[SIGCIS-Members] AAC/CFP : "Unix in Europe : between innovation, diffusion and heritage" with right link

[Camille Paloque-Berges]

Dear all,
Apparently the link wasn't working. Here is one that should do :
http://technique-societe.cnam.fr/international-symposium-unix-in-europe-between-innovation-diffusion-and-heritage-913107.kjsp
Very best,
Camille


2017-05-15 17:48 GMT+02:00 Camille Paloque-Berges <camille.pb at gmail.com>:

> Dear all,
>
> Please find enclosed the CFP for the symposium *"Unix in Europe: between
> innovation, diffusion and heritage"* that will take place in Cnam (Paris,
> France), October, 19th, 2017.
>
> A one-page abstract (maximum 500 words) with a short biography is expected
> for June 30th 2017.
>
> The Cfp is also available at :
> <http://technique-societe.cnam.fr/international-symposium-un
> ix-in-europe-between-innovation-diffusion-and-heritage-91300
> 9.kjsp?RH=cdhte>.
>
> Best regards,
>
> The organization comitee : Isabelle Astic, Raphaël Fournier-S'niehotta,
> Pierre-Eric Mounier-Kuhn, Camille Paloque-Berges, Loïc Petitgirard
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> *Call for contributions*
>
> *International symposium *
>
> *Unix in Europe: between innovation, diffusion and heritage*
>
> *Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France – October 19
> 2017*
>
>
>
> Communications and discussions will be held in French or English.
>
>
> *Rationale*
>
>
> The Unix system was born in the 1970s at the crossroads between two
> interacting worlds: industry (the Bell Labs at AT&T) and academia (the
> University of Berkeley computer science network). Its fast adoption
> throughout computer research and engineering networks across the world
> signaled the future success of the new system, fostering software
> experiments within its open, multi-user and multi-tasking system running on
> mini-computers – and later compatible with a larger part of computer
> hardware. In the European context, how was this American innovation
> propagated, adopted and adapted? Why was Unix of so much interest in this
> context, then and now? A solid culture of Unix users might also explain
> this success, as well as subsequent processes of appropriation and
> inheritance, due to the long and complex history of Unix versioning. The
> memory of Unix users is vivid indeed, fed by early accounts within the
> computer world (Salus, 1994) as well as preservation initiatives (Toomey,
> 2010). Moreover, the Unix system is a crucial reference in the history of
> computing, in particular in the field of free and open source software
> (Kelty, 2008), computer networks (Paloque-Berges, 2017), as well as in
> programming language philosophy (Mélès, 2013).
>
>
> In order to explore the variety of these interrogations, this symposium
> encourages contributions from historians as well as philosophers, social
> science researchers, and heritage professionals interested in the history
> of computer open systems and software with a focus on Unix or who have a
> wider perspective. It will also welcome protagonists and witnesses of Unix
> culture and carriers of its memory. We wish to discuss and shed light on
> several aspects of the development of Unix in Europe (including in
> comparison or relation with the rest of the world) along three main lines:
> historical and sociological, philosophical and epistemological, and
> heritage- and preservation-oriented.
>
>
> *1/ Historical and sociological perspectives*
>
>
> Historically, the Unix system is linked to the promotion and development
> in research on open systems and computer networks. How does this fit in the
> context of industrial, scientific and technological policies defined at the
> national and European level? The history of Unix thus reaches at least
> three levels of interrogations: 1/ the forms, places and practices of
> innovation around Unix in R&D labs and computing centers in companies,
> schools and universities; 2/ planning, promoting and negotiating open
> systems (norms and standards) from the perspective of science and/or
> politics; 3/ international geopolitical relations, whether economical or
> geopolitical and even geostrategic (for example between Unix users, with
> users of other computer equipment or other hardware and software companies,
> the role of embargos in the shipping of mini-computers, of code, and
> military uses of Unix).
>
>
> In parallel, how has the world of computer research welcomed, encouraged,
> negotiated and propagated uses and innovations related to Unix systems?
> This begs the question of how Unix-related research and development was
> legitimized - or played a part in the legitimization of computer science
> experimentalism in the scientific field and beyond. We would also like to
> highlight practices of resistance, the failure to acknowledge, ignorance of
> or even the limits of the Unix system, its software tools and hardware
> environment (beginning with the famous PDP and Vax machines from Digital
> Equipment where the first Unix versions were implemented). With a focus on
> occupational computer uses, we call for analysis which aims to explore and
> clarify:
>
> - the role of developers, users, and user associations – from the point of
> view of pioneers as well as helpers, maintainers and other witnesses of the
> implementation of Unix;
>
> - the context, process, and people who determined its propagation,
> appropriation, and development over time;
>
> - the meaning of concepts of Unix philosophy and ethics such as “openness”
> and “autonomy”, from a social, political or economic point of view.
>
>
> *2. Philosophical and epistemological perspectives*
>
>
>
> We will foster research and reflection at the crossroad of the theoretical
