August 2010 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Re: [SIGCIS-Members] history of software
by Nathan Ensmenger 24 Aug '10

24 Aug '10

Julie's query about the history of software provides me with the flimsy pretext I need to mention that my book on the subject, entitled **The Computer Boys Take Over: Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise,** is finally available. The book is probably best described as a labor history of software development. I have included the full book blurb below. The Computer Boys is available from MIT Press and Amazon, and is gradually filtering out through the rest of the distribution chain. It might take a little time to hit the stacks at your local library, and those outside the US might need to wait a few weeks as well. I am not sure that this qualifies for Julie's "must read" list, but consider it a personal "please read" invitation from a fellow member of the SIGCIS community. -Nathan -- Nathan Ensmenger History & Sociology of Science University of Pennsylvania www.sas.upenn.edu/~nathanen **The Computer Boys Take Over: Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise** Of all of the revolutionary technological innovations of the 20th century, none is as widely recognized, as celebrated, or as profoundly influential as the invention of the electronic digital computer. But like all great social and technological developments, the computer revolution of the twentieth century didn't just happen. It had to be made to happen, and made to happen by people, not impersonal processes. In The Computer Boys Take Over, Nathan Ensmenger describes the emergence of a new breed of technical specialists—computer programmers, systems analysts, and data processing managers—who built their careers around the powerful new technology of electronic computing. It was these largely anonymous specialists who built the systems that transformed the novel technology of electronic computing from a scientific curiosity into the most powerful and ubiquitous technology of the modern era. Known alternatively as "whiz kids," "hackers," and "gurus," they were alternately admired for their technical prowess and despised for their eccentric mannerisms and the disruptive potential of the technologies they developed. As the software systems that they built and maintained became central to the operations of our modern computerized society, they became the focus of a series of critiques of the social and organizational impact computerization. To many of their contemporaries, it seemed the "computer boys" were taking over, not just in the corporate setting, but also in government, politics, and society in general. Ensmenger follows the rise of the computer boys as they struggled to establish a role for themselves within traditional organizational, professional, and academic hierarchies. Was computer programming a "black art," a legitimate science, or an industrial discipline? Were computer specialists more like scientists, engineers, managers, or clerical workers? What was the appropriate relationship between technical expertise and other, more traditional forms of social, political, and organizational power? In telling the story of these influential but unrecognized computer revolutionaries, Ensmenger provides a nuanced social history of the computerization of modern society that highlights the many ways in which even the most complex technologies are nevertheless fundamentally human constructions.

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microcomputers / was re: software history/historiography?
by Evan Koblentz 24 Aug '10

24 Aug '10

Armand, Thanks for sharing this link. Micral is also well documented by Zbigniew Stackniak, of York U., who's published several papers about it and is writing a book: http://www.cse.yorku.ca/~zbigniew/ >>> This constitutes the birth certificate of the PC. That is a subjective claim. R2E was * one * of various circa-1972 microcomputers. Here's another: http://www.digibarn.com/stories/bill-pentz-story/index.html >>> The director of Popular Electronics picked up the advertising material outlining the technical specifications. He gave it to Ed Roberts What is the source of this story? Did Ed or anyone affiliated with PE/MITS confirm it? Seems to me PE/MITS were simply responding to the Radio Electronics / Jon Titus Mark-8 kit. Also: I interviewed Gernelle (on a different topic) a few months ago, so I can help if anyone needs to reach him.

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software history/historiography?
by julie hugsted 24 Aug '10

24 Aug '10

Hello fellow sigcis'ers, I currently work on a speech for the Danish Society for the History of Technology. My working title is 'Software - the historical study of an immaterial technology', and I attempt to a) give an introduction to the field, software history, and b) discuss the challenges of working with software history. I know of this very comprehensive bibliography of software history (http://www.cbi.umn.edu/research/shbib.pdf - thanks to those who made it!!) and I think that I have an overall good overview of the litterature on the subject. Nervetheless, I figure that some of you might have a favourite article, a must-read suggestion or have just worked with the matter of software history and historiographical challenges? If this is the case, please, do not hesitate to send me suggestions for further reading, - I prefer a suggestion that I might already have thought of, than no suggestion at all! Thank you very much, have a joyfull Monday The best regards Julie

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UNIVAC and RCA Tape Drives ca. 1960
by Kidwell, Peggy 20 Aug '10

