[SIGCIS-Members] Re : John McCarthy and the arch of modern computing

[Ian King]

I believe the answer to your larger question lies in the Information School movement.  That is where I am in the first year of my doctoral program (University of Washington), where I am focusing on the historical co-evolution of information science and information technology.  There have been books, some of them quite good (yes, Paul, I mean yours), that have focused on the "what" of computing, but I have not seen much addressing the "why", more of Orlikowski's technology-in-action approach that considers the reflexive relationship between ourselves and our digital offspring.  The rise of interactive computing - in which McCarthy played a crucial role - was more than just technology on the march.  It represented movement toward a more intimate relationship, a conversation, between ourselves and the artifacts of information technology, a trend that remains a powerful moving force as we consider the hands-on interaction that has become ubiquitous.  

The Information School (iSchool) here at the UW is a multidisciplinary department that is well situated to encompass, preserve and discuss this history.  The Computer Science and Engineering department (from which I earned my MS) is about the theoretical "what" and has little interest in computers themselves.  While a history department might seem the proper place for a history, they lack domain knowledge for this specialized area, where the interaction of hardware and software is methodologically unsuited to a traditional curatorial treatment.  Anthropology is a player, but again not well suited to studying "intelligences" other than human.  The iSchool is a commons where these concepts come together - or at least that was the judgement of the admissions committee that accepted my application.  :-)  

I was in the early stages of planning an interview of McCarthy about his work on timesharing.  <sigh>  I had been talking with Dennis Ritchie (through an intermediary) for over a year, hoping to find at least fragments of listings of his PDP-7 UNICS implementation, to guide a restoration/reconstruction effort on our PDP-7 here.  <sigh^2>  Too many passings of too many great minds....  - Ian 
________________________________________
From: members-bounces at sigcis.org [members-bounces at sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Ksenia Tatarchenko [ktatarchenko at yahoo.fr]
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2011 9:05 AM
To: Ceruzzi, Paul; members at sigcis.org
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Re : John McCarthy and the arch of modern computing

I just read the New York Times piece on McCarthy, which strikes me as unfair to the point that I feel a need to share with our group.
Though in my work I mostly deal with the international scientific persona of McCarthy, namely Algol and his Soviet connections, even the American part of the story,  or to quote "the arc of modern computing" seems to be totally misrepresented as a teleological drive toward the California born pc.
A larger question to ask: where is the place for a [good] computer history in public sphere?

ksenia


________________________________
De : "Ceruzzi, Paul" <CeruzziP at si.edu>
À : "members at sigcis.org" <members at sigcis.org>
Envoyé le : Lundi 24 Octobre 2011 18h11
Objet : [SIGCIS-Members] John McCarthy

Just got word, unconfirmed, that John McCarthy passed away today. The news is appearing in several places on the Internet.

Lots of passing and transitions this fall.

Paul E. Ceruzzi
Chair, Division of Space History
National Air & Space Museum
MRC 311; PO Box 37012
Washington, DC 20013-7012
202-633-2414
<http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=24>



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