June 2014 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Microcomputer History Museum
by Ceruzzi, Paul 02 Jul '14

02 Jul '14

While wandering the back roads of Virginia last week, I stumbled upon this museum: http://bugbookcomputermuseum.com/ The web site is actually misleading--the museum is there, and it is open to the public free of charge on a regular schedule. It is located in downtown Floyd, VA, which is somewhat off the beaten track, to put it mildly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd,_Virginia Floyd is not near Tysons Corner! But it was open, and I had a most enjoyable tour. The collection is focused on the pre-IBM PC microcomputer days. Its crown jewel is a "Mark-8," designed by Jonathan Titus of nearby Blacksburg--a legendary early microcomputer kit. There are other similar items on display as well. I guess this qualifies as a "busman's holiday." Paul E. Ceruzzi, Chairman Division of Space History, MRC 311 National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution PO Box 37012 Washington, DC 20013-7012 202-633-2414 http://airandspace.si.edu/staff/paul-ceruzzi

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EDSAC text is corrected; thoughts on email "firsts"
by Thomas Haigh 27 Jun '14

27 Jun '14

Hello everyone, I'm pleased to say that I have heard from The National Museum of Computing to confirm that the startling phrasing in the EDSAC press release was a mistake which has now been corrected in the online version. So we are not seeing a new outbreak of hostilities in the old wars over the "first computer," just a glitch in public relations oversight. Good to see all the interesting discussion of "firsts" on the list - still a significant concern in this community. My own position is that if something would not be of historical interest if it was the second then it is probably still not worth much attention as the first. So it is best to justify the significant of something in terms of its influence, use, distinctive features, evidence of a path not taken, etc. It reminded me of the case of the "inventor of email" you may remember me getting tied up in a couple of years ago (http://www.sigcis.org/ayyadurai) The interesting thing to me was that in his quest for fame he put a huge amount of energy and misguided ingenuity into pinning the earliest possible date on his electronic mail system and arguing that everything produced prior to 1980 was merely "messaging" and not mail. However he has never, as far as I can see, even tried to argue that his system had any influence developments outside the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Leaving aside the problem his system does not appear to have exhibited any significant "firsts" we are still left with the fascinating assumption that a completely isolated "first" with no historical legacy would give one a kind of moral ownership of the all subsequent innovations in the area. This is perhaps a kind of cultural leakage from the patenting process, as he also seemed to be confusing holding the copyright on a system with a particular name ("EMAIL") with holding a patent on the corresponding technology. The funny thing, as I tried to explain, is that the things that historians might find interesting or useful in his papers describing the system really have nothing to do with whether it was the first or the thousandth. Though admittedly we weren't really his target audience. Best wishes, Tom

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EDSAC, Firsts, and our new article "Engineering the 'Miracle of the ENIAC:' Implementing the Modern Code Paradigm."
by Thomas Haigh 27 Jun '14

