September 2021 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

2021 Mahoney Prize nominations
by Elizabeth Petrick 10 May '22

10 May '22

Hello everyone, It's time for the 2021 Mahoney Prize for outstanding article in the history of computing and information technology, broadly conceived. Articles published in 2018, 2019, or 2020 will be considered. Self-nominations and nominations of others are both welcome. Please email a copy of the article to members of the prize committee, listed here: https://www.sigcis.org/mahoneyprize Deadline is May 1, 2021. Best, Liz ------------- Elizabeth Petrick Associate Professor Department of History Rice University http://elizabethpetrick.com/

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#SIGCIS2021 Post-Conference Thank You!
by Laine Nooney 30 Sep '21

30 Sep '21

Dear SIGCIS Community, Just sending a brief note of heartfelt thanks and appreciation to everyone who was able to drop in to the conference (and to those of you watching the videos!). Feedback on the event has been tremendously positive, and extended the sense that we are a thriving, generous international community. And to pass on an important announcement: given the unprecedented success of this event--including the geographic and disciplinary range of individuals able to participate, as a fundraising vehicle, and the sincerely felt intellectual camaraderie--the SIGCIS Meetings team is making it our recommendation that our conference move to an online format every other year. We still believe in the fundamental value of meeting in person, but we also want to offer a routine way of convening that is financially and geographically accessible to the whole community. If you have thoughts on this, feel free to send them to me, or to our Exec Co-Chairs, Melanie Swalwell and Andy Russell. Obviously this conference is more than the sum of its parts, but each of you who participated, shared generously, engaged sincerely, and held space for one another, are part of the equation that made this conference such a success. Thank you. Warmly, -Laine, Stephanie, Xiaochang, and Morgan Laine Nooney <http://www.lainenooney.com/> Assistant Professor | MCC <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/> @ NYU <http://www.nyu.edu/> | she/they -Need to make an appt? Click, don't email: https://bit.ly/2GIHuK0 -Probably typed by voice recognition, so please cherish typos

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Shiva Ayyadurai - still challenging electronic reality
by Jonathan Coopersmith 26 Sep '21

26 Sep '21

a blast from the past, but in a more damaging (and lucrative?) role https://news.yahoo.com/arizona-gop-hired-anti-vaccine-104148614.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/us/arizona-election-review.html Stay sane and keep wearing a mask (partially for you; more for others), Jonathan Jonathan Coopersmith Professor Department of History Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4236 979.739.4708 (cell) 979.862.4314 (fax) Voting challenges: https://theeagle.com/opinion/columnists/texas-should-be-the-model-for-secur… Preserving space archives: https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/ International standards battles: https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/geek-life/history/lets-thwart-this-terr… <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/geek-life/h…> *FAXED. The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine* (Johns Hopkins University Press)

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faxing, covid, and printout v faxing confusion
by Jonathan Coopersmith 24 Sep '21

24 Sep '21

At the risk of self-promotion, this might be of interest, if only to note the photo with a computer printout and not faxed sheets - I pointed out the error to the author https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210903-how-covid-19-could-finally-be-t… Stay sane and keep wearing a mask (partially for you; more for others), Jonathan Jonathan Coopersmith Professor Department of History Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4236 979.739.4708 (cell) 979.862.4314 (fax) Voting challenges: https://theeagle.com/opinion/columnists/texas-should-be-the-model-for-secur… Preserving space archives: https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/ International standards battles: https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/geek-life/history/lets-thwart-this-terr… <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/geek-life/h…> *FAXED. The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine* (Johns Hopkins University Press)

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Special Issue on the Histories of Computing in Oceania
by Janet Toland 22 Sep '21