20 Aug '10

Dear All: We are now working on a small exhibit relating to the fiftieth anniversary of the first successful test of the compatibility of COBOL programs in December of 1960. Programs ran successfully on both a UNIVAC computer and an RCA 501. To suggest the size and appearance of computers of the time, we plan to include a Unityper II from a UNIVAC and a single tape station from an RCA 501 (for an image of an RCA 501, see http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/BRL61-0778.jpg. The tape stations are in the back of the picture and on the left side). Looking at the tape station from the RCA 501 in the Smithsonian collections, I was surprised to discover that it not only had a tag on the inside of the cabinet reading RADIO CORPORATION of AMERICA (and a serial number as a model 581, which a model number for RCA tape stations for the 501) but also was labeled on the outside: UNIVAC SPERRY RAND (/) SERIES 70. It is possible that this label was added after Sperry Rand Univac acquired RCA in 1971. However, the RCA 501 is not described in Auerbach's 1969 description of available computers, so this seems a bit unlikely. It's also possible that RCA manufactured tape stations for Sperry Rand Univac or vice versa - which might make the story of the compatibility test more interesting. Insights and suggestions welcome. Peggy A. Kidwell Curator of Mathematics Division of Science & Medicine MRC671, NMAH Smithsonian Institution P.O. Box 37012 Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 address for FedEx and UPS: NMAH, Smithsonian Institution 12th St. & Constitution Washington, D.C. 20560 telephone: 202-633-3828 fax: 202-633-9273 email: kidwellp(a)si.edu

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History of Nordic Computing – HiNC3
by julie hugsted 20 Aug '10

20 Aug '10

Hello all, As far as I can see, nothing has been posted about History of Nordic Computing – HiNC3 since the call for papers in February. - If I missed a reminder, my apologies for spamming old news. Best regards Julie >From the website http://dsv.su.se/en/hinc3/ 3rd IFIP WG9.7 Working Conference on History of Nordic Computing, Stockholm 18 – 20 October 2010 The Third IFIP WG 9.7 Working Conference on History of Nordic Computing will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, 18-20 October 2010. The first and second conferences on the history of Nordic computing, organized in Trondheim (2003) and Turku (2007) respectively, were very successful and acquired a great deal of interest from information and communication technology (ICT) professionals and academics as well as from historians of technology. Therefore, these conferences will now be followed by a third one, which will take place in Stockholm, October 2010. The conference will also honour the successful completion of a project on Swedish ICT history. Called “From Computing Machines to IT”, the Swedish Computer Society initiated the project with the support of the Division of History of Science and Technology at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and the National Museum of Science and Technology.

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J. Farinelli & early COBOL
by Kidwell, Peggy 16 Aug '10

16 Aug '10

Dear All: I write with a query concerning an early program written in the programming language COBOL. In December of 1960, the same COBOL programs ran successfully on computers at Remington Rand Univac and at RCA. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the occasion, and the origin of common programming languages more generally, we are planning a small web site and exhibit. One object shown will be the printout of the programs as run at RCA. One of these programs was (according to the printout) written by Carl H. Thorne, Jr., who was a programmer at the General Services Administration. The second is (again according to the printout) by J. Farinelli. Other sources indicate that this was a modification of a program developed by Warren G. Simmons of US Steel for a UNIVAC II. I'd like to know Farinelli's sex, full name and professional association. I've been unable to find Farinelli's name in documents by UNIVAC programmers, in ACM directories or in standard bibliographical sources. Suggestions welcome! Peggy A. Kidwell Curator of Mathematics Division of Science & Medicine MRC671, NMAH Smithsonian Institution P.O. Box 37012 Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 address for FedEx and UPS: NMAH, Smithsonian Institution 12th St. & Constitution Washington, D.C. 20560 telephone: 202-633-3828 fax: 202-633-9273 email: kidwellp(a)si.edu

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Chairs and commentators needed for SIGCIS 2010workshop -- reply soon
by Thomas Haigh 12 Aug '10

