February 2018 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Konrad Zuse's 1936 patent - German text?
by Brian Randell 24 Sep '20

24 Sep '20

Hi Mark: I have a copy of the original 1936 Zuse patent application that I had translated into English for my Origins book. (It took some finding - some of my Zemanek documents had strayed into the middle of the Zuse documents, and so had obscured them! :-) It is a type-written document, on the letterhead of Zuse’s patent attorney Dr.-Ing. Bruno Wolf, Berlin Charlottenberg 5, Kantstrasse 85, dated 9.4.36 (i.e. 9 April 1936). It is some twenty or so pages in length. However I should warn you that some of the pages are barely legible (though could probably be deciphered by someone who knows German - which I don’t). I could scan this document for you if you wish. (I have about two inches thick of documents about Zuse’s work, including a number of patents and patent applications, some pre-war, immediately some post-war, together with several typescripts from him. My plan is that this material will be added to the archive of my files held in the Special Collections section of Newcastle University Library. This already holds all the extensive correspondence that I was involved in while compiling Origins.) Cheers Brian On 24 Jan 2017, at 10:58, Mark Priestley <m.priestley(a)gmail.com<mailto:m.priestley@gmail.com>> wrote: Dear list, Zuse's 1936 patent "Method for Automatic Execution of Calculations with the Aid of Computers" is reprinted in Brian Randell's "Origins of Digital Computers" collections. Does anyone know if/where I can get hold of the German original? Thanks in advance. Mark _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org<http://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 -- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk<mailto:Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk> PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 FAX = +44 191 208 8232 URL = http://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/people/profile/brianrandell.html

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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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Footage of the ENIAC at the Moore School of Engineering, 1946
by Erik Rau 28 Feb '18

28 Feb '18

Freshly uploaded to our digital archives. Enjoy! Erik https://youtu.be/r2SCpzXqmP8 Sent from my iPhone

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ENIAC in Action -- paperback out, Kindle just $14.49
by Thomas Haigh 27 Feb '18

27 Feb '18

Hello SIGCIS, Our list policy allows one publication announcement per edition of a book, so I though I'd shamelessly exploit that to let you know that the paperback edition of _ENIAC in Action: Making and Remaking the Modern Computer_ which I wrote with Mark Priestley and Crispin Rope, appeared last month. It even had a real index, unlike the hardcover. List price $25. I also notice that Amazon is currently having a sale on the Kindle edition, which is marked down to just $14.49. As before, there are lots of resources associated with the book at http://eniacinaction.com/. Talk videos, related articles, technical reports, etc. Even a page listing things Walter Isaacson got wrong about ENIAC (http://eniacinaction.com/the-articles/eniac-errors-in-isaacsons-the-innovat ors/). Best wishes, Tom

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SHOT-Dibner Award (Submission Deadline: May 1, 2018)
by Benjamin Gross 26 Feb '18

26 Feb '18

Dear colleagues, I am pleased to announce that nominations are open for the Society for the History of Technology's Dibner Award. The Dibner Award for Excellence in Museum Exhibits was established in 1985, through the generosity of Bern Dibner, to recognize excellence in museums and museum exhibits that interpret the history of technology, industry, and engineering to the general public. Winning exhibits, in addition to being well designed and produced, should raise pertinent historical issues. Artifacts and images should be used in a manner that interests, teaches, and stimulates both the general public and historians. The award consists of a plaque and up to $1,000 to cover expenses for a member of the design team to accept the award at the SHOT awards banquet. Exhibits are eligible for this award if they have been open to the public for no more than 24 months before the deadline for nominations. The Society especially encourages nominations from local and regional historical societies. Virtual exhibits are not eligible for the award. Further information about the prize, including nomination forms, a list of past recipients, and the members of the Dibner Award Committee can be found on the SHOT website<https://www.historyoftechnology.org/about-us/awards-prizes-and-grants/the-d…>. Please note that if you are nominating your own exhibition, you should only fill in the first two sections of the nomination form. If you are nominating an exhibition from another organization with which you have no conflicts of interest, then please complete all three parts. All the best from Kansas City, -Ben Gross Benjamin Gross, PhD Vice President for Research and Scholarship Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology 5109 Cherry Street Kansas City, Missouri 64110 816.926.8718 grossb(a)lindahall.org<mailto:grossb@lindahall.org> www.lindahall.org<http://www.lindahall.org/>

