Further on the social construction of technology

[rivkat]

It turns out there's a history of considering technologies finished when they can properly display white people.  Z sent me these cites: (1) Richard Dyer, "Making 'White' People White, in The Social Shaping of Technology, eds. Donald MacKenzie and Judy Wajcman. It's an excerpt from Dyer's book, "White," in which he notes that, among other things, videotape quality was evaluated by how well they displayed a blank, pale orange signal called "skin" that was supposed to match white skin.   (2) Brian Winston, A Whole Technology of Dyeing: A Note on Ideology and the Apparatus of the Chromatic Moving Image, Daedalus, Vol. 114, No. 4, The Moving Image (Fall, 1985), pp. 105-123--discussing how, at every stage, film development was guided by how it did at showing white skin. 

Comments

[flourish]

Yeah, and before videotape, still film was also calibrated that way. (I can see if I can dig up some cites if you like...)

[brownbetty]

Oh, wow. Not much to say to that.

[crypto]

Thanks for sharing these. I linked to this already in your DBW post, but here's the PDF of the Winston essay.

[rivkat]

Thanks! I found the Winston essay a bit too jargony for my taste, but it does have quite the punchline.