November 2023 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

alumni magazine article on Kathy Kleiman
by Jonathan Coopersmith 18 Nov '23

18 Nov '23

FYI: https://www.american.edu/magazine/article/in-their-footsteps.cfm Alumni magazines are always looking to highlight alums so include them in the distribution of your next book. Stay sane, Jonathan Jonathan Coopersmith Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science Professor Emeritus Department of History Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4236 979.739.4708 (cell) John Mather "Instrument Maker to the Stars," <https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/departments/instrument-maker-to-the-stars/> *Aerospace America* November 2023 "Technological obsolescence, <https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2023/05/technological-obsolescence>" National Academy of Engineering *Perspectives* May 23, 2023 Preserving space archives: https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/

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Fwd: [Edith.sig] SHOT Chile 2024 - CFP deadline Dec. 18
by Morgan G. Ames 17 Nov '23

17 Nov '23

All - the SHOT annual meeting is in Viña del Mar, Chile next *JULY* and their submission deadline is coming up in just ONE month! Please see below for details. Note that SIGCIS will have an in-person conference at the same venue as SHOT on Sunday, July 14th, the last day of the SHOT meeting. Stay tuned for the CFP. I hope to see you in Chile next July, if not sooner! Warmly, Morgan ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Bix, Amy S [HIST] <abix(a)iastate.edu> Hi, all - As many of you may know, the Society for the History of Technology will be holding its 2024 meeting in Chile - our first meeting in South America! Joint ICOHTEC-SHOT 2024 Annual Meeting - This bilingual conference will take place in Viña del Mar, Chile from 9 to 14 July 2024. The call for papers is now open and since this summer conference is earlier than SHOT's usual calendar, the CFP deadline is also earlier - December 18, 2023, just one month away! It should be a fabulous meeting in a beautiful location - please consider submitting a paper, session, or other proposal! You can find more information at: https://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeting/2024-joint-icohtec-shot-… https://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeting/2024-joint-icohtec-shot-… Please note that SHOT is also encouraging people to organize sessions through the Open sessions system: Individuals interested in finding others to join panel sessions may propose open sessions. Open session descriptions, along with the organizer’s contact information, will appear on the SHOT website (the earlier the proposal is sent to SHOT, the earlier it will be posted to the website.) For individuals 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 December 8, 2023. Open session organizers will then assemble full panels and submit them through SHOT’s online system by December 18, 2023. For more information, see https://www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeting/2024-joint-icohtec-shot-… We hope to see a number of you in Chile this coming July! yours, Amy Bix Dr. Amy Bix, Professor of History, Iowa State University, and Treasurer, Society for the History of Technology 633 Ross Hall, History Dept., 527 Farm House Ln., Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 office: (515)294-0122; e-mail: abix(a)iastate.edu

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JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: Director, Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
by Hintz, Eric 17 Nov '23

