February 2012 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Email was invented by a school boy in 1978 says Washington Post & Time Magazine
by Thomas Haigh 22 Feb '12

22 Feb '12

Hello everyone, Did you know that email was invented in 1978 by a 14 year old called V.A. Shiva Ayyadura? The shocking news was broken recently by the Washington Post in what I think was a print story http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/MEPMRJ/NSC4SB/ZCNCKZ/FVLP7K/7278IF/50 /h Time Magazine's website has a blogger who reported the same story on "The Man Who Invented Email." http://techland.time.com/2011/11/15/the-man-who-invented-email/ For most SIGCIS members this story probably does not pass the "sniff test" but to save you looking anything up: There are two obvious senses in which something could be the "first email system." 1) The first "mail" system to let a user write a message to another user of the same computer system, who could read it when he/she next logged in. This was a step beyond earlier chat/talk capabilities that only allowed instant display of messages. Mail features became common on the timesharing computers of the late 1960s. MIT is a strong contender for the first place where this happened. A series of NY Times blog stories suggested that MIT CTSS in 1965 might have been the first system to include such a mail feature. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/did-my-brother-invent-e-mail -with-tom-van-vleck-part-one/. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/19/did-my-brother-invent-e-mai l-with-tom-van-vleck-part-one/> This seems plausible, though I would not be stunned to learn of an earlier use. 2) The first system to send a message to someone using a DIFFERENT computer, via a network. This appears to have been on the ARPANET in 1971, with initial implementation by Ray Tomlinson. Janet Abbate's book Inventing the Internet includes a solid treatment of this, making clear that "network mail" became the "killer application" for ARPANET even though remote logins had been the application for which it was originally designed. Craig Partridge gave more technical detail and covered later developments in "The Technical Development of Internet Email" published in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 30:2, April-June 2008:3-29. I looked at the commercialization of email in "Protocols for Profit: Web and E-mail Technologies as Product and Infrastructure" in The Internet and American Business, edited by William Aspray and Paul Ceruzzi, MIT Press, 2008: 105-158. (http://www.tomandmaria.com/tom/Writing/ProtocolsForProfitDRAFT.pdf) The Washington Post article is unclear of what Ayyadura is supposed to have done . A "clarification" now says that "Ayyadurai holds the copyright to the computer program called "email," establishing him as the creator of the "computer program for [an] electronic mail system" with that name, according to the U.S. Copyright Office." A caption on the story notes that "He holds the copyright to both EMIAL and the term E-mail" which of course is meaningless. They seem to be confusing copyright protection with patent protection, and implying that he would only have copyright on a program he created if it was the first of its kind. I could write a program called "OPERATING SYSTEM" tomorrow and hold the copyright, but it wouldn't mean I invented operating systems. Wouldn't mean I could trademark the term either, which could also be what they are confusing copyright with. I have to admit that I'm forming an uneasy fascination with V.A. Shiva Ayyadura's website. It's full of new age/cybernetic waffle and extravagant self promotion. He bills himself as "Founder, Chairman and President of the Institute for Integrative Systems" in a video promoting "Turmeric: Wonder Herb of India." There's a "featured article" on "The Theatrics of Healing." He is also "world's foremost authority on integrating systems of medicine." The description on his publications page http://www.vashiva.com/publications.asp of his book "The EMAIL Revolution" is the old placeholder text: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet...." His list of "Chapters in Books" includes his 1990 masters thesis, a paper at "Document Analysis Conference" in 1994 "submitted for publication" and items described only as "Chapter in Communications Arts" and "Chapter on Electrodynamics, Dynamics,". Meanwhile his page on himself as "the inventor of EMAIL" (http://www.vashiva.com/inventing_email.asp) includes two headings of "First US Copyright for EMAIL, 1982" one above a copyright certificate and once above a 2004 patent for an automated reply system. The kindest thing one can say is that he does consistently capitalize EMAIL, allowing for a legalistic defense that he only means to claim to have invented a program called "EMAIL" rather than the idea of electronic mail. On the other hand his poster "The History of EMAIL" http://www.vashiva.com/innovation/email/vashiva-inventor-of-email.asp clearly lays claim to creation of the entire electronic mail concept. Little people graphics show the growth of email users from 2 in 1979 to 3.1 billion today. His 1982 copyright registration looms as a major event. Van Vleck, Tomlinson, etc. appear only as "Pre-EMIAL Innovators." He appears to claim that everything prior to his system was just "text messaging" and that he was the first to have fields for "to," "from," etc. which is also clearly false. Here's an incoherent Q and A from the Time "interview." Ray Tomlinson is often credited as the inventor of email. Is he credited correctly, in your opinion, or should he be credited for something else? Shiva: I think that's the thing that's sort of resulted in this confusion. Since '94, people have always said something's going to kill e-mail-and the latest was text messaging, right? Ray and Tom Van Vleck really did text messaging. In fact, in one of Tom's early communications he says his boss wouldn't let him do electronic letters internally, which is actually the mail piece of it. So they were more focused from a messaging standpoint: How do you get a message from point A to point B to manipulate another machine at that more core level? What shocks me is that real newspapers could print this kind of thing. Obviously journalists are too busy to read the historical literature. Even calling a historian might take an hour or two to arrange. But are they even incapable of using Wikipedia and Google? Why is the Washington Post employing as the "editor of ideas@innovations" http://www.washingtonpost.com/emi-kolawole/2011/03/02/AB6t4sM_page.html someone who doesn't know the difference between patent, trademark and copyright? Did all the real journalists get downsized? Should we look forward to "William Shatner: the Inventor of Television." Anyway, it does make me sad about the gap between all the great historical work that has been done by our community and the complete lack of use made of it by the media in this case. Despite a mass of criticism on the comments thread and presumably in emails from readers the Washington Post has done no more that append it's its defensive and absurd "clarification." Tom

