February 2016 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Wes Clark, RIP
by Dave Walden 23 Feb '16

23 Feb '16

I have heard this evening that Wes Clark (TX-2, etc.) died this morning.

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Sean Lennon, Steve Jobs, and an Apple ][e, photographed by Andy Warhol
by Joly MacFie 23 Feb '16

23 Feb '16

yep https://www.facebook.com/seanlennon/photos/a.10151257927369431.485138.54386… -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast -------------------------------------------------------------- -

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a few mechanical notes on doing interviewing via Skype
by Dave Walden 22 Feb '16

22 Feb '16

Hi, There is a note, hopefully self explanatory, on this topic at http://history.computer.org/pubs/2016-02-walden-skype-interviews.pdf While most of this short note may be old hat to many history researchers, my note may be of interest to a few people. It also can't hurt to remind you again that the following exists: http://history.computer.org/ Dave

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the digital sublime
by Luke Fernandez 20 Feb '16

20 Feb '16

Can anybody on this list recommend some articles or books about the digital sublime? In _The Technological Sublime_ David Nye documents how Americans have had sublime and "essentially religious" reactions to technology since their confrontation with the railroad. However, Nye's book doesn't trace the American encounter with computers. Moreover, the history ends in 1993 so one is left wondering whether the sublime is a category of experience that can be used to describe how 21st century Americans react to digitalized spaces. Are our aesthetic and emotional reactions to computers similar to the sublime reactions that Nye claims we've had when we've looked at dams, bridges, and the Apollo space mission? Or are our reactions to these technologies so different that they resist conflation with digital ones? In Vincent Mosco's _The Digital Sublime_ there's a pretty good attempt to apply Nye's framework to cyberspace. But this book which was published in 2005 in now itself ten years old and predates much that might be said about, say, the mobile revolution or Web 2.0. Hence my query. Sincerely, Luke http://lfernandez.x10host.com/me2/index.html

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Summer School: Social Studies of Algorithms
by Francis Lee 17 Feb '16

17 Feb '16

*Call for Applicants: Summer School of the International Algorithm Studies Network**Please disseminate widely* http://algorithmnetwork.org Date: 4-8 July, 2106 Place: Stockholm, Sweden Algorithms are everywhere! This international summer school explores the increasing importance of algorithms in society and the socio-cultural transformations that this tendency implies. The point of departure is that algorithms become implicated in society and culture: for example in media narratives, in mundane artefacts, or in organizations. Through their output and functioning, algorithms come to classify, hierarchize, value and shape different social phenomena, often well beyond their initial purpose. The aim of this summer school is to address algorithms through a number of themes that shine light on different aspects of algorithms in society and culture: in big data, music, law, surveillance and medicine. The summer school takes place at a few thematically chosen venues in Stockholm: at some government agencies and private organizations. How do these organisations work with algorithms and how can we as scholars understand their omnipresence? *Themes*Algorithms and Music Algorithms and Law Algorithms and Surveillance Algorithms and Big Data Algorithms and Medicine *Confirmed Teachers*Baki Cakici (Goldsmiths, University of London) Bill Maurer (University of California, Irvine) CF Helgesson (Linköping University) Dennis Broeders (Erasmus University Rotterdam) Evelyn Ruppert (Goldsmiths, University of London) Nick Seavers (Tufts University) Pelle Snickars (Umeå University) Philip Roscoe (University of St. Andrews) *Where* The summer school will take place in beautiful summer Stockholm: the home town of Spotify, Dice, Paradox Interactive, Minecraft, the Pirate Bay, Candy Crush, and countless other digital actors and phenomena. The school is hosted by the Department of Thematic Studies: Technology and Social Change at Linköping University, Sweden. *Who should apply?*The summer school invites doctoral students from the social sciences and the humanities. *Application and Deadline*Fill in the application form below as well as a 500 word motivation on how the issues adressed in this summer school is relevant for your research. Attach your CV. Send applications to: algorithmnetwork(a)gmail.com. Deadline: Friday, 18 March 2016. Participants will be notified no later than March 31. Reading lists and more information will be sent out in the beginning of June. The summer school is free to attend. Participants will pay for and arrange their own accomodation and most meals. Some accomodation with fellow participants will be available, but we welcome your own arrangements. In the application please note: full name, affiliation, address, dietary restrictions. Please also note if you are interested in staying with a fellow participant. -- - Helgesson, C.-F., Lee, F., & Lindén, L. (2015). Valuations of experimental designs in proteomic biomarker experiments and traditional randomised controlled trials <http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17530350.2015.1108215>. *Journal of Cultural Economy*, 1–16. http://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2015.1108215 - Dussauge, C.-F. Helgesson, & F. Lee (Eds.), Value Practices in the Life Sciences and Medicine <http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199689583.do>. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (Podcast <http://newbooksinscitechsoc.com/2015/09/26/isabelle-dussauge-claes-fredrik-…> ) - *A Sociology of Treason* <http://sth.sagepub.com/content/39/1/154.abstract?etoc>. Galis, V., & Lee, F. (2014). Science, Technology & Human Values, 39(1), 154-179. (open access preprint <http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:556667/FULLTEXT01.pdf> ). - Editorial board of Valuation Studies <http://valuationstudies.liu.se/> - Founder of The Algorithm Studies Network <http://algorithmnetwork.org/> Francis Lee, PhD, Researcher, Uppsala University Department of History of Science and Ideas francislee.org | francis.lee(a)idehist.uu.se | +46 734 41 42 19 | Skype: flea_se

