The Weavers and Their Information Webs: Steganography in the Textile Arts
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Date
2018-01
Authors
Kuchera, Susan
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Fembot Collective
Abstract
Historical and literary sources suggest the possible application of fiber and textile arts for steganography. As both art and craft, the fiber arts—forms like knitting, crochet, embroidery, quilting, and others—are strongly associated with women and have played a critical role in women’s history, and so are both the fictional and historically documented use of these skills as a means of coding information. While the historical information available is sometimes anecdotal, this does not mean that these uses have not occurred; rather, it may be reflective of the devaluing of both women’s communication and women’s work. Steganography, the practice of hiding information in plain sight, is important to understand as both a forerunner of and a complement to practices associated with the information revolution. Steganographic textiles as a tool for women’s communication have interesting implications, tying together the fiber revolution and the information revolution and demanding a reevaluation of women’s role in the history of cryptography and the development of clandestine information practices.
Description
17 pages
Keywords
Citation
Kuchera, S. (2018). The Weavers and Their Information Webs: Steganography in the Textile Arts. Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology, No. 13. https://doi.org/10.5399/uo/ada.2018.13.9