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Query on NCR history, particularly NCR 315
by Thomas Haigh 15 Feb '18

15 Feb '18

Hello SIGCIS, I have promised to pass on this query I received from a non-member of the list. Please respond to him directly. His message is below. I already mentioned the obvious sources on NCR: the multivolume anniversary history from the 1980s, Ally's _My Half Century at NCR_ and the book co-authored by Burke on its wartime Bombes. Tom. QUERY FOLLOWS (reply directly to jawinders(a)hotmail.com <mailto:jawinders@hotmail.com> ) My name is Jason Winders, a sport historian in London, Ont. I am seeking a bit of direction from you on a book I am currently working on about the early origins of sport simulations using computers. In the late 1960s, Miami radio executive Murry Woroner decided to pit the greatest Heavyweight fighters of all time against one another in a unique tournament that culminated in Rocky Marciano squaring off against Muhammad Ali in 1969. Despite wildly popular radio broadcasts, and a final pay-per-view event watched by millions in theaters around the globe, not a single competitive punch was ever thrown in inside a ring during the tournament, instead, every jab, hook and uppercut took place within an NCR-315. I am looking to connect with an NCR historian who can speak to me about the creation, life, evolution and overall significance of the NCR-315. Thought I would come by the site and see if any names popped to the mind. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

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Call for Papers "Networks in Peril Destruction, Subversion and Sabotage (XIXth-XXIth Century)"
by Valerie 15 Feb '18

15 Feb '18

Dear colleagues, We hope that this call for papers may be of interest for you. Please feel free to circulate this CFP to your networks. Best regards, Valérie Schafer Call for Papers - Special issue of the French academic journal Flux http://www.cairn.info/revue-flux.htm Networks in Peril Destruction, Subversion and Sabotage (XIXth-XXIth Century) Benjamin G. Thierry and Valérie Schafer (ed.) From the appearance of the word “sabotage” in France at the end of the nineteenth century - and its theorization notably by Emile Pouget (Albertelli, 2016) - through the destruction of communications infrastructures in times of war, to the spate of recent worldwide cyber attacks, infrastructure networks always possess a large number of vulnerabilities despite their diversity (information and communications networks, energy, banking, transport, engineering structures...). They may become prime targets for what they represent or because of the organizations that they support. Are networks the subject of a particular technophobia, of a misotechnie (Jarrige, 2016)? Do they have specific or shared vulnerabilities (Baran, 1964; Abramovici and Bradley, 2009)? How are these vulnerabilities negotiated, evaluated and managed? How and why do networks become targets in conflicts? (Kempf, 2014; Pinsolle, 2015). Have the targets, issues, objectives and actors (Pasquinelli, 2010) fundamentally changed over time and are they different over space and between scales? This special issue aims to explore projects and acts of destruction, subversion and sabotage of infrastructure networks in an interdisciplinary approach, and to analyse past and current vulnerabilities and attempts to overcome these. Submissions Please submit proposals (in French or English) for papers to both benjaminthierry(a)gmail.com valerieschafer(a)wanadoo.fr Initial proposals should be one page long, outlining the specific focus and approach of the paper and providing a short bibliography. Selected authors will then be invited to submit a full paper which will undergo full peer review before acceptance for publication. Timetable Deadline for the submission of proposals: May 15th 2018 Notification of proposal acceptance: June 15th 2018 Submissions of full papers (French or English, 8000 words): October 15th 2018 References Abramovici M., Bradley P., 2009, Integrated circuit security: new threats and solutions, in: Sheldon F., Peterson G., Krings A., Abercrombie R., Mili A. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th Annual Workshop on Cyber Security and Information Intelligence Research: Cyber Security and Information Intelligence Challenges and Strategies (CSIIRW '09), New York : ACM. Albertelli S., 2016, Histoire du sabotage. De la CGT à la Résistance, Paris : Perrin. Baran P., 1964, On distributed communications. Introduction to distributed communications networks, août 1964 - Rand Corporation, Online archives. Jarrige F., 2016, Technocritiques, Paris : La Découverte. Kempf O., 2014, Penser les réseaux. Une approche stratégique, Paris : L’Harmattan. Pasquinelli M., 2010, The Ideology of Free Culture and the Grammar of Sabotage, Policy Futures in Education, Vol 8, Issue 6, p. 671-682. Pinsolle D., 2015, Du ralentissement au déraillement : le développement du sabotage en France (1897-1914), Histoire, économie & société, vol. 34e année, n°4, p. 56-72.

