May 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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SIGCIS Workshop REMINDER - CFP Deadline June 15
by Thomas Haigh 16 Jun '11

16 Jun '11

Dear SIGCIS members, Time flies, and what back in February seemed the hitherto hugely distant date of June 15 is now just over two weeks away. So if you've been thinking about getting together something for our third annual workshop at SHOT now would be a good time to act. Full details online at http://www.sigcis.org/workshop11, including online submission for panels and abstracts, and for your convenience I'm pasting the original email below. To get you excited, here are a few updates: 1) Tom Misa has agreed to deliver the keynote plenary lecture, addressing the workshop theme of "Cultures and Communities in the History of Computing." 2) Both SIGCIS panels have been accepted for the main SHOT program. One is "Coded Narratives: Memory, Practice and Community in the History of Software" with Irina Nikiforova, Hansen Hsu and Joline Zepcevski. The other is "Geographies of Computing: Straddling the Divide Between the Global and the Local" with Gerard Alberts, David Nofte, Mark Prisetley, Janet Toland and Patryk Wasiak (plus Eden Medina as chair). There are also some interesting sounding panels accepted on communication networks, a panel with on the political aspects of international communications (including Paul Edwards speaking on computer modeling). 3) Also the IEEE Annals board meeting is now confirmed to take place just before SHOT in the same location. So combining that with the sessions in the main program and the workshop we can be sure that there will be a lively turnout in our field that should carry over into the workshop. 4) We will be presenting the third Computer History Museum book prize at the meeting. I have no idea which book the committee will pick, but they tell me we have a record number of submissions this year so we can be sure it will be a worthy winner. Questions should be addressed to Marie Hicks who is serving as chair of the workshop program committee. Email meh20 at duke.edu. (Marie -- if we need to update that let me know...) Best wishes, Tom Haigh -------------------------------------------------------------- (ORIGINAL CALL FOLLOWS) -------------------------------------------------------------- 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 at duke.edu.

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Available : an IT History wall from Vienna, Austria
by Petri Paju 02 Jun '11

02 Jun '11

Dear all, Attached you can find information on a history wall, compiled in the 1970s, in Vienna. I understand the wall has texts in German and in English - see the docx-file for an example, in the end. Anyone interested and able to find a place for the history wall (they will have another copy left in Vienna) somewhere, please contact: Gerhard.Chroust(a)jku.at for more information... Thanks, Petri PS. The files also contain some references to Austrian history publications that might be of interest to some of you. -- Petri Paju, tutkijatohtori, Turun yliopisto -- Ph.D. Researcher, Univ. of Turku http://users.utu.fi/petpaju/ (new article: Computing Close to Iron Curtain: Czechoslovakia and Finland) http://www.ths.fi/bibliography.htm (new)

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Code-cracking machine returned to life
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 28 May '11

28 May '11

Colleagues Continuing with the Bletchley Park / Milton Keynes discussion, this might be of interest The National Museum of Computing has finished restoring a Tunny machine - a key part of Allied code-cracking during World War II. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13566878 Best wishes Bernardo Bangor University -- ================== 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/

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Vintage Computer Festival, revisited
by Evan Koblentz 27 May '11

