her roles as author, mentor, and public scholar.National Science FoundationLeta Jones, Meg. (2025). An Oral History Interview with Meg Leta Jones. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/274361
- …