17 Nov '23

Hi SIGCIS friends - come work with me in DC! Happy to chat about this opportunity - apps due December 4, 2023. Best, Eric Hintz (hintze(a)si.edu<mailto:hintze@si.edu>) JOB OPPORTUNITY Director, Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation Public History Division, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation<https://invention.si.edu/> seeks a Director to serve as the champion for the power of invention and innovation and to lead the Center's pathbreaking educational and engagement efforts. The Director oversees scholarship, exhibitions, and digital and programmatic initiatives, guiding the Center as an authority on the history of invention and innovation and its potential to inspire learning and change. This is an opportunity to lead a motivated staff and fulfill the Center's strategic mission, drawing on consistent, protected funding from the current Lemelson endowment. The Lemelson Center engages, educates, and empowers the public to participate in technological, economic, and social change. It undertakes historical research, develops educational initiatives, creates exhibitions, and hosts public programming to advance new perspectives on invention and innovation and to foster interactions between the public and inventors. The Director sets the vision and mission for the Center; directs its operations and manages its budgets; oversees and leads research, fundraising, and public engagement for permanent and temporary exhibitions, public programs and digital projects; and provides leadership to invention education at NMAH and the Smithsonian Institution generally. One of America's most prolific inventors, Jerome Lemelson believed that invention and innovation play a critical role in shaping our future. Jerome and his wife, Dorothy Lemelson, made a generous donation to establish the Jerome and Dorothy Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the National Museum of American History. Within the Smithsonian Institution, the Lemelson Center is distinguished as a hub for testing bold new ideas and for reaching beyond traditional boundaries. Its core work has been grounded in pathbreaking audience research. The ideal candidate must be passionate about the power of invention and committed to inspiring diverse audiences to explore their innate inventiveness. To learn more about the Lemelson Center's previous events, research, publications, exhibitions, and programming, please visit http://www.invention.si.edu<http://www.invention.si.edu/>. Job Requirements: Desired Skills and Experience: · Experience in a museum, cultural or educational institution is required; board, consultation or advisory experience is desirable. · Experience developing and guiding short- and long-term institutional plans that shape a sustained, multifaceted program of educational activities for public audiences. · Experience establishing frameworks for effective collaboration and partnerships across multi- format, cross-disciplinary projects. We are open to non-traditional candidates from industry, academia, or other fields and institutions. An advanced degree is required. To Be Considered: Please submit your résumé and a cover letter that describes how your skill set and background aligns with the requirements and opportunities of the position. We also request a writing sample and a list of three (3) professional references. Applications must be received by December 4, 2023. For more information and to apply, visit this link: https://trustcareers.si.edu/postings/e929b640-929c-461c-b21d-6028271c1421 This is a full-time, Trust (non-Federal) position at IS-15, Step 1. The starting salary is $155,700 with an excellent benefits package. The job is based in Washington, DC, USA. If you have further questions, please send your inquiries to: NMAHApplications(a)si.edu<mailto:NMAHApplications@si.edu>. The Smithsonian Institution provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities where appropriate. Applicants requiring reasonable accommodation should contact the Human Resources Specialist listed. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. To learn more, please review the Smithsonian's Accommodation Procedures. The Smithsonian Institution is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe that a workforce comprising a variety of educational, cultural, and experiential backgrounds supports and enhances our daily work life and contributes to the richness of our exhibitions and programs. For more information on the Smithsonian EEO program please see www.si.edu/oeema<http://www.si.edu/oeema>. Conditions of Employment · Pass a pre-employment background investigation. · Direct deposit/electronic funds transfer is required for salary payment. · The position is open to all candidates eligible to work in the United States. Proof of eligibility to work in the U.S. is not required to apply.

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[cfp] Histories of Computing in Asia (September 2024; draft papers due April 2024)
by Chris Leslie 16 Nov '23

16 Nov '23

Dear Colleagues, I am writing to call your attention to our next workshop, Histories of Computing in Asia. We will meet concurrently with HCC 16 at the Dusit Thani Laguna in Phuket, Thailand from 8-9 September 2024. Our goal is to provide a forum for case studies, personal narratives, and theoretical papers with a connection to Asia. IFIP Working Group 9.7 has an inclusive tradition, and we welcome participants from a variety of fields, ranks, approaches, and professions. Papers are welcome from historians, culture critics, museum curators, archivists, educators, STS scholars, computing professionals, and others. The conference language is English, but most of our delegates have another first language, so please don't think that fluency is a barrier. The papers selected for this conference are eligible to be included in a post-workshop proceedings volume published in Springer's Advances in Information and Computing Technology series (which is indexed by Scopus). Thus, we will follow up with our successful volumes on histories of Nordic, Soviet, and Eastern European computing as well as volumes on pedagogy and public outreach. Our previous regional proceedings volumes are important resources for those who wish to gain a broader understanding of the history of computing, and we know this one will follow in that tradition. As has been our past practice, the conference committee for IFIP Working Group 9.7 reviews draft papers for consideration in the workshop. We will accept papers of at least 2,500 words from 1 February to 1 April 2024. Authors will circulate their revised drafts in advance of the workshop, and then have a chance for one further round of revision for the proceedings. This creates a collegial and productive discussion at the meeting. For that reason, we encourage on-site participation, but we will attempt to accommodate those who cannot travel. (The conference venue, unfortunately, does not have a built-in teleconference system.) The first CFP with additional details is available at: https://ifipwg97.org/workshops/hca2024/ Feel free to reach out to me with any questions (or suggestions to improve our CFP), and please forward this message to anyone in your network that might be interested. Sincerely, Chris Leslie PS: Note that IFIP Working Group 9.7 will also organize a track for HCC 16 about the international history of AI, separate from but concurrent with the Histories of Computing in Asia workshop. Authors may submit papers to either or both, but the paper deadlines are different for each. --- Dr. Christopher Leslie (he/him) Author of From Hyperspace to Hypertext: Masculinity, Globalization, and Their Discontents (Palgrave 2023) https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-2027-3 Chair, IFIP Working Group 9.7: History of Technology (https://ifipwg97.org/) Lecturer, Faculty of Liberal Arts Prince of Songkla University Hat Yai, Thailand

