April 2018 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Members Digest, Vol 38, Issue 2
by Winifred Poster 08 Apr '18

08 Apr '18

Bernard, These are amazing images -- thank you for sharing. Seems parallel to the history of women in cybersecurity that I outline a bit in this article in Nature: http://rdcu.be/J11Q It has picture of the ENIAC women in computer programming, for instance, but also other cases of women's involvement as "code girls" for decoding, encryption, etc., over the last century. There are great examples from the history of the telephone as well. Venus Green covers women as early commercial telephone operators, and Elizabeth Cobb has a recent book on the "hello girls" of WWI, as military communications officers for Signal Core. Your picture of the air traffic controller reminds me of Lucy Suchman's work in this area, when she studied them in the 1990s. You might ask her if there were women in her fieldwork. Would love to continue the conversation, Winnie Poster _______________________________________ Dr. Winifred R. Poster International Studies/International Affairs Program Washington University, St. Louis Campus Box 1085 One Brookings Drive St. Louis, MO 63130 www.winifredposter.com wposter(a)wustl.edu (backup: wrposter(a)gmail.com) On Thu, Apr 5, 2018 at 3:33 PM, <members-request(a)lists.sigcis.org> wrote: > Send Members mailing list submissions to > members(a)lists.sigcis.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > members-request(a)lists.sigcis.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > members-owner(a)lists.sigcis.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Members digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Postwar radar operators, electronic screens, and gender > (Bernard Geoghegan) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2018 15:25:38 +0200 > From: Bernard Geoghegan <bernardgeoghegan2010(a)u.northwestern.edu> > To: <members(a)lists.sigcis.org> > Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Postwar radar operators, electronic screens, > and gender > Message-ID: <9DA083BD-9AF0-4377-90A8-C070FD00615E(a)u.northwestern.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Dear Members, > > > > Does anyone happen to have any primary or secondary source references on > the role of gender in defining the radar operator and other users of > electronic interfaces/screens of the 1950s and 1960s? At first I thought > that these devices and this work were conceived with male users in mind. > Photographs and films of operators of SAGE-type systems mostly depict male > soldiers. However, I?ve run across two popular articles from the mid 50s > that seem to show women-identifying users working as radar operators. I > wonder if they?re typical, if they reflect a broader diversity of > ?operators? of the emerging electronic interfaces of the period: > > > > https://books.google.se/books?id=oN0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA112&lpg= > PA112&dq=volscan+radar&source=bl&ots=VCDYA-8THX&sig= > tTkxbof6EM5YSrARAEIJ-dnWMy4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiw9cy3m6PaAhXQZpoKHXsmA > z4Q6AEILzAB#v=onepage&q=volscan%20radar&f=false > > > > http://www.rfcafe.com/references/popular-electronics/radar-tames-wild- > blue-yonder-popular-electronics-november-1956.htm > > > > This being a key site where early theories of HCI and ?man-computer > symbiosis? are worked out, I?m trying to figure out what role gender?marked > or unmarked?played in the design of particular kinds of interfaces, > conceptions of certain kind of users. Thanks for any feedback you can offer. > > > > Best, b > > > > -- > > Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan > > Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media > > www.bernardg.com > > > > Department of Digital Humanities > > King's College London > > The Strand Building > > Room S3.08 > > WC2R 2LS > > > > Office: +44 (0)20 7848 4750 > > Cell: +44 (0)75 7713 9098 > > > >

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Postwar radar operators, electronic screens, and gender
by Bernard Geoghegan 05 Apr '18

