Well, as soon as Jeff McClurken told me about Ada Lovelace Day I knew I was in, I also knew who I wanted to blog about. It was really a no-brainer for me. Ms. Pacman….I love you! And if you think I’m being silly, please watch the video via Bitch Magazine—it offers a rather compelling argument about why Ms. Pacman may very well be one of the most important women excelling both in and through technology.
Now, after that, don’t you want to play a game of Ms. Pacman? I knew that you would!
Ms Pacman was a hero of the revolution, no doubt. But no love for Nichelle Nichols? Or Majel Barrett, come to that, who did so much to make computers sexy by being one?
Much love for Uhura and Rodenberry, but that’s 60s shit. The bava is all about the 80s.
In your version, Sue’s AI has been raised to an unauthentically high level. The ghosts don’t behave right.
Just sayin’
Joe
Heh. One of my students wrote a very nice paper about Ms. Pac-Man for our Gender and Technology class: http://gandt.blogs.brynmawr.edu/web-papers/web-papers-2/pac-man-and-the-gender-question/
Ms. Pac-Man and her hubby were a huge influence on me in my pre-teen and teen years. I loved playing video games–in the arcade, crammed in with other slightly off-smelling teens. And all those quarters! Ahhh. Good times.
Brilliant choice. Although, it’s unfortunate that Ann Coulter ended up being the image for the video. For a moment, I thought you were going in a different direction, entirely. 🙂
Laura,
Is that paper online? I would love to check it out, I was thinking that folks may actually not take this serious or imagine it as irreverent, but when I think of women and technology, I think of the iconic image of MS. Pacman, and her insane allure. This is all so much more true because my understanding of the magic of technology was filtered through video games.
@Martha,
Agreed, I would like to change that image, but it ain’t my video. And the only direction I could go after Ann Coulter is up I imagine 🙂
Jim–I linked to it in my comment! Check it out!
It’s pretty awesome. And of course, it’s in a WPMU site.
Thanks Laura,
My bad, I don’t know how I missed the link. I guess my scanning is very, very weak 🙂
Ms Pacman was one of my most played games from childhood. I used to play this game without this much insight, Going through this blog has given me kinda new interest in the game. Ms Pacman Rules……..