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Book Now: AIT Forum on the Histories of the Internet - January - London and Online
by Tom Abram 15 Nov '23

15 Nov '23

9 January 2024 – London and Online - start the New Year by joining Archives of IT for a one-day event Discussing the extraordinary technical and social developments that enabled the internet to revolutionise computing and communications and significantly change our lives. Technologists who were instrumental in its establishment and the social scientists who analysed its impact will contribute to five interactive sessions of personal insights, information sharing, debate and networking. They include Prof Jim Norton, whose early career at the Post Office epitomises the internet’s modest and uncertain beginnings and the ingenuity of the people behind it: “They wanted me to be clerk of works on a project that nobody believed would have any importance whatsoever, which was the development of the first packet switches in the UK.” Full programme, speakers’ bios and bookings at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archives-of-it-forum-on-the-histories-of-the…<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archives-of-it-forum-on-the-histories-of-the…> Concessions for students and learned society members This event is kindly supported by the British Society for the History of Science - https://www.bshs.org.uk/ Tom Abram Director – Archives of IT research(a)archivesit.org.uk<mailto:research@archivesit.org.uk> www.archivesit.org.uk<http://www.archivesit.org.uk/> Registered Charity No: 1164198 This e-mail is confidential and may be privileged. It may be read, copied and used only by the intended recipient. If you have received it in error, please contact the sender immediately by return e-mail. Please then delete the e-mail and do not disclose its contents to any person.

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CBI's Tomash and Norberg application deadlines are both January 15, 2024 (links w/ more info)
by Jeffrey Yost 14 Nov '23

14 Nov '23

Dear Colleagues, The 2024-25 academic year Tomash Fellowship (dissertation) and the 2024 calendar year Norberg Travel Grant competitions have an application deadline of January 15, 2024. Information can be found on the application processes for each at: The Adelle and Erwin Tomash Fellowship in the History of Information Technology | CHARLES BABBAGE INSTITUTE for Computing, Information and Culture <https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/adelle-and-erwin-tomash-fellowship-history-informat…> Arthur L. Norberg Travel Fund | CHARLES BABBAGE INSTITUTE for Computing, Information and Culture <https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/norberg> Please share this with anyone who may be interested. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Best, Jeff ** * * * * ** *Please connect on: **Bluesky* <https://bsky.app/profile/justcodeculture.bsky.social> *Mastodon <https://mastodon.social/@justcodeculture>* *Linkedin <https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-yost-b714566>* *Threads* <https://www.threads.net/> *Jeffrey Yost, Ph.D. * Director, Charles Babbage Institute <http://www.cse.umn.edu/cbi>; Research Professor, History Sci/Tech/Med 222 21st Avenue South, University of Minnesota; Minneapolis, MN 55455 *Studies in Computing and Culture book series, Johns Hopkins U. Press * Co-Editor *PI, NSF-funded CBI project "Mining a Useable Past: Perspectives, Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy."* *Blockchain & Society* <https://www.blockchainandsociety.com>* (crit. inq. essays & resources)* (Founder/Leader) *Interfaces: Essays and Reviews in Computing and Culture <https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces> *Co-Editor (w/ Amanda Wick) *Committee Member, National Academy of Engineering Extraordinary Engineering Impacts on Society* *Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry (MIT Press) <https://amzn.to/3gqe4R6>*