27 May '11

Hi all, I never seem to get much interest from SIGCIS people for the Vintage Computer Festival, but the upcoming edition (VCF East 7.0) might appeal more to this group than in years past. This year's speaker line-up includes Ruth Lewart, who worked on Bell Labs' TRADIC; Vincent Pogorzelski and Donald Caselli, who both worked at Monroe Calculator and specifically worked with the Monrobot XI; Joe LaViola and Al Rollin, both of UNIVAC/Unisys; and Michael Holley, who was a member of the Homebrew Computer Club and is an expert on Southwest Technical Products. Also this year, we're having a panel discussion about the New York City / New Jersey / Philadelphia region in the mid-1970s, including Roger Amidon (of Xitan / Technical Design Labs, which were S-100 companies), Dick Moberg (founder of the Philadelphia Area Computer Society and the 1978 Philadelphia Computer Music Festival), and Larry Stein (owner of Computer Mart of Iselin, N.J., which was one of the first computer stores in the state.) For this panel we also invited (but have not yet received confirmations from) John Dilks, who produced the Atlantic City PC'76 show; Sol Libes, who produced and still runs the Trenton Computer Festival and the Amateur Computer Group of New Jersey (possibly the longest-running user group); and David Ahl, who published Creative Computing magazine. And that's just in the morning sessions. Afternoons at our event feature the exhibit hall, a build-your-own transistor-logic circuit workshop, book sale, consignment, and museum tours. Our venue is the InfoAge Science Center, located in Wall, New Jersey. Our event is a wonderful opportunity to hear from people who worked in the field and (most important of all) to see vintage computers boot up and run again! Our event site is http://www.vintage.org/2011/east/ and we're on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/vcfeast7 . - Evan

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NCR315 and Mohammed Ali vs Rocky Marciano
by Alberts, Gerard 26 May '11

26 May '11

Dear colleagues, A friendly Dutch journalist picked up on the story of Boxing simulation with the aid of an NCR 315 computer in the late 1960s. It ended with a simulated fight on film between Mohammed Ali and Rocky Marciano. Read all about it in the links below. Admitted, it is fun. It is one of those legends that keeps popping up now and then, hope it is not an "urban legend". Has anyone of you dug deeper into this story? The question put to me is if there is anything further to say about the computer and programming involved. According to the sources below Hank (Henry II) Meyers headed a small computer service firm and did the programming with support from the NCR firm. That is all I can find, nothing on the specific type of NCR 315 (types ranging from desk size bookkeeping computer to mini-sized mainframe), no specifics of the program developed. If this was serious computer supported simulation in sports, it must have been a very early instance of this. Can anybody help me to be of help to this journalist. Gerard Alberts Amsterdam Here is the wiki site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Super_Fight The most elaborate report on it Boxing Simulation All-Time Heavyweight Champion is in: The People's Almanac, David Wallechinsky & Irving Wallace, 1975 http://www.trivia-library.com/boxing-all-time-heavyweight-championship-of-t… Here is the small chapter on the computer used http://www.trivia-library.com/a/boxing-simulation-all-time-heavyweight-cham…

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CFP iConference Toronto, Feb 2012 - Deadline Sept 2011
by Thomas Haigh 26 May '11

