May 2010 - 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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Technological Innovation in Retail Finance
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 26 May '10

26 May '10

- Apologies as previous message was sent with wrong subject heading! BBL 2010/5/26 Bernardo Batiz-Lazo <bbatiz64(a)googlemail.com> > > Dear all > A heads up to a forthcoming title in Routledge's International Studies in > Business History. Of course, I have a vested interest and would appreciate > any pre-order or actual order from your library. > Best > Bernardo > (University of Leicester) > > > ------------------------------ > *Technological Innovation in Retail Finance<http://tandf.msgfocus.com/c/13TRk9oVQYVNvoxmVM> > * > International Historical Perspectives > Edited by *Bernado Batiz-Lazo*, *J. Carles Maixé-Altés*, *Paul Thomes* > > Read More <http://tandf.msgfocus.com/c/13TRkyDgMMKaMzhFIz> | Recommend to > Librarian <http://tandf.msgfocus.com/c/13TRkXRBIAyy3K1Yvm> > > This edited volume offers a new and original approach to the study of > technological change in retail finance. Documenting developments in the US > alongside case studies from Mexico and Western Europe, Technological > Innovation in Retail Finance addresses the variety of financial institutions > that populated the markets for retail finance. It offers a massive research > base reflecting not only breadth of contributor interests, but also a unity > of purpose that comes from several workshops and comments on each other's > work. > > Technological innovation had a major role in the shaping and developing of > administrative procedures, routines, and capabilities in organizations > offering retail financial services. Indeed, with the exception of > contemporary case studies for the UK, the current ‘state of the art’ in the > study of the computerization of financial services from an historical > perspective is overwhelmingly focused on developments in the USA. This > volume overcomes the usual bias towards the so called ‘Atlantic continuity’ > in the understanding of technological change related to applications of > information and telecommunication technologies (ICT) by offering a number of > sources of distinctiveness. It shows when and how technological change > altered the competitive intensity in the markets for retail finance. > > October 2010 | Hardback: 978-0-415-88067-1 > > ------------------------------ > [image: cover] <http://tandf.msgfocus.com/c/13TRln5WEomVkUMhi9> * > *These books are part of our *Routledge International Studies in Business > History*series. To view all the titles click here<http://tandf.msgfocus.com/c/13TRnOtYfdfaZXg60T> >

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Introducing the IT History Society Honor Roll
by Jeffery Stein 26 May '10

26 May '10

IT History Society May 18, 2010 The board of directors of the IT History Society is pleased to announce the latest addition to its website. The new entry is entitled the IT Honor Roll, a listing of living individuals that have made noteworthy contributions to the information technology industry. Please review the initial Honor Roll at http://ithistory.org/honor_roll/honor-roll.php. The seeded listing of about 100 individuals which can be sorted by alphabetical order or by two categories, a creator of history or a chronicler of history. We are asking you and your fellow professionals to submit nominations of honorees by using the online form at http://ithistory.org/honor_roll/fame-form.php. We do feel that that the list should exceed 100s of entries in a short period of time. If need be that you have several nominations and are short of time, you can email nominations to info(a)ithistory.org. The IT Honor Roll is intended to be a community effort of IT peers, historians, and archivist. It is not the intent of the IT History Society to create a list of honorees but only to collect them from the profession suggested nominees and host the results. The initial listing is a collection of honorees by some members in the interest in getting the list started. We do expect the list to rapidly grow by IT community nominations. Please take note that the IT Honor Roll is for living individuals. For individuals that have made a noteworthy contribution to the information technology industry and that have passed on please visit a section on the website entitled In Memoriam located at http://www.ithistory.org/memoriam/memoriam.php and to nominate entries please us the online form located at http://www.ithistory.org/memoriam/memoriam-form.php The current seeded list is sort of American centric and we would hope our fellow non US professionals will be able to nominate more honorees to the IT Honor Roll so the honor roll will be truly international. Once a suggested nominee is entered, the IT Honor Roll Committee, we appreciate their time in doing this, will review each entry. The committee consists of - Dr. Glenn Bugos - Moment LLC James Cortada - IBM Corporation Michael Geslowitz - IEEE History Center Dr. John Impagliazzo - Hofstra University Professor Martin Campbell-Kelly - Warwick University Jeffery Stein - Chairman, IT History Society Dr. Arthur Tatnall - Chairman, IFIP WG9.7 We look forward to your suggested nominees. The IT History Society is now on Twitter! <http://twitter.com/ithistoryorg> Best regards, Jeffery D. Stein Chairman (415) 435-7464 Tel (415) 435-6115 Fax http://www.ithistory.org IT History Society One Blackfield Drive Suite 331 Tiburon, CA 94920 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Email that means Business, Every email, Every day! - LetterClick BrandMail(TM) found only at www.letterclick.net

