May 2013 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Tennis for Two Documentary now live on YouTube
by Laine Nooney 29 May '13

29 May '13

Hi all, A new, short documentary on Tennis for Two, the 1958 analog computer game (often cited as the "first" video game), is up on YouTube. The documentary "When Games Went Click: The Story of Tennis for Two" chronicles the development of the game and its re-creation, currently underway at Brookhaven National Laboratory. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QSHZ20MQfE&feature=youtu.be "When Games Went Click" was made possible by the Brookhaven Science Associates and Stony Brook Collaborative Research Alliance SEED Grant Program for joint initiatives between scientists and Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. "When Games Went Click" is part of the archival efforts of the William A. Higinbotham Game Studies Collection: http://www.stonybrook.edu/libspecial/videogames/. Enjoy! Laine Nooney Assistant to the Principal Editors, Raiford Guins and Joanne Morra Journal of Visual Culture Department of Cultural Analysis and Theory Stony Brook University

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Dag Spicer quoted in the NYT
by Marie Hicks 24 May '13

24 May '13

In a story about the earliest Apple computers: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/technology/apple-1-computers-jump-in-valu… Congrats, Dag! Though sorry to hear you missed picking up an early Apple for a song. Best, Marie ______________________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Asst. Professor, History of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL USA mhicks1(a)iit.edu | mariehicks.net <http://www.mariehicks.net> | @histoftech<http://twitter.com/histoftech>

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New CHM Lecture Online! - Innovating the Future
by Dag Spicer 21 May '13

21 May '13

Dear SIGCIS Colleagues, Here is a recording of our latest lecture, Innovating the Future: SRI's Curt Calrson and Bill Mark in conversation with The New York Times columnist John Markoff, which took place this Tuesday last. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zbCuj3RITE&feature=em-subs_digest&list=TLRn… Enjoy! Dag Published on May 17, 2013 [Recorded: April 14,2013] SRI International's pioneering contributions to computing are legendary, from the invention of the computer mouse and interactive computing in the 1960s, to the first internetworked and wireless connections in the 1970s. Fast-forward to 2010, when SRI created the first-generation virtual personal assistant and sold Siri to Apple. Over 66 years, SRI has conducted billions of dollars of R&D and has created enormous value through spin-off ventures such as Nuance and Intuitive Surgical. Other innovations include new cancer drugs, digital math curriculum to help students break through algebra and move on to higher math, and much more. How does SRI do it, while many powerhouse corporate research labs have disappeared? John Markoff of The New York Times will explore SRI, beginning with a conversation with William Mark, Vice President of Information and Computing Sciences. Hear what Mark and his researchers are imagining and turning into reality: from virtual personal assistants capable of human-like dialogue, to next-generation textbooks that use artificial intelligence, and human-machine interfaces that anticipate your moves. To learn how SRI moves its research from the laboratory into the marketplace, they will be joined on stage by SRI's President and CEO Curt Carlson. Carlson will offer a unique definition of innovation and discuss its importance in government policy, education, and U.S. competitiveness. We hope you'll join us for another compelling conversation led by John Markoff, who is our moderator-in-chief for this track examining and celebrating innovation at research labs. This event is part of the Museum's acclaimed Revolutionaries speaker series, featuring renowned innovators, business and technology leaders, and authors in enthralling conversations often with leading journalists. Our audiences learn about the process of innovation, its risks and rewards, and failure that led to ultimate success. -- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043 650.810.1035 direct 650.810.1055 fax Follow Us: CHM Blog I Facebook I Twitter I YouTube

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2013 SIGCIS CFP. "Old Ideas: Recomputing the History of Information Technology, " Deadline June 30
by Thomas Haigh 20 May '13