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help please -- two questions.
by Dave Walden 16 Feb '16

16 Feb '16

Question 1: Does anyone have an idea of how to reach A. J. Critchlow (or if he is still alive)? He was with IBM San Jose when his paper Generalized Multiprocessing and Multiprogramming Systems was published in the proceedings of the AFIPS 1963 Fall Joint Computer Conference. This was in a conference session that also included a paper by Melvin Conway entitled A Multiprocessor System Design. Both papers mention the computer operating system function of Fork (in the sense of fork-and-join). In particular, the Conway paper describes the capability in a way somewhat like the later implementation for the SDS940 time-sharing system. The Conway paper also notes three operating systems he had heard had something like the fork capability. Question 2: Does anyone know of any *earlier* references in the literature to the work Fork used in this sense, or early operating system which had this capability. I am asking these questions on behalf of Linus Nyman who wrote his dissertation on forking in a difference sense -- branches of work in the software development process. [Understanding Code Forking in Open Source Software – an examination of code forking, its effect on open source software, and how it is viewed and practiced by developers”: https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/153135 ] Linus has already asked the second question of various computer historians and early operating system developers. So he doesn't need pointers to people of whom he might ask that question. However, perhaps this much larger SIGCIS group of people might include individuals who might have a clue about about Critchlow or themselves have insight to pre-Critchlow-and-Conway references to forking in the literature. Thanks, Dave

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(CFP) Extending Play 3: Temporalities of Play
by James A. Hodges 16 Feb '16