05 Apr '18

Dear Members, Does anyone happen to have any primary or secondary source references on the role of gender in defining the radar operator and other users of electronic interfaces/screens of the 1950s and 1960s? At first I thought that these devices and this work were conceived with male users in mind. Photographs and films of operators of SAGE-type systems mostly depict male soldiers. However, I’ve run across two popular articles from the mid 50s that seem to show women-identifying users working as radar operators. I wonder if they’re typical, if they reflect a broader diversity of “operators” of the emerging electronic interfaces of the period: https://books.google.se/books?id=oN0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=volscan… http://www.rfcafe.com/references/popular-electronics/radar-tames-wild-blue-… This being a key site where early theories of HCI and “man-computer symbiosis” are worked out, I’m trying to figure out what role gender—marked or unmarked—played in the design of particular kinds of interfaces, conceptions of certain kind of users. Thanks for any feedback you can offer. Best, b -- Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media www.bernardg.com Department of Digital Humanities King's College London The Strand Building Room S3.08 WC2R 2LS Office: +44 (0)20 7848 4750 Cell: +44 (0)75 7713 9098

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Fwd: Repeated Call for Proposals for SHOT Annual Meeting 2018
by Andrew Russell 03 Apr '18

03 Apr '18

Dear colleagues - Please see below for a message from SHOT, which is extending the submission deadline for the 2018 annual meeting until April 10. I know of a couple of SIGCIS-related sessions that already have been submitted; but if you have been sitting on the fence, or discouraged because you missed the March 31 deadline - now is your chance! I want to draw your attention to 3 different ways to participate: 1. If you have an idea for a panel, and want to sound out interest, feel free to send a note to the list! 2. If you’d like assistance identifying scholars who could be fellow panelists, chairs, or commentators, I would be happy to assist, just send me a note. 3. Finally, please note SHOT’s calls for open panel submissions (for a list of panels see https://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeting/2018-shot-annual-meeting…) as well as SHOT’s interest in unconventional sessions (roundtables, “you write, I present,” and more). Over the years we’ve seen a marked increase in SIGCIS members and topics on the main SHOT program, and I hope that continues in St. Louis. Finally: as usual, we will be holding a Sunday SIGCIS conference immediately following the SHOT conference, on Sunday October 14. The conference theme and call for papers will be issued within a few weeks - stay tuned! All the best, Andy > Begin forwarded message: > > From: Society for the History of Technology <shot.secretariaat(a)tue.nl> > Subject: Repeted Call for Proposals for SHOT Annual Meeting 2018 > Date: April 3, 2018 at 4:38:58 PM EDT > To: arussell(a)arussell.org > Reply-To: shot.secretariaat(a)tue.nl > > > > > > > > > EXTENDED DEADLINE > Call for Proposals > Annual Meeting 2018: St. Louis, Missouri, US > 11-14 October 2018 > > > April 3, 2018 > > Dear SHOT Members, > > I have just heard from the Program Committee that we have a considerably lower number of proposals than usual in all categories for the annual meeting in St Louis this year. > > Of course, for many reasons, Philadelphia was especially popular. All the same the annual meeting remains the main venue where we can meet as a community. In addition this is SHOT's 60th anniversary and it would be sad not to celebrate it with a bang. > > I remind you too that next year we meet in Milan, Italy, a wonderful venue but probably rather less accessible than a local site for those graduate students, and even some more senior scholars, who are based in the U.S. > > So do please submit a proposal to SHOT St Louis this year if you have not already done so. The deadline for submissions has been extended to April 10 to enable as many people as possible to tax the energies of the Program Committee to the full! > > Sincerely yours, > > John Krige, President 2017-8 > Visit the conference page on the SHOT website and submit a proposal <https://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeting/2018-shot-annual-meeting…> > > > > > > > Call for Proposals > Annual Meeting 2018: St. Louis, Missouri, US > 11-14 October 2018 > > > The SHOT Program Committee is pleased to issue the Call for Papers and Sessions for the SHOT 2018 Annual Meeting to be held 11-14 October, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri, US. > > SHOT is an interdisciplinary and international organization concerned not only with the history of technological devices and processes but also with technology in history and society. We explore the production, circulation, appropriation, maintenance and abandonment of technology under specific historical circumstances. And we scrutinize the epistemic, economic, social, cultural and political conditions of this development. Our approaches are informed by a broad concept of technology encompassing knowledge resources, practices, artifacts and biofacts (artifacts in the realm of the living). Accordingly, the Committee invites paper and session proposals on any topic in a broadly defined history of technology, including topics that push the boundaries of the discipline. > > SHOT