[SIGCIS-Members] Workshop at Siegen U. "Beyond ENIAC: Early Digital Platforms & Practices" June 9-11.

Mon May 30 22:34:37 PDT 2016

Hello SIGCIS,

Those of you in proximity to Northern Germany might be interested in an
event I’ve organized for Siegen University the weekend after next.  It will
be a cozy little workshop intended to reexamine the early history of
electronic computing from new perspectives, and to explore the potential of
this history to contribute to media studies and computer science. It also
marks the start of my association with Siegen University, where I’m supposed
to be a visiting professor part time for the next few years in conjunction
with its research training group “Locating Media,” its research center
“Media of Cooperation,” and its new iSchool (a joint venture between
computer science and media studies). Over the next  few years I should be
organizing events, contributing to research, and helping to integrate the
history of information technology into the curriculum for the iSchool
degrees.

Details on the workshop are at www.tomandmaria.com/tom/Workshop16
<http://www.tomandmaria.com/tom/Workshop16> . I’m also pasting the current
program below. 

If you are interested in coming then let me know. As far as I know there is
no registration fee, though you would have to pay for meals and
accommodation if needed.

Best wishes,

Tom

Title: Beyond ENIAC: Early Digital Platforms & Practices
Dates: June 10-12, 2016
Location: Ludwig Wittgenstein House, Unteres Schloß 3, 57072 Siegen, Germany
<https://www.google.de/maps/place/Ludwig+Wittgenstein+Haus,+Campus+Unteres+S
chloss,+Universit%C3%A4t+Siegen,+Unteres+Schlo%C3%9F+3,+57072+Siegen/@50.873
4858,8.0196467,16z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x47bc1c921a7894a3:0xd8fc3f688116cc03>
(map link) .
Organizer: Thomas Haigh ( <mailto:thomas.haigh at gmail.com>
thomas.haigh at gmail.com)
Sponsor: Collaborative research center "Media of Cooperation" of
<http://www.uni-siegen.de/start/index.html.en?lang=en> Siegen University.

The publication of  <http://www.eniacinaction.com/> ENIAC In Action: Making
and Remaking the Modern Computer (Haigh, Priestley & Rope, 2016) provides an
opportunity to showcase new work on the history of computing and explore the
place such work within media studies and computer science, the two key
components of Siegen University’s new  <http://ischool.uni-siegen.de/home/>
School of Media and Information. During the workshop many of Europe’s
leading scholars of computing history will present their latest research to
each other and participate in a series of roundtable discussions structured
to provide lively interdisciplinary engagement. Early work on the history of
computing was carried out by computers scientists and pioneers. It focused
on technical analysis of the computers of the 1940s and 50s. As the history
of computing has matured as a scholarly field its focus has shifted to
social and cultural analysis and to later time periods. The shift reduced
computer scientist Donald Knuth to tears, shed because
<http://www.tomandmaria.com/Tom/Writing/CACMKnuthTears.pdf> history was
being “dumbed down." Now a new generation of scholars is returning to
explore the world of early digital platforms and practices, combining
careful attention to materiality and technical concerns with the broader
perspectives of scholarly history. This trend creates new opportunities to
situate studies of the early digital within media studies, where scholars
recognize that the modern world is mediated by the affordances of digital
platforms, and within computer science where more scholars may come to share
Knuth's sense that historical knowledge is the foundation of deep technical
understanding.

Friday June 10

1:00-4:00 Afternoon social event TBA

5:00-7:00 Roundtable discussion: "What does the history of IT have to say to
media studies and computer science?"

*         Liesbeth de Mol, CNRS/STL, Université de Lille

*         Carolin Gerlitz, University of Amsterdam

*         Sebastian Gießmann, Siegen University

*         Thomas Haigh, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee & Siegen
University (Moderator)

*         Volkmar Pipek, Siegen University

*         Erhard Schüttpelz, Siegen University

*         Matti Tedre, Stockholm University

8:00 Dinner: Restaurant Bar (the name of the restaurant, not just a generic
description). Löhrstraße 51, 57072 Siegen.   <http://www.restaurant-bar.de/>
http://www.restaurant-bar.de 

Saturday June 11

9:00 – 11:00 ENIAC in Action

*         Thomas Haigh, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee & Siegen
University: “The Lost Labors of ENIAC”

*         Mark Priestley: “A History of ENIAC in Three Programs”

*         Discussion

11:30 – 1:00 Roundtable: Origins of the Operating System

*         Gerard Alberts, University of Amsterdam

*         Maarten Bullynck, SPHERE, Paris 8

*         Pierre Mounier Kuhn, CNRS & Paris-Sorbonne

1:00 – 2:30 Lunch, Wirtshaus am Oberen Schlos. Oberes Schloss 1, DE-57072
Siegen. <http://www.wirtshausamschloss.de/> www.wirtshausamschloss.de

2:30 – 4:30: Works in Progress Session

*         Liesbeth De Mol, CNRS/STL, Université de Lille, “A Small History
of Small Machines.”

*         Ksenia Tatarchenko, Geneva University, “‘The Computer Does Not
Believe in Tears’: Soviet Programming, Professionalization and Gendering of
Authority.”

*         Edgar Daylight & G. Primiero, “Category Mistakes in Computer
Science.”

*         Mark Priestley, "The Origins of Programming Language Styles".

5:00-6:30 Public talk by Campbell-Kelly, University of Warwick, "The
Evolution of Programming Practice on the EDSAC: Insights from the National
Museum of Computing Replica Project" followed by discussion.

7:00 Dinner, Restaurant Münzwerk.Morleystr. 4, 57072 Siegen.
<http://restaurant-muenzwerk.de/> http://restaurant-muenzwerk.de

Sunday June 12:

9:00-11:00: Works in Progress Session

*         Tristan Thielmann, Siegen University, "Appresenting Digits: The
ENIAC Display"

*         Pierre Mounier Kuhn, CNRS & Paris-Sorbonne, "Programming CUBA: The
evolution from 'coding' to “'anguage' on the first French computer
(1949-1955)"

*         Thomas Haigh & Mark Priestley, "What Was Colossus, and Why Should
We Care?"

*         Matti Tedre, Stockholm University, title TBA

11:30-1:00: Round table: Computing and the History of Science

*         Edgar Daylight

*         Maarten Bullynck, SPHERE, Paris 8

*         Ksenia Tatarchenko, Geneva University

1:00 to 2:30: Lunch, Wirtshaus am Oberen Schloss. Oberes Schloss 1, DE-57072
Siegen.  <http://www.wirtshausamschloss.de/> www.wirtshausamschloss.de

Informal post-lunch discussion of possible follow-up activities for those
who can stay longer.

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