March 2016 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

IBM 610
by John Impagliazzo 25 Apr '18

25 Apr '18

Hi All, Allegedly, some consider the IBM 610 Auto-Point computer (1959) the ‘first personal computer’. http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/plugboard.html Is this true – even slightly true?? John John Impagliazzo, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Hofstra University IEEE Life Fellow ACM Distinguished Educator

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Planning for SHOT meeting in Singapore, June 26-29, 2016
by Andrew Russell 10 Nov '16

10 Nov '16

Colleagues - It was nice to see so many of you for the SHOT and SIGCIS meetings this past weekend in Albuquerque. From my point of view things went extraordinarily well, and I don’t have words to express how happy I am about the quality of scholarship and spirit of camaraderie that I felt throughout the weekend. I think we all owe Nathan Ensmenger a special thanks for such a fantastic keynote presentation on computing’s environmental history - throughout the day people were calling it powerful, moving, transformative, etc. Also on Sunday, we celebrated the achievements of our colleagues, including: - the ten young scholars who were awarded travel grants from MIT Press, the Computer History Museum, and the Mahoney Fund. - Rebecca Slayton, winner of the 2015 CHM Prize for her book Arguments that Count - David Nofre, Mark Priestley, and Gerard Alberts, winners of the inaugural Mahoney Prize for their article “When Technology Became Language” - Sarah McLennan, winner of SHOT’s 2015 Robinson Prize for her paper “Computing and the Color Line,” presented in a session organized jointly by SIGCIS and EDITH, thanks to Marie Hicks and Ruth Cowan. The main purpose of this message is to reinforce and amplify my call on Sunday morning for proposals for SHOT in Singapore in June 2016. SHOT will issuing its call for papers very soon, with a deadline in late 2015. In anticipation, please be thinking about participating in one of the following ways: 1. Put forth an Open Panel Proposal for the main SHOT meeting. SHOT will place a special emphasis on “open panel” topics that SHOT will circulate widely as it publicizes the CFP. 2. Organize a Complete Panel Submission of 3 or 4 papers for the main SHOT meeting. Please feel free to use the list or to contact me (or anyone on the SIGCIS Exec) if you want to float ideas and/or find extra panelists. 3. Submit a paper or panel for the SIGCIS 2016 Workshop that will be held, as usual, at the end of the SHOT conference in Singapore on Sunday, June 26. We expect to issue the CFP for the SIGCIS Workshop well after the SHOT CFP is issued; watch this space in mid-November or early December for details. As you contemplate your participation in the Singapore meeting, please keep 2 additional things in mind: 1. This is a terrific opportunity to forge new bonds with colleagues working on computing and information-related history and STS topics in Asia and the Pacific. To that end, if you have contacts there who have not been active in SIGCIS or SHOT, please do encourage them to join the SIGCIS list and to reach out to me if they want to join or help organize a session. 2. If you are in North America or Europe, try not to be too put off by the expense of the trip - particularly if you are in the early stages of your career. SHOT and SIGCIS have been raising funds for this conference for some time, and the generosity of our communities has been nothing short of inspiring. Travel support will be available! In summary: SHOT and SIGCIS 2015 were fantastic; it’s now up to us to make SHOT and SIGCIS 2016 even better. Please get in touch with me (or the list) if you have questions, suggestions, etc. about making the most of our opportunities at the Singapore meeting! Cheers, Andy Russell SIGCIS Chair

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Pioneering Computers
by Dag Spicer 04 Apr '16

04 Apr '16

Scanning the CHM Archives… here is a classic issue of our Museum Report (Winter, 1983) that describes the major contenders in the early computer sweepstakes. This was a special issue used as a companion to an exhibit on early computers called the "Pioneer Computer Timeline." http://tcm.computerhistory.org/reports/TCMReportWinter1983.pdf See esp. synoptic chart on pp. 14-15. (I think we might add ‘stored program’ to ENIAC now, given Tom Haigh’s recent book). 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

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Here's What Happens When an 18 Year Old Buys a Mainframe
by Joly MacFie 31 Mar '16

31 Mar '16

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45X4VP8CGtk -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast -------------------------------------------------------------- -

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CHM Archives Update: James Porter Hard Disk Industry Collection Now Available
by Dag Spicer 31 Mar '16

31 Mar '16

Dear Members, The Jim Porter papers are now open for research. Porter was the founder and publisher of Disk/Trend Report and is considered by many to have been the most influential person in the worldwide disk drive industry. Porter's unique relationship with nearly everyone of significance in the hard drive industry, as well as his agreement to anonymize all data, led hard drive companies to share their internal information, which Porter compiled into monthly snapshots of a massive industry in transition over decades. Porter’s collection is the most complete record of the computer storage industry available anywhere. View the collection guide at http://tinyurl.com/hopqz96. Thank you to the Council on Library and Information Resources’ Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant for providing the funds that made processing this collection possible! 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

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April 15 | Mistakes Were Made 2.0 | Computer History, Decompiled
by Laine Nooney 29 Mar '16