is committed to a policy of diversity. In addition to intellectual quality, we warmly welcome proposals that reflect diversity in their line-up of speakers, in particular with regard to career level, gender, and geography. The Program Committee will prioritize proposals that make a conscious effort to increase diversity by fulfilling these criteria: for example, proposals that include at least one female speaker, and speakers at different stages of their professional careers, with different institutional affiliations and/or different nationalities. > > To pay tribute to the venue of the 2018 annual meeting -St. Louis, the Gateway to the West- we want to encourage proposals that engage topics related to a broadly-interpreted theme of "Gateways: Passages, Openings, and Enclosures in the History of Technology." > > St. Louis is uniquely situated in the United States, both geographically and historically. Known as "the Gateway to the West," St. Louis played key roles in the Louisiana Purchase and westward expansion. St. Louis remained a major transport and manufacturing center, where a rich agricultural hinterland, transformed by modern monoculture, connects with transportation links from river to road, rail, and air. This multi-dimensional story makes St. Louis a natural focus for scholarly analysis of the many ways technology impacts, and is impacted by, place, space, and culture. The pre-industrial, industrial, and postindustrial history of the region, from Native American Cahokia mounds to the African-American experience in suburban Ferguson, also suggests topics further analyzing technology, power, and democracy, race, gender, and ethnicity. > > > For the 2018 meeting > the Program Committee welcomes proposals of three types: > > Traditional sessions of 3 or 4 papers, with a chair and a commentator. EXTENDED DEADLINE: April 10, 2018. > Unconventional sessions: Sessions with formats that diverge in useful ways from the typical 3 or 4 papers with comment. These might include round-table sessions, workshop-style sessions with pre-circulated papers, and poster sessions (poster proposals should include a description of the content and the visual material they will use in the poster. Individuals whose posters are accepted must be available to talk about them in a lunch/evening slot to be decided by the program committee). > The Program Committee encourages other creative formats that could facilitate communication, dialogue and audience involvement. A variety of new presentation formats are appearing in the academic arena. This year we want to explore a new type of session at SHOT: "you write, I present."Authors will submit a paper to the discussant in advance as usual, but it will be the paired discussant who presents for the author and comments on the paper, with authors on-site to respond to comments, take questions from the audience, and join overall discussions. This "flipped" presentation format is intended to facilitate clear paper writing and deep engagement between writer and reader. In this type of panel, one paper is usually paired with one presenter/discussant, or alternatively, the paper-givers can present and comment on one another's papers in the same panel. EXTENDED DEADLINE: April 10, 2018. > > Join an open session proposal: Open Sessions descriptions, along with organizer's contact information, are listed on the SHOT website. Individual scholars who want to join a proposed panel from the Open Sessions list, please contact the organizer for that panel, not the Program Committee. In order to give the session organizer sufficient time to select proposals and assemble the final panel, the deadline for submitting your paper proposal to the organizer is April 8, 2018. Open Session organizers will then assemble full panel sessions and submit them to SHOT by the EXTENDED DEADLINE of April 10, 2018. > > Proposals for individual papers: Proposals for individual papers will be considered, but the Program Committee in general will give preference to pre-organized sessions (traditional, unconventional, or open sessions). Those scholars who might ordinarily propose an individual paper are encouraged to propose Open Sessions themselves or to join an Open Session. EXTENDED DEADLINE April 10, 2018. > ***Please note: All pre-organized panels should include a chair and discussant(s) in their final proposal. > > > SHOT and The Program Committee look forward to a vigorous, enthusiastic, and intellectually stimulating annual meeting in St. Louis! > > > Visit the conference page on the SHOT website and submit a proposal. <http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001jlpLzVkcSgxkan95TF96VZ967rWagRR38OSppCls9b0p…> > > > > Sincerely, > > Sonja Beekers > > Stichting History der Techniek > Assistant to SHOT Secretary, J. Korsten > > > > Society for the History of Technology, Sonja Beekers, SHOT, Eindhoven, 5600 MB Netherlands > SafeUnsubscribe™ arussell(a)arussell.org <https://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=un&m=001Xz26gWD0CDOi01mES8w44A%3D%…> > Forward this email <http://ui.constantcontact.com/sa/fwtf.jsp?llr=ieifeldab&m=1103106318472&ea=…> | About our service provider <http://www.constantcontact.com/legal/service-provider?cc=about-service-prov…> > Sent by shot.secretariaat(a)tue.nl <mailto:shot.secretariaat@tue.nl> in collaboration with > <http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp?cc=PT1130> > Try it free today <http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp?cc=PT1130>

