June 14, 2019

‘Direct Action Against Computerization (1960-1990)’

In the political genealogy of computers, and even more so in the dominant historiography of the Internet, [neo-Luddite] opposition has been largely overlooked. Among the actors who contributed in one way or another to shaping these technologies and the discourse surrounding them before the 1990s, postwar humanist scientists and technophile hippies of the 1960s are often mentioned (see, for example, the works of Fred Turner). Together, they helped …

November 23, 2018

The Origins of Digital Activism in France

My colleague Patrick Pétin and I have just published an article in the journal Internet Histories that traces the origins of digital activism in France. The idea is to provide some new insights based on interviews conducted with pioneers of the movement over the past two years, but also to raise international awareness of the specificities of the French trajectory, at a time when historiography remains largely dominated by Anglo-Saxon actors.