16 Feb '16

Call for Papers Extending Play 3: Temporalities of Play School of Communication & Information, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ Conference Dates: Sept. 30 & Oct. 1, 2016 Proposals Due: April 3rd “History is indeed absent from the game, absent as something finished, as a storyline in the past tense. What replaces it is a history workshop, a model of history as the intuition of algorithms and their consequences. The gamer is a designer.” --Mckenzie Wark, “Gamer Theory” Extending Play is back, and this iteration will play with the concept of time. We are looking for papers and presentations that excavate the past, interpret the present, and forecast the future of play and games. We aim to continue the mission of the previous two Extending Play conferences, to entertain all approaches to the traditions, roles, and contexts of play, extending it into far-flung and unexpected arenas. Extending Play 3 will take an inclusive and pluralistic approach to temporality and play, inviting creative applications of the concepts as they relate to all things playable - from games and moving images, to recorded sound and performance. Extending Play 3 asks important questions about the temporalities of play from emergent scholarly perspectives: Can media archaeology and game preservation revise the history of games and play? Do new methodologies, such as big data and network analysis force us to reconsider the predictability of play? Can queer temporalities of play produce new activist futures? How is gamification shaping our experiences of time? How are notions of time and play constructed by social scientists, humanists, preservationists, and policy researchers? We invite scholars, students, makers, artists, archivists, visionaries, game designers, and players to the third iteration of the Rutgers Media Studies Conference: Extending Play, to be held September 30 and October 1, 2016 on the Rutgers University campus in New Brunswick, NJ. Submissions are welcomed from scholars working in media studies and all related fields across the humanities and social sciences. We are excited to announce our keynote conversations: - Wendy Chun (Brown University) and Matthew Kirschenbaum (University of Maryland). - Jesper Juul (Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts), plus one more TBA. In keeping with the tripartite division of past, present, and future, Extending Play invites three types of submissions -- papers, panels, and interactive projects. The organizers invite traditional academic papers and panels of 3-4 presenters, along with any form of game, performance or display that submitters may wish to propose. In the past our conference has presented traditional research presentations alongside: - workshops, - playtests, - finished games, - technology demos, - performance art, - happenings that defy classification. For academic papers and panels, each presenter will have a maximum of 15 minutes to offer his or her ideas as a presentation or interactive conversation, and/or may adopt a more creative approach, incorporating such elements as: - material accompaniment (hand out a zine, scrapbook, postcards, etc) - performance (spoken word, song, verse, dance, recording, etc) - game (create rules and incorporate audience play) Possible topics could include, but are not limited to: Histories of Play - Historical approaches to leisure, recreation and play - History of video game consoles, arcades, cards, board games - Performance, intimacy, cosplay, and LARP - Urban play, play and city life Preserving Play - Game preservation in archives, libraries, and museums - Aesthetics of emulation, remediation, adaptation, and porting - Playable media in history: moving images and sound through time - Materialities of board games, game packaging, and control interfaces The Time of Play - Toys and play for children and adults - Playing with “lag”- network problems, hanging, buffering, glitching - Playing with narrative and storytelling - Political economies of play, (electronic) sports, and professionalizing play Playing with Time - Gamification and playing with learning, learning while playing - Activist time, queer temporalities, and time-bending play - Gamifying time, speedrunning, or playing with current events Predicting Play - Games of divination: I Ching, Tarot, Ouija, Palm reading, dice, oracles - Role of prediction in game studies methodologies (modeling behavior patterns, actions, etc.) - Prediction in game play, development of player networks - Playing with health and fitness, quantified selves and wearable technology Future of Play (Studies) - Affective potentials of technology and play - Adaptive play and dis/ability studies - What will be the role of scholars in the future of play and games? - How do cheaters change games? - What’s next for play and game studies? For additional ideas on how to play with media, play with time, or play with space during your presentation, visit our website at extendingplay.rutgers.edu. The deadline for proposals is Sunday, April 3, 2016. We invite individual proposals, full panel proposals, and proposals for games, workshops or other interactive presentations. Please use the submission form on our website at http://extendingplay.rutgers.edu/submit/ to submit an abstract of about 250 words. If you would like to submit supplementary materials, or have trouble with the form, email extendingplay(a)gmail.com. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out by April 30th, 2016. --- *james a. hodges* *school of communication & information* *rutgers university* *james.hodges(a)rutgers.edu <james.hodges(a)rutgers.edu>* *@jameshodges_ <https://twitter.com/jameshodges_>* *908.461.8246*

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early data backup programs
by Evan Koblentz 12 Feb '16

12 Feb '16

I would like to learn about the early years of data backup applications. Can anyone refer me to relevant articles?

