March 2008 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

SIGCIS Panels and Grad Student travel awards for SHOT 2008
by Thomas Haigh 26 Aug '08

26 Aug '08

Hello everyone, This email is a request for people who are interested in participating in SIGCIS sponsored panels at the annual meeting to get in touch with me. The deadline is March 14, which means I need to hear from you within the next few days with an initial expression of interest. SHOT does not need full papers, but I would need an abstract and one page resume by March 9. The normal SHOT format is for three or four talks of 20-25 minutes each followed by a commentator and questions. I can't promise that all ideas can be fitted neatly into one of our panel proposals. However if I can't accommodate whatever you are interested in within a panel then you still have the option of submitting your abstract as an individual paper. What I've done for each of the past three conferences is to circulate a call like this and receive a short summary from interested people of the work they'd like to present. Then I look for connections among the ideas and group them into one or more thematically coherent panel proposals. I work with the authors to strengthen their abstracts and to tweak them to better fit the panel. This has worked well in the past. Last year we submitted three panels, all of which were accepted. For the previous year we had two panels, both accepted. Once we see how things are shaping up we may use the list again to appeal for additional papers on specific topics or for chairs or commentators. You've already seen a couple of reminders of the upcoming SHOT 2008 meeting from other people. Lisbon, October 10-14. Lots of information including maps, hotels, travel, etc. is now online at http://www.shotlisbon2008.com/meeting.htm. The call for papers is at http://shotnews.net/?p=401. It mentions looking for papers on how the history of technology might be written in the future, so this may lead to a panel of historiographical papers about the future of the history of computing. However other ideas are also welcome. It also appeals for papers "from those new to SHOT regardless of discipline." If you are a graduate student there is an additional reason to join one of our panels. At the last meeting we raised enough money with our collection and book auction to fund two graduate student travel awards of $300 each to support the cost of attending the meeting. Any student presenting in a SIGCIS sponsored panel will be eligible for consideration for one of these awards. It promises to be a great meeting, and I hope to see many of you there in Lisbon. At the last SHOT meeting we had far more history of computing panels than ever before - so let's try to set another record this year. Tom Haigh www.tomandmaria.com/tom

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Thanks!
by Bernard Geoghegan 21 Mar '08

21 Mar '08

Hi SIGCIS members, Thanks to the many members of the list for the suggestions about exhibition and calculating machines 17th - 19th c. We have some very well-read members! If I haven't gotten back to you yet, I will in the next day or so. If anyone would like a little bibliography of texts on the topic, I can send that to you in early May. Bernard Bernard Geoghegan Doctoral Candidate, Program in Screen Cultures, Northwestern University Institute Visitor, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] 17th-19th c. exhibitions of computers
by David Ferro 19 Mar '08

19 Mar '08

Bernard, At the risk of sounding self-serving I've got some pretty comprehensive notes on automata displays as advertised or written about in the mid to late 18th century Colonial-American general periodical. They are in my dissertation. If you are interested let me know directly as I will have to turn on access to the PDF files for you. David On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 4:19 AM, Brian Randell <Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk> wrote: > > At 20:54 -0400 18/3/08, Bernard Geoghegan wrote: > >Hi SIGCIS members, > > I'm doing some research on the 20th century exhibition of > >computers, particularly in the form of automata and televised > >calculating machines. I'd like to look for some historical > >precedents, though. Does anyone know of any works discussing the > >exhibition of calculating machines from the 17th through the 19th > >century? For example, in the 19th century calculating machines were > >sent to at least one World's Fair, and in in the 18th c. von > >Kempelen's chess playing Turk inspired popular speculations and > >exciting about thinking machines, etc. > > Thanks for your help. > >Bernard > > > > > >Bernard Geoghegan > >Doctoral Candidate, Program in Screen Cultures, Northwestern University > >Institute Visitor, Program in Science, Technology and Society, > >Massachusetts Institute of Technology > > One of the best i know, though slightly out of your time frame, is: > > Napier Tercentenary Celebration: Handbook of the Exhibition, ed. E. > M. Horsburgh, pp. 124-127, Edinburgh, Royal Society of Edinburgh, > 1914. [(Also published as Modern Instruments and Methods of > Calculation: A Handbook of the Napier Tercentenary Celebration > Exhibition, G. Bell and Sons, London, 1914.)] > > Cheers > > Brian Randell > > > -- > School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, > NE1 7RU, UK > EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 > FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/ > > > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members >

