June 2012 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

New book about Turing Award winner Peter Naur
by Edgar Daylight 20 Jun '12

20 Jun '12

************ Book announcement *********** `Pluralism in Software Engineering: Turing Award Winner Peter Naur Explains' --- by Edgar G. Daylight As a software engineer and aspiring historian of computing, I have had the honor of meeting the computing pioneer Peter Naur at his home in Copenhagen in the spring of 2011. My lengthy discussion with Naur is documented in my new book and is published by Lonely Scholar. I invite historians of science to have a look at the book's summary at: http://www.lonelyscholar.com/node/7 Naur discusses varying topics, ranging from astronomy to programming and from philosophy to psychology. An underlying theme is Naur's rejection of Western philosophy. best wishes, Edgar G. Daylight www.dijkstrascry.com

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(no subject)
by Sandra Mols 19 Jun '12

19 Jun '12

http://nutriplexformulas.com/wp-content/themes/nutriplex-theme-alternate/go…

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Reminder: SIGCIS 2012 workshop deadline
by Andrew Russell 16 Jun '12

16 Jun '12

Hello - I'm writing to share a quick update regarding the 2012 SIGCIS Workshop on "Information Identities," to be held October 7, 2012 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Although the June 15 deadline for submissions has now passed, we won't be reviewing submissions until Tuesday June 19. As a result, those of you who were planning to submit something but didn't make the deadline still have a few days to get your proposal in. To make a proposal, go to http://www.sigcis.org/workshop12 and follow the instructions. And of course please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks, Andy Russell SIGCIS 2012 Workshop Chair ----------------------------------------------------------- Andrew L. Russell, Ph.D Assistant Professor, College of Arts & Letters Stevens Institute of Technology Castle Point on Hudson Hoboken, NJ 07030 arussell(a)stevens.edu http://www.stevens.edu/cal/

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Apple 1
by Evan Koblentz 15 Jun '12

15 Jun '12

Sotheby's auction for an Apple 1 ended at $374K this morning. CNN filmed at our museum and aired it yesterday: http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t2#/video/bestoftv/2012/06/14/pkg-maggie-l… The Apple 1 at our museum is a 99% accurate and fully working replica -- it's not the Willegal kit, not the much cheaper (and much less accurate) Briel kit. Yet another Apple 1 sold for $75K on ebay recently.

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New diss. on computing and white-collar work
by Dag Spicer 15 Jun '12

15 Jun '12

FYI, a new diss on computing and white-collar work: http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/1299 From the abstract: "The connection between computing systems and managerial practices in the workplace is an extremely rich one. Mamo’s dissertation engages usefully with scholarship in the history and anthropology of computing. For those interested in the relationships between business, computing and the business of computing (i.e., IT or Information Technology), this dissertation serves as an excellent starting point for further analysis." 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 Twitter: @ComputerHistory FB: facebook.com/computerhistory Technology married with the humanities makes our hearts sing. -- Steve Jobs

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Members Digest, Vol 24, Issue 4
by Dag Spicer 13 Jun '12

13 Jun '12

If Noam Chomsky fell in the forest, would anybody care? Dag On Jun 13, 2012, 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. Noam Chomsky on the "Inventor of Email" (Thomas Haigh) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 14:33:34 -0500 > From: "Thomas Haigh" <thaigh(a)computer.org> > To: <members(a)sigcis.org> > Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Noam Chomsky on the "Inventor of Email" > Message-ID: <02eb01cd48d2$42702430$c7506c90$@org> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Hello everyone, > > > > I'm resisting the urge to keep spamming the group with updates on the > increasingly bizarre public career of email history. > > > > However, as Slashdot has recently noted > http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/06/12/167227/inventor-of-email-gets-suppor > t-of-noam-chomsky, a second statement attributed to Noam Chomsky recently > appeared on one of V A Shiva Ayyadurai's websites at > http://www.inventorofemail.com/noam-chomsky-on-invention-of-email-va-shiva-a > yyadurai.asp. Also as a press release from Reuters, via Ayyadurai's > International Center for Integrative Systems. > http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/12/idUS149910+12-Jun-2012+PRN20120612 > > > I do recall Chomsky's usual prose style being a little more elegant, his > grammar and punctuation a little more standard, and his exposition a little > more cogent. It's odd that a great linguist would write sentences such as > "Note Shiva, received his formal Copyright registration in 1982." Or "What > continue to be deplorable are the childish tantrums of industry insiders who > now believe that by creating confusion on the case of "email", they can > distract attention from the facts." > > SIGCIS members may also be interested in Ayyadurai's attempt to dispel > "False Claims About Email" at > http://www.inventorofemail.com/claims_about_email.asp. Ayyadurai's current > argument appears to be that "email" has a completely different meaning from > "electronic mail" and that the world has been misusing "email" all these > years. He claims to have given "email" its canonical meaning in 1978, > although I still can't find any original 1978 or 1979 documents on his site > including the word or a definition. Ayyadurai currently favors a definition > of "email" (published, apparently for the first time, this month) with > around 80 characteristics including "searching address book by zipnode" and > "relational database engine". Few current email systems would precisely > meet all of them. > > > > Finally, Ayyadurai has persuaded a second WGBH radio host, Emily Rooney, > that he invented email (around 23:00-24:40). > http://www.wgbh.org/programs/The-Emily-Rooney-Show-854/episodes/Thurs-51712C > onquering-Digital-Clutter-38713 > > > > One day an excellent STS or media studies dissertation will probably be > written on this topic. > > > > Tom > > > > > >