29 Mar '16

Hi all, Forwarding the email blast for the event I've been organizing, Mistakes Were Made 2.0 @ NYU April 15. Eden Medina is keynote! Hope to see you there... -L *Friday, April 15, 2016 | 1:30-6:00 PM * *NYU Department of Media, Culture, and Communication239 Greene Street, Floor 8* It’s an old adage that journalists write the first draft of history, and historians compose the second. But what happens after that? Now in its second year, “Mistakes Were Made” proposes that getting history wrong is the inevitable precondition of historical research, as each generation of writers explores that gaps and ghosts left by the previous. Turning these insights on the swiftly obsolescing world of computer history, this event gathers emerging scholars challenging traditional technology narratives, and pairs them with creative coders, new media artists, tech innovators, and other members of computer culture’s past and present “fringe.” *SPEAKERS* Eden Medina <http://nyu.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0ac8c97417eade73a7595c79a&id=3…> (keynote) Associate Professor of Informatics and Computing, Director of the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics, Indiana University Marisa Bowe <http://nyu.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0ac8c97417eade73a7595c79a&id=a…> Editor-in-Chief of WORD, Executive Producer of Sissyfight <http://nyu.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=0ac8c97417eade73a7595c79a&id=…> Tega Brain <http://nyu.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=0ac8c97417eade73a7595c79a&id=…> Artist and environmental engineer, SUNY-Purchase Peter Sachs Collopy <http://nyu.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=0ac8c97417eade73a7595c79a&id=…> Media historian and postdoctoral researcher, University of Southern California Martha Poon <http://nyu.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=0ac8c97417eade73a7595c79a&id=…> Research Fellow, Data & Society *SCHEDULE* *1:30-3:00 pm* Marisa Bowe + Peter Sachs Collopy *3:00-4:30 pm* Tega Brain + Martha Poon *4:30-5:30 pm* Eden Medina, Keynote “The Promise and Peril of Computer Technology in the Area of Human Rights” *5:30-6:00 pm* Reception *Hosted by the NYU Department of Media, Culture, and Communication <http://nyu.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=0ac8c97417eade73a7595c79a&id=…>, with generous support from the NYU Center for the Humanities <http://nyu.us4.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=0ac8c97417eade73a7595c79a&id=…> and the NYU Libraries. Designed and produced by Laine Nooney, Erica Robles-Anderson and Shari Wolk. * -- Laine Nooney www.lainenooney.com DM <http://dm.lmc.gatech.edu/> @ LMC <http://lmc.gatech.edu/> @ GT <http://www.gatech.edu/> Assistant Professor

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HSS panel proposals?
by Marie Hicks 28 Mar '16

28 Mar '16

Hi All, Is anyone here thinking of putting together a panel for the next HSS meeting? (Nov 3-6, 2016, Atlanta: http://hssonline.org/meetings/2016-hss-annual-meeting/2016-hss-call-for-pap… ) I plan to submit a paper proposal but am looking to join a session if there's one in the making where I would fit. Please let me know if you have one (and its topic) or if you might be interested in forming one. Proposals are due April 8th. Also, this will be my first time submitting a paper to HSS. What is the position of HSS when it comes to history of technology papers? Does anyone have advice on how to pitch a more history-of-technology-leaning paper to HSS? 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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Continuing research on H. Philip Peterson and the Digital Mona Lisa
by andy patros 27 Mar '16

27 Mar '16

As I continue my research on H. Phillip Peterson and the Digital Mona Lisa/Mona By the Numbers that he created in 1965, I found a document from a session in 1966 at Boston, Mass. titled “The Present and Future of Film Reading”. I’ve attached the document here and wondered if anyone in this group might be able to provide me with any additional information regarding Mr. Peterson, both before and after this period of time, June 1966. As always, thank you for your assistance and consideration. Regards, Andy Patros www.digitalmonalisa.com <http://www.digitalmonalisa.com/>

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A fresh tissue of lies...
by Dag Spicer 24 Mar '16

24 Mar '16

Now available from S.A.’s dupes… … and a special thanks to all of us at SIGCIS … What also needs to be investigated, by likely an independent professional ethics body, is the biased, unscholarly, and defamatory attacks on Ayyadurai(‘SIGCIS Blog’, 2012),and the clear conflict of interest, as exemplified in the list of individuals in Mr. Haigh’s “Acknowledgements” section thanking those who helped him in denigrating Ayyadurai: “Acknowledgements: Thanks to the dozens of people who sent me hundreds of messages after learning that I was working on a response for the Post. Many helped to read and shape earlier drafts. In no particular order: Evan Koblentz, Catherine Lathwell, Peter Meyer, Dave Walden, Debbie Deutsch, Marie Hicks, James Sumner, Ken Pogran, Tom Van Vleck, Dag Spicer, Mark Weber, JoAnne Yates, Murray Turoff, Al Kossow, Ramesh Subramanian, David Alan Grier, Paul McJones, Nathan Ensmenger, David Hemmendinger, Jeffrey Yost, David Moran, Peggy Kidwell, Debbie Douglas, Alex Bochannek, Bill McMillan, Len Shustek, Petri Paju, Elizabeth Finler, Dave Crocker, Ray Tomlinson, Pierre Mounier Kuhn, James P.G. Sterbenz, Ben Barker, Jim Cortada, and Craig Partridge.” (‘SIGCIS Blog’, 2012) A significant cluster or coalition of the individuals listed in the Acknowledge- ments have a direct and indirect, and/or close affiliation to Raytheon/BBN, who claims they “invented email,” as evident on their website (Raytheon/BBN, n.d.), which brandishes the ‘@’ logo with its numerous press and marketing releases claiming that it is the home of the “inventor of email,” Mr. Ray Tomlinson.

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CHM Archives Update: Hewitt Crane papers now available
by Dag Spicer 24 Mar '16

24 Mar '16

The Hewitt D. Crane papers are open for research. Crane was an engineer and inventor at Stanford Research Institute from 1956 to 2005. He worked on many projects including all-magnetic computing and logic systems, presenting the idea of an all-magnetic computer at the Fall Joint Computer Conference in 1959. A prototype of a very early all-magnetic computer from SRI is in CHM’s collectionhttp://tinyurl.com/jtmy9o5. View the collection guide at http://tinyurl.com/zxtwkxa. Thank you to the Council on Library and Information Resources’ Cataloging Hidden Special Collections and Archives grant for providing the funds that made processing this collection possible! 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

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