February 2011 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

2010: SIGCIS's Year in Review
by Thomas Haigh 03 Nov '11

03 Nov '11

Dear SIGCIS members, I hope this end of year message finds you all well and in a relaxed holiday mood. SIGCIS has had another good year, reaching new heights on every measurable aspect of our activities. The number of members reached a new high (over 250), the number and quality of contributions to the email list was greater than ever before, we raised more money at our annual lunch with our book auctions and small than ever before ($1,486) and gave out more travel grants (www.sigcis.org/travelaward) to participants than ever before ($2,400). Our second annual workshop received more submissions than the first, and more people attended. The Mahoney Fund (www.sigcis.org/mahoney) holds its highest balance to date (over $8,000) after its best year of donations so far (at least $2,850). So does our operating account (around $3,500). For the most part, then, it was a year of consolidation and incremental growth. If something can be done annually for several years then it becomes a tradition, and perhaps the most crucial stumbling block is doing something twice. SIGCIS made the second Computer History Museum award (http://www.sigcis.org/chmprize) to Atsushi Akera for his book Computing a Natural World. The second SIGCIS Workshop, http://www.sigcis.org/workshop10, was a great success. See the full report at http://www.sigcis.org/node/13. We are already planning for next year's. SHOT's 2011 meeting is collocated with the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing editorial board meeting, as well as with several scholarly societies, and so we anticipate a particularly good turnout among the field's best known scholars. Despite our focus on institutional sustainability the SIGCIS team did launch several new projects. These fit with our philosophy of looking for simple, easy and low cost ways to strengthen the international scholarly community in history of computing. This year's breakout hit was the syllabus repository (http://www.sigcis.org/syllabi) It now holds around forty syllabi showcasing a broad range of approaches to teaching in the area. (Here's a new year resolution: if you have a new syllabus and are willing to share it please send a copy now to secretary(a)sigcis.org) Our team of international vice presidents added new resource guides for the history of computing in Britain (http://www.sigcis.org/britain) and Japan (http://www.sigcis.org/japan) We also added a new edition of Anne Fitzpatrick's Pioneers of Soviet Computing to the Member Contributions area (http://www.sigcis.org/contributions) Next year we will be looking for new ways to strengthen this part of the website. Another new initiative is currently unfolding. Behind the scenes we updated the site this year to use a current release of Drupal, fixing some glitches that had accumulated over the years. Our platform includes blogging and comment capabilities, and we have been experimenting with the best way to use it. Chris McDonald of Princeton and Marie Hicks of Duke have recently joined the SIGCIS executive committee (http://www.sigcis.org/node/6) and have taken special responsibility for this. Dag Spicer will also be blogging to keep us up to date with events at the Computer History Museum. You can see the latest from them at http://www.sigcis.org/blog. All SIGCIS members can login to post comments. If you would like your own blog on the site them please contact us. In the future we will be experimenting with ways to use blogs, wikis, and the email list together - for example by asking a question by email and then having answers accumulate on a blog page. Another good new year resolution: check your entry in our member directory at http://www.sigcis.org/members and make any updates needed by logging in at http://www.sigcis.org/user. Thanks to all of you who have contributed to SIGCIS over the past year, whether as email posters, organizers, donors, syllabus providers, bidders in the book auction, workshop attendees, or readers of our website and messages. If you have ideas on how to make 2011 another record breaking year for the SIG, or would like to get involved as a volunteer, then please get in touch. Happy holidays, Tom Haigh, SIGCIS chair www.tomandmaria.com/tom

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Volume 4 of Knuth!
by Ceruzzi, Paul 22 Apr '11

22 Apr '11

Amazon has listed volume "4A" of Knuth. I won't believe it until I get my hands on it. Volume Three (Sorting and Searching), was published in 1973. Does this strike anyone else besides me as strange? Knuth had a huge influence the history of computing--besides his contribution to computing. I use the past tense because I haven't seen Volume 4 yet. I wrote a bit more on this in the IT History blog (ithistory.org/blog) Paul E. Ceruzzi Chair, Division of Space History National Air & Space Museum MRC 311; PO Box 37012 Washington, DC 20013-7012 202-633-2414 <http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=24>

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a few comments regarding copyright
by Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan 01 Mar '11

01 Mar '11

Hi Members, This is just a brief followup on my research into images & copyright, etc. The short answer is that it's very complicated and hard to find a definitive guide. For images it is especially complicated. In general, academic publishing seems to have a lot of leeway, but there's more grey area than black/white. In the end, my publisher provided the most concrete guidance. However, Ben Peters referred me to the guides produced by the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. This has some info: www.cmstudies.org/resource/resmgr/docs/scmsbestpractices4fairuseinp.pdf MIT Libraries also had some info: In general: http://info-libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/publishing/copyright-information-fo… For theses: http://info-libraries.mit.edu/scholarly/publishing/copyright-publishing-gui… Debbie Douglas of the MIT museum had this especially robust and helpful account, which in many ways was more concrete than what I found even on the "expert" websites: There is no single guide because "property rights" are very complicated to untangle. 1. There is the permission of the owner of the physical artifact that allows you to examine the "thing", and to make a picture of that "thing." Imagine you had donated your bicycle to a museum. As the owner of the bike, you can control who looks at it, touches it, takes pictures of it. BUT you do not own the patents, trademarks, copyrights associated with that bike. You could not grant the right to make a copy of the bicycle. 2. The second permission is from the maker/creator of the "thing." Or rather, the owner of the "intellectual" property rights. In this day, this can very complicated because sometimes the maker licenses other entities to make objects. The best guide to this is the Library of Congress' website which explains all things copyright (in the US) and the US Patent and Trademark Office which deals with patents and trademarks. Hope this helps someone out there. Best, Bernard Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan bernard(a)u.northwestern.edu Graduate Fellow, Mediale Historiographien, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Doctoral Candidate, Screen Cultures, Northwestern University

