If You're Curious About These Questions...
You should listen to this audiobook
- Did you know that the complex world of computer programming was originally dismissed as 'clerical work' and almost exclusively performed by women?
- Have you ever wondered who the unsung 'mothers of the internet' were, and why their names are missing from most history books?
- Are you curious about how the visionary women of the 19th and 20th centuries predicted the digital world we live in today long before the first computer was even built?
Listen to Broad Band — Free Audiobook
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Key Takeaways from Broad Band
- Discover how the foundational mental labor of women built the computer science industry, forging vital professional paths that were historically erased by sexist stereotypes.
- Learn how Ada Lovelace became the world's first computer programmer by expanding on Charles Babbage's analytical engine to envision general-purpose computing.
- Understand how Grace Hopper revolutionized the tech industry by inventing the first compiler and spearheading COBOL, a universal programming language that made coding accessible to nonexperts.
- Find out what a 'kilogirl' is and how female human computers drove essential mathematical computations by hand long before electronic machines existed.
- Explore how the pioneering women of the ENIAC Six taught themselves to program the world's first electronic computer through sheer physical and mental effort, completely without user manuals.
Learning Tools
Reinforce what you learned from Broad Band
Mind Map
Broad Band
The Erasure of Women in Computing
Historical Marginalization
The First Programmers
Ada Lovelace
Grace Hopper
The ENIAC Six
Building the Early Internet
Pam Hardt-English
Elizabeth 'Jake' Feinler
Social Media and Web Culture
Stacy Horn
Marisa Bowe
Hypertext and Digital Publishing
Dame Wendy Hall
Jaime Levy
Quiz — Test Your Understanding
Question 1 of 8
How did Ada Lovelace make her mark as the world's first computer programmer?
Broad Band — Full Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: Recommendation
Chapter 2: Ada Lovelace became the world’s first computer programmer.
Chapter 3: Grace Hopper was a computing trailblazer.
Chapter 4: The women of ENIAC Six taught themselves to program the first electronic computer ever.
Chapter 5: Women played a major role in building communication networks for social good.
Chapter 6: Elizabeth “Jake” Feinler was responsible for a significant precursor to the internet.
Chapter 7: One of the earliest social networks, Echo, was founded by a woman and featured the first influencer ever.
Chapter 8: Dame Wendy Hall innovated within hypertext, a field that ultimately produced the World Wide Web.
Chapter 9: Jaime Levy remains a digital-publishing pioneer.
Broad Band Summary & Overview
Broad Band (2018) tells the story of the women who played significant roles in the evolution of computers and the internet. It examines how these women became trailblazers in fields of work that were initially considered boring – but later proved to be of great importance.
Who Should Listen to Broad Band ?
- Young women interested in pursuing a career in computer science
- Computer scientists and engineers
- People interested in how women have shaped our world
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