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History of Computing @ the NSA
by Evan Koblentz 24 May '10

24 May '10

Not sure if this was posted already. Sorry if it's redundant. -ek http://www.governmentattic.org/3docs/NSA-HGPEDC_1964.pdf

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FW: [Shotnews] SHOT International Scholar Program - EXTENDED Deadline
by Thomas Haigh 24 May '10

24 May '10

See below for the call. This is a good program -- as I understand it the SHOT international scholars have a good chance of receiving travel money to come to SHOT, and of course something to boast about on their resumes. I knew a French scholar who was chosen back in the 1990s, but I think from the description that Western Europe is now excluded. I assume all of Asia, Eastern Europe and South America are "under represented" and so eligible. I don't remember any historians of computing taking part in this program, so it would be great to see a few SIGCIS people represented. Tom From: shotnews-bounces(a)historyoftechnology.org [mailto:shotnews-bounces@historyoftechnology.org] On Behalf Of shotnews(a)historyoftechnology.org Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 9:46 AM To: shotnews(a)historyoftechnology.org Subject: [Shotnews] SHOT International Scholar Program - EXTENDED Deadline SHOT International Scholar Program 2010 Call for Nominees Extended Deadline: 2 July 2010 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 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. To inform the SHOT community about these matters, elected International Scholars to write at least one report for either the SHOT Newsletter or website. At each annual meeting, SHOT hosts 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. How to apply 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 the SHOT secretary (shot(a)virginia.edu) The letter should 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/international_scholars.html) * the current state of history of technology research in your home country and your home institution, and * how your research will enrich existing knowledge in the field. 2010 International Outreach Committee 1. Harro Maat (Harro.Maat(a)wur.nl) 2. Jin Hee Park (park0227(a)dongguk.edu) 3. Chandra Bhimull (cbhimull(a)colby.edu) 4. Dagmara Jajesniak-Quast (dagmara.jajesniak-quast(a)uni-erfurt.de) 5. Jahnavi Phalkey (j.phalkey(a)imperial.ac.uk) 6. Antonio Pérez Yuste (antonio.perez(a)upm.es !! Extended deadline for nominations: 2 July 2010!! If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Chair of the International Outreach Committee, Harro Maat (Harro.Maat(a)wur.nl) or the SHOT Secretary, Bernie Carlson (SHOTsecy(a)virginia.edu) Please do not send messages to shotnews(a)historyoftechnology.org as this address does not accept incoming messages. -- ____________________________________________________ "Using yesterday's technology to solve tomorrow's problems today" W. Bernard Carlson Professor of Science, Technology, and Society Professor of History Coordinator, Engineering Business Minor Department of Science, Technology, and Society School of Engineering and Applied Science University of Virginia 351 McCormick Road P.O. Box 400744 Charlottesville, VA 22904-4744 Email: wc4p(a)virginia.edu Voice: (434) 924-6113 (Work) or 984-6069 (Home) Fax: (434) 924-4306 or 975-2190 (Home) ____________________________________________________

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new issue of the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) Newsletter [2nd try]
by Thomas Misa 24 May '10

24 May '10

Please find below the link/URL to the new issue of the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) Newsletter (Spring 2010, Volume 32, Number 1). http://www.cbi.umn.edu/newsletter.html * * * * * * The CBI Newsletter is published semi-annually. If you wish to have your email address removed from the notification list, please send an email message to cbi(a)umn.edu with "newsletter unsubscribe" in the subject line.