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Mahoney Prize Nominations - Due: April 30
by Jason Gallo 03 Apr '18

03 Apr '18

The Mahoney Prize recognizes an outstanding article in the history of computing and information technology, broadly conceived. The Mahoney Prize commemorates the late Princeton scholar Michael S. Mahoney, whose profound contributions to the history of computing came from his many articles and book chapters. The prize consists of a $500 award and a certificate. For the 2018 prize, articles published in the preceding three years (2015, 2016, and 2017) are eligible for nomination. The Mahoney Prize is awarded by the Special Interest Group in Computers, Information, and Society (SIGCIS) and is presented during the annual meeting of our parent group, the Society for the History of Technology. The deadline for submission for the 2018 Mahoney Prize is *April 30, 2018*. To nominate an article, send an electronic copy to all three committee members using the email address below. All questions should be directed to the 2018 Mahoney Prize Committee Chair, Dr. Melanie Swalwell <melanie.swalwell(a)flinders.edu.au>. *2018 Mahoney Prize Committee:* *Jeffrey R. Yost* (term ends 2018) Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota 211 Andersen Library 222 21st Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA yostx003(a)umn.edu *Melanie Swalwell, 2018 Committee Chair* (term ends 2019) Screen and Media Flinders University GPO Box 2100 Adelaide SA 5001 Australia melanie.swalwell(a)flinders.edu.au *Erica Robles-Anderson* (term ends 2020) Department of Media, Culture, and Communication New York University 239 Greene St, 8th Floor New York, NY 10003 erica.robles(a)nyu.edu

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Computer History Museum Prize Nominations - Due: April 30
by Jason Gallo 03 Apr '18

03 Apr '18

The Computer History Museum Prize is awarded to the author of an outstanding book in the history of computing broadly conceived, published during the prior three years. The prize of $1,000 is awarded by SIGCIS, the Special Interest Group for Computers, Information and Society. SIGCIS is part of the Society for the History of Technology. In 2012 the prize was endowed in perpetuity through a generous bequest from the estate of Paul Baran, a legendary computer innovator and entrepreneur best known for his work to develop and promote the packet switching approach on which modern networks are built. Baran was a longtime supporter of work on the history of information technology and named the prize to celebrate the contributions of the Computer History Museum to that field. *2018 Call for Submission* Books published in 2015-2017 are eligible for the 2018 award. Books in translation are eligible for three years following the date of their publication in English. Publishers, authors, and other interested members of the computer history community are invited to nominate books. Please note that books nominated in previous years may be nominated again, provided they have been published in the timeframes specified above. Send one copy of the nominated title to each of the committee members listed below, with a postmark no later than *April 30, 2018.* For more information, please contact Andrew Russell <arussell(a)arussell.org>, SIGCIS Chair. Current information about the prize, including the most recent call and a list of previous winners, always may be found at http://www.sigcis.org/chmprize. *2018 Prize Committee Members* - Hallam Stevens (2018 Chair) School of Humanities, Nanyang Technological University 14 Nanyang Drive #05-07 Singapore 637332 - Janet Abbate Dept. of Science, Technology and Society Virginia Tech Northern Virginia Center 7054 Haycock Road Falls Church, VA 22043 USA - Rebecca Slayton Department of Science & Technology Studies Morrill 320 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 USA

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