All, <br><br>SIGCIS members David Ferro and Eric Swedin have published an edited volume for McFarland & Company entitled <b><i>Science Fiction and Computing: Essays on Interlinked Domains</i>.</b> You will recognize many of the authors as many are also members of SIGCIS, including <a href="http://tomandmaria.com/tom/default.htm">Thomas Haigh</a>, <a href="http://www.womenincomputing.net/">Janet Abbate</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_E._Ceruzzi">Paul Ceruzzi</a>, <a href="http://www.davidakirby.com/">David A. Kirby</a>, <a href="http://transducer.ontoligent.com/">Rafael Alvarado</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thierry_Bardini">Theirry Bardini</a>, <a href="http://joshuacuneo.com/index.php">Joshua Cuneo</a>, <a href="http://www.weber.edu/CS/Ferro_Dr_David.html">David Ferro</a> (ed.), <a href="http://www.lysator.liu.se/lsff/confuse00/Richard_McKinney.html">Richard McKinney</a>, <a href="http://www.trentu.ca/culturalstudies/faculty_murphy.php">Graham Murphy</a>, <a href="http://njit.academia.edu/LisaNocks">Lisa Nocks</a>,<a href="http://www.chrispak.webs.com/"> Chris Pak</a>, <a href="http://www.tuug.fi/%7Ejaakko/">Jaakko Suominen</a>, <a href="http://buscatextual.cnpq.br/buscatextual/visualizacv.jsp?id=K4772138J6">Alfredo Suppia</a>, <a href="http://faculty.weber.edu/eswedin/index.html">Eric Swedin</a> (ed.), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Tayler">Howard Tayler</a>, <a href="http://www.umass.edu/english/faculty/Toomey.html">David Toomey</a>, and <a href="http://www.sfsite.com/gary/intro.htm">Gary Westfahl</a>.<br>
<br>
That the book succeeds is a
testament to the passion, skill, and creativity of the contributors. These voices from numerous disciplines came together to broadly explore
the importance of science fiction as a body of literature that has,
through various means, facilitated invention and discovery in
computing. We discover that science (or speculative) fiction acts as a source of
inspiration for invention and participation. It supplies metaphors and
analogies. It facilitates communication within and outside a community
of practitioners. It helps create world views and shape critical and
reflective thinking. It plays a role in defining social relations and
helps to determine who is inside and outside of the community of the
creators of digital culture. It assists in imagining the implications
of computing on society and ourselves, or, vice versa, the needs of a
society that promotes computer development. <br><br>The book lists for $40 and is found <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http://www.amazon.com/Science-Fiction-Computing-Interlinked-Domains/dp/0786445653?ie=UTF8&qid=1295358993&sr=8-1&tag=schlockmercenary&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">through Amazon</a>, or <a href="http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-4565-3">directly from McFarland</a>, or elsewhere (ISBN: 978-0-7864-4565-3)<br>
<br>Last year, Thomas Haigh, David Ferro, Eric
Swedin, and Janet Abbate had a successful session in support of this book in the 2010 SHOT
SIGCIS workshop: <i>Examining the Interaction of Speculative Literature and Computing: Toward a Research Agenda</i> (<a href="http://www.sigcis.org/workshop10">http://www.sigcis.org/workshop10</a>). Now, at
this year's, 2011, joint SHOT/4S/HSS conference in Cleveland, Ohio, Nov
2 - 6, there are two sessions connected with the book: one at the joint
INES/Prometheans Workshop on Nov 2 concerning science fiction in the
role of STEM camps. A second is at a Friday 4S session, where authors
and guests David Kirby, David Ferro, Joseph Pitt, Paul Ceruzzi, Julian
Bleecker, and David Toomey will present <i>The Fiction in the Science: The Intersection of Fiction and STS</i>. We invite you to both or either sessions.<br><br>The discussions around this topic tend to be fun, yet relevant. We hope you can join us in reading and discussing with us this year.<br>
<br>Sincerely,<br><br> David L. Ferro, PhD (Science and Technology Studies, Virginia Tech)<br> Associate Professor of Computer Science <br>Dean (as of August 1st) of the College of Applied Science and Technology<br>Weber State University<br>
<a href="mailto:dferro@weber.edu" target="_blank">dferro@weber.edu</a><mailto:<a href="mailto:dferro@weber.edu" target="_blank">dferro@weber.edu</a>>