Janet Abbate

Janet Abbate (born June 3, 1962) is an associate professor of science, technology, and society at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on the history of computer science and the Internet, particularly on the participation of women in the field.
Academic career.
Abbate received her Bachelor's degree from Harvard University and her Masters degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She also received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994. From 1996 to 1998, she was a postdoctoral fellow with the IEEE History Center, where she conducted research on women in computing. She joined the faculty of Virginia Tech's Northern Capital Region campus in 2004 and is now an associate professor and the co-director of the graduate program in Science, Technology, and Society.
Prior to her academic work, Abbate was a computer programmer herself. Her background in computer programming has influenced her research approach and has been cited as relevant in reviews of her work.
Research.
In 1995, Abbate co-edited Standards Policy for Information Infrastructure with Brian Kahin.
Abbate is the author of two books: "Inventing the Internet" (2000) and "Recoding Gender: Women’s Changing Participation in Computing" (2012). "Inventing the Internet" was widely reviewed as an important work in the history of computing and networking, particularly in highlighting the role of social dynamics and of non-American participation in early networking development. The book was also praised for its use of archival resources to tell the history. Though some have criticized the work, citing Abbate's computer programming background as causing issues in presenting a non-technical narrative.
"Recoding Gender" also received positive reviews, especially for its incorporation of interviews with women in the field and for providing a historical overview of how women and gender have shaped computer programming. However, the book has also been criticized for being disjointed, claiming that the link of women in computing is not strong enough to hold the different chapters together. The book received the 2014 Computer History Museum prize.