July 2010 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Dissertations (fwd)
by Allan Olley 30 Nov '10

30 Nov '10

I may be telling people what they already know but to continue on James point, the largest repository of US and Canadian dissertations is a commercial database operated by ProQuest (accessible through a library subscription, but not open access). ProQuest also holds contracts for supplying much of the microfilm dissertation service in this region and so even if an electronic copy is not available you can often order a copy from them. When they print a copy from microfilm they also create an electronic copy in at least some cases. For example, I ordered a thesis from Columbia 1965 and after I ordered it an electronic copy was available). There are many dissertations on history of computing and allied fields in Proquest, I'm not going to try and list any here, sorry. A list of on-line sources of theses and dissertations is given by Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations: http://www.ndltd.org/find Several of these are open access including Theses Canada (unfortunately a very limited set of actual electronic theses available). I just noticed, ProQuest is running a service for open access dissertations (a very small set compared to their subscription service) here: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/ I could find two dissertations of probable interest, freely available for download on my own quick search of this service: Communities of innovation: Cyborganic and the birth of networked social media by Cool, Jennifer Catharine, Ph.D. University of Southern California. 2008: 420 pages; AAT 3341717. White House computer adoption and information policy from 1969 -- 1979 by Laprise, John Paul, Ph.D. Northwestern University. 2009: 262 pages; AAT 3386523. -- Yours Truly, Allan Olley http://individual.utoronto.ca/fofound/ On Wed, 30 Jun 2010, James Sumner wrote: > A belated follow-up to Jim's message about access to Masters and PhD > dissertations: > > The British Library's Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) is shaping up > to be very effective both as a clearing-house for information about > dissertations available digitally, and as a direct-access repository. I'm > surprised it's not better publicised. See: > > <http://ethos.bl.uk> > > The database attempts to list every research thesis/dissertation completed at > a higher education institution in the UK. If a copy has been deposited with > the British Library (which is usually the case) and has no access > restrictions, it can be scanned and prepared for electronic download. > > The beauty of this provision is that, once any user has ordered a thesis to > be digitised, it becomes available to later users at *no charge*. (Users > requesting theses have to register, but there are no restrictions on > registration. Users outside the UK are welcome.) > > A quick search on obvious keywords showed the following as currently > available for direct free download: > > --- > The growth of the Indian software industry : a social history > Author: Warrier, Meera. > Awarding Institution: University of East Anglia > Awarded: 2003 > > The roots and early history of the British home computer market : origins of > the masculine micro. > Author: Haddon, Leslie G. > Awarding Institution: Imperial College London (University of London) > Awarded: 1988 > > Technology, consumption and the future : the experience of home computing. > Author: Skinner, David Ian. > Awarding Institution: Brunel University > Awarded: 1992 > > A history of the theory of recursive functions and computability with special > reference to the developments initiated by Godels incompleteness theorems. > Author: Adams, R.G. > Awarding Institution: Hatfield Polytechnic > Awarded: 1983 > > Learning languages with computers : a history of computer assisted language > learning from 1960 to 1990 in relation to education, linguistics and applied > linguistics. > Author: Fox, Jeremy. > Awarding Institution: University of East Anglia > Awarded: 1991 > > The impact of e-Government in the UK > Author: Organ, Joseph John > Awarding Institution: University of Leeds > Awarded: 2006 > --- > > Theses which have not been digitised usually attract a one-off fee of £40 for > digitisation. Depending on the awarding institution's access policy, however, > digitisation is sometimes free (though there may be a wait of up to 30 days > before access is available). > > The system will also try to link to full-text versions held in local > repositories such as <etheses.whiterose.ac.uk> where it can. > > Hope you find this useful! > Best > James > > On 12/06/2010 17:01, James Cortada wrote: >> Thanks to those of you who were able to respond to this request for >> information. Some of my favorite sigcis e-mail is of this sort as I then >> go and look at many of the citations mentioned. >> >> I particularly like it when colleagues mention their Masters and Ph.D. >> dissertations and provide a link to where we can obtain a copy. This is >> of extraordinary importance because it is incredibly easy not to be >> aware of important research. Therefore, I would like to suggest that if >> you have not shared with everyone your dissertations, that you do so >> electronically, if you can. I for one have kept a copy of each >> dissertation that has been made available through this sigcis so that >> there is at least one copy that gets preserved outside of the normal >> places, and for European and Asian dissertations, a copy in the USA. I >> hope others do the same, particularly at such institutions as CBI and >> universities. >> >> Regards, >> >> Dr. Jim (James) W. Cortada >> IBM Institute for Business Value >> 2917 Irvington Way >> Madison, WI 53713 USA >> jwcorta(a)us.ibm.com >> 608-270-4462 >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 > > _______________________________________________ > 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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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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[Members] CBI --> finding guide to Mahoney papers
by Thomas Misa 29 Jul '10

