Comments on: new book: ham radio’s technical culture

By: hamster

hamster — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:39:42 +0000

I have read the book and it is very good. I would recommend anyone involved in ham radio to give it a read.

By: Wes Plouff

Wes Plouff — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 02:58:11 +0000

As a former radio amateur, I have to say Kristen Haring’s book does not describe the reality of the 1960s and 70s hobby well. The book is based on a literature review unleavened by interviews with any participants in the hobby. The author makes the serious mistake of taking what she read at face value. The book does not appear to have been reviewed or edited by anyone with personal knowledge of ham radio, and thus contains factual errors. In my opinion, attempting to apply a 1930s model of ham radio and 2000s social judgements to several intervening decades led Dr. Haring to glaring errors of interpretation.

Because of these limitations, the book does not deliver on the promise of fitting the reality of ham radio to the theoretical framework of the first chapter. Nor did I gain any coherent insight into the strength of the hobby in the 1950s and 60s, and its decline in the 1970s. It is not a good history. It is not a good social critique. It does not really show how well ham radio kept pace with changing gender roles in the context of contemporary events. (The hobby probably lagged somewhat.)

HRTC has other problems. In describing ham radio’s slow transition to solid-state electronics, Haring writes: “Hobbyists accustomed to the light that indicated a vacuum tube was working spoke of taking comfort in the ‘warm glow’ of the familiar components. By comparison, transistors were tiny, opaque, sealed devices — black boxes, literally and figuratively — that made learning by doing nearly impossible in home workshops.” This is embarrassing to read, because it is such a shallow judgement, and offensive to read, because it is such a shallow judgement, regardless of whether this passage was intended to be literal or figurative. It’s historically and technically wrongheaded besides.

This is just one example out of many where the author never gets past the shiny surface of things. Another is that she considers building electronic equipment and operating it on the air to be inseparable parts of the hobby. In reality, by the 1960s, these two aspects were divergent forces.

Kristen Haring peers at amateur radio through a very distorted lens in a way I can only hope other scholars of technological culture (and MIT Press!) avoid.

Some aspects of ham radio that might relate to amateur creation in new media are the role of ingenuity, the sense of community engendered by shared mastery of technology, and whether technological changes enable or hinder continued expression by the amateur community.

By: Jean

Jean — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 06:24:32 +0000

Thanks for the link and your good wishes Kristen. And I’m glad my intuition about the links between contemporary amateur enthusiast communities and analogous cultural or social formations in the past matches with what you’ve found – especially given that there are some, e.g. amateur photography, that have continued from one century into the next, and are now being reconfigured in digital contexts. Best of luck with the book as it starts to circulate!

Bill, this link should work for you: http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10967

By: Bill Duncan

Bill Duncan — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 01:54:39 +0000

I went to the MIT Press Book Store but I was not able to find the book. It sounds interesting.

73
Bill WA6OHP

By: Kristen Haring

Kristen Haring — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 14:04:47 +0000

Jean,

I believe there is a connection between the cooperative, interactive aspects of contemporary computing culture and the cultures of technical hobbies like ham radio, rocket building, amateur photography, etc. The first chapter of my book defines the category of technical hobbies and considers the motivations and experiences shared by people who took up technology for leisure. Recently I posted some brief comments about technical hobbies as historical precedents for users generating Web content. This will give you a sense of how the book unites various amateur technical practices:
http://mitpress.typepad.com/mitpresslog/2006/12/youre_it.html

Good luck with your dissertation,
Kristen