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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>Hello SIGCIS,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>CACM has just published the first in what is supposed to be a trilogy of essays from me looking at classic representations of IT work. The first of these is “The Immortal Soul of an Old Machine,” inspired by the 40th anniversary of the publication of Tracy Kidder's Pulitzer Prize winning book The Soul of a New Machine. It's a book that developers and historians both continue to find fascinating, as a blending of literary craft and engineering practice. My aim is to take the book apart to see how it works and discover what it can tell us about how tech work has (and hasn’t) changed in four decades. I’ve been thinking about the book for almost thirty years, since reading it in the only Manchester University undergraduate computer science class that dealt with such things, and it was fun to go back with a new perspective to try to understand what makes it so readable and relatable.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The second will look at Levy’s book <i>Hackers</i>, with some discussion of relevant parts of Turkle’s more critical depiction in <i>The Second Self.</i> And the third part will explore Ullman’s <i>Close to the Machine</i> and the relatively recent TV show <i>Halt and Catch Fire</i>. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Unfortunately this wasn’t chosen as one of the paywall-free items for the current issue of CACM. Those of you with access might want to show your support for historical work by fetching it form the digital library via <a href="https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3436249">https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3436249</a>. But for everyone else, you can get a copy at <a href="https://tomandmaria.com/Tom/Writing/CACMSoulOfANewMachine.pdf">https://tomandmaria.com/Tom/Writing/CACMSoulOfANewMachine.pdf</a>.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Best wishes,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><br>Tom<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>