April 2009 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Vacuum Tube Development Committee
by Evan Koblentz 09 Sep '10

09 Sep '10

Last week I visited Harvard's archives of the Radio Research Lab, and found some meeting minutes of the Vacuum Tube Development Committee (1943-1945 timeframe) .... I can't find much online that nicely summarizes this committee and its activity / purpose. Can someone here point me to a good overview?

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Another question - "Giant Brains"
by Evan Koblentz 31 Oct '09

31 Oct '09

Was the term "Giant Brains" already popular when Edmund Berkeley used it in his 1949 book title, or should he get credit for popularizing it? I'm mentioning the term in a footnote and want to be sure credit goes to the right source.

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Computer History Museum Book Prize
by Jeffrey D. Tang 17 May '09

17 May '09

The Computer History Museum Prize is awarded by SIGCIS to the author of an outstanding book in the history of computing broadly conceived, published during the prior three years (e.g. books published in 2006-2008 are eligible for the inaugural 2009 award). Books in translation are eligible for three years following the date of their publication in English. The prize of $1000, established through the generosity of an anonymous donor who wishes to honor the Computer History Museum, is administered by SIGCIS, SHOT’s special interest group for computers, information and society. Publishers, authors, and other interested members of the computer-history community are invited to nominate books. Send one copy of the nominated title to each of the committee members listed below. To be considered, book submissions must be postmarked by 1 April 2009. For more information, please contact the prize committee chair or SIGCIS secretary (secretary(a)sigcis.org) Thomas J. Misa [chair] Charles Babbage Institute 211 Andersen Library 222 - 21st Avenue South University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55455 tmisa(a)umn.edu Paul E. Ceruzzi MRC 311 National Air and Space Museum PO Box 37012 Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC 20013-7012 CeruzziP(a)si.edu Jennifer S. Light Northwestern University School of Communication Frances Searle Building 2240 Campus Drive, Room 2-152 Evanston, IL 60208-2952 light(a)northwestern.edu

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Introducing myself
by Armand Van Dormael 09 May '09

09 May '09

Dear Colleagues, It is a great pleasure for me to join Sigcis. I hope I can make a contribution to your research. Several eminent historians have drawn attention to major gaps in the history of computing. Much of computing technology was developed in Europe, but its originators are not recognized even in their home country. Since Europe has no computer industry, historians have not been interested. On February 24, 2003, the New York Times published an article titled: Herbert F. Mataré. An Inventor of the Transistor Has His Moment. Fifty-five years after the fact, this was the first time Mataré was given credit for his work. In 1986, the Boston Computer Museum held a contest to determine who invented the microcomputer. The Micral created by François Gernelle was recognized as the first commercially distributed microcomputer. . Both Mataré and Gernelle have provided me with ample documentation and information about their work. My forthcoming book The Silicon Revolution explores this unmapped area of history. It constitutes a documented analysis and a coherent narrative of the development of computing in the United States, Europe and Asia. Please see:/http://www.avandor.net IEEE paper The French Transistor. NY Times: Herbert F. Mataré. An Inventor of the Transistor Has His Moment. Armand Van Dormael 33A Drève de la Meute 1410 Waterloo Belgium Tel/fax +32 2 354 96 63 a.vandormael(a)skynet.be

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Slightly off-topic: question about writing books....
by Evan Koblentz 27 Apr '09

27 Apr '09

I have a question about how to write history. I hope it's not inappropriate or too elementary to ask here. The vast majority of my writing is hard news and feature articles for technology trade magazines using AP style. So it's very difficult for me to break the habit of writing "he said" (or similar) after most sentences. But as I write the manuscript for my first computer history book, I'm encountering situations where that is clearly not the best approach, because it interrupts the flow of the story. How do those of you who write computer history books handle the attribution when telling a never-before-told story? Put another way, what are good ways to footnote a whole paragraph or section without littering the page? The manuscript is full of what I can't help calling "scoops" because the journalistic approach is all I know how to do, so I feel it's necessary to cite the source of everything before readers question why they haven't heard these stories before. Quite frankly, it's important to me that what I publish is considered credible by SIGCIS members! :) Thanks in advance -- - Evan

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Martin Weik?
by Evan Koblentz 21 Apr '09

21 Apr '09

I recently read some of Martin Weik's reports on early computing in the military. Is it possible to reach him? I've been unsuccessful so far in my quest to learn the details of ENIAC's move from Penn to Aberdeen, and have exhausted most resources. (Although I have not yet visited the NARA archives at College Park, Md. where there may be Project PX / ENIAC documents.) I suspect that Weik, if accessible, can answer some of my questions.

