Folding the Pages of Computer History

In the early 1980s, several groups of female clerical workers across North America lodged complaints against the VDTs—video display terminals—that had recently been introduced into their workplaces. Among now-routine complaints from computer users—repetitive strain, carpal tunnel, eye problems—these women alleged that VDT use caused miscarriages and birth defects. Arguing that obstetric concerns and technologies should be integrated into the history of computing, this article takes a page from the National Women’s Health Network publication Network News as its central point of interest. Treating the formal design of the page, which includes a short article about VDTs, as a methodological provocation, this article proposes the deliberate use of alternative entryways into the history of computing.