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Seminar on Moore's Law and The squares with Cyrus Mody
by TOURNIER Adrien 13 Nov '23

13 Nov '23

Dear all, I write you ton inform you of two upcoming seminars with Cyrus Mody on the 29th and 30th november 2023 (both in english, online or in-person in Paris). Those talks might be of interest for subscribers of this list and the history of computing more broadly. Hope you'll be able to join, looking forward for the discussion! 29.11.2023 – 16h/18h (CET time) The Long Arm of Moore’s Law: Microelectronics and American Science {Digital materialities seminar<https://docs.google.com/document/d/12oMeDlPPbWG1X-xoyHxOOcaNz0z7-jH8gIXDbhZ…>} / Sciences Po Paris or via zoom (you receive zoom link after registration) Registration here: https://cis.cnrs.fr/extras/inscriptions/sem_matnum.php (abstract below, Cyrus Mody, The long arm of Moore's Law (MIT Press, 2016)<https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262035491/the-long-arm-of-moores-law/> 30.11.2023 - 16h/18h (CET time) The Squares: US Physical and Engineering Scientists in the Long 1970s {Seminar on the history of technosciences<https://culture.cnam.fr/novembre/the-squares-physiciens-ingenieurs-et-scien…>} / CNAM Paris or via Microsoft Teams (you receive link after registration) Registration here: https://framaforms.org/seminaire-cyrus-mody-the-squares-30112023-16h-18h-16… (abstract below, Cyrus Mody, The Squares (MIT Press, 2022)<https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262543613/the-squares/> --------------------- 29.11.2023 – 16h/18h (CET time) The Long Arm of Moore’s Law: Microelectronics and American Science A number of historical and STS works in recent years have argued that there were largescale changes in the organization of American and global science in the two decades before and the two decades after the end of the Cold War - that science became more entrepreneurial, more collaborative, more interdisciplinary, more applied, and generally adapted to the neoliberal turn in culture and politics. The paradigmatic cases for illustrating this neoliberal turn have come from the life sciences. In The Long Arm of Moore's Law I show that many of these changes directly or indirectly resulted from the semiconductor industry's need to maintain the pace of miniaturization (and hence innovation) in microelectronics. I present a series of case studies of corporate, academic, and government research laboratories looking at: (failed) attempts to accelerate Moore's Law though alternative electronics technologies; new institutions bridging universities and industry that aimed to respond to growing competition from Japan; and the effects of the migration of corporate researchers into academia as the giant corporate labs of companies like AT&T and IBM shrank. --------------------- 30.11.2023 - 16h/18h (CET time) The Squares: US Physical and Engineering Scientists in the Long 1970s The late 1960s and early 1970s have drawn attention from historians of US science for almost two decades now. Yet most of that literature has focused on "groovy" countercultural and/or politically activist scientists on the left and right, rather on "square" scientists who were politically ambivalent and/or reticent. We also have, as yet, rather little understanding of how the early 1970s turned into the late 1970s, and how the late '70s evolved into the Reagan era. In my recent book, The Squares (MIT Press, 2022) I show that square scientists were involved in many of the socially responsible activities as their more outspoken colleages on the left - "socially responsible" research to developed technologies for alternative energy, public housing, public transport, pollution detection and remediation, assistive devices for people with disabilities, delivering energy and medicine to remote (often poor and minoritized) communities, etc. In today's language, the early 1970s were a golden age of Responsible Research and Innovation; and, indeed, the fields that make up RRI today (including Technology Assessment and STS) came out of this milieu. Yet after the energy crisis of 1973 and the recession of 1975, the nation's changing political mood encouraged square scientists and engineers to refocus on less radical topics, often in collaboration with industry. Thus, the late 1970s saw a swing away from responsible innovation - something that today's RRI rarely acknowledges is possible. This talk explores the reasons why square scientists and engineers move toward and away from responsibility, and the political and cultural circumstances that can encourage them in either direction. --------------------- Cyrus Mody is an historian at Maastricht University of recent science and technology, specifically the applied physical sciences in the United States since 1965. His research studies the commercialization of academic research, the longue durée of responsible research and innovation (RRI), and the technopolitics of scarcity in the long 1970s. For 2020-2025, Prof. Mody is the principal investigator for an NWO (Netherland Organisation for Scientific Research) Vici grant, "Managing Scarcity and Sustainability: The Oil Industry, Environmentalism, and Alternative Energy in the Age of Scarcity" (https://managingscarcity.com/) Books; Cyrus Mody, The long arm of Moore's Law (MIT Press, 2016)<https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262035491/the-long-arm-of-moores-law/> Cyrus Mody, The Squares (MIT Press, 2022)<https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262543613/the-squares/> -------------- Adrien Tournier Doctorant au sein du laboratoire HT2S du CNAM https://technique-societe.cnam.fr/