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FW: [Isp-Announce] Yale ISP Seeking Executive Director - Help Spread the Word!
by Subramanian, Ramesh Prof. 24 Feb '11

24 Feb '11

Hi all, This announcement (below) may be of interest to some in this SIG. 'Best, -Ramesh Subramanian ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ramesh Subramanian, Ph.D. Gabriel Ferrucci Professor of Information Systems Quinnipiac University 275 Mount Carmel Avenue Hamden, CT 06473. Email: rameshs(a)quinnipiac.edu Web: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1288.xml?Person=23345&type=5 & Visiting Fellow, Information Society Project Yale Law School 127 Wall Street New Haven, CT 06511. Email: ramesh.subramanian(a)yale.edu Web: http://www.law.yale.edu/intellectuallife/9841.htm From: isp-internal-bounces(a)mailman.yale.edu [mailto:isp-internal-bounces@mailman.yale.edu] On Behalf Of Laura DeNardis Sent: Thursday, February 24, 2011 10:44 AM To: isp-internal(a)mailman.yale.edu Subject: [Isp-Announce] Yale ISP Seeking Executive Director - Help Spread the Word! Executive Director, Yale Information Society Project http://yaleisp.org/2011/02/yale-isp-accepting-applications-for-executive-di… The Information Society Project (ISP) at Yale Law School is seeking applications for the position of Executive Director. The Yale ISP is an interdisciplinary center that studies the implications of the Internet and new information technologies for law and society. The Yale ISP produces books, scholarship, and policy briefings; it regularly holds symposia, weekly events, reading groups, and seminars at Yale Law School and in international venues. It administers the Knight Law and Media Program at Yale Law School. The Information Society Project also hosts resident and visiting fellowships for recent graduates of law and doctoral programs interested in careers in teaching and public policy. The Executive Director oversees all aspects of the Yale ISP's research programs and works closely with ISP Director Professor Jack Balkin. Specific responsibilities of the Executive Director include: - Administering the ISP's research programs - Working with J.D. students and postdoctoral fellows - Teaching or co-teaching an Access to Knowledge course at Yale Law School - Maintaining a distinguished personal program of research - Managing the administrative staff of the ISP - Overseeing public relations (web site, social media, press releases) - Speaking in high-profile venues on behalf of the Yale ISP - Organizing special events and symposia at Yale Law School and abroad - Developing the annual budget - Performing financial forecasting and monthly expenditure oversight - Fundraising for the ISP and managing relationships with funders - Overseeing a scholarly publication strategy for the ISP. The Executive Director is expected to be in residence in the New Haven vicinity, and begin the appointment on or before July 25, 2011. The Executive Director will receive a salary (commensurate with experience) plus Yale University benefits. Candidates must be a graduate of a law school or a Ph.D program with a distinguished academic record, administrative and organizational expertise, and a record of scholarship, policy briefs, or other publications in areas related to the Yale ISP's work. Application materials should include the following: (1) A cover letter describing qualifications and including a statement of the applicant's scholarly or policy research area; (2) A curriculum vitae; (3) A law school or doctoral transcript; (4) At least one sample of recent scholarly writing; (5) Two letters of recommendation. Applications must be postmarked no later than March 31, 2011. Interviews will be held during the month of April. The new Executive Director will be announced on or before the beginning of May 2011. For additional information please contact Deborah Sestito at deborah.sestito(a)yale.edu<mailto:deborah.sestito@yale.edu?subject=2010-2011%20Fellowships>. Application materials should be sent (in electronic copy) to Deborah Sestito at deborah.sestito(a)yale.edu<mailto:deborah.sestito@yale.edu>.

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CFP SIGCIS Workshop, Deadline 15 June, on "Cultures and Communities in the History of Computing"
by Thomas Haigh 21 Feb '11