27 Jun '14

Hello everyone, Hmm, the discovery of those diagrams is good news for EDSAC rebuilders but I was surprised to see that the press release twice calls EDSAC the first practical general purpose computer. One occurrence is in the boilerplate passage on EDSAC at the bottom of the release, which suggests that this is TNMOCs official position. That seems to violate the de facto truce concluded between early computer history enthusiasts in the early 1980s when they settled on the appropriate series of adjectives to go between first and computer. As Mike Williams once wrote, there is more than enough glory in the creation of the modern computer to satisfy all of the early pioneers, most of whom are no longer in a position to care anyway. (That's the introduction to the "The First Computers: History and Architecture" collection from 2000). ENIAC got the metaphorical trophy for first general purpose electronic digital computer in its original 1945 configuration whereas EDSAC went home with the award for first practical stored program computer. This reminds me that the second in my series of articles with Crispin Rope and Mark Priestley about ENIAC and its early-1948 conversion to what has sometimes been called read-only stored program operation was recently published in Annals. We try to switch focus from firsts to questions of practical capabilities, in support of our detailed analysis of ENIACs 1948 Monte Carlo program in the third and final paper, although we do conclude that an entirely practical version of the programming method described in the seminal 1945 First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC was implemented on ENIAC in March-April 1948, some months before the Manchester Baby ran what has usually been considered the first modern program. Williams also noted that, If you add enough adjectives to a description you can always claim your own favorite. For example ENIAC is often claimed to be the first electronic, general purpose, large scale, digital computer and you certainly have to add all those adjectives before you have a correct statement. In our own work we argue that the history is somewhat more complicated than can be captured by those "first [adjective] [adjective] [adjective] computer" phrases, but that doesn't mean that "general purpose" and "stored program" can be conflated. People who care about "firsts" also need to take care with those adjectives. The paper is Thomas Haigh, Mark Priestley & Crispin Rope, Engineering The Miracle of the ENIAC: Implementing the Modern Code Paradigm IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 36:2 (April-June 2014):41-59 and you can read it at http://eniacinaction.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/EngineeringTheMiracleoft heENIAC-scanned.pdf or, if you have access, from the IEEE CS Digital Library at http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2014/02/man2014020041-abs.html. Our www.EniacInAction.com website already includes a selection of technical documents and primary sources related to ENIAC's conversion and to the Monte Carlo programs it ran in 1948 (though it is not yet complete or attractively presented). Best wishes, Tom From: members-bounces(a)sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of B. Randell Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 4:43 AM To: members Cc: B. Randell Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Fwd: News - Lost EDSAC diagrams reveal secrets of one of the earliest computers Hi: Begin forwarded message: From: Stephen Fleming <stephen.fleming(a)palam.co.uk> Subject: News - Lost EDSAC diagrams reveal secrets of one of the earliest computers Date: 25 June 2014 09:16:22 BST To: <brian.randell(a)ncl.ac.uk> Reply-To: <k> NEWS RELEASE Lost EDSAC diagrams reveal secrets of one of the earliest computers 25 June 2014 Some of the earliest diagrams of a computer have been rediscovered more than sixty years after they were drawn and are giving the EDSAC team at The National Museum of Computing fresh insights into their ongoing reconstruction of the world's first general purpose computer. You can read the full release here: http://www.tnmoc.org/news/news-releases/lost-edsac-diagrams-reveal-sec rets-one-earliest-computers Cheers Brian Randell School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] [Edith.sig] ICOHTEC in July-August
by M. Hicks 25 Jun '14

25 Jun '14

That's great! I've used the article in my history of computing class and the students really enjoy it. Congratulations, Donna! Marie ______________________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Asst. Professor, History of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL USA mariehicks.net | mhicks1(a)iit.edu | @histoftech On 23/06/14, "Rachel P. Maines" <rpm24(a)cornell.edu> wrote: > Very cool, Donna! Wish I could be there. > > Rachel Maines > > From: edith.sig-bounces(a)mit.edu <edith.sig-bounces(a)mit.edu> on behalf of Donna Drucker <gall_wasp(a)yahoo.com> > Sent: Monday, June 23, 2014 10:28 AM > To: Edith.sig(a)mit.edu > Subject: [Edith.sig] ICOHTEC in July-August > > Dear colleagues, > > I am writing to see if any of you will be attending the International Committee for the History of Technology Symposium (ICOHTEC) in Brasov, Romania, July 28-August 2. I will be there July 30-August 4. If you are, please e-mail me off-list, and we can arrange to meet for a drink or a meal while we are there. > > I also wanted to share some good news: one of my articles, "Keying Desire: Alfred Kinsey's Use of Machines for Sex Research" (Journal of the History of Sexuality, January 2013) won the 2014 ICOHTEC prize for best submitted article in the history of technology. It will be officially announced at the conference and on the ICOHTEC Web site in July. > > Warm greetings from Germany, > > Donna Drucker > Technische Universität Darmstadt Edith.sig mailing list Edith.sig(a)mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/edith.sig

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Fwd: News - Lost EDSAC diagrams reveal secrets of one of the earliest computers
by B. Randell 25 Jun '14