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Contemporary history on the Web today
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 18 Apr '09

18 Apr '09

Might be of interest - Bernardo (University of Leicester) The University of Luxembourg (Master's in Contemporary European History) and the Virtual Resource Centre for Knowledge about Europe (CVCE) are organising a Symposium to be held in October 2009, whose theme will be 'Contemporary history in the digital age'. The use of the computer and Internet in the methods, techniques and work of historians is coming under ever-wider examination. However, contemporary history as a subject has remained relatively detached from the use of digital applications for academic purposes — excepting word processing and electronic mail — and from those methodological studies linked to it. Nonetheless, information and communication technologies can offer a number of possibilities to contemporary history studies in terms of publication, the collection of primary and secondary sources, networking, data visualisation, etc., not to forget that the Web is itself becoming an archive. The application of digital technology to the study of contemporary history is therefore destined to increase, and our discipline certain to change drastically with it. This Symposium will focus on a simple question, but one offering complex answers: 'Will the Web provide us with a better understanding of history?' The Symposium will bring together contributions and workshop activities in three areas: 1. Contemporary history on the Web today: resources and tools; 2. Contemporary history on the Web today: methods and writing; 3. Contemporary history on the Web tomorrow: 'what will be the future digital environment for researchers in contemporary history?' Download the call for contributions. Deadline for application: 30 May 2009. Website: http://symposium.cvce.lu

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ATM research feature
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 17 Apr '09

17 Apr '09

Dear friends A recent article in our in-house magazine http://www2.le.ac.uk/ebulletin/features/2000-2009/2009/04/nparticle.2009-04… Kind regards, Bernardo Senior Lecturer in Business and Accounting History School of Management University of Leicester Tel: 0116 252 5647 Email: b.batiz-lazo(a)le.ac.uk Times Higher Education University of the Year 2008/09

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Reminder - SIGCIS list has a DIGEST option.
by Thomas Haigh 10 Apr '09

10 Apr '09

Hello everyone, We now have more than two hundred people on the list, not all of whom have history of computing as their primary interest. So if you like to stay in the loop but don't want to have your e-mail box filled with too much SIGCIS material you might consider the Digest subscription mode. This will consolidate all list messages from a day into a single email for you to read when convenient. (The downside: you have to look inside the message to see the subject headings). While the list is generally pretty quiet, we do sometimes have flurries of email when discussion breaks out. (Just a reminder -- anyone on this list is able to post directly by sending a message from the address at which they receive SIGCIS messages to members(a)sigcis.org. For the acceptable use policy see http://www.sigcis.org/?q=node/14) To set digest mode, go to http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members and scroll down to the "Members Subscribers" section at the bottom of the page. Enter your email address in bottom field and click the adjacent "Unsubscribe or edit options" button. The system will then prompt you for the password you were provided when you subscribed (or when we shifted hosting to sigcis.org) That e-mail was titled "Welcome to the 'Members' mailing list." If you forgot or cannot find your password, click the "Remind" button at the bottom of the same login page. You will promptly receive your password via e-mail. After logging in, you will be able to change your subscriber options. To enable digest mode, scroll down to "Set Digest Mode" and set it to "On." Then scroll down further to the bottom of the page and click "Submit My Changes." Also don't forget that that you can catch up with the list archives at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/. It's great to see traffic on the list, but I wouldn't want anyone to be scared away. Tom

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Fwd: The Future is Prologue ICA Pre-con
by Fred Turner 04 Apr '09