21 Feb '11

Hello SIGCIS members, Please find below (and at http://www.sigcis.org/workshop11) the call for contributions to our 2011 workshop "Cultures and Communities in the History of Computing." Marie Hicks is chairing the program committee this year. There are still some things we need to address, including the physical hosting and keynote speakers, but wanted to get the call itself out in good time. IEEE Annals is having its editorial board meeting in conjunction with SHOT so prospects are good for a record turnout of historians of computing. Tom CALL FOR PAPERS SIGCIS Workshop 2011: Cultures and Communities in the History of Computing For the latest updates see http://www.sigcis.org/workshop11. DEADLINE for submissions: 15 June 2011 The Society for the History of Technology's Special Interest Group for Computers, Information and Society (SIGCIS - www.sigcis.org) welcomes submissions for its latest one day scholarly workshop on Materiality and Immateriality in the History of Computing. The workshop will be held in Cleveland, OH all day on Sunday, 6th November 2011. This is the final day of the annual SHOT meeting. SHOT has reserved that day for SIG events and therefore the symposium will not overlap scheduled sessions in the main program. For details on the main SHOT meeting see http://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual_meeting.html. Workshop Theme: Information technologies are created to be used by people, and thus function within particular human communities. The workshop explores a range of disciplinary perspectives on the historical development of computing activity, among them * Connections between and across communities, for example between users and producers, experts and non-experts, across disciplinary communities, within trading zones * The publics of computing, whether in home, business, or science * Communities of practice based around the use and/or creation of information technologies * Use of computers within particular disciplinary traditions or institutions * The cultures and subcultures of information technology However our practice is to welcome contributions on all topics related to the history of computing whether or not there is an explicit connection with the annual theme. Our membership is interdisciplinary and proposals are expected from the perspectives of business history, labor history, social history, science studies and the history of science as well as from historians of technology. SHOT is collocated with HSS (history of science) and 4S (science studies) this year, so contributions from those perspectives would be particularly welcome. Proposals for entire sessions and individual presenters are both welcome. We hope to run special sessions featuring dissertations in progress and other works in progress. The workshop is a great opportunity to get helpful feedback on your projects in a relaxed and supportive environment. All proposals will be subject to a peer review process based on abstracts. Suggested Formats: Individual contributions can fit one of a variety of formats 1. Traditional 20 to 25-minute presentations followed by a question and answer session with the SIGCIS community. In this case a one-page abstract (maximum 400 words) will be reviewed and included in the electronic conference program. Abstracts should address the paper's topic, argument, evidence used, and contribution to the existing literature. A full version of the paper should be sent to the session commentator at least a week prior to the meeting. 2. Dissertation proposals. We hope to include a dissertations in progress session, in which individuals will present their ongoing dissertation work and seek feedback from the history of computing community. In this case submit your dissertation proposal, which will be included in the electronic conference program if accepted. Participants will be encouraged to read this prior to the session. You will have five to ten minutes to introduce the material, leaving the bulk of time available for discussion. 3. Works in progress. This is your chance to receive informal and expert discussion of draft dissertation chapters, journal articles, or book chapters. Submit a one page abstract (maximum 400 words) including discussion of the current state of the work and any specific kinds of feedback you are seeking. If your proposal is accepted you will need to supply the draft for discussion by 1 September for inclusion in the electronic program for the workshop. You will have five to ten minutes to introduce the material, leaving the bulk of time available for discussion. 4. Proposals in other formats are also welcome. For example round table discussions, demonstrations of software of interest to historians of computing, or "author meets critics" sessions. We follow the normal format for a history meeting. That is: selection on abstracts rather than full papers, no submission of full papers for regular sessions (although works in progress and dissertation proposals must be submitted in advance for inclusion on the workshop website), and no publication of proceedings (presenters are welcome to submit their work the SIGCIS Member Contributions collection). However presenters in regular sessions will be required to share some version of their paper at least two weeks in advance with the session commentator so that he or she can prepare insightful and helpful remarks. Submission Procedure: All submissions should be made online via the SIGCIS website. People already scheduled to participate on the main SHOT program are welcome to submit an additional proposal to the SIGCIS workshop, but should make sure that there is no overlap between the two presentations. However program committee may choose to give higher priority to submissions from those not already presenting at SHOT. The same person should not be included as a panelist or speaker in more than one proposal to the SIGCIS Workshop, though it is OK to appear both as a speaker/panelist in one session and a chair or discussant in another. Individual submissions should be made at http://www.sigcis.org/workshop11a. Note that this requires a one page curriculum vitae as well as the proposal itself in the form described above. Proposals for complete sessions should be made at http://www.sigcis.org/workshop11b. They should include: * a description of the session that explains how individual papers contribute to an overall theme) * the names and email addresses of each presenter) * an abstract and title for each presentation (in the form described above) * a one-page c.v. for each presenter and other participant (including commentator or chair if named) Travel Support: The top financial priority of SIGCIS is the support of travel expenses for graduate students, visiting faculty without institutional travel support, and others who would be unable to attend the meeting without travel assistance. The submission includes a box to check if you fall into one of these categories and would like to be considered for an award. These is no separate application form, though depending on the volume of requests and available resources we may need to contact you for further information before making a decision. Details on our travel grant program are at http://www.sigcis.org/travelaward. Funding sources include donations from SIGCIS members at our annual meeting, income from the Mahoney Fund http://www.sigcis.org/mahoney and support from MIT Press for our annual book auction. Please note that the SHOT does not classify workshop presentations as participation in the SHOT annual meeting and so acceptance by SIGCIS does not realistically make you eligible for the main SHOT travel grant program. Last Year's Workshop: This is the third annual SIGCIS workshop. The 2010 event featured a plenary session with a distinguished keynote speaker followed by six further sessions grouped into two tracks. Around sixty people attended, many staying an extra night and attending a group dinner in the evening after the workshop. You can see last year's program at http://www.sigcis.org/mahoney and a report from the Charles Babbage Institute at http://www.cbi.umn.edu/newsletter/article5.html. We expect to follow a similar format this year. Questions should be addressed to Marie Hicks who is serving as chair of the workshop program committee. Email meh20(a)duke.edu.

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Fwd: [Humanist] 24.727 a digital humanities archive?
by Geoffrey C. Bowker 21 Feb '11

21 Feb '11

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Humanist] 24.727 a digital humanities archive? Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2011 09:52:54 +0000 (GMT) From: Humanist Discussion Group <willard.mccarty(a)mccarty.org.uk> Reply-To: Online seminar for digital humanities <humanist(a)lists.digitalhumanities.org> To: humanist(a)lists.digitalhumanities.org Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 24, No. 727. Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London www.digitalhumanities.org/humanist Submit to: humanist(a)lists.digitalhumanities.org Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2011 12:51:28 -0500 From: Robert Kraft<kraft(a)sas.upenn.edu> Subject: Re: [Humanist] DH Archive Query? In-Reply-To:<20110218061931.C62D9EFCD1(a)woodward.joyent.us> I'm reminded by the ACH posting to ask this question: Retirement brings with it downsizing, disposal, and the like. I've been instructed to clear the office in which much of the materials gathered over the years by the Center for Computer Analysis of Texts (CCAT) at the University of Pennsylvania is located, and I wondered whether there is an Archive for such items -- including old manuals, boxes and software, especially related to "biblical research" and similar areas? I'm expecting that the University can archive files relating directly to funded projects such as "Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint/Scriptural Studies" (CATSS), but the periferal and digital items that we have collected have no such suitable home. Advice and/or enlightenment is most welcome! Bob Kraft, Emeritus Professor, UPenn Faculty director of CCAT and co-director of CATSS _______________________________________________ List posts to: humanist(a)lists.digitalhumanities.org List info and archives at at: http://digitalhumanities.org/humanist Listmember interface at: http://digitalhumanities.org/humanist/Restricted/listmember_interface.php Subscribe at: http://www.digitalhumanities.org/humanist/membership_form.php

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SIGCIS's Computer History Museum Prize -- Call for Nominations, deadline April 15
by Thomas Haigh 20 Feb '11

