October 2014 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Virtuality versus transprency -- trying to locate a quote about the difference
by Thomas Haigh 01 Nov '14

01 Nov '14

Hello SIGCIS, I am trying to locate a quote I remember reading circa 1998. It is something along the lines of "Something virtual isn't really there but looks as if it is. Something transparent is really there but looks as if it isn't." That is of course the computer science sense of transparency as making the work of software invisible a user or process - for example how the network stack shields applications from whatever network media the data is travelling over to present the illusion of a connection. Google is not helping me. Does anybody know the source and correct wording? Thanks, Tom

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Virtuality versus transprency -- trying to locate a quote about the difference
by Allan Olley 31 Oct '14

31 Oct '14

Hello, [I'm sending this for a second time, I have trouble when I respond directly to e-mails from the list, hopefully two of these don't show up on the list, apologies to Thomas and Andrew who already go this] I'm struck that transparency as making the inner workings of something apparent is a very old and I thought very common metaphor in various phrases. For example the phrase "I saw right through him" to indicate you saw through deception and divined someone's true motives and plans. So when you see right through him you actually see him better than when you see him in the normal mode, just as when you understand a political process better when it is transparent. This goes back to at least 1856 (and presumably far earlier but this was the earliest use I found on google books). Although arguably it suggests that we see right through someone's dissembling, lies etc. rather than through him, but it seems like a natural metaphor. http://books.google.ca/books?id=OjEZAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22I%20saw%20right%20throug… ight%20through%20him%22&f=false Looking at some old usages I think the metaphor using the exact word "transparent" to mean "obvious" is pretty old also. So "my patriotic American ears burned with shame as I heard how an American had been gulled by such a simple and transparent operation." The transparency of the operation indicates that it is an obvious scam not a indiscernable one. http://books.google.ca/books?id=5GNEAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22transparent%20operation%… ion%22&f=false Perhaps, the word "clear" provides a case of the metaphor going the other way, since (according to etymological dictionary I checked http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=clear ) it starts by meaning something obvious ("bright"), keeps that meaning, but also means not blocking/encumbering light/vision and so means transparent (a clear day, clear water etc.). Not sure I can justify it exactly, but I would have said transparency as a metaphor for divining inner workings is the inutive metaphor and that the CS metaphor making it synonymous with invisible or seamless is actually the less intuitive one (although it is still intelligible as a metaphor). To me transparency connotes something you can see through but that still makes its presence known, the opposite of transparency is opaqueness or obscurity, whereas the opposite of invisibility is simply visibility. -- Yours Truly, Allan Olley, PhD http://individual.utoronto.ca/fofound/

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Virtuality
by Murray Turoff 31 Oct '14

31 Oct '14

This represents a causal influence to establish transparency: Virtuality, Murray Turoff, Communications of the ACM, 40(9), September 1997. The theme of this paper is below and it is the basic idea that the virtual model put in the computer of a real situation can then change the real situation to fit the computer model if it involves the behavior of people. *Virtuality is the process whereby the implementation model in the computer replaces the real world model in a system made up in part of people.* * Information Systems are usually design on a descriptive basis; however, they often become prescriptive. * Designers need to anticipate prescriptive impacts of their systems. * The design of an interactive system can be the design of a social system -- *please send messages to murray.turoff(a)gmail.com <murray.turoff(a)gmail.com> do not use @njit.edu <http://njit.edu> addressDistinguished Professor EmeritusInformation Systems, NJIThomepage: http://is.njit.edu/turoff <http://is.njit.edu/turoff>*

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Fwd: Virtuality versus transprency -- trying to locate a quote about the difference
by Dag Spicer 30 Oct '14

30 Oct '14

Dear SIGCIS Friends, Mike Williams weighs in! Dag -- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 1401 North Shoreline Boulevard Mountain View, CA 94043-1311 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 Fax: +1 650 810 1055 Twitter: @ComputerHistory Begin forwarded message: From: "Michael R. Williams" <m.williams(a)computer.org<mailto:m.williams@computer.org>> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Virtuality versus transprency -- trying to locate a quote about the difference Date: October 30, 2014 at 12:33:30 PM PDT To: Dag Spicer <dspicer(a)computerhistory.org<mailto:dspicer@computerhistory.org>> Dag, I wish I had said this, but I am afraid that this is the first time I have heard it. Mt memory is not as good as it once was, but I am quite sure that I should not take credit for this one. I am not a member of the ‎SIGCIS (I am already a member of too many things) so if you would pass this not along to that group it would be nice - Hi to you all Mike Michael R. Williams, BSC, PhD, DSc Original Message From: Dag Spicer Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2014 10:48 AM To: Michael Williams Subject: Fwd: [SIGCIS-Members] Virtuality versus transprency -- trying to locate a quote about the difference On Thu, Oct 30, 2014 at 9:24 AM, David Hemmendinger <hemmendd(a)union.edu<mailto:hemmendd@union.edu><mailto:hemmendd@union.edu>> wrote: I heard it from Mike Williams, when he had his professor of computer science hat on! Here's how he said it: If it is there, but you can't see it, it is transparent. If it isn't there, but you see it, it is virtual. If it is there, and you see it, it is real. For the purposes of symmetry, what if something is not there and you can't see it? If it isn't there and you can't see it, you're ok. David _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org<mailto:members@sigcis.org><mailto:members@sigcis.org>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by 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 I heard it from Mike Williams, when he had his professor of computer science hat on! Here’s how he said it: If it is there, but you can’t see it, it is transparent. If it isn’t there, but you see it, it is virtual. If it is there, and you see it, it is real. For the purposes of symmetry, what if something is not there and you can’t see it? Paul From: members-bounces(a)sigcis.org<mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org><mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org> [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Haigh Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2014 7:01 PM To: members(a)sigcis.org<mailto:members@sigcis.org><mailto:members@sigcis.org> Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Virtuality versus transprency -- trying to locate a quote about the difference Hello SIGCIS, I am trying to locate a quote I remember reading circa 1998. It is something along the lines of “Something virtual isn’t really there but looks as if it is. Something transparent is really there but looks as if it isn’t.” That is of course the computer science sense of transparency as making the work of software invisible a user or process – for example how the network stack shields applications from whatever network media the data is travelling over to present the illusion of a connection. Google is not helping me. Does anybody know the source and correct wording? Thanks, Tom

