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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple style='word-wrap: break-word;-webkit-nbsp-mode: space;-webkit-line-break: after-white-space'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Hello everyone,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>This topic has been receiving some spirited discussion on the general list and in smaller groups, but I think the time has come to accept it as an unfortunate use of “reply to all” from one of our newest members and move on….<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>….but not before I mention that I wouldn’t have come to every SHOT meeting for the last 8 years and organized something like 20 panel submissions for the conference if I was cynical about the SHOT experience or indeed found it dreadful. However, in encouraging people without history Ph.D.s to attend and submit to SHOT I’ve become aware that there’s a lot of tacit knowledge about how a history conference works that is mystifying to (say) computer scientists, amateur historians or economists but is not included in a typical history CFP because it is “too obvious” to bother stating. So to further the SIG’s interdisciplinary mission, and help SHOT’s stated goal of broad participation, I aimed to take some of that “insider” knowledge I learned during my academic apprenticeship and share it with our members.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Tom<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Deborah Douglas [mailto:ddouglas@mit.edu] <br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, February 16, 2012 3:54 PM<br><b>To:</b> Catherine Lathwell<br><b>Cc:</b> Thomas Haigh; members@sigcis.org<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [SIGCIS-Members] CFP: SHOT 2012 Conference, 4-7 Oct in Copenhagen. Deadline 31 March.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Dear Catherine,<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>I'm very sorry for that impression as the Society has been an exceptionally warm and stimulating intellectual home for me for more than a quarter-century. The conferences are small (300-400 participants) and extremely welcoming of scholars from all disciplines as well as many who do not call themselves historians. I've listened to awesome presentations as well as some incredibly dull ones but I've never failed to go home without the sense that at least one or two Roman Candles have been set off in my mind. One of the most important parts of these conferences are the field trips, which have taken me atop of dams, over bridges, inside steel mills, and onto auto assembly lines over the years. Last year's plenary on the events following the tsunami in Japan was exceptionally helpful. <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>The lesson from Thomas' note is that great sessions take work to create and put together. Like most things in life, there is not a guarantee that a slot can be found but the Program Committee tries to balance many things to make the program as diverse as possible. (As the chair of the Albatross Special Interest Group (Aviation and Space History), some in that group would love to have an "all-aviation and space conference" but, obviously, it's good to have some sessions on computing, etc. In general, I've often found that I've learned the most from sessions wholly outside my area of expertise. <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>So I'm a bit less cynical than Thomas and would like to suggest you come to Copenhagen next fall or to Portland in 2013. Perhaps others might share there impressions of the Annual Meeting as I'm sure the conversation would benefit the Society greatly.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Regards,<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Debbie Douglas<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>On Feb 16, 2012, at 4:34 PM, Catherine Lathwell wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><br><br><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Dear Thomas, <o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>The SHOT conference sounds dreadful however I am so happy to be receiving your mails that hardly matters.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Thank you for letting me into your group. I very much appreciate the collegiality.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Best Regards,<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Catherine Lathwell<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.aprogramminglanguage.com/">http://www.aprogramminglanguage.com</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________<br>This email is relayed from <a href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at <a href="http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/">http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/</a> and you can change your subscription options at <a href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><b><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Deborah G. Douglas, Ph.D. •</span></b></span><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'> </span></span><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Curator of Science and Technology</span></span><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>, </span></span><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>MIT Museum, Room N51-209 • 265 Massachusetts Avenue • Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 • <a href="http://web.mit.edu/museum">http://web.mit.edu/museum</a> • <a href="http://museum.mit.edu/150">http://museum.mit.edu/150</a> • <a href="mailto:ddouglas@mit.edu">ddouglas@mit.edu</a> • 617-253-1766 phone • 617-253-8994 fax</span></span><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-tab-span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'> </span></span><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span class=apple-style-span><i><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Spring Semester 2012 • </span></i></span><span class=apple-style-span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Research Associate, Program in Science, Technology, and Society • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room E51-179B • 77 Massachusetts Avenue • Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 • 617-452-3545 phone</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><div><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></body></html>