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The 2018 Tony Sale Award for Computer Conservation
by Martin Campbell-Kelly 14 Feb '18

14 Feb '18

Nominations are invited for the 2018 Tony Sale Award for Computer Conservation. The award, open to any individual or group anywhere in the world, recognises achievements in computer conservation or restoration. First established in 2012 in memory of computer conservation pioneer Tony Sale, who rebuilt Colossus, the World War II code-breaking computer. It was instigated and is managed by the Computer Conservation Society and sponsored by Google UK. The closing date for nominations is 30th June 2018. Presentation of a £1000 cash award and trophy will be made in London on 15 November 2018. The winner will also receive travelling and accommodation expenses to attend the Awards Ceremony in London and give a presentation. Full details and the entry form can be found at www.sale-award.org/downloads/TheTonySaleAward2018entryform.pdf -- Martin Campbell-Kelly, Dept of Computer Science University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K. voice: +44 24 7667 3963 primary email: M.Campbell-Kelly(a)warwick.ac.uk alternate email: m.campbellkelly(a)gmail.com <M.Campbell-Kelly(a)warwick.ac.uk>

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Active institutional or individual oral history efforts in history of computing *outside* US
by David C. Brock 08 Feb '18

08 Feb '18

I would like to get a better sense of which institutions or individuals are actively creating oral histories in the history of computing, broadly conceived, *outside* of the US. I’m posting the question here because I’d bet others would like to know as well. Thanks in advance for your help. Best wishes, David .............. David C. Brock Director Center for Software History [http://www.computerhistory.org/softwarehistory/] Computer History Museum [http://www.computerhistory.org/] Email: dbrock(a)computerhistory.org Twitter: @dcbrock Skype: dcbrock 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94943 (650) 810-1010 main (650) 810-1886 direct Follow Us: @CHM Blog [http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/] Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/computerhistory] Twitter [https://twitter.com/ComputerHistory] Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/computerhistory/] YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/user/ComputerHistory] Make Software, Change the World! Now Open. [http://www.computerhistory.org/exhibits/makesoftware/]

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Bernard S. Finn IEEE History Prize
by Medina, Eden 07 Feb '18

07 Feb '18

Dear SIGCIS, I made a minor correction to Matthew Eisler's mailing address. Please use the address below if sending paper copies. Electronic copies of articles welcome. Your help spreading the word about the prize is appreciated! Best wishes, Eden --- Dear SIGCIS: Submissions are invited for the Bernard S. Finn IEEE History Prize (formerly the IEEE Life Members' Prize in Electrical History).The prize is awarded annually to the best paper in the history of electrotechnology-power, electronics, telecommunications, and computer science-published during the preceding year Any article published in a learned periodical is eligible if it treats the art or engineering aspects of electrotechnology and its practitioners. The article must be written in English, although the journal or periodical in which it appears may be a foreign language publication. Complete information is available at https://www.historyoftechnology.org/about-us/awards-prizes-and-grants/the-b… To nominate an article, please send a copy of the paper to each member of the prize committee. The deadline for 2018 nominations is April 15, 2018. 2018 Bernard S. Finn IEEE History Prize Committee Eden Medina, Chair (2017-2019) School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering Informatics West 225 Indiana University 901 E. 10th Street Bloomington, IN 47408 edenm(a)indiana.edu<mailto:edenm@indiana.edu> Matthew Eisler, (2016-2018) Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences University of Strathclyde Glasgow G1 1XQ Scotland (United Kingdom) matthew.eisler(a)strath.ac.uk Paul Ceruzzi (2018-2020) Smithsonian, National Air and Space Museum PO Box 37012 Washington, DC 20013-7012 ceruzzip(a)si.edu? -- Eden Medina Associate Professor of Informatics and Computing Affiliated Associate Professor of Law, Maurer School of Law Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of History Indiana University, Bloomington edenm(a)indiana.edu<mailto:edenm@indiana.edu> http://www.informatics.indiana.edu/edenm/

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