What! Gay cowboys, out there on the range? That might not seem surprising, given human nature. But think again. “Who Built America?"-a documentary history that celebrates the diversity of American life from the centennial of 1876 to the first world war-is stirring up controversy. Because it deals not only with homosexuality but also with such politically charged topics as birth control and abortion, it has been ensnared in the swirling national debate over how history should be interpreted and taught -and lofts it for perhaps the first time into the digital realm. Apple Computer Inc. has been caught in the middle. Last December the company “bundled” the award-winning disc with its computers. But after receiving complaints from several conservative school districts, it allegedly gave the publisher an ultimatum: delete the troublesome references, or Apple would stop shipping the title. The publisher, highly regarded Voyager Co. in New York, refused. That, says its president, Robert Stein, would be “censorship.”
“Who Built America?” could be criticized as a bit lefty and too relentlessly “P.C.” It’s full of references to such things as the “Indian-hating settlers” who “dominated” the West. But Stein, a self-described radical, makes no apologies. “It’s a populist history,” he says. “I’m proud of it.” Apple doesn’t see things quite the same way. “It’s not an issue of censorship, says Apple spokeswoman Stacey Byrnes. Yes, the company is “re-evaluating” whether to continue distributing the disc. (Voyager claims Apple has already said it would not do so.) But, says Byrnes, that’s because it has an obligation to respond to complaints from its customers.
Such flaps aren’t exactly new. They’ve raged for years over school textbooks. But the Voyager affair raises a new generation of questions, says Eric Winkler of Broderbund, a leading educational-software company. “Who’s responsible for the content of a CD? The developer who writes it, the manufacturer who sells it with his hardware or the customer?” There are no easy answers. By assuming responsibility for the CDs it distributes, Apple has effectively put itself in the publishing business–an unfamiliar and potentially awkward role, but one that will become common for more and more companies.
Software has increasingly been morphing from spreadsheets into entertainment and education. Microsoft, for instance, has become one of the biggest publishers in America, putting out hundreds of CDs ranging from histories of the American Indian to its popular Encarta encyclopedia. But how to vet editorial content? Charlotte Guyman, a Microsoft general manager, says the company has hired a stable of experienced editors, often from textbook publishing, to review the work of developers. Guyman’s measuring stick for content? “You have to portray things as they were represented at the time.” “Who Built America?,” drawn mainly from archival documents, is clearly " representative” history. That doesn’t mean Apple would be wrong not to sell it. But like traditional textbook publishers, Apple will have to spend more time weighing the editorial content of the products it peddles. For computer makers aren’t just computer makers anymore.
