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 For our group discussion, leamirella, Hillary G and I had a number of topics that we would emphasize if we were to teach Conceiving Ada.  

The first was the status of women in science.  We were a bit surprised how under represented the struggle of women to be take seriously in the field of science was represented in the movie.  Although the movie included lines that alluded to the fact that Ada was humiliated and laughed at because she wanted to pursue a career in the sciences, we would emphasize the obstacles that Ada had to overcome to be successful.  Furthermore, we would highlight the way in which Gender functioned as both an obstacle and an agent for Ada and Emmy.

Next we would ask how information was conveyed.  Conceiving Ada is all about making digital copies with enhanced capabilities of original physical objects.  For instance, Emmy makes a digital talking copy of her actual dog.  We would ask, how much information would be needed to make an actual copy of a physical event.  This would lead into our discussion of creation vs. critique, terms ushered to us by Katherine Hayles.  Hayles argues that we should try to emphasize creation rather than critique but as Conceiving Ada has demonstrated, these binaries are not so clear.  Throughout her work, Emmy has technically not created anything new about Ada's life.  She has just developed a new way of seeing what has already happened.  Should this be considered a critique or creation.  On the other hand, if Emmy published a critique of Ada's work in which she offered her own opinion that she had not previously expressed, would this be considered creation or critique?