12 Aug '10

Good point Ann. They should all be in the afternoon according to the current draft. Provisionally the dissertations in progress and teaching & showing should both be 1:30 to 3:30 and the works in progress and place & space should be from 4:00 to 6:00. Tom From: JOHNSON, ANN [mailto:AJOHNSON@mailbox.sc.edu] Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2010 2:28 PM To: Thomas Haigh; members(a)sigcis.org Subject: RE: {SpamScore: ssss}[SIGCIS-Members] Chairs and commentators needed for SIGCIS 2010workshop -- reply soon Tom, For those of us involved in other Sunday meetings, could you please provide some times for these sessions? Thanks, Ann From: members-bounces(a)sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Haigh Sent: Thursday, August 12, 2010 3:14 PM To: members(a)sigcis.org Subject: {SpamScore: ssss}[SIGCIS-Members] Chairs and commentators needed for SIGCIS 2010workshop -- reply soon Hello, Were almost ready to put our 2010 workshop program up on the website. Thanks to all who submitted, and apologies to those we had to turn away. (Oct 3, held on the Sunday of the SHOT conference in Tacoma, Washington. See www.sigcis.org/workshop10.) Also thanks to Jeff Tang whose done most of the work so far. Hes on holiday with his family this week, so Im putting out this call myself to minimize the amount of time he spends slumped over his laptop. We need volunteers for chairs and commentators. If we receive a surplus of interest well prioritize offers from people not already presenting at the workshop. Im summarizing our needs below you can volunteer in general or for specific panels. We need a total of about six people. Heres what we need you for: Place and Space (a traditional panel of individually submitted paper addressing the workshop theme of Materiality and Immateriality). We need a chair and a commentator. The Material History of Digital Electronics: The Development of Silicon Manufacturing Technology at Fairchild Semiconductor (Brock & Lecuyer) The World Looks to Britain: Technology Transfer, Heterogeneous Engineering, and British Computing Companies Attempt to Capture the Indian Market, 1955-1965 (Hicks) Wat' Forever: Computing Education at the University of Waterloo (Campbell) Materiality, modernity and space: The British banks and their computer centres, 19611963 (Martin) Teaching & Showing (a traditional panel of individually submitted paper addressing the workshop theme of Materiality and Immateriality). We need a chair and a commentator. The PLATO Computer-Based Education System: Teacher's Tool or Teacher? (MacDonald) Car Navigation Systems A History of Associative Clusters (Thielmann) A Material History of Bits (Blanchette) Museums and the Material Culture of Video Games (Foti) Dissertations in progress session. This will be based on precirculated dissertation proposals with very brief introductions. We need a chair and a commentator. Its possible that the roles could be combined, so that the job will be to give brief comments and then steer subsequent discussion to maximize its usefulness to the dissertators. The Akademgorodok Computing Center (1958-1990) (Tatachenko, Princeton) Digital Equipment's Rise and Fall, Could it Have Been Avoided? (Godwin, Birkbeck College London) A History and Ethnography of the Cocoa Software Community (Hsu, Cornell) Connecting Minds in a Multimedia Episteme: The Academic Supercomputer Centers and the Construction an Advanced Cognitive Infrastructure for the U.S. Research Community: 1983-1993 (Walsh, UCSD) Works in progress session, again with precirculated papers. On-line distribution of working papers through NEP: A Brief Business History (Batiz-Lazo, University of Leicester) Making Computers Logical: Edmund Berkeleys promotion of logical machines (Sugimoto, Kyoto University) Investing in interactive skills a reinterpretation of the Swedish internet boom and bust, 19942004 (Sjöblom, Chalmers University of Technology ) Meta Filter: Coming to Agreement with Interactive Computer Technology (Irish, UIUC) Let me know today or tomorrow if you are interested. (To further whet your appetite, in addition to the above we have Paul Edwards as keynote, and two roundtables on computers in science fiction and teaching the history of computing). Details on the main SHOT meeting are at http://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual_meeting.html. Tom

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Chairs and commentators needed for SIGCIS 2010 workshop -- reply soon
by Thomas Haigh 12 Aug '10

