[SIGCIS-Members] What tale do we tell, and why do we tell it the way we do?

[Doron Swade]

Dear All

I thought I would flag the publication, a year ago, of The History of
Computing: A Very Short Introduction. 

'Very Short' means not exceeding 35,000 words, which is an absolute upper
limit for the OUP VSI series. 

I wrote the book in answer to two questions: when it comes to the history of
computing, what tale do we tell, and why do we tell it the way we do? 

My purpose was to present, in an accessible way, the narrative of
computing's history for those with little or no prior knowledge of the field
and, in so doing, describe what it is that historians of computing do and
the issues that preoccupy them.  

Publisher's Links:

US:
<https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-history-of-computing-a-very-sho
rt-introduction-9780198831754?cc=us&lang=en&>
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-history-of-computing-a-very-shor
t-introduction-9780198831754?cc=us&lang=en&#

UK:
<https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-history-of-computing-a-very-sho
rt-introduction-9780198831754?q=978-0-19-883175-4&cc=gb&lang=en>
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-history-of-computing-a-very-shor
t-introduction-9780198831754?q=978-0-19-883175-4&cc=gb&lang=en

Book Abstract

This book describes the central events, machines, and people in the history
of computing, and traces how innovation has brought us from pebbles used for
counting, to the modern age of the computer. It has a strong
historiographical theme that offers a new perspective on how to understand
the historical narratives we have constructed, and examines the unspoken
assumptions that underpin them. It describes inventions, pioneers, milestone
systems, and the context of their use. It starts with counting, and traces
change through calculating aids, mechanical calculation, and automatic
electronic computation, both digital and analogue. It shows how four
threads-calculation, automatic computing, information management, and
communications-converged to create the 'information age'. It examines three
master narratives in established histories that are used as aids to marshal
otherwise unmanageable levels detail. The treatment is rooted in the
principal episodes that make up canonical histories of computing.

Citation: 

Swade, Doron. The History of Computing: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford
University Press, 2022. 

All best

Doron

 

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