20 Feb '11

Hello SIGCIS members, Please find below the call for our flagship award, the Computer History Museum prize. Books from 2008, 2009 and 2010 are eligible this year. The committee has confirmed that for renomination of books submitted last year (and published 2008 or 2009) there is no need to send new copies to all 3 members. Just post a copy to Jonathan Coopersmith (who we are delighted to have as the new juror) and emails to the two continuing members. Best wishes, Tom Haigh 2011 Call for Submissions, Computer History Museum Prize The Computer History Museum Prize is awarded to the author of an outstanding book in the history of computing broadly conceived, published during the prior three years. The prize of $1,000 is awarded by SIGCIS, the Special Interest Group for Computers, Information and Society. It is established through the generosity of an anonymous donor who wishes to honor the Computer History Museum. SIGCIS is part of the Society for the History of Technology. Books published in 2008-2010 are eligible for the 2011 award. Books in translation are eligible for three years following the date of their publication in English. 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 15 April 2011. For more information, please contact the prize committee chair. Current information about the prize, including the most recent call and a list of previous winners, may always be found at http://www.sigcis.org/chmprize. 2011 Prize Committee Members Pierre Mounier-Kuhn (Chair) CNRS & Université Paris-Sorbonne 28 rue Serpente, 75006 Paris, France mounier(a)msh-paris.fr Jennifer S. Light Northwestern University School of Communication 2240 Campus Drive, Room 2-152 Evanston, IL 60208-2952 light(a)northwestern.edu Jonathan Coopersmith Department of History Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4326 j-coopersmith(a)neo.tamu.edu Previous Winners: 2009: Christophe Lécuyer, Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930-1970 (MIT Press, 2006) 2010: Atsushi Akera, Calculating a Natural World: Scientists, Engineers, and Computers During the Rise of U.S. Cold War Research (MIT Press, 2007)

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Fwd: Oral History of British Science blog
by James Sumner 18 Feb '11

18 Feb '11

Dear SIGCIS members Some valuable, newly available material here: the verbatim transcripts (follow the "Related transcripts" link at bottom of page for the relevant interview section) should be particularly useful. While the interviews with Tony Brooker and Geoff Tootill are of most immediately obvious interest to historians of computing, several of the others should offer some helpful light on the arrival of automated computation in various branches of research science. Best James -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Oral History of British Science blog Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:20:12 +0000 From: Millar, Elspeth <Elspeth.Millar(a)BL.UK> Reply-To: Millar, Elspeth <Elspeth.Millar(a)BL.UK> To: <MERSENNE(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK> List subscribers may be interested in the /Oral History of British Science /blog (http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/oralhistoryofscience/) and project website (www.bl.uk/historyofscience <http://www.bl.uk/historyofscience>).The project has been running for around 15 months and we have 40 interviews either complete or ‘in progress’.The main contributors to the blog are the project interviewers Dr Thomas Lean and Dr Paul Merchant, though the project’s support team, including myself and Dr Katrina Dean and Dr Tilly Blyth, also contribute.We have been aiming to provide insights into the challenges of interviewing scientific and technical specialists; discussing historical themes that emerge from the interviewing programme; and promote events and anniversaries that the team are taking part in and which relate to the history of science. The first ‘complete’ interviews (that have summaries, transcripts, and are cleared for internet access) are available online via the ‘Oral History of British Science’ <http://sounds.bl.uk/Browse.aspx?category=Oral-history&collection=Eminent-sc…> package on the Archival Sound Recordings website.This website also includes life story interviews carried out under the auspices of other National Life Story projects, including with Max Perutz, Aaron Klug and Maurice Wilkins.Further information about the project can be found via our project webpage (www.bl.uk/historyofscience <http://www.bl.uk/historyofscience>). We would welcome comments and feedback. With best wishes Elspeth *Elspeth Millar* Archive Assistant, Oral History & National Life Stories The British Library 96 Euston Road London NW1 2DB 020 7412 7404 elspeth.millar(a)bl.uk <mailto:elspeth.millar@bl.uk> www.bl.uk/oralhistory <https://blowa2.bl.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.bl.uk/oralhistory> and www.bl.uk/historyofscience <http://www.bl.uk/historyofscience>

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Borders bankrupt; was computing pioneer
by William McMillan 16 Feb '11

16 Feb '11

With Borders bookstore chain going belly up, the importance of computing in the company's success is being highlighted: http://www.annarbor.com/business-review/borders-bankruptcy-ann-arbor-books/ ...Borders started as a uniquely Ann Arbor company. Brothers Tom and Louis Borders launched the company in 1971 as an 800-square-foot used bookstore called Borders Book Shop on South State Street in the shadow of the University of Michigan. Fueled by an insatiable appetite for books among readers in Ann Arbor, Borders’ momentum picked up speed when Louis Borders developed innovative software that improved inventory management and sales projection capabilities. To run the system, the company effectively leased space on an IBM 360 mainframe computer, Raff said in a recent interview. The system allowed the Borders brothers to maximize profits by ensuring that their store had the most appropriate mix of inventory to meet seasonal demand and local tastes. “In all of this they were typically 2-3 years ahead of their competitors,” Raff wrote in his research paper about the history of book superstores in the U.S. ... The study by Raff is at http://www-management.wharton.upenn.edu/raff/documents/SMJ_Superstores_arti… I used to shop often at the original Borders store. Their clerks were experts in the subjects they were assigned to. It's ironic that a bookstore that pioneered things like computer-based inventory control in that industry got webbed, Kindled, and Nooked into near oblivion.

