Eden Medina

Eden Medina is an associate professor of science, technology, and society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research uses history to understand the complex relationship of science and technology to process social and political change. Her focus areas include computing and society, computer and data ethics, and sociotechnical studies of computing.Eden has published and taught about the social and ethical dimensions of computing for more than fifteen years, including classes on social informatics, data and society, computers and social change, computer and information ethics, technology and the First Amendment, technology and human rights, and the history and social study of computing. She is a former fellow of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and an affiliated fellow of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. Eden is a member of the academic council at the AI Now Institute and the Social, Ethical, and Responsible Computing Advisory Board at MIT. She has also served as a Fulbright Specialist in Engineering Education at the University of Chile and director of the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics at Indiana University, Bloomington. Eden is the author of Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende’s Chile, which won the Edelstein Prize for outstanding book in the history of technology and the Computer History Museum Prize for outstanding book in the history of computing. Her co-edited volume Beyond Imported Magic: Essays on Science, Technology, and Society in Latin America received the Amsterdamska Award from the European Society for the Study of Science and Technology. Her research has appeared in venues such as the Guardian, the New York Times, the Economist, NPR, and the popular podcast 99 Percent Invisible. Eden received her doctorate from MIT in the History and Social Study of Science and Technology. She holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University and a Master in Studies of Law from Yale Law School. She enjoys rock climbing and sailing on the Charles River.