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In the history of computing and artificial intelligence, women are often forgotten, plagiarized, or even erased from the narrative completely, and when people think of computers and modern AI, the white man and Silicon Valley usually come to mind. However, you’d never guess that a woman was involved in the invention of the first computer: the Analytical Engine, and that this same woman, Ada Lovelace, is now recognized as the first-ever computer programmer, paving the way for the modern computing we know today. In the straight, linear histories we are taught to obey and worship, this woman, and many others, would be left out of the narrative, which is what Shelley Jackson is challenging in her groundbreaking electronic literature text, Patchwork Girl. Shelley Jackson introduces the idea of the “dotted line” as a critique of the straight line we are taught to follow, and when thinking of people as “dotted lines,” figures like Ada Lovelace immediately come to mind. She is a pioneer and a trailblazer, with her visionary understanding of early computing and her recognition that machines could do more than just calculate numbers. She imagines a general-purpose computer long before it exists, and her existence and accomplishments resist traditional linear narratives. She, along with many other women, shaped the computers we all use today, underappreciated and uncredited; these “dotted lines” weaved in and out of history, unincluded in the dominant linear history, deserve to have their moment and recognition in the long-standing history of computing, especially when discussing our modern conception of computing and Artificial Intelligence, revealing my main takeaway from this insightful course.

Just like how Ada Lovelace’s groundbreaking work, combining language and mathematics to create an algorithm, resists traditional narratives and what we believe to be computing histories, Shelley Jackson does some resisting of her own. Her writings and the way she presents them in Patchwork Girl challenge us to reimagine the way we are programmed to read. We are taught that reading is a linear practice and that there is a “right” way to read; we turn the page and move forward, from beginning to end. However, in Patchwork Girl, there is no beginning or end; there is no right way to read. It rejects everything we are taught and, by doing so, creates something new. Her whole idea of Patchwork Girl is rooted in the “dotted line” with its fragmented storylines, lexias, gaps, and frequent interruptions. Both the form and content work together to present the idea of the dotted line, as seen in the work,  “I hop from stone to stone, and an electric river washes out my scent in the intervals. I am a discontinuous trace, a dotted line (Hop).” This quote presents an entity, an electric river, that washes out a scent or trace. This can relate to historians, with bias, erasing, deleting, or decentering traces from the written history that is then taught and prioritized. History as we know it is a construction assembled by people, particularly people with access to education and power, and if it was once constructed, it can be deconstructed, which is what Jackson is doing. She uses the term “dotted line” as an adjective, describing herself as a dotted line. In this sense, Ada Lovelace can also be described as a dotted line, in that she was historically decentered from dominant narratives of computation, intermittently rediscovered and referenced, and an imaginary who could picture the potentiality of computers.

The dotted line represents many things, not just an opponent to the linear straight line; it means potential and an opportunity to be different or create something new, as seen in Patchwork Girl: “The dotted line is the best line. Because it is a potential line, it folds/unfolds the imagination in one move. It suggests action (fold here), a chance at change, yet it acknowledges the viewer’s freedom to do nothing but imagine… A dotted line demonstrates: even what is discontinuous and in pieces can blaze a trail.” The word “potential,” used to describe the dotted line, is incredibly influential and directly relates to Ada Lovelace. Ada recognized the potential of these new machines, and her algorithms were unrealized in their own era. As seen in Zero and Ones by Sadie Plant, “Ada was hunting for something that would do more than represent an existing world. Something that would work: something new, something else (Plant, 21).” This quote illustrates that Ada was a forward thinker with the ability to grasp possibilities far beyond her generation. Just like Shelley Jackson with her electronic literature, Patchwork Girl, Ada was hunting to create something new, a new world, a digital world, showing that sometimes, not everything happens at once, linearly, and that big ideas take time.

Ada Lovelace remains highly relevant today, with ongoing scholarly attention and a continued influence on contemporary computing and artificial intelligence. As seen in I Am Code, “In 2001, hoping to identify a suitable replacement for Turing’s imitation game, three scientists, led by Selmer Bringsjord, proposed a test of their own. They called it the “Lovelace test” in honor of Ada Lovelace, the nineteenth-century English mathematician whose work paved the way for all of modern computing. (I Am Code, xxxv).” This quote puts into perspective just how influential Ada Lovelace truly is. It describes her work as what “paved the way for all of modern computing,” which is an enormous yet incredibly factual claim. This matters because it shows that representation and credit take time, and reframes how we understand history: not as a continuous, linear progression, but as something fragmented and revisited. 

Even the term “computer” was used to describe women, reframing how we view the history of computing and the women’s role in it. In our modern conception of computers, we understand them to be machines, not job titles held by women. As seen in the text, Data Feminism written by Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren Klein, “These computers were all women, trained in math or a related field, and tasked with performing the calculations that determined everything from the best wing shape for an airplane to the best flight path to the moon. But despite the crucial roles they played in advancing this and other NASA research, they were treated like unskilled temporary workers ( D’Ignazio and Klein pg 3).” These women can be described as an underappreciated, underrepresented dotted line, tasked with important work that helped shape the technology we value today, and yet being treated like “unskilled” workers. This puts into perspective the longer history of computing, showing that once upon a time, a computer was a person, and more specifically a woman, overturning the myth that technology is a male-dominated field, and revealing the nondominant hidden history. 

Overall, Shelley Jackson describes the “dotted line” as a line that “can blaze a trail,” which is exactly what Ada did, and is continuing to do. Ada Lovelace is our 19th-century dotted line, with her fragmented, gapped, and influential history. She imagined the potential of computing and understood that the Analytical Engine could be so much more. She is also considered to be the first-ever computer programmer, reshaping how we view the history of computing and challenging traditional narratives about gender. Growing up, I remember there was always a forceful push, attempting to inspire more women to join “STEM” programs and careers in computing and programming; however, this information would have been the strongest motivator for women everywhere. If the knowledge that the first computer programmer was a woman were more included in dominant history, perhaps more women would see the greater potential in themselves and feel empowered with the understanding that their gender played a huge role in the technology we all rely on today.