20 May '13

Hello everyone, Please find below the CFP for our fifth annual SIGCIS workshop, as always held in conjunction with the annual meeting of our parent association, the Society for the History of Technology. As this is scheduled to be my last full SHOT meeting as chair I've agreed to take primary responsibility for the program myself. However we are, as always, keen to get new volunteers on board with SIGCIS - whether to assist with this and future workshops, to help to upgrade our web and social media presence, or to put your stamp on other aspects of the group's activities. None of the SIGCIS offices are intended to be held for life, and keeping a flow of people and ideas into our core team is essential for the future vitality of SIGCIS. The theme of "Old Ideas: Recomputing the History of Information Technology" should lend itself to interpretation in a variety of ways, though I admit it was inspired by the title of Leonard Cohen's most recent album. So you don't have to be a grumpy reactionary to propose something. No kids will be chased from lawns. This should be an excellent meeting. My impression is that the IEEE Annals board meeting will probably be held in conjunction with SHOT again, though I've not seen an official announcement so this may not be definite yet. Portland has a distinctive and pleasant feel, and is drivable for a large number of people in the North East and Mid-Atlantic. It's also fairly easy to get to for international travelers as there is a train running from Boston. As always, any updates to the call and full information about the workshop itself as it becomes available will be posted to a single URL. www.sigcis.org/workshop13. The submission links don't work yet, but will be live well before the deadline which is JUNE 30. Tom Old Ideas: Recomputing the History of Information Technology SIGCIS Workshop 2013 October 13, 2013, Portland, Maine Deadline: June 30, 2013 The Society for the History of Technology's Special Interest Group for Computers, Information and Society (SIGCIS - http://www.sigcis.org <http://www.sigcis.org/> ) welcomes submissions for a one-day scholarly workshop to be held on Sunday, October 13, 2012 in Portland, Maine. As in previous years, SIGCIS's annual workshop will occur immediately after the end of the regular SHOT annual meeting program, the details of which are available from http://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual_meeting.html. Questions about the 2013 SIGCIS workshop should be addressed to Thomas Haigh (School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee), who is serving as chair of the workshop program committee. Email thaigh(a)computer.org. Workshop Theme Information technologists have little time for old thinking, or for anything else old. Entrepreneurs seek the new new thing, computer scientists tackle the grand challenges of future computing, and management consultants chase the next fad. Scholars in the humanities, who are professionally skeptical about the nostrums of neoliberalism, the myth of progress, and the allure of the technological fix, can nevertheless exhibit a similar weakness for the shiny allure of new technologies. In short, information technology is rarely understood as something rooted in history. Its cultural associations are with the future, not the past. For the SIGCIS 2013 Workshop, we invite scholars to turn their attention to something different: old ideas and their relationship to information and computer technology. Perhaps to their overlooked charm, their enduring power, and their continuities with the putatively new. Such papers might * Reclaim from what was famously termed the "enormous condescension of posterity" the ideas about information and information technology held by specific historical actors, explaining what they really thought they were doing and how the understood the world around them. * Demonstrate hidden historical continuities, by showing that technologies, ideas, or practices generally assumed to be of recent origin have a close relationship with those formerly known by different names. * Advocate explicitly or by example the relevance of less fashionable historical approaches, such as quantitative analysis, old-school Marxism, or micro-level studies of technical practice to understanding the history of information technology. * Explore connections between historical research on computing, and the burgeoning recent literature on software studies, game studies, platform studies, etc. produced by scholars in other areas of the humanities. * Place topics within the history of information technology into broader arcs of birth, aging, and death - whether of individuals, institutions, or social practices. * Illuminate the cultural work done to construct some things as old and others as new, and explain who is carrying out this work and why. If none of the above fit your work, even with some creative twisting, then despair not: we also accept new ideas! SIGCIS has a tradition of welcoming all types of contributions related to the history of computing and information, whether or not there is an explicit connection with the annual theme. Our membership is international and interdisciplinary, and our members examine the history of information technologies and their place within society from a variety of scholarly perspectives including the history of technology, business history, labor history, social history, the history of science, science studies, communications, gender and sexuality studies, computing, disability studies, and museum studies. Suggested Formats for Submissions: 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. Individual contributions can fit one of a variety of formats: 1. Traditional 15 to 20-minute presentations followed by a question and answer session. 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 2 weeks prior to the meeting. We welcome proposals for entire sessions (3-4 papers that elucidate a common theme) or for individual presentations. 2. Dissertation proposals. We intend to continue SIGCIS's tradition of hosting special sessions that feature dissertations in progress so that scholars can receive critical feedback in a relaxed and supportive environment. Interested students should submit a dissertation proposal (for projects in the early stages) or draft dissertation chapter together with table of contents of the whole dissertation (for those nearing completion), which will be pre-circulated 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, such as round table discussions, "works in progress" proposals for early-stage research projects, demonstrations of software of interest to historians of computing and information, or "author meets critics" sessions. SIGCIS follows traditional practices for the submission of papers for professional historical conferences, specifically: selection based on abstracts rather than full papers; no pre-circulation or publication of full papers (with the exception of dissertation proposals as noted above); and the requirement that presenters share their full paper with the session commentator at least 2 weeks prior to the meeting. Presenters are encouraged to submit their work the SIGCIS Member Contributions collection. Submissions should be made online using the links from the main workshop page. 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 page 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. Any award offered is contingent on registering for and attending the workshop and, for participants in work in progress or dissertations in progress sessions, on fulfilling the deadlines set for providing work in progress to be shared on the workshop website. 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 SHOT does not classify SIGCIS presentations as participation in the SHOT annual meeting and so acceptance by SIGCIS does not imply eligibility for the SHOT travel grant program.