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passing of Halcyon Lawrence
by Elizabeth Petrick 06 Nov '23

06 Nov '23

Dear SIGCIS, I am very sad to report that Halcyon Lawrence has passed away. Some of you may remember her fantastic talk on voice recognition technology and accent bias at the SIGCIS conference at the CHM in 2017 or may know her essay in Your Computer Is on Fire, on "Siri Disciplines". https://redmonk.com/kfitzpatrick/2023/10/31/in-memory-of-dr-halcyon-lawrenc… Best, Liz ------------- Elizabeth Petrick Co-Director, STS Program Associate Professor Department of History Rice University http://elizabethpetrick.com/

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Anyone at 4S in Hawaii this week and want to get together?
by thomas.haigh＠gmail.com 06 Nov '23

06 Nov '23

Hello SIGCIS, Las month, with deep regret, I missed my first in person SHOT meeting since 2002. A combination of other travel, family commitments and logistical and financial hurdles caused by the last minute relocation combined to keep me at home. So I did not get a chance to revive the old tradition of an open dinner call for historians of computing. However, thanks to an invite for a preconference workshop I do find myself attending 4S for the first time since Rotterdam in 2008. Looking through the program, it seems that there's even less history on the spectacularly large program than there was fifteen years ago, so an initial skim through its many pages did not turn up a huge number of familiar SIGCIS names. Though there is, as you might expect, a lot of CHAT GPT and AI. But if anyone on the list is attending and would like to join a group meeting for dinner or drinks on one of the days then let me know. I'll not send any more messages to the main list, but one we identify who, if anyone, is interested we can exchange emails among that group to fix a time and place that works. Best wishes, Tom

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New History of IBM
by James Cortada 03 Nov '23

03 Nov '23

Dear colleagues, Columbia University Press just published my next book about IBM, *Inside IBM: Lessons of a Corporate Culture in Action. *Unlike my earlier history of the firm published by MIT in 2019 (*IBM: The Rise and Fall and Reinvention of a Global Icon*) this one is an experiment to see if a history of a high tech firm can be written from the perspective of cultural studies and sociology. I discuss the company’s strong culture, role of humor, image building, effects on products (e.g., computers), material culture ephemera (e.g., coffee mugs and postcards), and relations with employees and their families. Columbia University Press has made this book available to us at a 20% discount off its $45 list price if ordered directly from the publisher. Use promo code CUP20 at its website. If you read the book, please let me know what you think of my experiment. Jim Cortada -- James W. Cortada Senior Research Fellow Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota jcortada(a)umn.edu 608-274-6382

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