25 Jun '14

Hi: Begin forwarded message: > From: Stephen Fleming <stephen.fleming(a)palam.co.uk> > Subject: News - Lost EDSAC diagrams reveal secrets of one of the earliest computers > Date: 25 June 2014 09:16:22 BST > To: <brian.randell(a)ncl.ac.uk> > Reply-To: <stephen.fleming(a)palam.co.uk> > > NEWS RELEASE > > Lost EDSAC diagrams reveal secrets of one of the earliest computers > > 25 June 2014 > > Some of the earliest diagrams of a computer have been rediscovered more than sixty years after they were drawn and are giving the EDSAC team at The National Museum of Computing fresh insights into their ongoing reconstruction of the world's first general purpose computer. > > You can read the full release here: http://www.tnmoc.org/news/news-releases/lost-edsac-diagrams-reveal-secrets-… Cheers Brian Randell School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

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CHM Fellows Nominations Open
by Dag Spicer 24 Jun '14

24 Jun '14

Dear SIGCIS Friends, Today nominations for the 2015 CHM Fellow Awards open! I encourage SIGCIS people to participate as you are uniquely situated to reflect upon the relative contributions of many of the historical actors we study as part of our work in the history of computing. Fellows are recognized for moving the ball forward in computing and include the inventors of the first commercial microprocessor, Ethernet, Moore’s Law, artificial intelligence, Linux, packet switching, the mouse… the full list of Fellows is here: http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/hall/ Applications and information on the nomination are available here: http://www.computerhistory.org/fellowawards/nominations/ Nominations close August 30, 2014. Thank you everyone for considering … hope to see some nominations from SIGCIS! 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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Blog post on the history of the Turing test...
by Allan Olley 24 Jun '14

24 Jun '14

Hi, I wrote a blog post on the history of the Turing test for a website that is organized by students in my old department (the Institute for History and Philosophy of Science and Technology), addressing the recent claims that a computer Eugene Goostman had passed the Turing test. It is my own limited perspective on a limited issue and history of AI is not my usual beat, but I hope it is of some interest. http://thebubblechamber.org/2014/06/can-machines-think-yet-a-brief-history-… -- Yours Truly, Allan Olley, PhD http://individual.utoronto.ca/fofound/

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Commodore media research
by M. Hicks 22 Jun '14

22 Jun '14

Hi all-- Any grad students or recent grads on the list who work on Commodore? I have a possible lead on some freelance work. If you're interested, contact me at mhicks1(a)iit.edu Best, 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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Social Informatics Best Student Paper Award
by Medina, Eden 22 Jun '14

22 Jun '14

Student scholarship on the history of computing is eligible for prize consideration. -- Call for nomination for the 2013 Social Informatics Best Student Paper Award The Special Interest Group for Social Informatics (SIG-SI) and the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics (RKCSI) are seeking nominations for an award for the best paper written by a doctoral student on a topic informed by social informatics. Nominations may include a published paper in a peer reviewed journal during 2013 or a conference paper presented in 2013. The author or authors will present their paper at the 10th Annual SIG-SI Symposium on Saturday, October 30, 2014<x-apple-data-detectors://9> and receive a $500 cash award at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) in Seattle in October, 2014. Nominations letters should be sent to Howard Rosenbaum (hrosenba(a)indiana.edu<mailto:hrosenba@indiana.edu><mailto:hrosenba@indiana.edu>) or Pnina Fichman (fichman(a)indiana.edu<mailto:fichman@indiana.edu><mailto:shachaf@indiana.edu>) by August 15, 2014<x-apple-data-detectors://15> and must include a full citation, a brief explanation for the nomination, and a copy of the article. Self nominations are acceptable. Winners will be notified by August 30, 2014<x-apple-data-detectors://16>. For more information about the Special Interest Group for Social Informatics (SIG-SI): http://asistsigsi.wordpress.com<http://asistsigsi.wordpress.com/> For more information about the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics (RKCSI): http://rkcsi.indiana.edu<http://rkcsi.indiana.edu/> -- Eden Medina Associate Professor of Informatics and Computing Director, Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics Adjunct Associate Professor of History School of Informatics and Computing Indiana University, Bloomington edenm(a)indiana.edu<mailto:edenm@indiana.edu> www.edenmedina.com<http://www.edenmedina.com> On leave 2013-2014 @ Yale Law School Sent from my iPad

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Honor thy Fathers Correctly
by Edgar Daylight 19 Jun '14

19 Jun '14

Dear All, Lipton's very popular blog contains a recent post on history: Honor Thy Fathers Correctly I think this discussion could be of some interest to some of us. best wishes, Edgar

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