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17th-19th c. exhibitions of computers
by Bernard Geoghegan 19 Mar '08

19 Mar '08

Hi SIGCIS members, I'm doing some research on the 20th century exhibition of computers, particularly in the form of automata and televised calculating machines. I'd like to look for some historical precedents, though. Does anyone know of any works discussing the exhibition of calculating machines from the 17th through the 19th century? For example, in the 19th century calculating machines were sent to at least one World's Fair, and in in the 18th c. von Kempelen's chess playing Turk inspired popular speculations and exciting about thinking machines, etc. Thanks for your help. Bernard Bernard Geoghegan Doctoral Candidate, Program in Screen Cultures, Northwestern University Institute Visitor, Program in Science, Technology and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] 17th-19th c. exhibitions of computers
by Theodore Lekkas 19 Mar '08

19 Mar '08

Dear Bernard, Telly Tympas and myself happened to have presented a paper on aspects of the history of display of calculating and related artifacst at World Fairs (it has been published as: Aristotle Tympas and Theodore Lekkas, "Certainties and Doubts in World Fair Comparisons of Computing Artifacts", in East and West: The Common European Heritage, XXV Scientific Instrument Symposium Proceedings, Ewa Wyka, Maciej Kluza, Anna Karolina Zawada (editors), Jagiellonian University Museum, Krakow, Poland, 2006, 295-300. (I would gladly sent you a copy if you want to look at it and you have difficulties finding the book). Telly had a stored box with archival material from research on the history of display of computers at several World Fairs, to which I have added references from the secondary literature. If you want something more specific, I could go back and check that stored box. Best, Theodore Lekkas > Hi SIGCIS members, > I'm doing some research on the 20th century exhibition of > computers, particularly in the form of automata and televised > calculating machines. I'd like to look for some historical > precedents, though. Does anyone know of any works discussing the > exhibition of calculating machines from the 17th through the 19th > century? For example, in the 19th century calculating machines were > sent to at least one World's Fair, and in in the 18th c. von > Kempelen's chess playing Turk inspired popular speculations and > exciting about thinking machines, etc. > Thanks for your help. > Bernard > > > Bernard Geoghegan > Doctoral Candidate, Program in Screen Cultures, Northwestern University > Institute Visitor, Program in Science, Technology and Society, > Massachusetts Institute of Technology > > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list > of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at > http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription > options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members

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SHOT International Scholar Program
by Medina, Eden 18 Mar '08

18 Mar '08

Dear colleagues, The Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) is currently seeking applicants for the International Scholar Program. If you are not eligible to apply, please help us spread the word. We welcome applications from scholars at all levels who reside outside of the U.S. and Western Europe. Best wishes, Eden Medina -- SHOT International Scholar Program Each year the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) selects up to four International Scholars for a two-year term. International Scholars receive a regular SHOT membership at no cost during their appointment and a subscription to the journal Technology and Culture. International Scholars also receive the highest priority when applying for travel funding to attend the SHOT annual meeting. Applicants must reside and work in underrepresented countries -- meaning outside of the U.S. and Western Europe -- at the time of their selection. The program accepts applications from graduate students up through senior scholars. International Scholars shall act as ambassadors for the Society in their countries and regions, both by informing the Society about the state and developments of the history of technology in their regions, and by helping to disseminate information about the Society and its activities. At each annual meeting, SHOT will host a special gathering to welcome current international scholars, introduce them to SHOT officers, and discuss the intellectual dimensions of the field that pertain to international research. To apply to the SHOT International Scholar Program, please send a copy of your CV and a letter to EACH member of the committee listed below and to SHOT secretary Amy Bix at shot(a)iastate.edu. Letters must include: * why you would like to be an International Scholar, * how you plan to advance the mission of the International Scholar Program (see http://www.historyoftechnology.org/awards/scholars.html) * the current state of history of technology research in your home country and your home insitution, and * how your research will enrich existing knowledge in the field. The deadline for nominations is April 15. 2008 Committee on International Scholars Eden Medina (chair) School of Informatics Indiana University 901 E. 10th Street, Room 305 Bloomington, IN 47408 USA eden.medina(a)gmail.com Henrik Bjorck Göteborgs Universitet History of Ideas and Theory of Science Box 200 S-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden henrik.bjorck(a)idehist.gu.se Thomas Kaiserfeld Department of History of Science and Technology Royal Institute of Technology, S-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden thomas.kaiserfeld(a)mdh.se Valentina Fava European University Institute Max Weber programme Villa La Fonte via delle Fontanelle, 10 50016, San Domenico di Fiesole (FI) Italy valentina.fava(a)eui.eu Joel Wolfe Dept. of History University of Massachusetts Amherst Herter Hall, 161 Presidents Drive Amherst, Massachusetts 01003-9312 USA jwolfe(a)history.umass.edu Harro Maat Wageningen University Hollandseweg 1 Wageningen 6706 KN Netherlands harro.maat(a)wur.nl -- Eden Medina, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Informatics Adjunct Assistant Professor of History School of Informatics Indiana University, Bloomington Tel: (812) 856-1871 | Fax: (812) 856-1995 edenm(a)indiana.edu<mailto:edenm@indiana.edu> http://informatics.indiana.edu/edenm

