Eden Medina, Roundtable
Years ago, Eden Medina became interested in Salvador Allende's efforts to create a cybernetic component to his government in Chile. Her book "Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende's Chile" received the 2012 Edelstein Prize for outstanding book in the history of technology and the 2012 Computer History Museum Prize for outstanding book in the history of computing.
Medina, associate professor of informatics and computing, adjunct associate professor of history and co-director of the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics at Indiana University Bloomington, received her Ph.D. from MIT in the history and social study of science and technology. She also holds a degree in electrical engineering and a certificate in women's studies from Princeton University. She is a Fulbright senior specialist in the area of engineering education.
Medina spoke about her research at a Feb. 19 Poynter Center Roundtable. Allende and his associates set out to weave together socialism and the nationalization of industries into a computer system designed to manage the nationalized economy. In addition to highlighting one period in Chile's history, Medina helps us look at the Cold War through the lens of technology and innovation, reminding us how intertwined politics and technology are and how international geopolitics can shape our judgments of whether a computer system is ethical.