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ASIS&T Call for awards -- small grant and unpublished article prize
by Thomas Haigh 14 Feb '11

14 Feb '11

These two opportunities may be of interest. I've been told by members of the judging panel that they appreciate submissions from members of our group. Our own Andrew Russell was winner for the 2010 research grant. Tom From: sighfis-l-bounces(a)asis.org [mailto:sighfis-l-bounces@asis.org] On Behalf Of WILLIAMS, ROBERT Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011 11:17 AM To: sighfis-l; asis-l Subject: [Sighfis-l] Announcing the ASIST History Fund awards submissions for 2011 ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE ASIST HISTORY FUND 2011 RESEARCH AWARD AND RESEARCH PAPER AWARD The ASIST History Fund Advisory Board announces the following two competitive awards for 2011: The ASIST History Fund Research Award: This award will be for a maximum of $1,000 and will be awarded for the best research support proposal submitted by June 1, 2011. All topics relevant to the history of information science and technology may be proposed. The proposal should state: central topic or question to be researched, qualifications of the researcher (a brief vita should be included), a budget, and how the funds will be expended. All funds must be expended by June 30, 2012. Submit proposals to: http://www.softconf.com/asist2/History (select click here to submit a new entry/new nomination and then choose Research Award category) by June 1, 2011. If an award is made for 2011, the winner will be notified by July 1, 2011. The ASIST History Fund Research Best Paper Award: This award will be for a maximum of $500 and awarded for the best paper submitted by June 1, 2011. All topics relevant to the history of information science and technology will be considered. The paper should not have been previously published or submitted to a journal. The paper should not exceed 30 pages double-spaced, including notes/references, using the APA style manual. The ASIST History Fund Advisory Board will review all submissions and decide if an award is to be made by July 1, 2011. If an award is made the winner will be expected to present the paper at the 2011 ASIST Annual Meeting and give first rights of refusal for publication to the Journal of The American Society for Information Science and Technology. Submit papers to: http://www.softconf.com/asist2/History (select click here to submit a new entry/new nomination and then choose Research Paper award category) by the due date of June 1, 2011. ****************************** The ASIST History Fund was established by the ASIST Board of Directors in June, 2000 for the purposes of supporting and encouraging research and publication in the history of information science and technology. The Fund is supported by donations (including book royalties) from ASIST members and others with an interest in the history of information science and technology. The Fund Advisory Board encourages further donations from anyone interested in supporting historical study of information science and technology. Members of the ASIST History Fund Advisory Board for 2010 are: Julian Warner, Chair Kathryn LaBarre, Chair-Elect Michael Buckland, Past Chair Trudi B. Hahn Samantha Hastings For further information on submitting a proposal for the grant award or the best paper award for 2011 contact: Robert V. Williams School of Library and Information Science University of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 Ph: 803-777-2324 E-mail: bobwill(a)sc.edu Home Web page: http://www.libsci.sc.edu/bob/frontpg.htm

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CfP Hyperkult 20: Trivialization
by Müggenburg Jan 11 Feb '11

11 Feb '11

Dear Sigcis-Members, I would like to call your attention to the CfP for this year's twentieth birthday of an annual workshop in Lueneburg, Germany. »HyperKult - Computer as Medium« takes place as an annual (non-profit and no-budget) symposium since 1990. Hyper(media)Kult(ur) was at this time an upcoming field of research across the borderline of technical and cultural disciplines. HyperKult has broadened over the years to examine more general questions of the relationship between cultural, especially aesthetic development and information technology. HyperKult is organized by the group Computer as Medium from the section "Informatik und Gesellschaft" of the Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V (GI) and the "Labor Kunst und Wissenschaft". Hyperkult is always a lot of fun and well known for its interdisciplinary and openminded culture of discussion. Hope to see you there! ---jan mueggenburg P.S.: Last years talks can be found here: HyperKult 19<http://www.leuphana.de/services/rmz/forschung/hyperkult/hyperkult-19-videos…>. The HyperKult Archive<http://weblab.uni-lueneburg.de/kulturinformatik/hyperkult/archiv.htm> is a part of computer history itself. ----------------------------------------------------------- HyperKult 20 Computers as Media Trivialization Call for Participation July 7th to 9th, 2011 Leuphana University Lüneburg Computing and Media Centre and Institute for Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media sponsored by Gesellschaft für Informatik e. V. (GI), working Group Computers as Media Computers are extremely complex machines for which, since early times, their inner workings have to be hidden behind interfaces in order to use them. Software engineering and interface design have developed strategies of information hiding and functional segmentation to accomplish this. Systems like Doug Engelbart's NLS, Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad, Alan Kay's Dynabook, the Graphical User Interfaces, the iTunes Store, Facebook and Cloud Computing are examples of highly complex designs that show simplicity at their surface. People are not expected to know anything about what goes on at the backend. But surprisingly and on top of usual simplifications a new mode of design appears along with mobile devices and capacitative screens: the trivialization of information processes. Devices with technical specifications that personal computers possessed ten years ago, without cables, keyboards or mice, mimicking chocolate bars and slates formerly known as equipment of first graders now seduce us to once again paint with our fingers and grope for the objects of our desire. And we are content and buy these gadgets, millions a day. Things are easy once again, much easier than we would ever accept them to be on a conventional PC. Trivialized users are happy to touch what they have learned to desire from the screen. The haptic replaces the visual and the intellectual as if to compensate for the loss of the material that computers imposed on us. And this renders the wonders of shortly elapsed times, like the interactivity of media art, to become 99 Cents worth's items in an app store. Is there anybody who is still taken by surprise? Is it really all that trivial? But: trivialization is in no way trivial. Programming stays in between of art and magic and what we meet here are highlights of these skills that are admirable in every aspect. This trend even prevails in the information systems at large, especially those of highest acceptance: Google's Page Rank replaces significance, iPods don't want to be computers, Facebook utterly trivializes friendship, hopefully taken metaphorically by everybody, Cloud Computing hides responsibility for data. Does the computer become a trivial machine, the "love affair of the western culture", as Heinz von Foerster put it? It is the feuilleton that is now the place for criticism of the digital, not the corner of those capable of reading assembler code? Isn't there anything left be looked behind? Has everything really gotten that trivial? We would like to discuss these issues with you at HyperKult this year, being the twentieth of our workshop series. Contributions from art, science, humanities and technology are highly welcome. Please send us your sketches, abstracts and ideas, not more than one or two pages, via email to hyperkult(a)leuphana.de<mailto:hyperkult@leuphana.de> until April 23th 2011. You will be informed about acceptance until May 8th. Program Comittee: Lena Bonsiepen Wolfgang Coy Rolf Großmann Wolfgang Hagen (asked) Jochen Koubek Andreas Möller (asked) Claus Pias Martin Schreiber Georg Christoph Tholen Georg Trogemann (asked) Anna Tuschling Martin Warnke Jan Müggenburg, M.A. Leuphana University of Lueneburg Institute for Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media Scharnhorststr. 1, C1.313 Tel: 0049 4131 6771647 21335 Lueneburg E-Mail: jan.mueggenburg(a)leuphana.de<mailto:jan.mueggenburg@leuphana.de> Jan Müggenburg, M.A. Leuphana University of Lueneburg Institute for Culture and Aesthetics of Digital Media Scharnhorststr. 1, C1.313 Tel: 0049 4131 6771647 21335 Lueneburg E-Mail: jan.mueggenburg(a)leuphana.de<mailto:jan.mueggenburg@leuphana.de>

