The Real World of Technology

This series of lectures originally published in 1990, with a follow-on in this edition in 1999, provides a fascinating perspective of the world before and after the public roll-out of the world wide web. Franklin considers contemporary technology from a historical perspective, understanding that the current trends are just part of a larger narrative. As a result, some of the lectures were quite prophetic in predicting the actions of technology companies in the 21st Century. The writing is easy as it was originally delivered as spoken lecture, and the content, although not unique, is very well structured.

Impressive set of lectures on the societal implications of technology - broadly, from ancient metalworking to sewing machines to electrification to military industrial arms - from a feminist pacifist horizontalist perspective. Franklin highlights ways in which technical choices obscure moving from holistically artisan to hierarchical control, from biological growth and uncertainty to manufacturing's obliviousness to context, and the false claims of liberation or ease from the introduction of new tech which turns to exploitation and makes us dependent on industrial supply and control.

This is sheer delight and smarts. I wanted a feminist working out of how gender and society interact with technologies, and this is it. I'm so taken I'm actually thinking I might listen to the CBC's recordings of the original lectures as I try to work out how this might help me thinking about feminist bibliography.

You can skip the additional chapters that she added on to the second publishing (in my opinion). But the first three chapters are essential reading for anyone trying to understand how technology is shaping our lives and creating a culture of compliance.