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SUMMARY:Empire of AI Book Club Series: History of Technology Showcase (Hybrid)
DESCRIPTION:Study a curated selection of historical collections and rare 
 book manuscripts from the Kislak Center for Special Collections that 
 explore the intersection of material archaeology\, computational 
 visuality\, and natural knowledge in the pre-modern world. Examine 
 representations of automata\, mechanical devices\, computational objects\, 
 humanoid robotic sentience\, cryptography\, and more\, in relation to 
 gender\, labor\, multilingualism\, and environmentalism. Discover how 
 cultures across the Afro-Eurasian and Mediterranean spheres envisioned 
 complex forms of natural knowledge through schematic illustrations and 
 diagrams.\n\n \n\nLocation:  Kislak Center Vitale II\, Van Pelt-Dietrich 
 Center Library\, Room 623\n\n \n\nSchedule\n\n10 AM: History of AI as a 
 Technology Talk by Kerry McAuliffe \n\n“AI” as a term captures the 
 public imagination\, and ire\, precisely through its 
 non-specificity–leaving powerful companies to shape its meaning through 
 branded technologies. This lecture will trace some of the core historical 
 genealogies that intersect to form the technologies and fictions we call 
 “AI" to find its multiple meanings\, by using archival objects on display 
 (including Jacquard loom patterns\, science fiction editions\, and early PC 
 hardware).\n\n10:30AM: Manuscript Showcase by Dot Porter\n\n11 AM: Data 
 Gathering Discussion & Weaving Exercise by Jaj Karajgikar\n\nLearning 
 Objectives\n\n How do our current discussions about AI appear in historical 
 contexts?\n\n How multilingual is AI?\n\n Where does all the training data 
 for an LLM come from?\n\n What is the connection between material objects 
 and computation?\n\nPrerequisites:\nYou are welcome to contextualize 
 yourself on the History of AI as a technology and a hype cycle with the 
 Empire of AI Chapter 4 “Dreams of Modernity”\n\nFamiliarity with 
 Libguide focused on AI / ML and Best Practices encouraged.\n\nSoftware 
 required:\n\nNo Device / Software Installation Required.\n\nAbout the 
 Facilitators:\n\n\n	\n	Kerry McAuliffe is a PhD candidate in English and 
 Media Studies at the University of Pennsylvania\, with MAs in Digital 
 Humanities and Digital Culture and Society from King’s College London. 
 Her dissertation asks how “memory” becomes external\, material\, and 
 technical\, through scientific and cultural shifts in nineteenth-century 
 Britain in the wake of the abolition of the slave trade. She focuses 
 especially on Charles Babbage and early computation\, and currently on 
 histories of AI technologies and AI’s effect on education.\n	\n	\n	Jaj 
 Karajgikar: library.upenn.edu/staff/jajwalya-karajgikar\n	\n	\n	Dot Porter: 
 https://www.library.upenn.edu/staff/dot-porter\n	\n\n\nImage credits: Shady 
 Sharify / https://betterimagesofai.org / 
 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
LOCATION:Kislak Center Vitale II\, Rm 623\, 6th Floor\, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center
ORGANIZER;CN="Jajwalya Karajgikar":MAILTO:jajk@upenn.edu
CATEGORIES:AI Literacy, AILIG, Data Science, Digital Humanities, Textual Analysis, Digital Scholarship, Information Literacy, Penn Libraries AI Studio
CONTACT;CN="Jajwalya Karajgikar":MAILTO:jajk@upenn.edu
STATUS:CONFIRMED
UID:LibCal-17433520
URL:https://libcal.library.upenn.edu/calendar/rdds/history-of-technology-showcase-2026
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