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New CHM Lecture Online! - Marina von Neumann Whitman
by Dag Spicer 14 May '13

14 May '13

Dear SIGCIS Friends, Here is a great new lecture from CHM that is now online. Enjoy! Dag Published on May 13, 2013 [Recorded: April 29, 2013] "How did a young Hungarian immigrant and his daughter both become leading advisors to Presidents of the United States? This richly detailed memoir not only illuminates Marina von Neumann Whitman's ground-breaking life, but sheds long-awaited new light on her father, bringing us as close as we may ever get to the autobiography that John von Neumann never had the chance to write." —George Dyson, author of Darwin Among the Machines, Project Orion, and Turing's Cathedral One of the five Hungarian scientific geniuses dubbed "the Martians" by their colleagues, John von Neumann is often hailed as the greatest mathematician of the twentieth century and even as the greatest scientist after Einstein. He was a key figure in the Manhattan Project; the inventor of game theory; the pioneer developer of the modern stored-program electronic computer; and an adviser to the top echelons of the American military establishment. In The Martian's Daughter, Marina von Neumann Whitman reveals intimate details about the famed scientist and explores how the cosmopolitan environment in which she was immersed, the demanding expectations of her parents, and her own struggles to emerge from the shadow of a larger-than-life parent shaped her life and work. Join Museum CEO John Hollar as he moderates a conversation with Whitman about her life with her father and her remarkable rise to become the first or highest-ranking woman in a variety of areas he unfortunately did not live to see. -- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043 650.810.1035 direct 650.810.1055 fax Follow Us: CHM Blog I Facebook I Twitter I YouTube

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1986 computer shoe
by M. Hicks 14 May '13

14 May '13

Thought this might be interesting--or at least amusing--to folks on this list: a computerized running shoe I saw this weekend at Toronto's Bata Shoe Museum. It reminded me of all the current self-improvement consumer technologies we have now like Fitbit, etc., and what a long lineage they have. (Alex Bochannek tells me they also have a pair of these at CHM.) Pics attached. Marie ______________________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Asst. Professor, History of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL USA mariehicks.net | mhicks1(a)iit.edu | @histoftech

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CFP 8th GIGANET Symposium
by John Paul Laprise 13 May '13

13 May '13

Please circulate: CALL FOR PAPERS 8th Annual Symposium 21 October 2013 Bali, Indonesia Deadline for abstract submission: July 1 2013 The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) is seeking research submissions about Internet Governance to be presented at its Eighth Annual Symposium, held on 21 October 2013, one day before the United Nations Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Bali, Indonesia. GigaNet is a scholarly community that promotes the development of Internet Governance as a recognized, interdisciplinary field of study and facilitates informed dialogue on policy issues and related matters between scholars and governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society. http://giga-net.org/ Since 2006, GigaNet has organized an Annual Symposium to showcase research about Internet Governance, bringing together researchers from a wide range of disciplines and fields. As in previous years, the symposium will provide room to discuss current and future questions as well as the challenges encountered and results achieved in global Internet governance. Conference themes GigaNet is interested in receiving abstracts related to Internet Governance themes, especially those containing innovative approaches and/or emerging research areas. This year, we are especially encouraging submissions on two interwoven themes: * Cybersecurity, cybersurveillance, cyberespionage and cyberwarfare and * State and non-state actor efforts to control the Internet The program committee welcomes proposals on any other topics related to global Internet governance. This year, one panel will be especially devoted to emerging scholars in the field. We define emerging scholars as doctoral students working on an approved proposal through scholars who have received their PhD within the past three years. Accepted papers from senior scholars will be presented and discussed in a roundtable format involving business, government and technical community representatives, while emerging scholars will present their work in a more traditional academic panel. In both cases, presenters should expect to have conversations about their work with people from a wide range of stakeholder groups. Submissions Interested scholars should submit abstracts of their research paper at the Easy Chair platform: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=giganet2013 The deadline for submission is July 1, 2013! Paper proposals should be submitted following these requirements: ? An abstract of 800-1000 words, in English, where it is mandatory to describe the main research goal(s) and the methodological background of the paper ? A short bio note focused on institutional affiliations, advanced degrees, scholarly publications and work in the field of Internet Governance and related issues (for example ICTs). Please include a link to a more detailed CV. ? Authors of accepted abstracts must submit their final papers by 30 September 2013. Those unable to do so will be removed from the program. Process and publication The Program Committee will evaluate submitted abstracts and inform proposal authors of acceptance decisions by email before 29 July 2013. Accepted submissions and final papers will be published on the GigaNet website. An online publication with selected papers on the main challenges of Internet Governance is also planned for the Bali IGF. Registration The GigaNet Annual Symposium is free of charge. However, registration will be required to gain entry to the event venue. Please continue visiting our website for further information about registration, venue and accommodation. If you have any question related to the submission or the symposium activities, please e-mail the Program Committee Chair: j-laprise(a)northwestern.edu<mailto:j-laprise@northwestern.edu>. Best regards, John Laprise, Ph.D. Visiting Fellow Oxford Internet Institute<http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/> Oxford University<http://www.ox.ac.uk/> Assistant Professor of Communication in Residence Northwestern University in Qatar<http://www.qatar.northwestern.edu/> Northwestern University<http://www.northwestern.edu/>

