STS Seminar Series explores the significance of the IBM Images Archive, Oct. 22

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Zbigniew Stachniak
Zbigniew Stachniak

The fourth instalment of this year’s Research Seminar Series in Science & Technology Studies (STS) takes place on Oct. 22 and features Zbigniew Stachniak, a professor in the Lassonde School of Engineering’s Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science.

Now in its 26th year, the series has hosted hundreds experts from across Canada and around the world presenting on a wide range of STS-related topics. The talks are free and open to the public, and STS majors are especially encouraged to attend. Refreshments are provided.

The Oct. 22 seminar, titled “The IBM Images Archive,” will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in 203 Bethune College (Norman’s).

Since its incorporation in 1917, IBM Canada has been documenting its corporate history as well as Canada’s evolving technological, cultural and social landscape in hundreds of thousands of photographs and films. A large volume of this material has survived, thanks to the collecting and curatorial efforts of several people at IBM Canada.

Now known as the IBM Images Archive, the size, scope and richness of the photographed themes make this archive one of the most significant records of Canada’s technological development in the past century. Recently donated to the York University Libraries, it will become part of the Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections located in the Scott Library.

In this talk, Stachniak will discuss the content and significance of the IBM Images Archive. He will illustrate the presentation with a selection of photographs taken between the 1920s and ’80s.

Here’s a look at the rest of the STS Seminar Series lineup for Fall 2019:

Nov. 5: Kelly Bronson (University of Ottawa), “Data-driven: Agribusiness, Activists and Their Shared Politics of the Future”

Nov. 19: Kate Henne (University of Waterloo), “Grey Matters: Imagining Traumatic Brain Injury Through the Lens of Sex Difference”

Dec. 3: John McLevey (University of Waterloo), “Democracies in Crisis? Online Deception, Disinformation and Political Polarization in Comparative Perspective”

Unless otherwise specified, all seminars in this series will take place on Tuesdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in 203 Bethune College (Norman’s).

Further details will appear in YFile prior to each talk, and the lineup for Winter 2019 will be released at a later date. This series is sponsored by York University’s Department of Science & Technology Studies, Faculty of Science, and co-ordinated by members of the department. For more information about the Research Seminar Series in Science & Technology Studies, contact Professor Conor Douglas at cd512@yorku.ca or visit sts.info.yorku.ca/seminar-series.