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Email was invented by a school boy in 1978 says Washington Post & Time Magazine
by Dave Walden 22 Feb '12

22 Feb '12

>Note, I think he copyrighted a program named email (I don't think he >could copyright the word email). I suppose one could name a program >"email" for an adventure game or for any other application. The name >"email" seems not to proof so much about this being email and what >came before isn't email. Plus we all know "email existed way back >in the time-sharing systems before the ARPANET email, please we know >that many earlier email systems than this new guy's had To, From, >Subject, etc., fields. -- home address: 12 Linden Rd., E. Sandwich, MA 02537 home ph=508-888-7655; cell ph = 503-757-3137 email address: dave(a)walden-family.com; website: <http://www.walden-family.com/bbn/>http://www.walden-family.com/bbn/

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George Dyson on Early Computing
by Dag Spicer 22 Feb '12

22 Feb '12

A great interview between George Dyson and WIRED's Kevin Kelley: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2012/02/ff_dysonqa/all/1 Note: Dyson will be speaking at CHM on to launch his new book Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe. CHM will be recording this lecture and making it available on YouTube shortly after the event. 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/ Twitter: @ComputerHistory FB: facebook.com/computerhistory

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Email was invented by a school boy in 1978 says Washington Post & Time Magazine
by Evan Koblentz 22 Feb '12

22 Feb '12

>> Newspapers exist to gather eyeballs for advertisers. The absurdity and self-promotion of this ‘inventor’ served the purpose of attracting attention and ‘buzz’, which seems to have been the point all along from the newspaper’s point of view. Al, I like you and respect your work, but it's ridiculous to say that all papers (and therefore, their journalists) "exist to gather eyeballs for advertisers" and to create "buzz" ... especially in the context of the Washington Post! I've been a reporter for 15 years and certainly NEVER wrote anything to cater to an advertiser or for the sake of what you call "buzz", nor have most of my colleagues (at least not the ones who lasted in this field.)