26 May '11

This (see below for CFP) is another conference where it might make sense to try to create a presence for history. Ive never been to an iConference but it is supposed to be a proudly interdisciplinary undertaking and it would be nice if history could be one of those disciplines. Its a fairly new event, organized by the iSchools club these are a diverse group falling at different spots on an axis running from computer science groups that care a bit about users and applications to library schools that have embraced technology and deemphasized that whole library thing. In general when people call for more interdisciplinarity they are hoping to connect to the disciplines with more money and status than theirs, but maybe we make up for this with charm and intellect. Several of the names on the program committee are strongly associated with what is called, in the iLanguage of the iMovement, social informatics which should conceptually be open to historical approaches. There are even a couple, most notably Geoff Bowker, with ties to the history of IT. (Though the opening appeals to a broad spectrum of scholars and researchers concerned about critical information issues in contemporary society which is of course inclusive of everything but history). So if anyone out there is somewhere on the iAxis, maybe a little iCurious, and feels like trying to organize something related to information history, then let me know. This seems more promising as a creative alternative event than the six page paper format or the posters, which are the mainstream options. Plus who wouldnt want to go to Canada in February? Tom From: sighfis-l-bounces(a)asis.org [mailto:sighfis-l-bounces@asis.org] On Behalf Of Jonathan Furner Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2011 3:37 PM To: sighfis-l(a)asis.org Subject: [Sighfis-l] CFP: iConference 2012 | Culture * Design * Society Call for Participation: iConference 2012 Toronto, Canada February 7-10, 2012 http://www.ischools.org/iConference12/2012index/ The iConference is an annual gathering of a broad spectrum of scholars and researchers concerned about critical information issues in contemporary society. The iConference pushes the boundaries of information studies, explores core concepts and ideas, and creates new technological and conceptual configurations -- all situated in interdisciplinary discourses. These issues will be tackled during our four-day event in downtown Toronto, February 7-10, 2012. The conference theme is: Culture * Design * Society. Please join us for a multitude of high quality papers, posters, workshops, along with interactive alternative events that will frame the conversation. In addition to these activities, there will be a Doctoral Colloquium and an Early Career Workshop at the conference, lots of social events, and many opportunities to mingle. The iConference series is sponsored by the iSchools, a growing association of more than 30 Schools, Faculties and Colleges in North America, Europe and Asia -- however, affiliation with the iSchools is not a prerequisite, and we encourage everyone to participate. * Conference: http://www.ischools.org/iConference12/2012index/ * iCaucus: http://www.ischools.org/site/ * Last Years Proceedings: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1940761 Submission types: * Papers: Were looking for original research, six to eight pages; papers will be refereed in a double-blind process, and accepted papers will be published in the ACM Digital Library. Submission deadline: Monday September 12, 2011 Notification: Early November Final version due: Monday December 5, 2011 * Posters: Were interested in posters presenting new work, preliminary results and designs, or educational projects. Poster abstracts will undergo a blind review, and accepted posters will have their abstracts published in the ACM Digital Library. Submission deadline: Monday September 26, 2011 Notification: Mid November Final version due: Monday December 5, 2011 * Workshops: These can be half- or full-day and can focus on any area within information. Submission deadline: Monday September 19, 2011 Notification: Early October Final version due: Monday October 31, 2011 * Alternative Events: These can include panels, fishbowls, performances, storytelling, roundtable discussions, wildcard sessions, demos/exhibitions, and more. All should be highly participatory, informal, engaging and pluralistic. Submission deadline: Monday September 19, 2011 Notification: Mid November Final version due: Monday December 5, 2011 * Doctoral Colloquium: This years colloquium will be organized around the theme of inquiry. Applicants will submit a 1,000 word abstract addressing the question, What is the nature of inquiry in the information field, what makes it similar to or different from other areas of research, and what challenges have you met in your own research in this regard? Visit our website for details. Application deadline: Friday September 30, 2011 Notification: Late November ORGANIZERS Conference Chair * Jens-Erik Mai, University of Toronto Papers Chair * Jonathan Furner, University of California, Los Angeles Posters Chair * Paul Marty, Florida State University Alternative Events Chair * Philippa Levy, University of Sheffield Workshops Chair * Kelly Lyons, University of Toronto Doctoral Colloquium Co-Chairs * Hamid Ekbia, Indiana University * Howard Rosenbaum, Indiana University Keynote Speakers Chair * Brian Cantwell Smith, University of Toronto Publication Chair * Yuri Takhteyev, University of Toronto Social Media Chair * Rhonda McEwen, University of Toronto Program Committee * Mark Ackerman, University of Michigan * Alessandro Acquisti, Carnegie Mellon University * Jack Andersen, Royal School of Library and Information Science * Nick Belkin, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey * Jean-François Blanchette, University of California, Los Angeles * Johan Bollen, Indiana University * Geoff Bowker, University of Pittsburgh * Amy Bruckman, Georgia Institute of Technology * Donald Case, University of Kentucky * Chen Chuanfu, Wuhan University * Paul Clough, University of Sheffield * Kevin Crowston, Syracuse University * Ron Day, Indiana University * Melanie Feinberg, University of Texas, Austin * Robert Glushko, University of California Berkeley * Sean Goggins, Drexel University * Sara Grimes, University of Toronto * David Hendry, University of Washington * Steven Jackson, Cornell University * Jim Jansen, The Pennsylvania State University * Michelle Kazmer, Florida State University * Anita Komlodi, UMBC * Christopher (Cal) Lee, University of North Carolina * Bonnie Mak, University of Illinois * William Moen, University of North Texas * Bonnie Nardi, University of California, Irvine * Heather L. O'Brien, University of British Columbia * Ee-Peng Lim, Singapore Management University * Vivien Petras, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin * Kalpana Shankar, University College Dublin * Elizabeth Shepherd, University College London * Bo Xie, University of Maryland Learn more at http://www.ischools.org/iConference12/2012index/

