8 December: ‘Text and Contexts: the Cultural Legacies of Ada Lovelace’

Registration is open for ‘Texts and contexts: the cultural legacies of Ada Lovelace’, an interdisciplinary workshop for graduates and early-career researchers. The workshop, taking place on Tuesday 8 December, at 10am  and will include papers on a wide variety of Lovelace-related topics, from Lovelace and Literature, to Lovelace and Lego.

The day will bring together postgraduates, early career researchers, and anyone with an interest in Ada Lovelace, to discuss the cultural influences of Lovelace’s work from the 19th century to the present day.

Our keynote address will be delivered by Professor Sharon Ruston (Lancaster University), who will later be joined in a roundtable discussion by Professor Richard Holmes, Sydney Padua, and Miranda Seymour. We also look forward to hearing papers on a wide variety of topics, from teaching and curating Lovelace in the 21st century, to Lovelace’s influence in the humanities.

The timings for the day are as follows:

9.30-10am Arrivals
10-10.15am Opening remarks
10.15-11.15am Panel 1: Artistic Legacies

  • Imogen Forbes-Macphail, ‘A sentimental mathematical correspondence: Ada Lovelace’s writing’
  • Anne Loveridge, ‘”Unweave a rainbow”: Ada Lovelace and the poetic mystery of science’

11.15-11.30am Coffee
11.30am-12.30pm Panel 2: Computing

  • Melissa Highton, ‘Wikipedia and the “trouble with girls”: edit in the name of Lovelace’
  • Carlo Ierna, ‘Lovelace and Descartes on the limits and possibilities of thinking machines’
  • Jane Waite, ‘Mrs Lovelace teaches year 2 computing’
  • 12.30-1.30pm Lunch

1.30-2.30pm Keynote address by Professor Sharon Ruston
2.30-3.30pm Panel 3: Ada’s Brains

  • Madelaine Schurch, ‘Ada Lovelace, mania, and visionary scientific imagination’
  • Lesley Gray, ‘Magnets and mesmerism: Ada Lovelace at the cusp of reason and romance’
  • Rebecca Barnes, ‘Serious play with Babbage and Lovelace: Lovelace’s role in shaping Babbage’s heuristic turn of mind’

3.30-3.45pm Coffee
3.45-4.45pm Panel 4: Public Engagement

  • Stewart Cromar, ‘LEGO Lovelace: building a modern icon’
  • Katherine Platt, ‘Lovelace at the Science Museum’
  • Georgina Ferry, ‘”If my wave can…follow & touch yours…”: Broadcasting the letters of Ada Lovelace’

4.45-5.45pm Roundtable discussion with Professor Richard Holmes, Sydney Padua, Professor Sharon Ruston, and Miranda Seymour
5.45-6pm Closing remarks

Abstracts for papers can be found on our website at adalovelaceworkshop.wordpress.com.

Contact us with any questions at adalovelaceworkshop@ell.ox.ac.uk.

Anyone with an interest in Lovelace is welcome to attend. Registration is now closed but contact Sarah Baldwin sarah.baldwin@cs.ox.ac.uk if you are interested in attending.