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Analogue computing (forthcoming book)
by tmisa＠umn.edu 21 May '10

21 May '10

I see that Springer's **NEW** series in the History of Computing has a forthcoming title (apologies if this circulated already): Charles Care, Technology For Modelling: Electrical Analogies, Engineering Practice, and the Development of Analogue Computing (History of Computing) Historians have different views on the core identity of analogue computing. Some portray the technology solely as a precursor to digital computing, whereas others stress that analogue applications existed well after 1940. Even within contemporary sources, there is a spectrum of understanding around what constitutes analogue computing. To understand the relationship between analogue and digital computing, and what this means for users today, the history must consider how the technology is used. Technology for Modelling investigates the technologies, the concepts, and the applications of analogue computing. The text asserts that analogue computing must be thought of as not just a computing technology, but also as a modelling technology, demonstrating how the history of analogue computing can be understood in terms of the parallel themes of calculation and modelling. The book also includes a number of detailed case studies of the technology's use and application. Topics and features: discusses the meaning of analogue computing and its significance in history, and describes the main differences between analogue and digital computing; provides a chronology of analogue computing, based upon the two major strands of calculation and modeling; examines the wider relationship between computing and modelling, and discusses how the theme of modelling fits within the history of analogue computing; describes how the history of analogue computing evolved through a number of stages of use; presents illustrative case studies on analogue modelling in academic research, oil reservoir modelling, aeronautical design, and meteorology. General readers and researchers in the field of history of computing – as well as history of science more generally – will find this book a fascinating insight into the historical use and evolution of technology. The volume provides a long-needed historical framework and context for these core computing technologies. Dr. Charles Care is a senior software engineer at BT and an Associate Fellow at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Warwick, UK.

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Analogue vs. Digital
by NOVEMBER, JOSEPH 19 May '10

19 May '10

Thanks, Debbie and Nathan, for the publicity and the kind words! The dissertation covers the development and use of LINC through 1965. I suspect it would indeed be helpful reading to anyone examining the A vs D controversies surrounding work with the machine (a wonderful research topic, by the way). Among other things the LINC was a superb analog-to-digital converter, and its ease of use laid bare many of the problems associated with digitizing analog data. LINC was also specifically designed with neurophysiologists in mind, and many of the controversies that cropped up in the late 1960s have roots (with which the LINC's developers were familiar) going back to early 1950s. Besides the dissertation, I published a brief introduction to LINC in Endeavour (Joe November, "LINC: biology's revolutionary little computer," Endeavour Volume 28, Issue 3, September 2004, pages 125-131). I am happy to send a PDF of the dissertation or the article to anyone who requests it. I am traveling, however, so it make take a few days for me to honor such a request. Joe Joseph November Assistant Professor Department of History University of South Carolina 212 Gambrell Hall Columbia, SC 29208 november(a)sc.edu

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review of Lars Heide's book on Punched Cards
by Ceruzzi, Paul 17 May '10

17 May '10

I reviewed Lars Heide's book more favorably: Review of Lars Heide, Punched-Card Systems and the Early Information Explosion, 1880-1945, in the Journal for the American Society for Information Science and Technology 61/2 (Feb. 2010), p. 428 I can post the text of my review, but perhaps it would be more appropriate for you to find it online. Paul Ceruzzi ______________________ Original message from Tom: While I'm here: the guy who reviewed Lars Heide's book seemed rather grumpy! Or rather he didn't have any interest in the use and development of punched card technology except in as much as it might have had a major social impact. So let me add that it is well worth reading and is by far the broadest and deepest account so far published of the evolution of punched card machine applications over a range of countries and industries. In exploring the shaping of technology by users it is an excellent complement to JoAnne Yates' work on punched card use in the insurance industry. If you come across other reviews of interest to readers on the list please feel free to link or forward to our list. Tom

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Tom's review of Turner/Paul Edward's wish list for text book.
by Ceruzzi, Paul 15 May '10