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] deadline extended: International Communities of Invention and Innovation (New York, May 2016; deadline 8 January 2016)
by Evan Koblentz 12 Feb '16

12 Feb '16

The web site isn't loading. On 01/18/2016 07:04 PM, Christopher Leslie wrote: > Dear Colleagues, > > We have extended the deadline for the spring IFIP history conference > until Feb. 12. Please let me know if you have any questions about the > two types of paper. > > Chris Leslie > > > International Communities of Invention and Innovation > IFIP Working Group 9.7 Conference > NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY > 25-29 May 2016 > > Analog and digital computers were developed by individuals aware of > an international scientific community. Likewise, although sometimes > thought of as solely national projects, the first computer networks > were built in an age of growing interconnectivity among nations. > This meeting of IFIP Working Group 9.7 in New York City gathers > historians and other professionals to reflect on histories that > foreground the international community. Participants with an > interest in this historical context for computers and computer > networks may present academic papers or join in roundtable discussions. > > In accordance with this theme, we hope to blur the dichotomy between > core and periphery and complicate simplistic notions of linear > technological progress. Far from a deterministic view that computers > and computer networks were developed in isolation and according to > their own technical imperatives, we will show the history of > pre-existing relationships and communities that led to the triumphs > (and dead ends) in the history of computing. This broad perspective > will help us to tell a more accurate story of important developments > like the Internet, to be sure, but also it will provide us with a > better understanding of how to sponsor future invention and innovation. > > At the conference, we seek to foster a conversation about > internationalism in the history of computers and computer networks > along four broad themes: > > 1. Invention: > • communities where analog computers were developed > • communication about and competition for early devices > • innovations brought in from the supposed periphery > • failed, forgotten, or thwarted efforts to develop > networks or industries > > 2. Policy: > • trade and treaties supporting computers and networks > • organizations like IFIP with a mission to promote > collaboration > • long trajectories of digital divides > • case studies revealing ethical considerations > • cross-national comparisons of gender or ethnic diversity > in industry and education > > 3. Infrastructure: > • communication and data networks before the Internet > • development and diffusion of TCP/IP > • connectivity efforts before NSFNET, NSFNET, and beyond > • resistance to and success of the WorldWideWeb > > 4. Social History: > • differences and similarities in international impacts > on general society > • antecedents (Wells's World Brain) and visions (Human-Nets's > WorldNet) > • individuals who championed connections between nations > • historiography of internationalism in computing > • representations of international computing communities > in film or literature > > It is hoped that the conference will be of interest to a broad range > of people who study computing and computer networks, including > academic scholars and graduate students, but also those who have a > professional or technical interest in computing. Accordingly, there > are two ways to participate: > > 1. Academic Papers > > For consideration, please submit your draft paper via the conference > website (http://wp.nyu.edu/ifip_wg97/) Enquires are welcome in > advance of your submission (wg9.7conference(a)nyu.edu > <mailto:wg9.7conference@nyu.edu>). Draft papers will be circulated > before the conference in order to encourage a meaningful discussion. > At the conference, each selected participant will be allotted time > to present an overview of his or her paper. It is our intention to > publish selected conference papers in an anthology by Springer, and > hopefully the conference feedback will be useful as presenters > complete their final drafts. > > 2. Roundtable Discussions > > In order to welcome technical professionals and others who may not > desire to prepare a full paper, the conference will also feature > roundtables of 10–15 minute, relatively informal presentations > related to the conference theme. These presentations could focus on > key figures, historical anecdotes, or observations on particular > projects. We hope that these roundtables will spark lively > conversation and, perhaps, generate research partnerships between > historians and technical professionals. For consideration, send a > 250-word summary of the topic and your interest in it via the > conference website (http://wp.nyu.edu/ifip_wg97/) Enquires are > welcome in advance of your submission (wg9.7conference(a)nyu.edu > <mailto:wg9.7conference@nyu.edu>). > > The conference will be held at New York University's Polytechnic > School of Engineering in MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, New York 11201. > About 20 minutes away by subway from NYU's Greenwich Village > location, MetroTech Center is located in the heart of Downtown > Brooklyn and within walking distance of the Brooklyn Bridge as well > as the iconic neighborhoods of DUMBO, Fort Greene, and Brooklyn > Heights. In order to help make the conference more affordable, we > will offer accommodations in the school's dormitory, adjacent to the > conference venue, at a competitive price for those who do not wish > to stay in a nearby hotel. > Further details will be made available at http://wp.nyu.edu/ifip_wg97/ > > About IFIP WG 9.7: IFIP, the International Federation for > Information Processing, was founded in 1960. It is a nongovernmental > organization dedicated to information and communication technologies > and sciences. It sponsors fourteen committees primarily of a > technical nature. Technical Committee 9, however, is dedicated to > ICT and Society. The organizer of this conference is TC9’s Working > Group 7, which focuses on the history of computing. > > Important Dates > • Deadline for consideration: January 8, 2016 ... extended to > February 12 > • Early deadline for payment of registration fee: March 1 > • Revised papers and abstracts due: April 1 > • Last day to reserve a room in the dormitory: April 10 > • Papers and abstracts made available to participants: May 1 > • Revised papers due for consideration in proceedings: July 1 > > > -- > Christopher S. Leslie, Ph.D. > Co-Director of Science and Technology Studies Program > Faculty Fellow in Residence for Othmer Hall and Clark Street > Vice Chair, IFIP Working Group 9.7 - History of Computing > > NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering > 5 MetroTech Center, LC 131 > Brooklyn, NY 11201 > (646) 997-3130 <tel:%28646%29%20997-3130> > > > > > -- > Christopher S. Leslie, Ph.D. > Co-Director and Lecturer, Science and Technology Studies > Faculty Fellow in Residence for Othmer Hall and Clark Street > Vice Chair, IFIP History of Computing Working Group 9.7 > > NYU Tandon School of Engineering > 5 MetroTech Center, LC 131 > Brooklyn, NY 11201 > (646) 997-3130 > > Office Hour Signup:http://tinyurl.com/chrisleslie > > > > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members at 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://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org >

