September 2012 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

another book by Knuth which is not another volume of TAOCP
by Dave Walden 08 Mar '13

08 Mar '13

See my review at <http://www.tug.org/books/reviews/tb103reviews-knuth9-walden.html>http://www.tug.org/books/reviews/tb103reviews-knuth9-walden.html It will be published in the upcoming issue of the TeX User Group's journal. As the review says, I think this will be a useful volume for computing historians whose research brings them toward Knuth's life and publications.

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"Stored Program" -- origins in IBM circa 1949?
by Thomas Haigh 19 Oct '12

19 Oct '12

Thanks to Peggy Kidwell (below) we have a confirmed sighting of "stored program" in the wild in 1949. In fact two, in internal IBM documents. This is very suggestive when taken in conjunction with something I noticed in searching the ACM DL yesterday, which is that 6 of the 11 uses it located through the end of 1960 were in papers written by IBM staff. So, an attractive hypothesis is that the term was coined within IBM Poughkeepsie in 1949 during early work on IBM's first experimental stored program computer, the Test Assembly. As the 604 calculator being cannibalized for its electronic arithmetic unit already had a plugboard programming mechanism it makes sense that the team would want a clear name for the separate capability they were building to execute a program stored in Williams Tubes backed by a drum. Tom From: Kidwell, Peggy [mailto:kidwellp@si.edu] Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2012 11:43 AM To: 'David Alan Grier'; Thomas Haigh Subject: RE: [SIGCIS-Members] "Stored program" -- anyone know origins of the PHRASE The term "stored program" was used in internal IBM documents discussing the development of special circuits for the IBM 604 electronic calculating punch by 1949. See, for example, Nathaniel Rochester, "Plans for the Data Processing Test Assembly," Document 05.14.24. See also H. A. Mussell & C. E. Frizzell, "Stored Program," December 27, 1949, which refers to Rochester's paper. This had internal code 05.015.37. The reference is to programs stored on the drum of the machine or electrostatically, as opposed to on a plugboard. Peggy From: members-bounces(a)sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of David Alan Grier Sent: Monday, April 02, 2012 5:25 PM To: Thomas Haigh Cc: members(a)sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] "Stored program" -- anyone know origins of the PHRASE Tom Two bounds for your search. "Stored Program" is not in the 1950 IRE Standard on Computer Terms: <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxygw.wrlc.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnu mber=1701474&contentType=Journals+%26+Magazines&ranges%3D1951_1956_p_Publica tion_Year%26matchBoolean%3Dtrue%26searchField%3DSearch_All%26queryText%3D%28 p_Title%3Acomputer+terms%29> Standards on Electronic Computers: Definitions ofTerms, 1950 <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxygw.wrlc.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=10 933> Proceedings of the IRE Volume: 39 , <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxygw.wrlc.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=3584 4> Issue: 3 Digital Object Identifier: <http://dx.doi.org.proxygw.wrlc.org/10.1109/JRPROC.1951.231840> 10.1109/JRPROC.1951.231840 Publication Year: 1951 , Page(s): 271 - 277 But it is used in the 1953 IRE article on programming. <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxygw.wrlc.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?tp=&arnu mber=4051188&contentType=Journals+%26+Magazines&sortType%3Dasc_p_Publication _Year%26ranges%3D1953_1958_p_Publication_Year%26matchBoolean%3Dtrue%26search Field%3DSearch_All%26queryText%3D%28.QT.stored+program.QT.%29> Fundamentals of Digital Computer Programming Thomas, W.H. <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxygw.wrlc.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=10 933> Proceedings of the IRE Volume: 41 , <http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.proxygw.wrlc.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=4051 180> Issue: 10 Digital Object Identifier: <http://dx.doi.org.proxygw.wrlc.org/10.1109/JRPROC.1953.274275> 10.1109/JRPROC.1953.274275 Publication Year: 1953 , Page(s): 1245 - 1249 I SHOULD NOTE THAT IT IS NOT USED IN THE COMPANION 1953 article on the IBM 701. David -------------------------------- David Alan Grier Fellow, IEEE President Elect, IEEE Computer Society Assoc. Prof., International Science & Technology Policy Center for International Science and Technology Policy grier(a)gwu.edu On Apr 2, 2012, at 4:34 PM, Thomas Haigh wrote: Hello everyone, I have a query related to a project I am working on concerning the conversion of ENIAC to stored program control in 1948, initially to run the first computerized Monte Carlo calculations. All this took place prior to the first operation of the Manchester Baby. That makes the question of what one means by "stored program" a very interesting one. This question was much discussed in the early days of the history of computing (1970s, early 1980s). I am starting to dig back into primary sources for early use of the phrases "stored program" and "stored program concept" to get a better idea of how these terms were used in the 1940s/early 1950s and what people thought they meant at the time. To clarify, almost everyone who has written about this cites the 1945 "First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC" as the initial dissemination of the stored program concept although there has been considerable debate as to the source of the ideas contained therein. However that document does not contain the phase "stored program." Or indeed use the word "program" in the body of the text. Or, remarkably, "EDVAC." "Stored" shows up a few times, though less frequently than "remembered." So, ignoring for the moment the relationship of the report to later definitions of the concept, we can agree that it was not the source of the phrase. The most obvious summary of the idea using the report's own terminology would be "remembered instruction device" rather than "stored program computer." I had thought about the 1946 Moore School lectures as a possible vector for the phase "stored program" as well as the concept. The phrase shows up many times in the Moore School lectures book but so far I have spotted it only in the 1980s editorial material rather than in the original lecture summaries. By 1954 "stored program computer" is showing up without explanation or citation required in the description of the IBM 650 published in the inaugural issue of Journal of the ACM. It is not particularly common in the ACM DL material for the rest of the decade ("automatic computer" and "digital computer" are more prevalent) but continues to pop up occasionally. The best the OED can do is 1957, which is even later. So, any thoughts on who came up with this phrase and when? I'm planning to dig deeper in search of early usage, for example into the 1950 "High-Speed Computing Devices" ERA book and some of the other CBI reprints from the 1940s, but it occurred to me that someone on the list might already know the answer to the question. Tom _______________________________________________ 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