15 May '10

Paul: I agree with your wish-list, but I think you are going to have to write the book yourself! I have been asked about writing a Third Edition of _A History of Modern Computing_, but I don't think I can pull it off--it cannot just be more of the same but would have to incorporate the topics you mention, thus making it a brand new book. And to be effective it needs to be concise & brief, which makes it much harder. I especially agree with what you say about software, but that won't be easy. Those of us who knew the late Mike Mahoney remember how he struggled with that topic, and never really wrestled it to the ground, unfortunately.... Tom: Turner's book is a great contribution (and much better than Markoff's), but I also feel that he places too much emphasis on Brand. Maybe my problem is that I was (sort of) part of this phenomenon, and therefore I cannot be objective ("if you remember the sixties..."). While Brand was indeed influential, the messiness of history compels us to turn not to Palo Alto but to Albuquerque, New Mexico, of all places, where the Altair set things off. And back to Cambridge, Mass, not to MIT but to the "backwater" of Harvard Square, where Bill Gates & Paul Allen, seeing the ad for the Altair, decamped from the Bay State and moved to Albuquerque, founding Microsoft in the process. No Whole Earth Catalog/Gregory Bateson/Bucky Fuller/Merry Pranksters there. See what I am getting at? I have a piece coming out soon (in the OAH Magazine of History) , in which I go into more detail on this. As soon as it appears I will give the citation. Best, Paul Ceruzzi ________________________________________ From: members-bounces(a)sigcis.org [members-bounces(a)sigcis.org] On Behalf Of members-request(a)sigcis.org [members-request(a)sigcis.org] Today's Topics: 1. Turner's book; syllabus on History of Computers and the Internet; my wish list (Paul Edwards) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 17:19:01 -0400 From: Paul Edwards <pne(a)umich.edu> To: members(a)sigcis.org Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Turner's book; syllabus on History of Computers and the Internet; my wish list Message-ID: <19BCD063-ACEE-4A17-BBEC-88912EEA3E9B(a)umich.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252" Tom's excellent review of Fred Turner's book reminds me that I promised to report back to this list on development of my History of Computers and the Internet syllabus. It's available at http://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/379syll.pdf, or on the SIGCIS web page. In addition to numerous articles, I used four books: Campbell-Kelly and Aspray, Computer (general history of computers) Turner, From Counterculture to Cyberculture Campbell-Kelly, From Airline Reservations to Sonic the Hedgehog (history of the software industry) Abbate, Inventing the Internet Of these, I think I will remove the Campbell-Kelly book ? it's a bit too business-history oriented for undergrads (sorry Martin!) I agree entirely with Tom's assessment of Turner's book as among the best in the field. While I wouldn't use it in place of a general-history book like Computer, it does work well as a supplement, and it gave me a chance to lecture on American culture decade by decade. Today's undergrad students really don't know much about the pre-Internet era, or even about events before around 2000, so unless they're history majors it's important to throw in some context. My wish list for future textbook-y work in this field - we really need.... - a new general history (or a new edition of Computer) that puts more emphasis on the European and Japanese stories - a book on the history of computer games that blends serious (i.e. non-lionizing) business history with the cultural side of gaming, including serious review of the psychology of gaming (including impacts on behavior). The ideal book would also cover the military-gaming links in detail. - a history of software structured not around the development of software firms, but around the development of software functionality and the impacts of software on business and society. Such a thing might need to be web-based, with emulators, etc. - a real history of the web These items all call for teams rather than individuals to write them. - Paul On May 12, 2010, at 3:53 PM, Thomas Haigh wrote: > Hello, > > Tom > > Review of From Counterculture to Cyberculture > Thomas Haigh, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee > Preprint text -- Published version March 2010 in Isis. > > Turner?s book is one of the best every written on the history of information > technology. It centers on the unlikely career of Stewart Brand, who happily > for this purpose personifies the Bay Area?s paradoxical success as America?s > central hub for counter-cultural politics, new age fads, and high technology > entrepreneurship. Having arrived to study biology at Stanford University > Brand soon immersed himself in the emerging countercultural scene. He took > acid, hung out with the Merry Pranksters, and organized the multimedia Trips > Festivals. In 1968 he started a business to serve the area?s burgeoning > population of rural communes. It published the Whole Earth Catalog, which > Turner calls a ?smorgasbord of books, mechanical devices, and outdoor > recreational gear? showcasing items from birch cribs to electronic > calculators. Its title reflected Brand?s 1966 campaign to have NASA release > a picture of the Earth from space, something he presciently believed would > act as a powerful symbol of the world?s fragility and interdependence. The > catalog?s eccentric scope and deliberate juxtapositions made it a powerful > exemplar of the holistic mindset it promoted. Brand?s slogans of ?access to > tools? and ?whole systems? promised to supply individuals and local > communities with the technologies (literal and intellectual) needed to > defend themselves against the deadening conformity of government and big > business. > > Journalistic accounts of the origins of personal computing, most recently > John Markoff?s disjointed What the