Honghong Tinn
@honghongtinn.bsky.social
510 followers 1.2K following 37 posts
Assistant Professor in the Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine & Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota https://amazon.com/author/honghongtinn
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honghongtinn.bsky.social
I am looking forward to my visit to the University of Pittsburgh on Monday, October 6. My talk is scheduled at 2pm at 4130 Posvar Hall, hosted by Asian Studies Center. www.ucis.pitt.edu/asc/events/i...
honghongtinn.bsky.social
Excited to see that my book Island Tinkerers (@mitpress.bsky.social) is reviewed in the Los Angeles Review of Books. lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...
honghongtinn.bsky.social
I am looking forward to my visit to the University of Pittsburgh on Monday, October 6. My talk is scheduled at 2pm at 4130 Posvar Hall, hosted by Asian Studies Center. www.ucis.pitt.edu/asc/events/i...
honghongtinn.bsky.social
Many thanks to questions from Drs. Jennifer Alexander, Jennifer Gunn, Jeff Yost(@justcode.bsky.social), Anna Graber, Hiromi Mizuno, Adam Negri, and more. They, & many audience members, have been to my other presentations on & off campus! I am grateful for their generous support & valuable feedback!
Reposted by Honghong Tinn
mitpress.bsky.social

Libraries and consortia interested in supporting the growing Direct to Open program can make their commitment through November 30, 2025. Learn more about this groundbreaking initiative and how your institution can participate: mitpress.mit.edu/mit-press-ex...
honghongtinn.bsky.social
Thanks to the Direct to Open (D2O) initiative of the MIT Press! My book was able to be published open access and reached many readers around the world!
mitpress.bsky.social
We're thrilled that Duke University Press & Goldsmiths Press are joining the Direct to Open (D2O) initiative! Beginning in 2026, our #OpenAccess model will include offerings from all three presses, strengthening our shared commitment to a more equitable & sustainable future for academic knowledge.
Promotional graphic for Direct to Open (D2O)
Reposted by Honghong Tinn
ccmmody.bsky.social
my T&C review of Engineers & the Two Taiwans by Kuo-Hui Chang, Gary Downey & Bono Po-Jen Shih. a concise, perceptive study of the politics of apolitical engineering & fine complement to other histories of Taiwanese S&T, eg @honghongtinn.bsky.social's Island Tinkerers.

muse.jhu.edu/article/965841
Project MUSE - <i>Engineers and the Two Taiwans: The Abnormal Club</i> by Kuo-Hui Chang, Gary Lee Downey, and Bono Po-Jen Shih (review)
muse.jhu.edu
honghongtinn.bsky.social
Many thanks to the feedback and questions from ECE colleagues!
honghongtinn.bsky.social
I focused on four examples of tinkerers in my book Island Tinkerers: (1) a group of technical aid program participants (in the 1960s), (2) Quanta Computer founder Barry Pak-lee Lam, (3) Acer Computer founder Stan Shih, and (4) TSMC founder Morris Chang.
honghongtinn.bsky.social
I enjoyed giving the first fall semester colloquium talk for Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering's colloquium series last week.
honghongtinn.bsky.social
I'll be presenting this Friday! If you are on the campus of the U of Minnesota Twin Cities this week, please consider stopping by hstm's colloquium series. I will present my chapter about Orientalism and tinkerers at 3:35pm, September 12, at 216 Pillsbury Drive, Room 125.
honghongtinn.bsky.social
明天STS年會在台中科博館有一個新書發表的場次,我交了一個錄影檔介紹我的新書。感謝洪靖的安排與洪靖學生所設計的海報!
honghongtinn.bsky.social
Taiwan's STS association will be hosting a panel on new STS books tomorrow in Taichung's science museum. I submitted a video presentation for my book. I am sharing a beautiful poster of these new sts books in Taiwan or about Taiwan--Thanks to Dr. Ching Hung for organizing this panel.
honghongtinn.bsky.social
World Journal and The United Daily News covered my participation in a conference at UCLA in early May--MIT (Made-In-Taiwan), Redux--organized by Shu-mei Shih and Raymond Kun-Xian Shen. The book cover of Island Tinkerers (mitpress.bsky.social) is included in the news article!
tinyurl.com/3zbese4t
台灣製造=仿冒? 學者揭宏碁創業初期遭誤解真相 | 聯合新聞網
在科技飛速發展的時代如何理解和想像科技?而台灣又扮演什麼角色?在洛加大與國立台灣師範大學聯合主辦的研討會中,三位學者分別...
tinyurl.com
honghongtinn.bsky.social
Thank you!
javiercha.bsky.social
I had a lot of fun teaching the Geopolitics of Chips session in today's HUDT3001 class using Honghong Tinn's fantastic new book, Island Tinkerers.

I'm not sure whether my students understood the technical details I explained, but they recognize the centrality of high-end chips produced in Taiwan.
honghongtinn.bsky.social
Thank you, Dr. Alexander Magoun and the IEEE History Center, for reviewing my book Island Tinkerers (mitpress.bsky.social, 2025) in the center's March Newsletter! I deeply appreciate his mention of formal and informal STEM skills and Hugo Gernsback in relation to my book!
tinyurl.com/4eh4rz87
honghongtinn.bsky.social
In today’s Taipei Times, @jamesbaron.bsky.social wrote a book review of my book Island Tinkerers (@mitpress.bsky.social)!
www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/ar...
Reposted by Honghong Tinn
honghongtinn.bsky.social
Thanks to Charles Babbage Institute director @justcode.bsky.social' s kind invitation, I will give a presentation about my book Island Tinkerers (@mitpress.bsky.social) virtually on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, 2 p.m. Here is the registration link:
cse.umn.edu/cbi/events/i...
honghongtinn.bsky.social
At Macalester College yesterday, I received great questions about my book: the role of tinkerers in relation to the government, the relationship between geopolitics and tinkering activities, with regard to TSMC, and the rise and fall of the Orientalist representations of Taiwanese computer makers.
honghongtinn.bsky.social
I have presented chapters 3 (mainframes granted by a UN aid program), 8 (Orientalism and TW microcomputers), 10 (TSMC), and portions of chapter 6 (US electronics manufacturers in TW in '60s) in my previous book talks, and am brainstorming which chapters might be of interest of CBI's friends.
honghongtinn.bsky.social
Thanks to Charles Babbage Institute director @justcode.bsky.social' s kind invitation, I will give a presentation about my book Island Tinkerers (@mitpress.bsky.social) virtually on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, 2 p.m. Here is the registration link:
cse.umn.edu/cbi/events/i...