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CFP: Business History Conference. Deadline Oct 1. Philadelphia, March 2012
by Thomas Haigh 23 May '11

23 May '11

Hello everyone, Below is the Business History Conference call for papers. We've organized sessions for these in the past, but not for the last couple of years so it would be good to make a push to get some history of computing onto the program. The conference is a good friendly size and more open than you might think to social/cultural history. There's significant crossover with the history of technology, but you'd need to frame the abstracts a little differently. Membership costs and registration charges are usually surprisingly reasonable. Unusually for history there is an online proceedings journal, which can be beneficial for people whose publications are being counted. The theme "Business and the State" gives some obvious opportunities to consider computing, particularly the governmental use of computing, high tech R&D policy, role of the state in shaping IT industries, etc. But BHC is not usually a strongly themed conference, so don't be scared to think of other topics. Note particularly the dissertation colloquium, which several SIGCIS members have benefitted from before. Also the Koss Prize for the best recent dissertation on business history, and small travel grants for graduate student presenters. Philadelphia is a great city to visit, and the conference location is on the riverfront very close to the colonial attractions, the galleries of "Olde City" and lively restaurants and nightlife. It's a pleasant walk to the main shopping and business areas, and a short subway ride from the train stations and Penn/Drexel campuses. If you are considering a trip from overseas and are sketchy about US geography, Philadelphia is between New York and Washington DC and is easily reached by train from either. The climate is mild in spring, so this should be a pleasant time of year to visit. If you are interested then let me know, or feel free to use the list to advertise your ideas to potential panelists. Tom From: Carol Lockman [mailto:clockman@Hagley.org] Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 2:52 PM To: Carol Lockman Subject: BHC call for papers Hi all: Call for papers for the 2012 annual meeting below..Best, C. Carol Ressler Lockman BHC Hagley Center PO Box 3630 Wilmington DE 19807 Call for Papers Business History Conference Annual Meeting Philadelphia, Pennsylvania March 29 - 31, 2012 Proposals for presentations to the 2012 annual meeting of the Business History Conference (BHC) are invited. The conference will take place March 29 - 31 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Hyatt Regency Penn's Landing. The theme for the conference is Business and the State. We are interested in substantive research on all aspects of business and the state. Potential topics include, but are not limited to: the regulation of business, state promotion of business and economic development, standard setting, government rules regarding the organization of businesses, and the interactions between businesses with consumers, citizens, and other businesses. We are interested in research on state owned enterprises, mixed public-private entities, and nationalization and privatization. We are interested in legal history relevant to business, such as bankruptcy, corporate, labor, and patent law. We encourage submissions of research on the development of capacity within the state itself, including studies of particular agencies (or quasi-governmental organizations) and state projects. In keeping with longstanding BHC policy, the committee will also entertain submissions not directly related to the conference theme. The BHC program committee for 2012 consists of David Weiman (chair), Barnard College; Michele Alacevich, Harvard University; David Freund, University of Maryland; Elisabeth Koll, Harvard Business School; Margaret Levenstein (BHC President), University of Michigan. Potential presenters may submit proposals either for individual papers or for entire panels. Individual paper proposals should include a one-page (300 word) abstract and a one-page curriculum vitae (CV). The abstract should summarize