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John Sculley interview and transcript - now at CHM!
by Dag Spicer 18 Feb '12

18 Feb '12

Dear SIGCIS Friends, I'm delighted to report that the Computer History Museum has acquired a recent interview with ex-Apple CEO John Sculley. (You may have seen a recent post from Jeffrey Stein about it). The recorded audio interview is now in the Museum's permanent collection as is a full transcript made available to CHM by The Mac Observer. The audio interview, in two parts, is here: http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/102706059 [mp3] The transcript, also in two parts, is here: http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/accession/500003269 [pdf] These are permanent URLs. We thank historian David Greelish for this remarkable interview and hope you will find it of interest. Warm regards, 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/ Twitter: @ComputerHistory FB: facebook.com/computerhistory

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Jeff Yost's book on The IBM Century
by Dave Walden 18 Feb '12

18 Feb '12

A while back I believe someone (Haigh?, Misa?) mentioned Jeff's new book on this list. I don't know where the book is being reviewed in scholarly settings; however, I have posted a review at Amazon; see <http://tinyurl.com/6qm47fc>http://tinyurl.com/6qm47fc Best wishes, Dave -- home address: 12 Linden Rd., E. Sandwich, MA 02537 home ph=508-888-7655; cell ph = 508-280-0446 email address: dave(a)walden-family.com; website(s): http://www.walden-family.com/

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Turing Image
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

Hi Thomas The series has ten stamps of which five are portraits of the distinguished subjects Odette Hallowes (1912-1995), Frederick Delius (1862-1934), Joan Mary Fry (1862-1955), Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936), Kathleen Ferier (1912-1953) and five are depictions of their greatest achievements: Alan Turin (mathemtician and code breaker, 1912-1954), Thomas Newcomen (atmosheric steam engine - 1712), Mary 'May' Morris (1862-1938), Sir Basil Spence (Coventry Cathedral, 1962), Agustus Pugin (Houses of Parliament, 1812-1852) The division seems about even but its not clear why in the depiction of achievements two have specific dates and three their lifespan. You can see all the cards here http://shop.royalmail.com/stamps-issue-by-issue/britons-of-distinction/icat… Hope this helps Bernardo Bangor University (Wales) > > On 15 February 2012 20:02, Drucker, Thomas L. <druckert(a)uww.edu> wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> >> The British Postal Service is issuing a stamp in honour of Alan Turing >> next week as part of a series of ‘Britons of Distinction’. As part of the >> publicity for the series, the advertisement runs, ‘Despite their eminence, >> however, some had not left portraits for posterity. So rather than exclude >> anyone for this reason, the imagery on the Special Stamps, most unusually, >> features an equal number of portraits and illustrations.’ The stamp in >> honour of Turing depicts a replica of the Bombe from Bletchley Park rather >> than Turing himself. Is there some reason they would not have been able to >> use one of the well-known images of Turing on a stamp? It’s hard for me to >> believe that any of the individuals included in this series could not have >> been represented by some surviving image, but we know Turing’s appearance, >> in particular. >> >> >> >> >> Thomas Drucker >> >> >> University of Wisconsin--Whitewater >> >> druckert(a)uww.edu >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of >> SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ >> and you can change your subscription options at >> http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members > > > > -- > > > > > ================== Twitter @BatizLazo > > 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 > > Home page: > http://www.bangor.ac.uk/business/staff/bernardo_batiz-lazo.en.php > > Working papers: > http://ideas.repec.org/e/pba14.html -- ================== Twitter @BatizLazo 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 Home page: http://www.bangor.ac.uk/business/staff/bernardo_batiz-lazo.en.php Working papers: http://ideas.repec.org/e/pba14.html

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] CFP: SHOT 2012 Conference, 4-7 Oct in Copenhagen. Deadline 31 March.
by Evan Koblentz 17 Feb '12

17 Feb '12

> Hi Tom, > > I think you're doing a wonderful job! And I love SIG-CIS as well as SHOT > itself. +1

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CfPs Area of History and Philosophy of Computing
by Liesbeth De Mol 16 Feb '12