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Fwd: PhD Studentship in the History and Philosophy of Computing
by Liesbeth De Mol 12 Feb '16

12 Feb '16

I assume that the following PhD position might be interesting to some of you! Thanks for distributing it amongst your colleagues and students. best wishes, Liesbeth -------- Doorgestuurd bericht -------- Onderwerp: PhD Studentship in the History and Philosophy of Computing Datum: Fri, 12 Feb 2016 09:32:27 +0000 Van: Giuseppe Primiero <g.primiero(a)mdx.ac.uk> Aan: Giuseppe Primiero <g.primiero(a)mdx.ac.uk> The Department of Computer Science at Middlesex University, together with the LEO Computers Society are looking for a PhD Candidate for a research project in the area of History and Philosophy of Computing. This will incorporate research into the objectives, design, construction and market penetration of the LEO I, II and III computers, developed by the catering firm J. Lyons and Co., and its subsidiary LEO Computers Limited – subsequently incorporated in different companies (English Electric LEO, English Electric Leo Marconi, ICL, Standard Telephones and Cables and finally Fujitsu). Further details and instructions on how to apply available at http://www.mdx.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate-research-degrees/research-student… -- --- Giuseppe Primiero Department of Computer Science Middlesex University /--------------------------------------------------------------------------- / /Please note that Middlesex University's preferred way of receiving all correspondence is via email in line with our Environmental Policy. All incoming post to Middlesex University is opened and scanned by our digital document handler, CDS, and then emailed to the recipient. / /If you do not want your correspondence to Middlesex University processed in this way please email the recipient directly. Parcels, couriered items and recorded delivery items will not be opened or scanned by CDS. There are items which are "exceptions" which will be opened by CDS but will not be scanned a full list of these can be obtained by contacting the University. /

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