> foundations of computer systems and engineering pragmatism, between the
> philosophy of computer systems and Unixian practices.
>
>
>
> Protagonists in the conception and diffusion of Unix often claim to have a
> ‘Unix philosophy’ . But beyond statement of principle, what was the real
> influence of this idea on the technical choices underlying the system’s
> developments? What are the ethical, moral, and philosophical motivations –
> alongside the social, political or economic dimensions discussed earlier –
> underpinning the adoption of Unix or pretending to extend it (for instance
> in relation to the notions of sharing, modularity or freedom)? How is the
> idea of ‘openness’ attached to Unix practices and heritage (free software,
> open source) conceived? What are the theoretical developments to be drawn
> from it (for instance with the idea of open software)?
>
>
>
> The logical and mathematical foundations of Unix should be readdressed. Do
> the fundamental concepts of Unix have an ontological or metaphysical
> significance beyond the sole research aim of technical efficiency? What
> role do aesthetics play in the formulation of general principles and
> technical choices? How can we analyze programming languages such as C and
> its successors, scripts, software, and generally speaking, the
> proliferating source codes of Unix? How do we consider the system, the
> software environment, as well as the hardware in which Unix is implemented
> and executed?
>
>
>
> Such philosophical questions also cover the modalities of the transmission
> of Unix, extending to the investigation of the respective roles of theory
> and practice in the teaching of the system, the teaching of knowledge and
> tools underlying the system or supporting the system.
>
>
>
> *3. Unix heritage and ‘heritagization’*
>
>
>
> France is now the home to multiple initiatives taking place to build and
> preserve a material and immaterial heritage of computer science and
> technology – such as ‘Software Heritage’ at INRIA, a global software
> archive in progress. The Museum of Arts et Métiers gave impetus to the MINF
> initiative (‘Pour un Musée de l’informatique et du numérique’) and
> coordinates the ‘Patstec Mission’ dealing with contemporary scientific and
> technological heritage preservation, including computer science. At an
> international scale and with a grassroots perspective carried by the
> community of Unix users, the TUHS (The Unix Heritage Society) demonstrates
> the current interest in the specific heritage linked to Unix. We encourage
> reflections on this heritage and its specific features:
>
>
>
> - What is the place of Unix in the construction of computer science
> heritage? Is it possible to map Unix systems and their heritage, from the
> standpoint of machines, languages and software? What has already been
> collected? What corpus, data bases, and/or platforms with a patrimonial
> mission are concerned with Unix and to what purpose?
>
> - How are the questions of training, constitution and diffusion of a Unix
> culture incorporated in the effort to collect heritage? How do we evaluate
> and put forward the importance of immaterial heritage attached to Unix,
> considering the effects of community and memory in its history and for the
> writing of its history?
>
> - What are the practices and modalities advocated by the unixian heritage
> itself? What has been its influence on the field of computer engineering
> and research as well as diverse fields such as: popularization of science
> and technology, ‘hacker’ movements and many ‘maker’ practices today
> (Lallement, 2016)?
>
>
> *Schedules*
>
> Please send a one-page abstract (maximum 500 words) with a short biography
> by June 30, 2017 to: camille.paloque-berges at cnam.fr
> <camille.paloque-berges at lecnam.net> and loic.petitgirard at cnam.fr.
> Accepted contributions and speakers will be notified by July 15, 2017.
>
>
> *Organizing committee*
>
> Isabelle Astic (Musée des arts et métiers)
>
> Raphaël Fournier-S’niehotta (Cédric, Cnam)
>
> Pierre-Eric Mounier-Kuhn (CRM, Paris 1)
>
> Camille Paloque-Berges (HT2S, Cnam)
>
> Loïc Petitgirard (HT2S, Cnam)
>
>
> *Scientific committee *
>
> François Anceau (UMPC-LIP6)
>
> Pierre Cubaud (Cédric, Cnam)
>
> Liesbeth de Mol (STL, Lille 3)
>
> Claudine Fontanon (CAK, EHESS)
>
> Gérald Kembellec (DICEN, Cnam)
>
> Baptiste Mélès (Archives Henri Poincaré, CNRS)
>
> Giuseppe Primiero (Middlesex University)
>
> Lionel Tabourier (LIP6, Paris 6)
>
>
> *Institutional partners and support: *
>
> - Project « Hist.Pat.info.Cnam », HT2S, Cnam – Research program supported
> by the Excellence laboratory History and Anthropology of Knoweldge,
> Technics and Beliefs (HASTEC), and in partnership with the laboratories
> CEDRIC (Cnam), DICEN (Cnam), and the Center Alexandre Koyré (EHESS).
>
> - « Histoire de l’informatique » (« History of computing » seminar)
> seminar - (Musée des arts et métiers, CRM, Paris 1, UMPC-LIP6)
>
> - « Source code » seminar - (CNRS, Cnam, Université Paris 6).
>
> With support from the DHST/DLMPST for the History and Philosophy of
> Computing (HAPOC)
>
>
> *Bibliography *
>
> Kelty, Christopher M. 2008. *Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free
> Software*. Durham: Duke University Press Books.
>
>
>
> Lallement, Michel. 2016. *L’âge du faire, *Seuil.
>
>
>
> Mélès, Baptiste. 2003. « Unix selon l’ordre des raisons : la philosophie
> de la pratique informatique ». *Philosophia Scientiæ* 17 (3): 181‑98.
>
>
>
> Salus, Peter H. 1994. *A quarter century of UNIX*. Addison-Wesley.
> Reading.
>
>
>
> Toomey, Warren. 2010. « First Edition Unix: Its Creation and
> Restoration ». *IEEE Annals of the History of Computing* 32 (3): 74‑82.
>
>
>
>
>
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