the argument of the paper, the sources on which it is based, and its relationship to existing scholarship. Each panel proposal should include a cover letter stating the rationale for the session and indicating the contact person for the panel, a one-page abstract and author's CV for each proposed paper (up to three), and suggested chair and commentator with contact information. The BHC awards the Herman E. Krooss Prize <http://www.thebhc.org/awards/krooswin.html> for the best dissertation in business history by a recent Ph.D. in history, economics, business administration, the history of science and technology, sociology, law, communications, and related fields. A "recent Ph.D." is defined as a Ph.D. whose degree is less than three years old. If you wish to apply for this prize, please send a letter to the Krooss Prize Committee expressing your interest along with a one-page CV and one-page (300-word) dissertation abstract. After the Krooss committee has reviewed the proposals, it will ask semi-finalists to submit copies of their dissertations. Finalists will present summaries of their dissertations at a plenary session of the 2012 BHC annual meeting in Philadelphia. The K. Austin Kerr Prize <http://www.thebhc.org/awards/kerr.html> is awarded for the best first paper delivered at the annual meeting of the BHC. If you wish to participate in this competition, please notify the BHC program committee in your proposal. Dissertations accepted for the Krooss Prize are not eligible for the Kerr Prize. The Halloran Prize in the History of Corporate Responsibility <http://www.thebhc.org/awards/halloran.html> is awarded for a paper presented at the annual meeting of the BHC that makes a significant contribution to the history of corporate responsibility. Corporate responsibility is understood to embrace the many ways in which the firm relates to the political realm and the wider society. The deadline for receipt of all proposals is 1 October 2011. Acceptance letters will be sent by 15 December 2011. Presenters are expected to submit abstracts of their papers for posting on the BHC website. In addition, presenters are encouraged to post electronic versions of their papers prior to the meeting and to submit their papers for inclusion in the BHC's on-line proceedings, <http://www.thebhc.org/publications/BEHonline/beh.html> Business and Economic History On-Line. To offset some of the costs of attending the conference, the BHC offers modest financial grants to graduate students who are presenting papers; information will be distributed once the program has been set. Please send proposals for papers, panels, or the Krooss Prize to BHC2012(a)Hagley.org. If you do not have access to the Internet, you may send hard copies to Roger Horowitz, Secretary-Treasurer, Business History Conference, P. O. Box 3630, Wilmington, DE 19807, USA. Phone: (302) 658-2400; fax: (302) 655-3188. The <http://www.thebhc.org/annmeet/colloq.html> Oxford Journals Doctoral Colloquium in Business History will be held in conjunction with the BHC annual meeting. This prestigious workshop, sponsored by the BHC and funded by Oxford University Press, will take place at the conference site in Philadelphia beginning Wednesday evening March 28, 2012 and all day Thursday March 29, 2012. The colloquium is limited to ten students. Participants work intensively with a distinguished group of BHC-affiliated scholars that includes at least two BHC officers. The colloquium will discuss dissertation proposals, relevant literatures and research strategies, and employment opportunities in business history. This colloquium is intended for doctoral candidates in the early stages of their dissertation projects. If you are interested in being considered for this colloquium, please submit to Roger Horowitz by 1 December 2011 (at the address listed above) a statement of interest, a CV, a preliminary or final dissertation prospectus of 10-15 pages, and a letter of support from your dissertation supervisor (or prospective supervisor). All participants receive a stipend that will partially cover the costs of their attendance at the annual meeting. The colloquium committee will notify all applicants of its decisions by 10 January 2012.

