Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

482 Turkle, SherryFurther ReadingHenderson, Harry. Modern Mathematicians. New York: Facts OnFile, 1996.Herken, R. The Universal Turing Machine. 2nd ed. London: OxfordUniversity Press, 1988.Hodges, A. Alan Turing: The Enigma. New York: Simon & Schuster,1983. Reprinted New York: Walker, 2000.———. “Alan Turing” [Web site]. Available online. URL: http://www.turing.org.uk/. Accessed August 23, 2007.Turing, Alan M. “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” Mind,vol. 49, 1950, 433–460.———. “On Computable Numbers, with an Application to theEntscheidungsproblem.” Proceedings of the London MathematicalSociety, vol. 2, no. 42, 1936–1937, 230–265.———. “Proposed Electronic Calculator.” In Carpenter, B. E. andR. W. Doran, eds. A. M. Turing’s ACE Report of 1946 and otherPapers. Charles Babbage Institute Reprint Series in the Historyof Computing, vol. 10. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press,1986.Turkle, Sherry(1948– )AmericanScientist, WriterFrom the time cyberspace began to become a reality in the1980s, Sherry Turkle has been a pioneer in studying thepsychological, social, and existential effects of computeruse and online interaction.Turkle was born Sherry Zimmerman on June 18, 1948,in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from AbrahamLincoln High School as valedictorian in 1965, she enrolledin Radcliffe College (which later became part of HarvardUniversity) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. However, whenshe was a junior her mother died, she quarreled with herstepfather, and dropped out of Radcliffe because she was nolonger able to keep up with her studies.Turkle then went to France, which by the late 1960s hadbecome the scene of social and intellectual unrest. A newmovement called poststructuralism was offering a radicalcritique of modern institutions. Turkle became fascinatedby its ideas and attended seminars by such key figures asMichael Foucault and Roland Barthes. In particular, personalexperience and intellectual interest joined in spurringher to investigate personal identity in the modern world.Poststructuralism and postmodernism see identity assomething constructed by society or by the individual, notsomething inherent. The new philosophers spoke of peopleas having multiple identities between which they couldmove “fluidly.” In being able to try on a new identity forherself, Turkle could see the applicability of these ideasto her own life and began to explore how they may alsoexplain the changes that were sweeping through society.Turkle decided to return to the United States to resumeher studies. In 1970 she received an A.B. degree in socialstudies, summa cum laude, from Radcliffe. After workingfor a year with the University of Chicago’s Committee onSocial Thought, she enrolled in Harvard, receiving an M.A.in sociology in 1973. She went on to receive her doctoratein sociology and personality psychology in 1976, writingabout the relationship between Freudian thought and themodern French revolutionary movements.Psychology of CyberspaceAfter getting her Harvard Ph.D. Turkle accepted a positionas an assistant professor of sociology at nearby MIT. Hereshe found a culture as exotic as that of the French intellectuals,but seemingly very different. In encountering theMIT hackers that would later be described in Steven Levy’sbook Hackers, Turkle became intrigued by the way the studentswere viewing all of reality (including their own emotions)through the language of computers.For many of the MIT computer students, the mindwas just another computer, albeit a complicated one. Anemotional overload required “clearing the buffer,” andtroubling relationships should be “debugged.” Fascinated,Turkle began to function as an anthropologist, takingnotes on the language and behavior of the computer students.In her second book, The Second Self: Computers andthe Human Spirit (1984), Turkle says that the computer forits users is not an inanimate lump of metal and plastic, butan “evocative object” that offers images and experiencesand draws out emotions. She also explained that the computercould satisfy deep psychological needs, particularlyby offering a detailed but structured “world” (as in a videogame) that could be mastered, leading to a sense of powerand security.Although the computer culture of the time was largelymasculine, Turkle also observed that this evocative natureof technology could also allow for a “soft approach” basedon relationship rather than rigorous logic. This “feminine”approach usually met with rejection. Turkle believed thatthis message had to be changed if girls were not to be leftbehind in the emerging computer culture.Turkle had already observed how computer activities(especially games) often led users to assume new identities,but she had mainly studied stand-alone computer use. Inthe 1990s, however, online services and the Internet in particularincreasingly meant that computer users were interactingwith other users over networks. In her 1995 bookLife on the Screen, Turkle takes readers inside the fascinatingworld of the MUD, or multi-user dungeon (see onlinegames). In this fantasy world created by descriptive text,users could assume any identity they wished. An insecureteenage boy could become a mighty warrior—or perhaps aseductive woman. A woman, by assuming a male identity,might find it easier to be assertive and would avoid the sexismand harassment often directed at females.The immersive world of cyberspace offers promises, perils,and potential, according to Turkle. As with other media,the computer world can become a source of unhealthyescapism, but it can also give people practice in using socialskills in a relatively safe environment, although there canbe difficulty in transferring skills learned online to a faceto-faceenvironment.Although the computer has provided a new mediumfor the play of human identity, Turkle has pointed out thatthe question of identity (and the reality of multiple identities)is inherent in the postmodern world. Looking to the