22 Sep '21

Dear SIGCIS Members, I would like to let you know about a call for papers for a special issue of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing on Oceania. https://www.computer.org/digital-library/magazines/an/call-for-papers-speci… We are particularly keen to receive articles from the wider Pacific region (South Pacific and Papua New Guinea) alongside submissions from Australia and New Zealand. Please do feel free to share this call more widely. Regards Janet Dr Janet Toland Associate Professor in Information Systems Victoria University of Wellington/ Te Herenga Waka +64 4 463 6861 Editor: From Yesterday to Tomorrow 60 Years of Tech in New Zealand https://history.itp.nz/

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Google's Grace Hopper Subsea Cable Lands in the UK
by Brian Randell 21 Sep '21

21 Sep '21

Hi: From PCMag: "Google's Grace Hopper undersea cable has landed in the UK. Acting as a new link between the US, UK, and Spain, the internet cable stretches 3,900 miles from New York to Cornwall and Bilbao. Grace Hopper, one of the first new cables to bridge the US and UK since 2003, joins Google's quartet of private networks—Curie, Dunant, Equiano, and Firmina—in tethering distant continents along the ocean floor. . . . The cable is named after computer science pioneer Grace Brewster Murray Hopper, US Navy rear admiral and inventor of one of the first linkers—critical in the development of the high-level COBOL programming language. She is also credited as an early programmer of the Harvard Mark 1 computer and was awarded 40 honorary degrees from universities across the world. Hopper died at the age of 85 on Jan. 1, 1992." Full story: https://uk.pcmag.com/news/135690/googles-grace-hopper-subsea-cable-lands-in… Cheers Brian Randell — School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 URL = http://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/people/profile/brianrandell.html

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Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair dies aged 81
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 16 Sep '21

16 Sep '21

In case you missed it https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-s… -- ================== Twitter @BatizLazo Cash and Dash: How ATMs and Computers Changed Banking By Bernardon Batiz-Lazo (Oxford University Press, 2018) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/cash-and-dash-9780198782810?cc=gb&l… The Book of Payments: Historical and Contemporary Views on the Cashless Society Edited by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo and Leonidas Efthymiou (Palgrave, 2016) http://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9781137602305 Technological Innovation in Retail Finance: International Historical Perspectives Edited by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo, J. Carles Maixé-Altés, and Paul Thomes (Routledge, 2011) http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/details/9780415880671 Home page: https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/en/researchers/bernardo-batizlazo(… Working papers: http://ideas.repec.org/e/pba14.html

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CCS Meeting Sept 16th
by Roger Johnson 16 Sep '21

16 Sep '21

Dear Attendees I have had a few queries about the Zoom link for this afternoon given by Prof Brian Randell. I can confirm that it is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82756174083 We will "open the doors" around 2.15 (London) using a waiting room but no password. Good wishes Roger

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New Book Series at Johns Hopkins University Press, Studies in Computing and Culture
by Jeffrey Yost 13 Sep '21

13 Sep '21

Dear Colleagues, Con and I are delighted to announce a new book series with JHUP, if you have a book project/proposal in mind, or for more info., please let us know. Best, Jeff and Con *New Book Series at Johns Hopkins University Press* *Studies in Computing and Culture * *Series Editors: * *Jeffrey R. Yost*, CBI Director and Research Professor of History of Science and Technology, University of Minnesota *Gerardo Con Diaz*, Associate Professor of Science and Technology Studies, University of California, Davis *Series Editorial Board:* *Héctor Beltrán*, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology *Ruha Benjamin*, Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University *Lilly Irani*, Associate Professor of Communication, Science Studies, Computer Science, and Critical Gender Studies, University of California, San Diego *Meg Leta Jones*, Associate Professor of Communication, Technology, and Culture, Georgetown University *Ya-Wen Lei*, Associate Professor of Sociology, Harvard University *Eden Medina*, Associate Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology *Mai Sugimoto*, Associate Professor of Sociology, Kansai University This series publishes works on the relationships among digital technology, political economies, and sociocultural systems. We seek interdisciplinary scholarship that speaks to how computing, information, and data cultures change over time and how our digital present and future relate to the long arc of social, political, cultural, economic, legal, or environmental change. We welcome all chronologies and geographies. The series will help students, scholars, and the public gain historical and contemporary perspectives to understand how and why digital technology continues to transform every aspect of our daily lives. *"Injustice wears the same harsh face wherever it shows itself."*-Ralph Ellison Jeffrey R. Yost, Ph.D. Director, Charles Babbage Institute Research Professor, Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Founder and Co-Editor (w/ Amanda Wick), *Interfaces: Essays and Reviews in Computing and Culture* c <https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces>se.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces <https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces> 222 21st Avenue South University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55455 612 624 5050 Phone 612 625 8054 Fax