12 Aug '10

Hello, Were almost ready to put our 2010 workshop program up on the website. Thanks to all who submitted, and apologies to those we had to turn away. (Oct 3, held on the Sunday of the SHOT conference in Tacoma, Washington. See www.sigcis.org/workshop10.) Also thanks to Jeff Tang whose done most of the work so far. Hes on holiday with his family this week, so Im putting out this call myself to minimize the amount of time he spends slumped over his laptop. We need volunteers for chairs and commentators. If we receive a surplus of interest well prioritize offers from people not already presenting at the workshop. Im summarizing our needs below you can volunteer in general or for specific panels. We need a total of about six people. Heres what we need you for: Place and Space (a traditional panel of individually submitted paper addressing the workshop theme of Materiality and Immateriality). We need a chair and a commentator. The Material History of Digital Electronics: The Development of Silicon Manufacturing Technology at Fairchild Semiconductor (Brock & Lecuyer) The World Looks to Britain: Technology Transfer, Heterogeneous Engineering, and British Computing Companies Attempt to Capture the Indian Market, 1955-1965 (Hicks) Wat' Forever: Computing Education at the University of Waterloo (Campbell) Materiality, modernity and space: The British banks and their computer centres, 19611963 (Martin) Teaching & Showing (a traditional panel of individually submitted paper addressing the workshop theme of Materiality and Immateriality). We need a chair and a commentator. The PLATO Computer-Based Education System: Teacher's Tool or Teacher? (MacDonald) Car Navigation Systems A History of Associative Clusters (Thielmann) A Material History of Bits (Blanchette) Museums and the Material Culture of Video Games (Foti) Dissertations in progress session. This will be based on precirculated dissertation proposals with very brief introductions. We need a chair and a commentator. Its possible that the roles could be combined, so that the job will be to give brief comments and then steer subsequent discussion to maximize its usefulness to the dissertators. The Akademgorodok Computing Center (1958-1990) (Tatachenko, Princeton) Digital Equipment's Rise and Fall, Could it Have Been Avoided? (Godwin, Birkbeck College London) A History and Ethnography of the Cocoa Software Community (Hsu, Cornell) Connecting Minds in a Multimedia Episteme: The Academic Supercomputer Centers and the Construction an Advanced Cognitive Infrastructure for the U.S. Research Community: 1983-1993 (Walsh, UCSD) Works in progress session, again with precirculated papers. On-line distribution of working papers through NEP: A Brief Business History (Batiz-Lazo, University of Leicester) Making Computers Logical: Edmund Berkeleys promotion of logical machines (Sugimoto, Kyoto University) Investing in interactive skills a reinterpretation of the Swedish internet boom and bust, 19942004 (Sjöblom, Chalmers University of Technology ) Meta Filter: Coming to Agreement with Interactive Computer Technology (Irish, UIUC) Let me know today or tomorrow if you are interested. (To further whet your appetite, in addition to the above we have Paul Edwards as keynote, and two roundtables on computers in science fiction and teaching the history of computing). Details on the main SHOT meeting are at http://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual_meeting.html. Tom

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WEHC 2012
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 12 Aug '10

12 Aug '10

Dear all Following Tom's heads up to the BHC next year, the deadline for the first call of the World Economic History Congress is fast approaching: http://www.wehc2012.org/ I think that our panel on computers in banking in the previous meeting at Utrecht (2009) was successful and well received. We are thus canvassing for interest for a second, perhaps more general panel. We hope to accommodate contributions from other sectors other than retail banking. One suggestion has been looking at the role of consultants in the construction of the enterprise. But as I said, there is no agenda at the moment so do let us know if there is interest. The WEHC events tend to be quite large and international. Expressions of interest and tentative topics to me and cc Carles Maixe-Altes (maixe(a)udc.es) Happy sand castling for those not already on hols, Bernardo University of Leicester (UK)

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research funding available for studies at Univ. of Minnesota Anderson Library, home of the Babbage Institute
by Bernadette Longo 11 Aug '10

11 Aug '10

The Charles Babbage Institute is housed in the Elmer Anderson Library at the University of Minnesota. The call for proposals below would cover travel for research at the Babbage Institute...Bernadette Longo Announcing the Elmer L. Andersen Research Scholars Program http://blog.lib.umn.edu/lib-web/news/2010/07/ela_scholars.html The Elmer L. Andersen Research Scholars Program supports scholarly research projects using materials from the Libraries' rare and special collections. Named for former governor and University of Minnesota regent Elmer L. Andersen, the new program honors the Governor's passion for collecting and for expanding the use of the collections. The Research Scholars program is available to scholars including faculty, graduate, postgraduate, and independent researchers using the collections in the Department of Archives and Special Collections <http://special.lib.umn.edu/>. This program is not available to currently enrolled University of Minnesota graduate or undergraduate students. The program will provide annual support for up to two research projects that require use of one or more of the collections. Awards range from $500 to $2,000 and provide funds for travel, housing and other research related costs. The final research product (e.g., journal article, documentary film) must acknowledge the Libraries' support and be deposited with the University Libraries.

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