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CHM Facebook Site
by Dag Spicer 21 May '11

21 May '11

Dear SIGCIS Friends, In case you didn't know, the Computer History Museum has a Facebook site! http://www.facebook.com/computerhistory Here you'll find news about the Museum's activities, including our lecture series, weekly brain-twsiters on computer history and the Museum's collection, interesting facts, and community feedback on a wide range of computer history topics! I hope you'll take a look and consider joining us! Best wishes, Dag -- Dag Spicer | Senior Curator | Computer History Museum Editorial Board | Annals of the History of Computing 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View CA 94043 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 | Fax: +1 650 810 1055 Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing Visit in person or online! http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/ “We shape our tools and they, in turn, shape us.” -- Marshall McLuhan

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Members Digest, Vol 11, Issue 8
by Dag Spicer 19 May '11

19 May '11

Brian, The memo is definitely authentic (see copy of it--attached, courtesy of IBM Archives). As to Seymour's 'reply,' I fear it is from the book "A Few Good Men From Univac, David Lundstrom, viz. p. 135 on which Lundstrom says: "One of the funniest documents in my collection of computer memorabilia is an internal IBM memo, which surfaced during the discovery phase of the various IBM lawsuits (figure 12). T. J. Watson, Jr., questions with acerbity just why such a small low-budget operation as the Chippewa Lab developed the fastest computer in the world, while IBM's vast research establishment cannot. I believe that Seymour would say that Mr. Watson answered his own question." (Thanks to my colleague curator Alex Bochannek for locating this reference) Mea culpa! I have attributed this quote to Seymour myself (http://drdobbs.com/184404102) I stand corrected! Thanks Brian, Best Dag On May 19, 2011, at 9:00 AM, members-request(a)sigcis.org wrote: > Send Members mailing list submissions to > members(a)sigcis.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > members-request(a)sigcis.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > members-owner(a)sigcis.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Members digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. New CBI Newsletter (Spring 2011, Vol. 33:1) > (Charles Babbage Institute) > 2. Tom Watson and Seymour Cray quotes (Brian Randell) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 10 May 2011 14:47:11 -0500 > From: Charles Babbage Institute <cbi(a)umn.edu> > To: katie <cbi(a)umn.edu> > Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] New CBI Newsletter (Spring 2011, Vol. 33:1) > Message-ID: <4DC9963F.4020204(a)umn.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: <http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20110510/e6bac2d8/attachmen…> > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 11:06:54 +0100 > From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk> > To: sigcis <members(a)sigcis.org> > Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Tom Watson and Seymour Cray quotes > Message-ID: <DC4F042D-3DA8-4AEE-B79D-D0C2188E7519(a)ncl.ac.uk> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > > Hi: > > I've been trying to trace the origins of the oft-repeated pair of > quotations: > > "Last week, Control Data ... announced the 6600 system. I understand > that in the laboratory developing the system there are only 34 people > including the janitor. Of these, 14 are engineers and 4 are > programmers... Contrasting this modest effort with our vast development > activities, I fail to understand why we have lost our industry > leadership position by letting someone else offer the world's most > powerful computer." > - Thomas J Watson Jr > > "It seems like Mr. Watson has answered his own question." -- Seymour > Cray's response to Thomas Watson. > > which I'd assumed were both apocryphal. In fact I find that Watson gives > the first quotation himself in his book "Father, Son and Co: My Life at > IBM and Beyond", saying that it was in a memo that he wrote to his "top > men" on August 28, 1963. > > However, I've not been able to authenticate alleged Seymour Cray's > alleged response - which I fear is too good to be true. > > Can anyone in fact validate it? > > Cheers > > Brian Randell > > > -- > School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, > NE1 7RU, UK > EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 > FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > Members mailing list > Members(a)sigcis.org > http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members > > > End of Members Digest, Vol 11, Issue 8 > ************************************** -- Dag Spicer | Senior Curator | Computer History Museum Editorial Board | Annals of the History of Computing 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View CA 94043 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 | Fax: +1 650 810 1055 Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing Visit in person or online! http://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/ “We shape our tools and they, in turn, shape us.” -- Marshall McLuhan

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