29 Jul '10

Dear colleagues, We were pleased and honored when Jean Mahoney gave Mike's books, papers, and archival collection to CBI. And we are more than happy to have completed a finding guide to the collection and can announce that it is open for research. http://purl.umn.edu/92154 Mike, as you all know, was a scholar of unusual depth and breadth. "Papers contain 38 boxes of Michael S. Mahoney's collection of books and serials related to the history of computing, mathematics, and related fields. The collection also includes 17 boxes of Mahoney's archival materials, including course work, subject files, and publication drafts." There are extensive primary resources on theoretical computer science, including French and German titles. Here are just a tiny sample of items that caught my eye: * Zassenhaus, Hans. The Theory of Groups, 1949 * Svoboda, Antonin. Computing Mechanisms and Linkages, 1964 * Shera, Jesse Hauk, 1903-1982. Information Resources: A Challenge to American Science and Industry, 1958 * Turing Lectures, 1966-1987. * Software Engineering, 1972-1996 * Relational Databases, 1976-2007 * Program Correctness, 1966-2002 Please contact Stephanie Crowe <horow021(a)umn.edu>, CBI's archivist, with any questions --- on this or other CBI collections. Best, Tom Misa

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Scientific Instrument Firms as Computer Manufacturers in the 1950s and 1960s
by David C. Brock 27 Jul '10

27 Jul '10

Dear All, I'm looking for advice in the form of references to any publications that might treat or touch on the topic of scientific instrument firms as electronic computer manufacturers in the 1950s and 1960s. I'm aware of two southern California stories: the efforts at Consolidated Electrodynamics -- which led to the Burroughs' Datatron (http://tjsawyer.com/B205Home.htm) in the early and middle 1950s, and the efforts at Beckman Instruments, Inc. that initiated in the middle 1950s and continued well into the 1960s. I've done some poking around for relevant references, but haven't really found anything. Any ideas? Best wishes, David P.S. I would, of course, welcome any pointers to relevant archival collections. ___________ David C. Brock Senior Research Fellow Center for Contemporary History and Policy Chemical Heritage Foundation Principal, D.C. Brock Consulting 40 Russell Street Greenfield, MA 01301 USA Telephone: 413-773-7130 Mobile: 413-522-3578 Fax: 866-636-4480 dcb(a)dcbrock.net davidb(a)chemheritage.org

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[Members] Call for submissions -- SIGCIS Member Contributions series
by Thomas Haigh 26 Jul '10

26 Jul '10

The Special Interest Group for Computing, Information, and Society (SIGCIS) serves as a foundation for the community development efforts within the history of computing. The discipline as a whole is enriched when scholars share their work with their colleagues. In aid of this goal, SIGCIS invites members to submit their written work to the Member Contributions section of the site. The Member Contributions area is intended to be a place for historians of computing to post work that does not fit into traditional categories such as the book or published journal article. Technical report series and similar online venues are common in the sciences but rare in historical disciplines. Member Contributions could include the following: . Conference presentations that are not destined for publication in their current form, but you feel merit broader consideration. . Works in progress, such as the drafts of book chapters or articles. . Material too lengthy or detailed to be included within a journal publication, such as one finds in traditional technical report series. . Masters' or Ph.D. theses. . Review essays, reports on conferences or exhibitions, etc. Though not peer reviewed, Member Contributions should meet normal academic standards for rigor and factual accuracy. SIGCIS does not claim copyright over these items and will not attempt to restrict subsequent publication of this material elsewhere. However, please do not submit works to which you no longer hold the copyright (e.g. articles published in journals) without permission of the copyright holder. If you have material you would like to be included in the Member Contributions series on the SIGCIS website please contact the SIGCIS Secretary using the email address secretary(a)sigcis.org. The preferred submission format is an Adobe PDF file. Include an abstract of no more than 200 words. Accepted submissions will receive a serial number in the format SIGCIS_MC_1234 and will be added to the SIGCIS website.

