Shells and Pebbles

Byline: Katrin Geske

  • The (forgotten) Dutch attempt to stimulate IT education

    The (forgotten) Dutch attempt to stimulate IT education

    By Katrin Geske In January 1984, three ministries, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry for Science and Education, and the Ministry for Agriculture and Fishery[1] established a policy for stimulating information technology (IT) made in the Netherlands: the Information Technology Incentive Plan (the Dutch name was INformatica StimuleringsPlan, hereafter INSP). In this program, the…

  • The Power of Technology: Computing Equality in the 1980s (and How it Failed)

    By Katrin Geske Realizing the demands of a modern state – think for instance of complex social security or tax systems – takes more than just a good idea and the intention to make it happen. The role of fully automated systems has increased immensely over the past 50 years and their importance was (and…