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Fw: [CSL] FW: <nettime> computer critic Joseph Weizenbaum died, age 85
by Neil Barton 11 Mar '08

11 Mar '08

You may be interested in the undernoted. neil Dr Roger Neil Barton Visiting Research Fellow, Institute of Historical Research http://www.uclmail.net/~neil.barton/ ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joanne Roberts" <joanne.roberts(a)NEWCASTLE.AC.UK> To: <CYBER-SOCIETY-LIVE(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK> Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 12:41 PM Subject: [CSL] FW: <nettime> computer critic Joseph Weizenbaum died, age 85 -----Original Message----- From: nettime-l-bounces(a)kein.org [mailto:nettime-l-bounces@kein.org] On Behalf Of Geert Lovink Sent: 07 March 2008 12:10 To: nettime-l(a)kein.org Subject: <nettime> computer critic Joseph Weizenbaum died, age 85 (In the fall of 2007 an old friend of mine, the Amsterdam-based journalist-artist Ine Poppe decided to hop on the train and go to Berlin to visit Joseph Weizenbaum. She did an interview with him and came back with lots of interesting stories. It was around the same time that I read the interview book , made by Gunna Wendt, in German. I wrote about it in a nettime posting called the Society of the Query. Ine gave me a document, in German called Was ich am Ende meines Lebens glaube, 1 DIN A4 with 14 theses on it. It's hanging above my desk, in front of me. "5) Not all aspect of life are computable." The same can be said about Weizenbaum's life. /geert) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Weizenbaum Joseph Weizenbaum (Berlin, January 8, 1923 - March 5, 2008) was an American professor emeritus of computer science at MIT. Born in Berlin, Germany to Jewish parents, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1936, emigrating with his family to the United States. He started studying mathematics in 1941 in the US, but his studies were interrupted by the war, during which he served in the military. Around 1950 he worked on analog computers, and helped create a digital computer for Wayne State University. In 1955 he worked for General Electric on the first computer used for banking, and in 1963 took a position at MIT. In 1966, he published a comparatively simple program called ELIZA which demonstrated natural language processing by engaging humans into a conversation resembling that with an empathic psychologist. The program applied pattern matching rules to the human's statements to figure out its replies. (Programs like this are now called chatterbots.) Weizenbaum was shocked that his program was taken seriously by many users, who would open their hearts to it. He started to think philosophically about the implications of Artificial Intelligence and later became one of its leading critics. His influential 1976 book Computer Power and Human Reason displays his ambivalence towards computer technology and lays out his case: while Artificial Intelligence may be possible, we should never allow computers to make important decisions because computers will always lack human qualities such as compassion and wisdom. This he saw as a consequence of their not having been raised in the emotional environment of a human family. Weizenbaum was the creator of the SLIP programming language. A few years ago, Weizenbaum moved to Berlin and lived in the vicinity of where he used to live with his parents.[1][2] Until his death he was Chairman of the Scientific Council at the Institute of Electronic Business in Berlin. See also: http://www.duvet-dayz.com/archives/2008/03/07/587/ # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mail.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime(a)kein.org ************************************************************************************ Distributed through Cyber-Society-Live [CSL]: CSL is a moderated discussion list made up of people who are interested in the interdisciplinary academic study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list please visit: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html *************************************************************************************

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SHOT panels -- commentators and chairs needed
by Thomas Haigh 05 Mar '08