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NY Times review of Computer History Museum exhbit
by Thomas Haigh 29 Sep '12

29 Sep '12

Hello everyone, Just saw an exhibit review in the New York Times of the main "Revolution" exhibit now installed at the Computer History Museum. Generally very positive. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/29/arts/design/computer-history-museum-in-mou ntain-view-calif.html (as long as you didn't click your ten articles so far this month.) Tom

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Book Auction at SHOT -- donations needed
by Thomas Haigh 24 Sep '12

24 Sep '12

Hello everyone, We'll be sending some more messages soon about the forthcoming SHOT meeting and associated SIGCIS events. One of our traditions is an auction of donated books relevant to the history of computing, which has provided a major part of our travel support grants for graduate students. It is also a fun part of the lunch, and we do our best to keep it moving as quickly as possible. In recent years more than a thousand dollars each year has come from the auction. Most the books have come from MIT Press, which we very much appreciate. We do have a box of books from MIT this year (thanks to Margie Avery and Katie Persons) but because of some changes in the way the press handles its inventory it is not quite as big those in previous years. Indeed MIT has been so generous in the past that it's been a struggle to get everything auctioned off in time. So I'm calling you all to look at their shelves and see if there are any spare desk copies, review copies, promotional copies, etc. of history of computing books you can bring to the SIGCIS lunch in Copenhagen. Or, if you are not going this year, you could also mail me a book or two. I'm leaving on Wednesday next week, so there is still time if they are mailed quickly. Donations to SHOT (and hence to SIGCIS) are treated as charitable contributions under US tax law. Another point: we can accept payment in cash or in US dollar checks. So please bring plenty of cash with you to the lunch so you can drive up the bidding in a good cause. Best wishes, Tom

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Internet History CFP for Information & Culture special issue
by Thomas Haigh 21 Sep '12