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Ira Chinoy dissertation on UNIVAC election night forecasting
by Thomas Haigh 10 Feb '11

10 Feb '11

Hello everyone, Googling around for something else I just stumbled on a 2010 dissertation called "BATTLE OF THE BRAINS: ELECTION-NIGHT FORECASTING AT THE DAWN OF THE COMPUTER AGE" by Ira Chinoy from U. of Maryland. The full text is at http://drum.lib.umd.edu/bitstream/1903/10504/1/Chinoy_umd_0117E_11395.pdf. I didn't read it yet, but the abstract makes it sound interesting and it's certainly an exceptionally focused topic for a 588 page dissertation. The basic argument seems reasonable, and in line with the characterization of 1950s computer made in places such as my own paper "The Chromium Plated Tabulator" and the work of Yates, Cortada, etc of business computer use in the 1950s as an evolution of earlier practices combined with a symbolic gloss of revolutionary technology. Tom ABSTACT: This dissertation examines journalists' early encounters with computers as tools for news reporting, focusing on election-night forecasting in 1952. Although election night 1952 is frequently mentioned in histories of computing and journalism as a quirky but seminal episode, it has received little scholarly attention. This dissertation asks how and why election night and the nascent field of television news became points of entry for computers in news reporting. The dissertation argues that although computers were employed as pathbreaking "electronic brains" on election night 1952, they were used in ways consistent with a long tradition of election-night reporting. As central events in American culture, election nights had long served to showcase both news reporting and new technology, whether with 19th-century devices for displaying returns to waiting crowds or with 20th-century experiments in delivering news by radio. In 1952, key players - television news broadcasters, computer manufacturers, and critics - showed varied reactions to employing computers for election coverage. But this computer use in 1952 did not represent wholesale change. While live use of the new technology was a risk taken by broadcasters and computer makers in a quest for attention, the underlying methodology of forecasting from early returns did not represent a sharp break with pre-computer approaches. And while computers were touted in advance as key features of election-night broadcasts, the "electronic brains" did not replace "human brains" as primary sources of analysis on election night in 1952. This case study chronicles the circumstances under which a new technology was employed by a relatively new form of the news media. On election night 1952, the computer was deployed not so much to revolutionize news reporting as to capture public attention. It functioned in line with existing values and practices of election-night journalism. In this important instance, therefore, the new technology's technical features were less a driving force for adoption than its usefulness as a wonder and as a symbol to enhance the prestige of its adopters. This suggests that a new technology's capacity to provide both technical and symbolic social utility can be key to its chances for adoption by the news media.

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New book on computers in banking
by "Batiz-Lazo, Bernardo (shī fu)" 08 Feb '11

08 Feb '11

Coleagues The following is now being distributed Technological Innovation in Retail Finance: International Historical Perspectives Edited by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo, J. Carles Maixé-Altés, Paul Thomes http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/details/9780415880671/ you can find the introduction here http://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/26212.html And I take the liberty of including the table of contents PART I Introduction 1 In Digital We Trust: The Computerization of Retail Finance in Western Europe and North America BERNARDO BÁTIZ-LAZO, J. CARLES MAIXÉ-ALTÉS, AND PAUL THOMES PART II Digitalizing Commercial Banks 2 From Prehistory to the History of Computers in Banking: Mechanization of Data Processing and Accounting Methods in French Banks, circa 1930–1950 HUBERT BONIN 3 Britain’s First Computer Centre for Banking: What Did This Building Do? IAN MARTIN 4 Technical and Organizational Change in Swedish Banking, 1975–2003 JOAKIM APPELQUIST 5 Computerization of Commercial Banks and the Building of an Automated Payments System in Mexico, 1965–1990 92 GUSTAVO A. DEL ANGEL MOBARAK PART III Digitalizing State, Mutual, and Savings Banks 6 Is There an ICT Path in the German Savings Banking Industry? Circa 1900–1970s PAUL THOMES 7 Organizational Change and the Computerization of British and Spanish Savings Banks, circa 1950–1985 BERNARDO BÁTIZ-LAZO AND J. CARLES MAIXÉ-ALTÉS 8 Techno-Nationalism, the Post Offi ce, and the Creation of Britain’s National Giro ALAN BOOTH AND MARK BILLINGS 9 Rabobank: An Innovative Dutch Bank, 1945–2000 JOKE MOOIJ PART IV Socio-Historical Aspects of Digitalization 10 The Automated House: The Digitalization of the London Stock Exchange, 1955–1990 JUAN PABLO PARDO-GUERRA 11 Historicizing Consumer Credit Risk Calculation: The Fair Isaac Process of Commercial Scorecard Manufacture, 1957–circa 1980 MARTHA POON 12 Automating Payments: Origins of the Visa Electronic Payment System DAVID STEARNS PART V Wrapping Up and Grand Conclusions 13 Retail Banking and the Dynamics of Information Technology in Business Organizations LARS HEIDE Saludos / best wishes Bernardo -- Bernardo Batiz-Lazo, FRHistS Professor of Business History and Bank Management Ysgol Busnes Bangor / Bangor Business School Prifysgol Bangor / Bangor University Gwynedd LL57 2DG (Cymru / Wales) b.batiz-lazo [at] bangor.ac.uk

