Harvard University Eniac Girls and William Murrell Discussion

A. CORPORATE CULTURE

IBM had a powerful corporate culture (and it still does). We discussed this culture in the lectures, and it plays an important role in the story of IBM Customer Engineer William Murrell. In your essay, use the approved sources to assess IBM’s corporate culture. When you assess something, you evaluate it, or judge its quality: is it good or bad? Is it a mix of both? Why?

B. “ENIAC GIRLS” AND WILLIAM MURRELL

Both the “ENIAC Girls,” as women, and William Murrell, as a Black man in the United States, encountered systematic barriers to their inclusion in computing and the history of computing. In your essay, use the approved sources to compare the experiences of the “ENIAC Girls” and William Murrell. Your thesis should argue that they are importantly similar (or different), including the reason for the differences.

C. THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

Was the government the most important factor in the history of computing we discussed so far in this course? In your essay, use the approved sources to agree, disagree, or specify how the right answer is a mix of both.

D. WAR AND COMPUTING

Warfare and computing were (and are) closely related. In your essay, use the approved sources to assess the interaction of war and computing. When you assess something, you evaluate it, or judge its quality. Questions you may consider include: were the impacts more in one direction than the other (impact of computing on war vs. impact of war on computing)? You may consider the relations among society, gender, finances and technology.