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Fw: Question about early female architect barred from men's club
by Sharon Traweek 11 Sep '21

11 Sep '21

re early female architect barred from men's club Here is some background information: From the mid-70s to the late 80s there were many demonstrations, often led by lawyers, journalists, and those in other professions who were excluded from work-related discussions held at men-only and sometimes white-only social clubs. The sites included some university alumni clubs. Usually there was extensive newspaper/TV coverage. Histories of those events and lawsuits might identify participants. Quitting Is Not Acquitting - The New York Times, 3 Jan 1977 <https://www.nytimes.com/1977/01/03/archives/quitting-is-not-acquitting.html> The troublesome thing about private clubs, in law and in fact, is that they are ... Why men only, after all, in Washington's Metropolitan and Cosmos Clubs? COSMOS CLUB ATTACKED BY DC RULING - The ... <https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1987/11/07/cosmos-club-attacke…> Washington Post, 7 Nov 1987. The sweeping decision is the latest development in a long-running conflict over men-only clubs in the District, and arises out of a two-pronged . Club Doors Are Open, But Women Draw Back - The New York ..., 14 Sep1988 <https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/14/garden/club-doors-are-open-but-women-dra…> Of the University Club's 4,000 members, only 20 are women; .. Many clubs have fought such laws and lost; a few are still fighting State Power and Discrimination by Private Clubs - JSTOR <https://www.jstor.org/stable/1341620> Harvard Law Review, Vol. 104, No. 8 (Jun., 1991), pp. 1835-1856 (22 pages). Private social clubs with discriminatory membership policies are fast becoming extinct. Such clubs face mounting informal pressure'. S Sharon Traweek, UCLA Gender Studies and History Departments UCLA Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies https://www.international.ucla.edu/japan/article/227444 https://www.4sonline.org/what-is-4s/4s-prizes/john-desmond-bernal-prize/ https://www.routledge.com/Questing-Excellence-in-Academia-A-Tale-of-Two-Uni… As a land grant university<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land-grant_university> UCLA acknowledges the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples as the traditional land caretakers of Tovaangar (Los Angeles basin and Southern Channel Islands). ________________________________ From: Members <members-bounces(a)lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Len Shustek <len(a)shustek.com> Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2021 12:08 PM To: Jonathan Coopersmith <j-coopersmith(a)tamu.edu>; Ellen Spertus <spertus(a)mills.edu> Cc: SIGCIS Listserver <members(a)sigcis.org> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Question about early female architect barred from men's club At 07:41 PM 9/10/2021, Jonathan Coopersmith wrote: There are other stories about other women unable to meet with professors and other professionals because their clubs banned women -- e.g. Anna G. Perkins, Yale Needs Women. I'm working on a condensation for CACM of Turing Award winner Dana Scott's recent oral history. In it he says this: Close friends of [Alfred] Tarski were Raphael and Julia Robinson. Julia did her thesis under Tarski, but you can't imagine the difference for women between 1950 and today. Only men were allowed in the Berkeley Faculty Club, so when Tarski suggested at a lunch that there were many problems to be solved about rational arithmetic, Julia was not present. Raphael suggested that to her later, and that's how Julia's famous thesis eventually evolved, where she showed the undecidability of the theory of rational numbers. If all goes well, the condensation and a pointer to the full interview should be published in about six months. Len

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