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Ken Olsen
by Ceruzzi, Paul 08 Feb '11

08 Feb '11

Here is a link to a YouTube video about Ken Olsen, who passed away a few days ago. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05Hdg7ArQbE&feature=player_embedded> Paul E. Ceruzzi

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SHOT CALL FOR PAPERS 2011 -- deadline March 31
by Thomas Haigh 07 Feb '11

07 Feb '11

Hello SIGCIS members, Please find attached the CFP for SHOT's 2011 annual meeting, taking place in Cleveland this November. Full details at http://www.historyoftechnology.org/pdf/cfp_shot_2011.pdf. Note that this is the call for the main SHOT annual meeting. SIGCIS plans to run its own one day workshop again this year, with a separate call, reviewing process, and submission mechanism to be announced in the next few weeks. You can submit to the SIGCIS workshop and to the main SHOT conference, but should not present the same material at both. To facilitate this well also make sure that our workshop deadline is after people have heard back from the SHOT program committee. SIGCIS does not have any designated space on the main conference program (other than the lunch meeting) but we have organized and submitted up to three panel proposals for each of the past seven years. These have been accepted more often than not. So if you have an idea for a paper (particularly one relevant to the conference themes) that you would like me to try to work into a panel proposal for the main workshop please let me know BY THE END OF THIS MONTH. This is particularly helpful for those new to SHOT who would benefit from assistance in appropriately framing their abstracts to maximize the chance of acceptance. SIGCIS members are also encouraged to use the list to contact others with similar interests to submit panel proposals without my direct involvement. SHOT doesnt always pay that much attention to the years themes, but anything related to them probably has a better chance. Fortunately they go well with our concerns: Technology, power and control (particularly technology and geography or technology and surveillance) and technology in use/appropriation. Finally, note that SHOT discourages North Americans from presenting papers at two North American meetings running so if you are a prolific researcher from the US or Canada who presented in the main conference in Tacoma last year then it would be better to participate as a chair/commentator in the Cleveland main conference and save your latest brilliant research for our workshop (which is not covered by this rule). Best wishes, Tom Haigh From: Jane Carlson [mailto:janecarlson@ntelos.net] Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2011 7:46 PM To: janecarlson(a)ntelos.net Subject: SHOT CALL FOR PAPERS 2011 Good morning I wanted to write to let you know that SHOT 2011 will be held in Cleveland, OH in November of this year. As you probably know, it's a co-located meeting with HSS and 4S and the SHOT meeting will take place November 3-6 at the Marriott Downtown at Key Center. We are currently planning an exciting program and look forward to seeing you there! If you are interested in presenting a paper at this year's conference, please visit our website http://www.historyoftechnology.org/ as the Call for Papers has just been uploaded. Visit http://www.historyoftechnology.org/pdf/cfp_shot_2011.pdf for a copy. This month's electronic newsletter will follow shortly. At the moment, it looks like the submission of paper and session proposals will be done via email. However, we are moving towards electronic submission and we would like to have this in place for the 2012 meeting. As you can imagine, this is not a simple process and we don't want to rush it! Finally, if you no longer wish to receive email blasts from the SHOT office or if we are writing to you at more than one email address, please let me know your preferred one and I will adjust the database. In the meantime, if you have any other questions, please let us know. With best wishes, Jane Jane Carlson Admin Assistant to Exec. Sec Society for the History of Technology Charlottesville, VA (434) 975 2190 (fax) (434) 987 6230 (cell)

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ACM History Committee fellowships ---> deadline 15 April 2011
by Thomas J. Misa 06 Feb '11

06 Feb '11

Call for ACM History Fellowship Proposals Posted Thursday, January 27th, 2011 • To encourage historical research, the ACM History Committee plans to make two awards in 2011. One, a travel grant of $2,500 to support historical research on the wide variety of ACM-related activities, including ACM members, officers, and prize winners. Second, a fellowship grant of $5,000 focusing on ACM's rich institutional history, including consideration of its organization, publications, SIG activities, and sponsored conferences. Successful candidates for either award may be of any rank, from graduate students through senior researchers. • An announcement of 2011 call for fellowship proposals can be found <http://history.acm.org/public/public_documents/acm_history_fellowship_annou…> (also as a pdf-format document <http://history.acm.org/public/public_documents/ACM-fellowship_2011.pdf>). Proposals are due by 15 April 2011.

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Fw: CfP: Standardisation & Innovation in IT
by Sandra Mols 04 Feb '11