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] PC history
by Elizabeth Petrick 10 May '13

10 May '13

Hi everyone, I wanted to pipe in here and introduce myself as someone newly doing work on the use of computer technology. I've just finished my PhD at UC San Diego, with a dissertation titled "Fulfilling the Promise of the Personal Computer: The Development of Accessible Computer Technologies, 1970-1998." In it, I discuss the history of personal computer technology for people with disabilities and its relationship with civil rights and disability activism. Best, Elizabeth Petrick

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New CHM Lecture - Cheryl Sandberg
by Dag Spicer 10 May '13

10 May '13

Dear SIGCIS Friends, Here is an exciting new lecture from the Computer History Museum Published on May 9, 2013 [Recorded: May 8, 2013] For the past five years, I've sat at a desk next to Sheryl and I've learned something from her almost every day. She has a remarkable intelligence that can cut through complex processes and find solutions to the hardest problems. Lean In combines Sheryl's ability to synthesize information with her understanding of how to get the best out of people. The book is smart and honest and funny. Her words will help all readers—especially men—to become better and more effective leaders. - Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO, Facebook Thirty years after women became 50 percent of the college graduates in the United States, men still hold the vast majority of leadership positions in government and industry. This means that women's voices are still not heard equally in the decisions that most affect our lives. In Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg examines why women's progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root causes, and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential. Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and is ranked on Fortune's list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and as one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World. In 2010, she gave an electrifying TEDTalk in which she described how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers. Her talk, which became a phenomenon and has been viewed more than two million times, encouraged women to "sit at the table," seek challenges, take risks, and pursue their goals with gusto. Join Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt as he moderates what is certain to be a fascinating conversation with Sandberg about women, leadership and so much more. This event is part of the Museum's acclaimed Revolutionaries speaker series, featuring renowned innovators, business and technology leaders, and authors in enthralling conversations often with leading journalists. Our audiences learn about the process of innovation, its risks and rewards, and failure that led to ultimate success. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WWumJF1dEY&list=UUHDr4RtxwA1KqKGwxgdK4Vg Dag Senior Curator CHM

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SIGCIS syllabus repository
by Andrew Russell 09 May '13

09 May '13

Dear colleagues - In an effort to maintain and refresh the SIGCIS Syllabus Repository, I would like to invite you to visit the Repository at http://www.sigcis.org/syllabi and to contribute any syllabi that touch on our SIG's scope - Computers, Information, and Society. I hope this reminder is a timely one for those of you who teach, since you may be (a) putting the finishing touches on the semester, (b) planning your book orders (and hence syllabi) for next semester, and/or (c) trying to find productive ways to avoid reckoning with the piles of papers and exams on your desk ;-) If you want to share your syllabus, please send a copy, preferably packaged as a single .pdf file, to secretary(a)sigcis.org together with a message giving SIGICS permission to post it on this page. If your syllabus exists on the web at a stable url, please include that as well as (or instead of) a .pdf. Even if you don't have anything new to contribute or you don't teach in these areas, it is certainly worth the time to peruse our Repository and to appreciate the breadth and depth of the topics our members are teaching! Thanks, Andy --------------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew L. Russell, Ph.D. Director, Program in Science & Technology Studies Assistant Professor, History College of Arts & Letters Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, New Jersey 07030 t. 201-216-5400 f. 201-216-8245 arussell(a)stevens.edu http://www.stevens.edu/cal/sts http://www.arussell.org

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