04 Apr '09

Hi All, The ICA is hosting another preconference this year that seems to be up our collective alley. It's "New Media, New Histories," with the program below. Check it out. -- Fred Turner > > See below for details regarding a pre-conference that will be part > of the offerings at the annual ICA conference in Chicago this May. > Entitled "The Future is Prologue: New Media, New Histories?," this > preconference brings together scholars who are interested in > considering new media in terms of history, and vice versa. There is > still room for those who wish to attend this pre-conference, and we > welcome all interested parties. > > Registration for the ICA conference and this pre-con can be found > here: > http://www.icahdq.org > [the pre-conference is called PC3 in the registration system] > > And let's hear it for my co-planners, Nick Jankowski and Steve Jones. > > Thanks, > Dave Park > > > The Future is Prologue: > New Media, New Histories? > > An ICA Pre-Conference Organized by: New Media & Society, The > University of Illinois at Chicago, And The Communication History > Interest Group of the ICA > > Chicago, 21 May 2009 > University of Illinois at Chicago > Lecture Center C1 > > Schedule > > 8:00: Bus pickup at Marriott Hotel. Buses depart at 8:10 a.m. for > UIC > > 8:30 a.m.-9:00 a.m.: Opening remarks > > 9:00 a.m.-10:15 a.m.: Roundtable 1: Storage and New Media: Beyond > the Container Metaphor > The idea of storage operates as one of a number of > helpful-though also constraining-visions of how information > operates. New media connect the controversies connected to this > idea of storage to long-standing disputes concerning the social role > of information. How do media connect with different modes of > storage? And how do issues relating to storage in turn connect with > historiographical concerns? These will be the animating ideas of > this roundtable. > Devon Powers, "What Was Popular? New Media, History, and the > Problem of > the Music Charts" > Sabryna Cornish, "Correcting History: The Perils of New > Media Correction in a > Digital Age" > Adriana de Souza e Silva and Daniel M. Sutko, "Mobile > Locative Interfaces as > Potentiality: Actualizing Information in Space and > Space as Information" > Megan Sapnar, "From Old to New and Back Again: Broadcast > Histories, > Software Studies, and the Work of Web Historiography" > Deborah Leiter, "Hidden in Plain Sight?: The Exigence of > (Electronic) Visibility > for Print Materials" > Erik Glyttov, "Mediated Realities: Virtual Worlds as New > Media and the > Preservation of Digital Ancestry" > > 10:15 a.m.-10:45 a.m.: Coffee Break > > 10:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m.: Roundtable 2: The Theoretical in the > Historical: De-Centering New Media History > Media historians are often trained to avoid tendencies > like technological determinism and Whig history. Related to these > tendencies is the practice of reifying technologies and media, > setting them aside as if they were naturally separate 'things'. > This roundtable pulls together papers that exemplify the practice of > de-centering new and old media through grounded understandings of > social praxis, understood through varying theoretical lenses. > D. Travers Scott, "The Utility of Sound Studies' Theory and > Method for Histories > of New Media and Communication Technologies" > Peter D. Schaefer, "Reflections on the Sliding Signification > of 'Interface'" > Klaus Bruhn Jensen & Rasmus Helles, "The Internet as a > Cultural Forum: > Implications for Research" > Josh Lauer, "Surveillance History and the History of New > Media" > Benjamin Peters, "Media We Do Not Yet Know How to Talk > About: History as > New Media" > Lance Porter, "A Multi-Method Examination of the Move from > Print to New > Media of Online Sports Reporters and Fans" > Dawn Shepard, "The Closet and the House-Tops: Communication > Technologies and the Paradox of Privacy" > > 12:00 p.m.-1:00 p.m.: Lunch > > 1:00 p.m.-2:15 p.m.: Roundtable 3: Doing History: New Media > Historiography, and the History of History > Historiography-understood as the methods of history and > as the history of history-is of particular importance to those who > take an historical approach to new media. How do new media-as > storage tools and as analytic devices-intersect with the methods we > use to do media history? And what methodological adjustments can we > see in new media research? > Jaako Suominen, "Gaming Legacy?: Four Approaches to the > Relation Between > Cultural Heritage and Digital Technology" > Mark Brewin, "A History of the History of Objectivity" > Simon Popple & David E. Morrison, "Opening the Archive: The > BBC, New Media, > and Media History" > Meghan Dougherty, Jamaica Jones, and Steven M. Schneider, > "911@10: > Collaboration across Fields to Challenge Formats for > New Media History" > Michael Dick, "Writing a Prologue for 'Web Science': > Situating an Evolving > Discipline-and the New Media at its Core-Within > Determinist- Constructivist Discourse and Medium > Theory" > Jan Fernback, "Knowledge Capital, ICTs, and the Academic > Community" > > 2:15 p.m.-2:30 p.m.: Break. > > 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.: Keynote address by speaker TBA > > 3:30 p.m.-3:45 p.m.: Break. > > 3:45 p.m.-5:00 p.m.: Roundtable 4: Historicizing New Media: > Applying Historical Approaches to New Media Practice > The future assumes numerous forms in media practice. The > idea of the future-and the sense of possibility and flexibility that > often comes with it-is of particular importance to new media > practice. The papers collected here address the ideas of emergence > and flexibility as they relate to new media. > > Holly Kruse, "Internet Gambling and the Changing Meanings of > Domestic Space" > Charles van den Heuvel, "Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web in > Research from a > Historical Perspective: The Designs of Paul Otlet > (1868-1944) for Telecommunication and Machine > Readable Documentation to Organize Research and > Society" > Stephanie Schulte, "Blogging into the Future: The Internet > as Unmediated Proxy > of the Self" > Deb Aikat, "Digitally Inspired: Classic Concepts, Texts and > the Pioneers Who > Shaped the Evolution of Computing in 1833-1945" > Carolyn Kane, "Digital Art and Experimental Color Systems at > Bell Laboratories, > 1965-1984: Restoring Interdisciplinary Innovations > and Color Systems to Media History" > Patricia T. Whalen, "The Tipping Point for Newspapers: A > Snapshot of an Industry > in Denial" > > 5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.: Closing Reception, featuring guided visit to > the Electronic Visualization Laboratory. > Though space for the EVL tours may be limited, there > will be a chance for groups of approximately 25 attendees to take > this tour sequentially. >

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