05 Mar '08

Hello everyone, The last message unleashed a flood of interested responses for SHOT in Rotterdam later this year. I've now got 16 expressions of interest, which I've made a quick partition of into panels on Trans(national) Identity Politics and Institutions Users and Applications Business and Economic History So far I have no volunteers to serve as chair or commentator. It looks like I'll need 4 of each. I'm only allowed to chair one and comment on another, so that leaves 3 chairs and 3 commentators. So please get in touch if we can assign you to one of these panels in either role. You can definitely chair a session even if you are presenting elsewhere on the program, including in one of our own sessions. I'm hazier on whether SHOT allows you to present in one session and comment on another. Tom

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CFP: TPRC 2008
by John Laprise 04 Mar '08

04 Mar '08

Hello everyone, I wanted to make everyone aware of TPRC 2008 (Telecommunications Policy Research Conference). While oriented more towards policy, they welcome historical work. In recent years they have also become increasingly interested in ICTs with the phenomenon of convergence. I presented here last year and it was a very productive conference leading me to meet some of the people I was writing about. TPRC2008 announces Call for Papers TPRC is a non-profit organization that hosts an annual forum for scholars and decision-makers in the fields of telecommunications and information policy. The purpose of the conference is to acquaint policy-makers with the best of recent research, and to familiarize researchers with the knowledge needs of policy makers. The 36th Research Conference on Communication, Information and Internet Policy will be held September 26 - September 28, 2008 at The National Center for Technology & Law, George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA. The Program Committee of TPRC is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for this year's conference. Information can be found at Call for Papers <http://tprcweb.com/node/32> on our website. You will also find information for the Student Paper Competition John Laprise Ph.D. Candidate Media, Technology, and Society School of Communication Northwestern University Evanston, IL USA

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Last chance to join a SIGCIS panel for SHOT 2008
by Thomas Haigh 04 Mar '08

04 Mar '08

Hello everyone, Any more takers for this? So far we have five people definitely interested. One common thread between three of the ideas is a focus on users and applications. There's also an interest in politics and institutions, and in computing and (inter)national identity. One or two more papers could give us two strong panels. But the deadline is looming, so please give me an initial statement of interest today if you think you might join us. Tom From: Thomas Haigh [mailto:thaigh@computer.org] Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 2:52 AM To: 'members(a)sigcis.org' Cc: 'soft-eu(a)science.uva.nl'; 'gard.paulsen(a)bi.no' Subject: SIGCIS Panels and Grad Student travel awards for SHOT 2008 Hello everyone, This email is a request for people who are interested in participating in SIGCIS sponsored panels at the annual meeting to get in touch with me. The deadline is March 14, which means I need to hear from you within the next few days with an initial expression of interest. SHOT does not need full papers, but I would need an abstract and one page resume by March 9. The normal SHOT format is for three or four talks of 20-25 minutes each followed by a commentator and questions. I can't promise that all ideas can be fitted neatly into one of our panel proposals. However if I can't accommodate whatever you are interested in within a panel then you still have the option of submitting your abstract as an individual paper. What I've done for each of the past three conferences is to circulate a call like this and receive a short summary from interested people of the work they'd like to present. Then I look for connections among the ideas and group them into one or more thematically coherent panel proposals. I work with the authors to strengthen their abstracts and to tweak them to better fit the panel. This has worked well in the past. Last year we submitted three panels, all of which were accepted. For the previous year we had two panels, both accepted. Once we see how things are shaping up we may use the list again to appeal for additional papers on specific topics or for chairs or commentators. You've already seen a couple of reminders of the upcoming SHOT 2008 meeting from other people. Lisbon, October 10-14. Lots of information including maps, hotels, travel, etc. is now online at http://www.shotlisbon2008.com/meeting.htm. The call for papers is at http://shotnews.net/?p=401. It mentions looking for papers on how the history of technology might be written in the future, so this may lead to a panel of historiographical papers about the future of the history of computing. However other ideas are also welcome. It also appeals for papers "from those new to SHOT regardless of discipline." If you are a graduate student there is an additional reason to join one of our panels. At the last meeting we raised enough money with our collection and book auction to fund two graduate student travel awards of $300 each to support the cost of attending the meeting. Any student presenting in a SIGCIS sponsored panel will be eligible for consideration for one of these awards. It promises to be a great meeting, and I hope to see many of you there in Lisbon. At the last SHOT meeting we had far more history of computing panels than ever before - so let's try to set another record this year. Tom Haigh www.tomandmaria.com/tom

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