<div dir="ltr">Looks like this message got caught up somewhere. In the week since I sent it the issue of the mystery tweet has been resolved...! It's good to be in touch with the list. Thanks to those who have replied.<br><br>Martha <br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Apr 5, 2016 at 5:17 PM, Martha Poon <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:martha.poon@gmail.com" target="_blank">martha.poon@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">
<p class="MsoNormal">Dear SIGCIS, </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Last weekend at the Business History Conference, an odd tweet
came off the SHOT-SIGCIS handle: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bhc2016?src=hash" target="_blank"><i><s><span>#</span></s></i><b><i><span>bhc2016</span></i></b></a><i><span> Speaker from </span></i><a href="https://twitter.com/datasociety" target="_blank"><i><s><span>@</span></s></i><b><i><span>datasociety</span></i></b></a><i><span> loves history of comp. literature, but
sees nothing in it to explain big data or social networking today</span></i><span>.
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>What gives computer historians? If
someone actually said something so silly at a conference, would it really be worth
tweeting?! And why direct the message @ the speaker’s employer?? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Let me take this opportunity to
introduce myself to the list: My name is Martha Poon. In my research, I track
how changes in economic thinking, documented by Philip Mirowski in his book <i>Machine Dreams </i>(2002), have been implemented,
through networked information systems, in financial markets. I’m trying to draw
a link between networked computing and today’s debt-driven capital markets. <br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span>My
key piece of empirical work showed how automation of mortgage underwriting
in the 1990s allowed the shadow banking sector to fund US subprime loans: <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361368209000270" target="_blank">http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361368209000270</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span></span><span>But I published my very first article
in an edited volume through SIGCIS (<i>Technological
Innovation in Retail Finance</i>, 2010) when Bernardo Batiz-Lazo kindly invited
me to participate in this working group: <a href="http://www.sigcis.org/node/9" target="_blank">http://www.sigcis.org/node/9</a></span>
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>At the BHC in Portland, someone asked why
I hadn't mentioned the history of computing. In the context of my paper on 19<sup>th</sup>
Century life insurance markets (<i>Big Data
and the Growing Power of Corporate Capitalism</i>, I’ll attach it), on a panel that paid tribute to <i>The Age of Fracture</i> (2012), I quickly replied
that computer history and Internet studies were not [as] well equipped [as
business historians] to tackle the question of financial value. I would have
welcomed the opportunity to converse further with SICGIS members, but nobody
from the organization spoke to me after the session.<span> </span>Just this Dadaist tweet addressed to Data
& Society’s communication’s team back in New York…! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>I’m looking forward to attending SHOT
and meeting the network properly. In the meantime, should list-members run into
me elsewhere in the world, please, come talk to me! I juggle a number of
disciplinary interests but I have long been a great admirer of computer history.
Those of you in the New York area will find me here, next week, at Laine Nooney’s
<i>Mistakes Were Made</i>: <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mistakes-were-made-20-computer-history-decompiled-tickets-23017718616" target="_blank">https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mistakes-were-made-20-computer-history-decompiled-tickets-23017718616</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>With warm wishes,</span></p><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Martha</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span></p>
<br>-- <br><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><span><font color="#888888"><font face="Century Gothic" size="1"><span>Martha Poon</span>|<a href="mailto:martha@datasociety.net" target="_blank"><span></span>martha@datasociety.net</a>|Research Fellow | Data & Society Research Institute</font><span style="font-family:"Century Gothic";font-size:x-small"></span><span style="font-family:"Century Gothic";font-size:x-small"><span><font face="Century Gothic" size="1">|</font></span> <a href="http://www.datasociety.net" target="_blank">www.datasociety.net</a> </span></font></span></div></div></div></div></div>
</font></span></div>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><span><font color="#888888"><font face="Century Gothic" size="1"><span>Martha Poon</span>|<a href="mailto:martha@datasociety.net" target="_blank"><span></span>martha@datasociety.net</a>|Research Fellow | Data & Society Research Institute</font><span style="font-family:'Century Gothic';font-size:x-small"></span><span style="font-family:'Century Gothic';font-size:x-small"><span><font face="Century Gothic" size="1">|</font></span> <a href="http://www.datasociety.net" target="_blank">www.datasociety.net</a> </span></font></span></div></div></div></div></div>
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