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Walter Isaacson at CHM
by Dag Spicer 28 Oct '14

28 Oct '14

Dear friends, As promised a couple of weeks ago, here is the video of Walter Isaacson taking about his book at CHM, The Innovators: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4USVdXsxZwg&list=UUHDr4RtxwA1KqKGwxgdK4Vg Best wishes, Dag -- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 1401 North Shoreline Boulevard Mountain View, CA 94043-1311 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 Fax: +1 650 810 1055 Twitter: @ComputerHistory

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Now posted: Works in Progress papers for SIGCIS Workshop
by Andrew Russell 28 Oct '14

28 Oct '14

Hello everyone - With our annual SIGCIS Workshop less than 2 weeks away (on Sunday November 9), I would like to draw your attention to updates to the Workshop program at http://www.sigcis.org/workshop14. We have posted papers for the two “Works in Progress” sessions - the first from 11-12:30, and the second from 4:30-6. For these sessions to succeed, we now need those of you who plan to attend these sessions to read the papers (linked from the program at http://www.sigcis.org/workshop14) and come ready to discuss them with the authors. The authors will have only 5 minutes to introduce and frame their work, so it is really important that the audience does its homework. This year our “homework” actually haas the feel of required reading for the future of our field: we have a fascinating variety of papers on subjects such as women in computing, computer literacy education, technology transfer, the IT workforce, and information visualization. Even if you cannot join us in Dearborn, you will learn a lot from these papers - and I am sure that the authors would appreciate receiving comments or suggestions by email. As always, please let me know if you have questions about the workshop. Related, you can find the program for the entire SHOT conference at http://www.historyoftechnology.org/media/dearborn/2014_SHOT_Program.pdf. It is exciting to see so many papers and sessions that deal with computers, information, and society! All the best, Andy Russell Chair, SIGCIS 2014 Workshop

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What the Public Thinks About Historical Thinking
by Dag Spicer 26 Oct '14

26 Oct '14

Great piece in the current issue of AHA Perspectives on History by James Grossman on public views of history and historians. I especially liked his counter-argument to people who use ‘revisionism’ as a term of disparagement, viz. "My friend and colleague Jim Horton used to ask audiences how they would feel about a surgeon who didn’t read revisionist medical literature..." Enjoy! http://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-hist… Dag -- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 1401 North Shoreline Boulevard Mountain View, CA 94043-1311 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 Fax: +1 650 810 1055 Twitter: @ComputerHistory

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Steve Jobs in 2011...
by Dag Spicer 26 Oct '14

26 Oct '14

“It is in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough — it’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the results that make our heart sing.” Dag -- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 1401 North Shoreline Boulevard Mountain View, CA 94043-1311 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 Fax: +1 650 810 1055 Twitter: @ComputerHistory

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Hidden Histories of the Information Age - PS
by Brian Randell 25 Oct '14

25 Oct '14

Hi: You might also like to see the set of 3 minute videos made available by the Science Museum itself - at http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/Plan_your_visit/exhibitions/inf… Cheers Brian Randell ——— Hi: BBC Radio 4 have has produced a set of six 15 minute radio talks in association with The Science Museum, whose new permanent “Information Age” Gallery has just opened: "More than 200 years of innovation in communication and information technologies are celebrated in Information Age: Six Networks That Changed Our World, our biggest and most ambitious gallery to date. Information Age is divided into six zones, each representing a different information and communication technology network: The Cable, The Telephone Exchange, Broadcast, The Constellation, The Cell and The Web.mThe gallery explores the important events which shaped the development of these networks, from the dramatic stories behind the growth of the worldwide telegraph network in the 19th century, to the influence of mobile phones on our lives today.” See http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/Plan_your_visit/exhibitions/inf…. The Hidden Histories of the Information Age talks are available (I assume worldwide) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mttrp/episodes/guide Cheers Brian Randell -- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 FAX = +44 191 208 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

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Hidden Histories of the Information Age
by Brian Randell 25 Oct '14

25 Oct '14

Hi: BBC Radio 4 have has produced a set of six 15 minute radio talks in association with The Science Museum, whose new permanent “Information Age” Gallery has just opened: "More than 200 years of innovation in communication and information technologies are celebrated in Information Age: Six Networks That Changed Our World, our biggest and most ambitious gallery to date. Information Age is divided into six zones, each representing a different information and communication technology network: The Cable, The Telephone Exchange, Broadcast, The Constellation, The Cell and The Web.mThe gallery explores the important events which shaped the development of these networks, from the dramatic stories behind the growth of the worldwide telegraph network in the 19th century, to the influence of mobile phones on our lives today.” See http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/Plan_your_visit/exhibitions/inf…. The Hidden Histories of the Information Age talks are available (I assume worldwide) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04mttrp/episodes/guide Cheers Brian Randell -- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 FAX = +44 191 208 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

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