21 Sep '12

[See below. The project has strong ties to SIGCIS - Andy Russell and I are two of the guest editors, and Bill Aspray is the Editor in Chief of the journal. The first guest editor and originator of the project is William H Dutton, a leading figure in Internet Studies, so we are hoping for a productive interdisciplinary mix that can build new connections between historians, Internet Studies people, and Internet pioneers. SIGCIS members may find much of interest in Information and Culture, which is available via Project Muse and JSTOR. Tom.] Histories of the Internet - Call for Papers This is a call for papers for a special issue of Information & Culture: A Journal of History (Volume 50, Issue 1, February-March 2015). For the latest and most complete information on the special issue please see www.sigcis.org/InternetIssue. Guest Editors * William H. Dutton, Professor of Internet Studies, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and Professorial Fellow, Balliol College * Thomas Haigh, Associate Professor of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee * Andrew L. Russell, Assistant Professor of History, College of Arts & Letters, Stevens Institute of Technology Deadlines Abstracts can be submitted to an editor of the special issue for informal feedback until 1 March 2013: e-mail: William dot Dutton at oii dot ox dot ac dot uk. Full papers should be submitted to the managing editor, George Royer, for review by 30 August 2013. The Call The increasing importance of the Internet, Web and related information and communication technologies, such as social media, has made it ever harder and ever more important to understand their history. Many authors have traced the timelines of technical developments, and a growing number of books have been written about the social history of the innovations that comprise and enable this network of networks. Scholars disagree over the very definition of the Internet and its history as a set of protocols, a large technical system, an infrastructure, or ensemble of technologies. The editors invite original, scholarly treatments of the history of the Internet that critically examine common assumptions about its origins and developments over the decades. Submissions could take any number of approaches, including: * Broad historical perspectives on the Internet's development; * Historical case studies of particular developments, such as ARPANet, TCP/IP, the World Wide Web, or Facebook; * Accounts of computer and communication networks, such as Open Systems Interconnection, online services, the European Informatics Network, and digital mobile telephone networks that contributed to or anticipated aspects of today's Internet but did not use Internet technologies; * Regional histories of Internet adoption or innovation; * Studies of an institution, such as ICANN, W3C, or Internet Governance Forum; * Explorations of an event, such as the dotcom bubble; * Critical analyses of scholarly or popular narratives about the Internet's history. These are only illustrative of possible approaches, as we would welcome creative approaches to the history of the Internet that go beyond these specific examples. About the Editors William H. Dutton is Professor of Internet Studies at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and Fellow of Balliol College. Before coming to Oxford in 2002, Bill was a Professor in the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California, where he was elected President of the Faculty, and remains an Emeritus Professor. In the UK, Bill was a Fulbright Scholar, then National Director of the UK's Programme on Information and Communication Technologies (PICT), and founding director of the OII during its first decade. He is editor of The Oxford Handbook of Internet Studies (forthcoming 2013), and is writing a book on the Fifth Estate. Thomas Haigh is an Associate Professor of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and chair of the SIGCIS group for historians of information technology. He has published widely on the history of computing - see more at www.tomandmaria.com/tom. Andrew L. Russell is an Assistant Professor of History and Director of the Program in Science and Technology Studies in the College of Arts & Letters at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. Russell has published numerous articles and book chapters on the history of computers and telecommunications, and is the author of An Open World: History, Ideology, and Network Standards (forthcoming, Cambridge University Press). About the Journal Information & Culture: A Journal of History publishes high-quality, peer reviewed articles on the history of information. The journal honors its (45+ year) heritage by continuing to publish in the areas of library, archival, museum, conservation, and information science history. However, the journal's scope has been broadened significantly beyond these areas to include the historical study of any topic that would fall under the purview of any of the modern interdisciplinary schools of information. In keeping with the spirit of the information schools, the work is human centered and looks at the interactions of people, organizations, and societies with information and technologies. Social and cultural context of information and information technology, viewed from an historical perspective, is at the heart of the journal's interests. See: http://www.infoculturejournal.org/about Submission and Review Process Full papers should be from 6,000 to 10,000 words, including all notes and bibliography. Shorter or longer papers might be considered in exceptional cases, based on the merit of the case. The editors expect to publish 4-6 papers in the special issue, with any additional papers that merit publication scheduled for journal issues that will appear after the special issue. Before preparing or submitting an article, please check for any updated instructions at www.sigcis.org/InternetIssue. Authors are asked to please follow the submission guidelines available at http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~lcr/submissions/submissions.php <http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/%7Elcr/submissions/submissions.php> . In particular, authors should prepare notes and bibliography in accordance with the journal style. Neither the editorial office nor the special editors should need to make formatting changes to notes or bibliography.

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SIGCIS 2012 Workshop schedule posted
by Andrew Russell 19 Sep '12

19 Sep '12

Greetings all - I wanted to share a quick update on the SIGCIS 2012 Workshop on "Information Identities," to be held on Sunday October 7 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Our workshop webpage, http://www.sigcis.org/workshop12, is now posted and has abstracts for the 18 papers that will be presented. Stay tuned, as we will continue to post updates, pre-circulated papers, and other information. Cheers, Andy

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Fwd: NSA Museum Foundation General Membership Meeting - October 17th 2012
by William McMillan 18 Sep '12

18 Sep '12

For those with an interest in the history of security and cryptography. This was forwarded to me by a member, so if you'd like to go and the referral of a member is required, please let me know. - Bill

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Fwd: Historian looking for information on Esther Gersten
by Janet Abbate 18 Sep '12