Doormouse Said, have celebrated > connections between computer enthusiasts and the counterculture without > really getting to grips with their substance or asking what the > counterculture actually was. Turner argues powerfully for the need to > separate the political activism of the New Left from the libertarian > lifestyle tinkering of what he calls the New Communalists. More > provocatively he suggests that the devotion of Brand and his followers to > cybernetics, systems thinking, interdisciplinary collaboration, and ad-hoc > non-hierarchical forms of organization did not, as they believed, set them > aside from the military-industrial-academic complex of the Cold War. > Instead, drawing primarily on characterizations of the MIT Radiation Lab > made by Peter Galison and David Mindell, he insists that these values united > the counter culture with the elites of the Cold War research world. This > argument implies that the book?s title might more accurately be reversed to > read ?From Cyberculture to Counterculture.? > > The Whole Earth Catalog ceased publication in 1972, though Brand mined > similar territory with successor publications such as CoEvolution Quarterly > into the 1980s. As the commune movement fizzled Brand developed a growing > interest in computer technology. A failed publication of the 1980s, The > Whole Earth Software Catalog, merged his countercultural networks with the > world of personal computer enthusiasts. This produced the WELL (Whole Earth > ?Lectronic Link), an extremely influential online conferencing system marked > by its sense of community and wide-ranging discussions of politics, culture, > and technology. It was the WELL that inspired Howard Rheingold to devise the > concept of ?virtual community.? Brand?s cohort spearheaded what Turner calls > a reversal of the ?political valance? of computers from remote, impersonal > things used by agents of government and big business to intimate devices > able to knit communities together and unleash personal potential. > > Brand?s personal networks extended ever further into the worlds of business > and computing research. He formed an alliance with Nicholas Negroponte, > founder of MIT?s influential Media Lab. Brand?s popular book Inventing the > Future celebrated the lab?s potential to reconnect individuals and rebuilt > communities via computer systems. Brand founded another business, the Global > Business Network, to bring executives to a series of seminars and retreats. > In 1990 Brand helped charter the Electronic Frontier Foundation to keep > ?cyberspace? free of government regulation. Many of Brand?s associates > became investors in, editors of, or contributors to Wired magazine. It was > both a mascot and an early driver of the high-tech bubble of the 1990s. > Embracing networks and computer technologies as both personally empowering > and socially transformative, Wired promoted Brand?s friends (dubbed the > ?digerati?) as visionaries and advanced a libertarian political agenda. > Like Brand, Wired claimed descent from the counterculture of the 1960s while > supporting Newt Gingrich whose idiosyncratic blueprint for a ?Republican > revolution? mixed social conservatism with a rhetoric of decentralization, > entrepreneurship, and technological transformation. > > Turner writes clearly and concisely, organizing his sprawling story into a > well crafted narrative around the twists and turns of Brand?s career. He > nimbly summarizes the many relevant contexts and secondary literatures > needed to address topics from the New Left to cybernetics to the founding of > Wired magazine. He uses archival sources and access to the participants, > including Brand?s personal diaries, to offer a seemingly authoritative > telling of these stories. Some of these incidents are already familiar from > journalistic accounts. Others are less well known. I was particularly > interested in the explanation of exactly how ?cyberspace? moved from its > origins in the 1980s as a science fiction phrase to describe a deeply > immersive virtual world to its vogue in the 1990s to describe text-based > computer communication. > > The book?s primary value comes from integrating all these episodes into a > single story. This exposes the surprising consistence of Brand?s philosophy > and method of operation. For example, Turner discovers commonalities between > the organization of the Whole Earth Catalog and the later WELL network. The > Whole Earth Catalog, cast here as ?an information technology,? included > heated discussion from readers and projected itself as the focal point of an > intellectually diverse community. Brand retained his quasi-mystical faith in > utopian transformation and the power of technologies and ideas to empower > individuals. He worked by making himself the focal point of a broad network, > using the rhetoric of systems theory as what Turner, following Galison, > calls a ?contact language? for symbolic trading between disparate > intellectual communities. We also see parallels between Brand?s own career > and the vision he espoused of a world of skilled free agents growing rich > through networks and the exchange of information. > > Turner resists the urge to editorialize but is unafraid to subject Brand to > historical scrutiny, finding historical voices to note that his networks and > communities were made up almost exclusively of young white men and that his > ostensibly apolitical stance ignored the realities of social class. However > it remains unclear whether Turner believes that the language of systems and > cybernetics Brand and his counterparts appropriated represented a > substantive transfer of concepts and methods from the Cold War elite or just > a fashionable vocabulary on which to draw. > > This book makes an important contribution to historicizing the controversies > of the 1960s and 1970s and demonstrating to historians the centrality of > insights from the history of science and technology in studying the cultural > history of these turbulent decades. > > >

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