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[Members] SHOT Dinner
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 24 Jul '10

24 Jul '10

Hello This is the first time some of us are attending SHOT. There is consensus on the Friday SIG lunch (as most will stay over the Sunday for the workshop). But we are unsure of the other events, particularly the Saturday dinner. Any views will be much welcomed. Best Bernardo University of Leicester

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[Members] Anne Fitzpatrick's Pioneers of Soviet Computing 2nd Edition now a SIGCIS ebook.
by Thomas Haigh 22 Jul '10

22 Jul '10

Hello everyone, I'm pleased to be able to let you know that SIGCIS is now hosting a free, downloadable version of Malinovsky, Boris Nikolaevich. 2010 (2nd ed.). <http://www.sigcis.org/?q=node/85> Pioneers of Soviet Computing. Anne Fitzpatrick (ed.) and Emmanuel Aronie (trans.). An earlier version had been available online for purchase, but the new edition has a creative commons license and can be downloaded freely. http://www.sigcis.org/?q=node/85 The book is a translation and heavily edited updating of a memoir and history by Boris Malinovsky, major figure in Soviet computing research whose personal involvement with computing goes back to the MESM, the first computer built in continental Europe. Malinovsky later led the design of the Dnepr, the main Soviet industrial control computer and worked on a number of Soviet minicomputers. The book includes an insider account of debates around the Soviet shift to copy the IBM-360 system. This is part of our new "Member Contributions" area. I am sending a separate call for contributions for this area - we expect it to function as something akin to a technical report series where unpublished conference papers, thesis work, etc. can be posted on behalf of our members. Tom

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[Members] BBC Radio programs that might be of interest
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 12 Jul '10

12 Jul '10

Colleagues might be interested in listening to some excellent radio programs conducted by Melvin Bragg (at BBC Radio 4). Direct links below. The discussion of Pliny's work tends to emphasise technology. Then one link to "the History of the World in 100 Objects". As the title suggest, it tells the history of human development through objects at the British Museum are used to inspire the discussion.... I wonder if the ATM in the computer exhibit will get the spot light. ;) You can also subscribe to free podcasts of these (although the new 'In Our Time' series starts next September). Best wishes Bernardo University of Leicester (UK) ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p003k9fc PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00sxjlz A History of the World in 100 Objects Omnibus The Beginnings of Science and Literature http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rfl65

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[Members] Calendar of information technology archival events and conferences
by IT History Society General Mailbox 09 Jul '10

09 Jul '10

The IT History Society maintains for public viewing an international calendar of information technology archival events, conferences, and meetings located at - http://www.ithistory.org/events/events-other.php If you know of a pertinent event or meeting that should be on this public calendar, please submit your suggestion to - http://www.ithistory.org/events/events-form.php The international IT archival database that was launched in early April 2010 has grown in entries by 17%. The database is located at - http://www.ithistory.org/resource_sites/resource-sites.php Thank you.

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References on the History of Computer Use in Education required
by Charikleia Konsta 03 Jul '10

03 Jul '10

Dear colleagues, I was wondering if any of you could help me with locating references on the history of the use of computer in education as well as the history of institutions (preferably non-universities) educating to the use computers. I am working on a dissertation chapter on the history of the public image of computing in Greece and I run into primary material that includes many advertisements of various schools (vocational and other) for instruction to use computers. Thank you in advance, Regards, Hara Konsta, Ph.D. Candidate Division of History of Science and Technology University of Athens

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