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Noam Chomsky on the "Inventor of Email"
by Thomas Haigh 12 Jun '12

12 Jun '12

Hello everyone, I'm resisting the urge to keep spamming the group with updates on the increasingly bizarre public career of email history. However, as Slashdot has recently noted http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/06/12/167227/inventor-of-email-gets-suppor t-of-noam-chomsky, a second statement attributed to Noam Chomsky recently appeared on one of V A Shiva Ayyadurai's websites at http://www.inventorofemail.com/noam-chomsky-on-invention-of-email-va-shiva-a yyadurai.asp. Also as a press release from Reuters, via Ayyadurai's International Center for Integrative Systems. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/12/idUS149910+12-Jun-2012+PRN20120612 I do recall Chomsky's usual prose style being a little more elegant, his grammar and punctuation a little more standard, and his exposition a little more cogent. It's odd that a great linguist would write sentences such as "Note Shiva, received his formal Copyright registration in 1982." Or "What continue to be deplorable are the childish tantrums of industry insiders who now believe that by creating confusion on the case of "email", they can distract attention from the facts." SIGCIS members may also be interested in Ayyadurai's attempt to dispel "False Claims About Email" at http://www.inventorofemail.com/claims_about_email.asp. Ayyadurai's current argument appears to be that "email" has a completely different meaning from "electronic mail" and that the world has been misusing "email" all these years. He claims to have given "email" its canonical meaning in 1978, although I still can't find any original 1978 or 1979 documents on his site including the word or a definition. Ayyadurai currently favors a definition of "email" (published, apparently for the first time, this month) with around 80 characteristics including "searching address book by zipnode" and "relational database engine". Few current email systems would precisely meet all of them. Finally, Ayyadurai has persuaded a second WGBH radio host, Emily Rooney, that he invented email (around 23:00-24:40). http://www.wgbh.org/programs/The-Emily-Rooney-Show-854/episodes/Thurs-51712C onquering-Digital-Clutter-38713 One day an excellent STS or media studies dissertation will probably be written on this topic. Tom

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Recollections of MANIAC
by Drucker, Thomas L. 07 Jun '12

07 Jun '12

The current (6 June 2012) issue of the Princeton Alumni Weekly includes, as promised, a brief report on Eric Schmidt's remarks at the Turing centennial events at Princeton last month. Perhaps of greater interest were letters from a number of students who had been involved in various ways with the MANIAC computer in the 1950's. Typical of the remarks is the following: 'We were not welcome at the Institute. The scientists' concept of appropriate use of the computer was to read in a small amount of data, computer for a long time to produce an important result, and output a small amount of data. Since our project involved a great deal of input and output, they accused us of using their computer as a punch-press!' (Letter from Bill Clarkson, Class of 1958) Thomas Drucker University of Wisconsin-Whitewater druckert(a)uww.edu

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History of Nordic Computing 3, published papers
by Per Lundin 03 Jun '12

03 Jun '12

Some of you might be interested in the proceedings from the conference History of Nordic Computing 3 (HiNC3) that took place in Stockholm late 2010. They are now published as: John Impagliazzo, Per Lundin and Benkt Wangler, eds., History of Nordic Computing 3: Third IFIP WG9.7 Conference, HiNC 3, Stockholm, Sweden, October 18-20, 2010: Revised Selected Papers (Heidelberg: Springer 2011), and are available at http://www.springer.com/computer/general+issues/book/978-3-642-23314-2 A HiNC4 conference is planned to take place in Copenhagen 2014. Best, Per

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SIGCIS in Boston Magazine profile of "email inventor"
by Thomas Haigh 02 Jun '12

02 Jun '12

Hello everyone, SIGCIS and our recent role in discussion of the "inventor of email" incident are written about in the recently published Boston Magazine article "Return to Sender" by Janelle Nanos. She follows the default journalistic "report the controversy" angle, which in my view can be a disservice to readers in a case like this. Anyway, some interesting updates there. SIGCIS is defined as "a sort of Internet cabal within the Society for the History of Technology" which is certainly a colorful definition. http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/2012/05/shiva-ayyaduri-email-us-posta l-service/ Tom

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