18 Sep '12

I received the inquiry below from historian of mathematics Judy Green, who is trying to research the career of Esther Gersten, one of the ENIAC programmers at Aberdeen. If anyone has information about Gersten, or experience accessing archival materials from BRL (now ARL), please respond directly to Judy (jgreen(a)marymount.edu) FYI, she is the co-author of Pioneering Women in American Mathematics (AMS, 2008). thanks, Janet Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech Begin forwarded message: > From: Judy Green <jgreen(a)marymount.edu> > Date: September 16, 2012 5:43:37 PM EDT > To: abbate(a)vt.edu > Subject: The history of computing in the 1940s and early 1950s > > Dear Janet Abbate, > > I'm a retired mathematician whose research interest is mainly in the history of American women in mathematics and am an author, together with Jeanne LaDuke, of a book on American women who received PhD's im mathematics before WWII. Because of that book I was asked to, and did, review the video “Top Secret Rosies” for the Notices of the American Mathematical Society. A niece of a woman who had an undergraduate mathematics degree and worked on the ENIAC at Aberdeen and on the first UNIVAC at U Calif's Radiation Lab at Livermore ran into that review and contacted me about her aunt, who died in 1955. The woman's name is Esther Gersten and she is briefly mentioned (as Ester Gersten) in Barkley Fritz's ENIAC articles in the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. Gersten's niece has a picture taken at Aberdeen in January 1946 as well as a lot of letters from between Gersten and her family. I've become interested and have started to write a short piece about Gersten. However, as I am not as familiar with the resources in the history of computing as I am with those in the history of mathematics, Peggy Kidwell, whom I know through the Smithsonian where I was a research associate many years ago and am now a volunteer, suggested I contact you with my questions. I hope you will be able to point me in the right direction in getting some more information about Esther Gersten. > > Specifically, what I would most like to find is the equivalent of a CV for her. As far as I know, the only places she worked were at the BRL at Aberdeenthe and at Lawrence Livermore. While the Smithsonian has some photographs of the computers and people who worked on them at Aberdeen, they don't have the one that her family has. If the BRL photos and/or records are open I'd really like to take a look at them too. > > Thanks very much. > Judy Green

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SIGCIS lunch details from SHOT, from Bernie Carlson
by Thomas Haigh 17 Sep '12

17 Sep '12

[Below is a message that SHOT Secretary Bernie Carlson, wc4p(a)virginia.edu, has asked me to forward to SIGCIS. This includes the new arrangements for the SIGCIS lunch, which SHOT had left off the registration form this year. So even if you already registered for SHOT, please follow the instructions below. Also below are the details for the one day registration option for those only attending the Sunday SIGCIS workshop. Tom] Dear CISSIG members, We are much looking forward to having you participate in the SHOT meeting coming up in Copenhagen from 4-7 October, and I want to alert you to several aspects of the meeting. First, the annual CISSIG lunch will be held on Friday, 5 October, from 12.30-2 PM on the campus of the Copenhagen Business School. You will be meeting in the Rotunda of the cafeteria of the Solbjerg Plads building. If you wish to attend this lunch, please email Jane Carlson <janecarlson(a)ntelos.net> no later than 27 SEPTEMBER. The charge for this lunch will be $25 and you will need to pay for the lunch by cash or check at the SHOT registration desk in Copenhagen. Second, while we hope that most of you will be able to register and attend the entire SHOT meeting, we recognize that some individuals participating in the CISSIG workshop on Sunday may only be able to attend that day. If you are only participating in the Sunday workshop, then we are able to extend a special one-day rate of $70. To request this Sunday rate, please fill out the regular registration form that can be downloaded from http://www.historyoftechnology.org/copenhagen/copenhagen_registration.html and FAX this form to Jane at 434.975.2190 by 27 SEPTEMEBER. Indicate on the top of the form that you are registering for Sunday and indicate $70 as the total amount due. Do NOT attempt to sign up for the Sunday rate using the on-line system as there is no category for Sunday registration on the on-line form. If you wish, you can pay also pay for your Sunday registration in Copenhagen by cash or check, but do let Jane know in advance that you are requesting the Sunday rate. Note that in order to participate in the Sunday workshop you MUST register for either the regular SHOT meeting or the Sunday workshop; if you do not register by 27 September, we will be obliged to drop you from the program. Thank you for your interest in the history of technology, and please let Jane or me know if you have any questions about this year's meeting. Sincerely, Bernie Carlson SHOT Executive Secretary SHOTsecy(a)virginia.edu

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NYRB on first stored-program computer
by david nofre 17 Sep '12

17 Sep '12

Dear all, It might be of interest for the members of this list the discussion in the last issue of the New York Review of Books about the 'first' stored-program computer. The discussion originated as response to a review of George Dyson’s /Turing’s Cathedral /in the previous issue: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/sep/27/who-gets-credit-comput… Best, David Nofre

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