04 Feb '11

Apologies for crossposting A call recently received through other pathways. Best regards Sandra Mols ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Kai Jakobs <kai.jakobs(a)COMSYS.RWTH-AACHEN.DE> To: MERSENNE(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK Sent: Fri, 4 February, 2011 11:18:58 Subject: CfP: Standardisation & Innovaton in IT Dear All, This CfP will perhaps be of interest to some of you. And if you receive this Call more than once, you probably belong to our target group ....... (my apologies nonetheless). Cheers, Kai. Call for Papers 7th International Conference on Standardisation and Innovation in Information Technology SIIT 2011 www.siit2011.org 28 - 30 September 2011 Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems, Berlin Technical University Berlin, Germany Technical co-sponsor: IEEE SA Sponsors: DIN, DKE, Microsoft, tba Standardisation research is a multi-disciplinary field. Contributing disciplines include, but are by no means limited to, Business Studies, Computer Science, Economics, Information Systems, Management Studies, History and Social Sciences. While standards and standardisation research is an emerging research area it is of considerable interest and relevance to a large non-academic constituency that includes practitioners from industry, policy makers, users and consumer communities and, last but not least, to those active in or working for, standards setting organisations. Accordingly, the SIIT conferences aim at bringing together representatives of these communities to foster the exchange of insights and views on all issues surrounding ICT standards and standardisation. Topics Theoretical and empirical papers as well as case studies are welcome that shed some light on IT standards, standardisation, and innovation. Possible topics include, but are not limited to: * standardisation and innovation * impact of standards * implementation and diffusion of standards * standardisation policies and regulation * competing regional and international regimes * standards and developing countries * e-Government standards * intellectual property rights and antitrust law * standards setting processes and organisations * standards cultures * standards education * history of standardisation * corporate standards strategies * alternative compatibility strategies and interoperability Important Dates Submissions due: 15 April 2011 Notification of acceptance: 1 July 2011 Final paper due: 19 August 2011 All information about the conference will be announced at www.SIIT2011.org Paper Submissions Original (unpublished) papers not exceeding 6,000 words are solicited. They will undergo a double blind peer-review process. Authors may submit more than one paper, but each participant will only be allowed to present one paper during the conference. Accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings, and are planned to be available through IEEE Xplore. Accordingly, the authors must comply with the IEEE policy on copyright and plagiarism including self-plagiarism. Authors of accepted papers will also be asked to sign an IEEE Copyright Form. Outstanding papers will be considered for inclusion in the International Journal on IT Standards and Standardization Research (JITSR). Submissions should be sent in .pdf or .rtf format to r.n.a.bekkers(a)tue.nl Travel Grants We expect to be able to offer travel grants for students and for attendees from developing countries. Those who are interested should send an e-mail message to siit2011(a)fokus.fraunhofer.de Previous SIIT Conferences 1999 RWTH Aachen University, DE 2001 University of Colorado, Boulder, US 2003 Technical University of Delft, NL 2005 ITU-T, Geneva, CH 2007 University of Calgary, CA 2009 Kogakuin University, Tokyo, JP General Chair Knut Blind, Fraunhofer FOKUS & TU Berlin, DE Programme Committee Chairs Rudi Bekkers, Eindhoven U. of Technology, NL Ken Krechmer, ICSR, US Programme Committee Members Paolo Bellavista, Bologna U., IT Knut Blind, FOKUS, TU Berlin, DE Francoise Bousquet, ZFIB, FR Nils Brunsson, Stockholm School of Economics, SE Donggeu Choi, KSA, KR Tineke Egyedi, TU Delft, NL Vlad Fomin, Vytautas Magnus U., LT Linda Garcia, Georgetown U., US Stephan Gauch, TU Berlin, DE John Hudson, Bath U., UK Eric Iversen, NIFU STEP, NO Kai Jakobs, RWTH Aachen U., DE Dirk Kuhlmann, HP, UK Heejin Lee, Yonsei U., KR Aija Leiponen, Imperial College, UK Kalle Lyytinen, Case Western Reserve U., US Yann Maniere, Ecole de Mines, FR Eric Monteiro, Norwegian TU, NO Don Purcell, Catholic U., US Roy Rada, Maryland U., US Tim Schoechle, U. of Colorado, US Mostafa Hashem Sherif, AT&T, US Tim Simcoe, Boston U., US Jan Smits, TU. of Eindhoven, NL Michael Spring, Pittsburgh U., US Kees Stuurman, Tilburg U., NL Klaus Turowski, Augsburg U., DE Taavi Valdlo, Estonian Informatics Centre, EE Geerten van de Kaa, TU Delft, NL Henk de Vries, Erasmus U., NL Marc van Wegberg, Maastricht U., NL Willem Wakker, ACE, NL Juergen Wehnert, urbane resourcen, DE Joel West, San José State U., US Robin Williams, Edinburgh U., UK Advisory Board Heinrich Arnold, DTAG, DE Torsten Bahke, DIN, DE Carl Cargill, Adobe, US Ute Decker, Microsoft, UK Jochen Friedrich, IBM, DE Mattias Ganslandt, Lund U., NO Alexander Gelman, IEEE SA, US Malcolm Johnson ITU TSB, CH John Ketchell, CEN, BE Martin Libicki, RAND Corp., US Markus Reigl, Siemens, DE Ulrich Sandl, BMWi, DE Jack Sheldon, IEC, CH Jonas Sundborg, Ericsson, SE Bernhard Thies, DKE Stéphane Trochone, Qualcomm, US Trond Arne Undheim, Oracle, UK Andrew Updegrove, Gesmer & Updegrove, US Walter Weigel, ETSI, FR John Wilson, Worldbank, US International Organising Committee Tineke Egyedi, TU Delft, NL Kai Jakobs, RWTH Aachen U., DE Ken Krechmer, ICSR, US Tim Schoechle, ICSR, US Mostafa H. Sherif, AT&T, US Local organizers Brigitte Essoun, TU Berlin, DE Stephan Gauch, TU Berlin, DE ________________________________________________________________ Kai Jakobs RWTH Aachen University Computer Science Department Informatik 4 (Communication and Distributed Systems) Ahornstr. 55, D-52074 Aachen, Germany Tel.: +49-241-80-21405 Fax: +49-241-80-22220 Kai.Jakobs(a)comsys.rwth-aachen.de <http://www.nets.rwth-aachen.de/~jakobs/kai/kai_home.html> EURAS - The European Academy for Standardization. <http://www.euras.org> The International Journal of IT Standards and Standardization Research. <http://www.igi-global.com/ijitsr> The 'Advances in Information Technology Standards and Standardization Research' book series. <http://www.igi-global.com/Bookstore/TitleDetails.aspx?TitleId=37142>

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