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With just over a month to go until the launch of our new autumn exhibition Computing History: Where did all the women go? we are busy putting the finishing touches to an exciting programme of events.
This exhibition, which runs throughout October 2017, brings together pioneering women whose contribution to the computing industry was undeniably formative but whose stories have often been written out by a focus on the ‘great men’ that have been involved. A key aim is to redress the balance to ensure these women’s contributions are once again seen as historical fact.
A growing schedule of activities features everything from theatrical and musical performances to film screenings, specific teacher and student events, as well as a wide range of debates, talks and workshops where visitors can get hands-on and try something new. This packed programme has been carefully designed to inform, challenge and entertain.
Some of the highlights of the coming exhibition include:
5 October 2017 6:30pm - Want to succeed in tech? Try not to be a woman...
Description
Panel discussion with academic and journalist John Naughton, Ada Lovelace Day founder Suw Charman-Anderson and business woman Claire Hopkins. More details to follow.
The event is open to all but aimed at a 16+ audience.
6 October 2017 11am-4pm - Does the Gender Gap in Tech Start in School?
Description
We are facilitating a day for teachers to get together to share ideas and good practice. Including a talk by Lisa Marie Cahill on her work on girls' engagement with tech in science centres and culminating in a presentation in the evening by Suw-Charman-Anderson (see below) on why she set up Ada Lovelace Day and some of the other women who have made outstanding contributions to computer science.
6 October 2017 6:30-8pm - Suw Charman-Anderson
Description
Suw Charman-Anderson talks about why she set up Ada Lovelace Day and some of the other women who have made outstanding contributions to computer science. With time for questions from the audience at the end.
12 October 2017 10am - 4pm - It Began with Ada
Description
Our Ada Lovelace Day event for secondary schools. Ada Lovelace wrote the world’s first complex algorithm in 1843 and was then written out of history. As part of this day, our Ada Lovelace tells her story using an LED dress which she operates – live on stage – using her wearable tech satin glove. This is a high impact performance in the morning with associated talks and a workshop in the afternoon. Suitable for girls age 11+.
12 October 2017 6:30pm - It Began with Ada - Show & Tell
Description
Our Ada Lovelace Day evening event. In this show and tell we watch a performer in a dress of light tell the Ada Lovelace story. A talk precedes the performance to explain why everyone should get involved with computers to help create our future! Ada Lovelace wrote the world’s first complex algorithm in 1843 and was then written out of history. Join us for this is a high impact performance. Suitable for age 11 to adults.
14 October 2017 6:30pm - Film Screening - Hidden Figures
Description
This hitherto untold tale reorients our view of the space race of the 1960s by telling the stories of 3 brilliant African-American mathematicians at NASA (Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson) who serve as the brains behind a stunning achievement that galvanised the world but who were then written out of history.
17 October 2017 6:30pm - Professor Jean Bacon in conversation
Description
Jean was the first woman to be appointed to a Lectureship in the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge in 1985. She is now Professor Emerita of Distributed Systems at the Computer Laboratory where she co-headed the Opera Research Group from its founding in the 1990s.
Please note that this event is being filmed.
18 October 2017 10am-7pm - CCH Website Editathon
Description
We know our own website is lacking in detail about all the tremendous contributions women have made over the years to computing history and we hate that fact! So this event will tackle our own site to make women’s contributions more visible. Do you have some women in mind who you think we should have more about on our site? Come join us and do some editing with us! Or if you can't make it, let us know who you think should be on there (email lisa@computinghistory.org.uk) and we'll do our best to put it right. And maybe we can do some wikipedia edits at the same time!
19 October 2017 6:30pm - Privacy in the Digital Age
Professor Natasa Milic-Frayling, University of Nottingham
Description
Issues of privacy in today’s technology-dependent society are examined in this presentation from Dr Natasa Milic-Frayling, who believes the answers to these issues is to create a ‘digital estate’. This is a specific concept that connects privacy with having ownership and control over our digital assets (personal, organizational, etc.) in view of the rapid obsolescence of digital technologies. The latest security and privacy protection through personalisation, user profiling, optimisation, and socialisation will need a legal and societal framework "that empowers rather than enslaves individuals”.
The event is open to all but aimed at a 16+ audience.
25 October 2017 1pm - 3:30pm - Just Bring Your Imagination! - Musical Workshop
Description
A workshop for children where you can make your own electronic music inspired by electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire (1937-2001). After deconstructing Delia’s iconic rendering of the original Dr Who theme tune you will have the opportunity to explore and compose using found sounds (non-musical objects). You will be sampling (recording sounds), creatively manipulating them and creating loops and atmospheric textures to a brief, similar to how Delia worked at The BBC Radiophonic Workshop.
This hands-on workshop is intended as a fun, collaborative creative experience - no equipment or prior music knowledge necessary. It is aimed at children aged from ten upwards. All under 14's must be accompanied by a responsible adult.
25 October 2017 6:30pm - Celebrating Electronic Music Pioneer Delia Derbyshire (1937- 2001).
An evening performance
Caro C (composer and project manager of electronic music charity Delia Derbyshire Day) will be offering insight into the work and working methods of electronic music pioneer Delia Derbyshire. Although Delia's best known work is her production of the original Dr Who theme (1963), she made far more electronic music that was way ahead of its time. Caro C will share key examples, revealing Delia's pioneering creativity working with tape and found sounds or 'objets trouvés'. This will include an audio collage compiled by Dr David Butler made up of sounds from the Delia Derbyshire Archive at John Rylands Library (University of Manchester) with a film inspired by the DD Archive by Andrea Pazos. The evening will conclude with Caro C performing her acclaimed creative response to the DD Archive called "Audient, My Dear" which is a journey through electronica for voice, electronics, ping pong ball and ruler.
The event is open to all but aimed at a 16+ audience.
26 October 2017 6:30pm - Ada Lovelace: the programmer, the maths, and the myths
Professor Ursula Martin CBE FRSE, University of Oxford
Description
Ada Lovelace is widely celebrated as "the first programmer”, the “enchantress of number” whose unique “poetical science” enabled her to make startling predictions about modern computing in a famous 1843 paper about Charles Babbage’s proposed analytical engine. In this talk Professor Martin will separate fact from myth, talk about what the famous paper actually says, and look at Lovelace as a member of a dynamic community of nineteenth century British scientists. In particular, she will high-light recent work on Lovelace’s mathematical "correspondence course” with Augustus De Morgan, which shows a sophisticated mathematical education and understanding, enabling her to write the paper and pursue many other mathematical and scientific interests.
Booking is essential for all these events. Further information can be found here
Press / media enquiries contact: Elaine Symonds
Email: elaine@computinghistory.org.uk
Date : 17-08-2017
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