16 Feb '12

Dear all, this is a reminder for the forthcoming three deadlines for Call for Papers related to the area of the History and Philosophy of Computing. best wishes, Liesbeth (1) ------------------------------ Symposium on the History and Philosophy of Programming 5-6 July 2012 http://www.computing-conference.ugent.be/hapop12 part of AISB/IACAP World Congress 2012 - Alan Turing 2012 2-6 July 2012 We expect contributions about the following topics and their intersections: 1. The history of computational systems, machines and programs 2. Foundational issues and paradigms of programming (programming logics, semantics and proof-theories for distributed, secure, cloud, functional, object-oriented, etc.) SUBMISSION DETAILS: The programme will consists of 2 Invited Lectures and up to 8 Contributed Papers. It will takes place in the afternoon session of the 5th and the morning session of the 6th of July. We cordially invite researchers working in a field relevant to the main topics of the conference to submit an extended abstract of minimum 2 and maximum 5 pages to computing.conference(a)ugent.be Please mention "ABSTRACT HAPOP" in the subject line. Abstracts must be written in English. Please note that the format of submitted files must be .pdf or .rtf. Only unpublished material will be considered for presentation. IMPORTANT DATES: Submissions Deadline: 2 March 2012 Acceptance/rejection Decisions: 2 April 2012 Final versions of abstracts for inclusion in proceedings: 4 May 2012. Symposium: 5 July (afternoon) and 6 July (morning) (2) --------------------- Special Issue of Journal "History and Philosophy of Logic" TITLE: Logical Issues in the History and Philosophy of Computing GUEST EDITORS: Liesbeth De Mol& Giuseppe Primiero http://www.computing-conference.ugent.be/specialissues We solicit submissions of papers that combine both historical and systematic aspects of the computational sciences, in particular related to the logical and philosophical foundations of: computational systems and machines; models of computability; physical Church-Turing Thesis; semantic theories of programming languages; epistemology of computing. TIMETABLE: April 15, 2012: Deadline paper submission July 15, 2012: Deadline reviews papers October 15, 2012: Deadline revised papers 2013: Publication of the special issue SUBMISSION DETAILS: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=01445340&linktype=44 and mention "Special Issue History and Philosophy of Computing in the subject line of your submission email. (3) ------------------------- Special Issue of Journal "Philosophy& Technology" TITLE: Trends in the History and Philosophy of Computing GUEST EDITORS: Liesbeth de Mol& Giuseppe Primiero http://www.computing-conference.ugent.be/specialissues We solicit submissions of papers that explore the philosophical relevance of issues in the technology and in particular that do so in a historical perspective. Areas of relevance are the birth, evolution and future of machines, algorithms and programs; the foundational and practical issues related to models of computability and programming languages; computer experiments and simulations, computer-aided systems, math- and engineering software, e-learning, scientific databases, computer and the arts. TIMETABLE: April 15, 2012: Deadline paper submission July 15, 2012: Deadline reviews papers September 15, 2012: Deadline revised papers 2013: Publication of the special issue SUBMISSION DETAILS: http://www.editorialmanager.com/phte/ and select "Special Issue History and Philosophy of Computing" from the Type of Submission menu.

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Turing Image
by Drucker, Thomas L. 15 Feb '12

15 Feb '12

The British Postal Service is issuing a stamp in honour of Alan Turing next week as part of a series of 'Britons of Distinction'. As part of the publicity for the series, the advertisement runs, 'Despite their eminence, however, some had not left portraits for posterity. So rather than exclude anyone for this reason, the imagery on the Special Stamps, most unusually, features an equal number of portraits and illustrations.' The stamp in honour of Turing depicts a replica of the Bombe from Bletchley Park rather than Turing himself. Is there some reason they would not have been able to use one of the well-known images of Turing on a stamp? It's hard for me to believe that any of the individuals included in this series could not have been represented by some surviving image, but we know Turing's appearance, in particular. Thomas Drucker University of Wisconsin--Whitewater druckert(a)uww.edu<mailto:druckert@uww.edu>

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