December 2023 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

new line of research?
by Jonathan Coopersmith 13 Dec '23

13 Dec '23

>From the July 29 Economist: There is also a growing demand for faster or more specific forecasts than can be provided by public institutions (which, being mostly funded by taxpayers, tend to produce what will be the most helpful to the most people). Private companies are filling the gaps. In 2016, for instance, ibm, an American computing firm, bought the Weather Company, which specialised in combining different governmental models, for an estimated $2bn. (Sceptics joked that ibm had invested in the wrong type of cloud.) Within a year the firm began selling “hyper-local” forecasts to businesses, designed to predict the weather in a small area between two and 12 hours ahead. By 2020, according to Comscore, an American media-analytics firm, ibm was the biggest provider of weather forecasts in the world. The firm’s success stems, in part, from its freedom to pick its own priorities. Predicting the weather only a few hours ahead drastically reduces the amount of number-crunching required. That, says Peter Neilley, the Weather Company’s chief meteorologist, allowed the firm to develop a global model with a 3km resolution that churns out a new forecast once an hour. (The ecmwf’s high-resolution global model, by contrast, produces a new forecast every six hours.) https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2023/07/26/the-high-tech-r… 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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job posting of possible interest
by Jonathan Coopersmith 13 Dec '23

13 Dec '23

a job posting - thank you. , CFR’s David Rockefeller Studies Program has launched a search for a fellow or senior fellow for technology. The job description is below and at this link <https://careers-cfr.icims.com/jobs/2378/fellow-or-senior-fellow-for-technol…>. There may be someone in your network who might be interested. *Fellow or Senior Fellow for Technology* *Department* David Rockefeller Studies Program *City* New York *State* NY *Additional Locations* US-DC-Washington *Overview* The David Rockefeller Studies Program at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is seeking to hire a fellow or senior fellow for technology, with the title depending on the successful candidate’s level of experience. The fellow will be expected to conduct original research on the challenges and opportunities that new technologies create for U.S. national security, economic policy, intelligence policy, and/or foreign policy, and to identify specific steps that policymakers should take in response. This is an extraordinary opportunity for someone looking to shape the national conversation on the intersection of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, or synthetic biology with America’s role in the world. *The major responsibilities of this position will include (but are not limited to):* - Producing original written research on the intersection of technology with national security policy, economic policy, intelligence policy, and/or foreign policy. - Organizing and leading meetings on issues at the intersection of technology and national security policy, economic policy, intelligence policy, and/or foreign policy. - Collaborating with other CFR staff on institutional initiatives on technology and foreign policy. - Participating in other CFR programs and activities. - Working with CFR’s distinguished membership, including those with deep experience in technology. - Briefing administration officials, members of Congress, and others on research findings and recommendations. - Building bridges between the technology and policy communities. - Educating the broader public through media interviews and public speaking. - Developing fundraising proposals for the Council’s technology work in collaboration with senior staff. *Qualifications* - PhD in a relevant field, or equivalent experience in business, government, journalism, law, or technology. - Demonstrated expertise on issues at the intersection of technology and foreign and national security policy. - An established record of thought leadership on technology issues. - Strong research, writing, and speaking skills. - Experience collaborating with others, working in teams, and mentoring junior staff preferred. *Pay Range* $125,000 to $225,000 per year Pay commensurate with experience and education *About CFR* Founded in 1921, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is a leading nonprofit membership organization, research center, and publisher, with headquarters in New York, an office in Washington, DC, and programs nationwide. It is dedicated to increasing America's understanding of the world and contributing ideas to U.S. foreign policy. CFR's 5,000+ members are leaders in international affairs and foreign policy. CFR also publishes *Foreign Affairs*, the preeminent magazine on global issues, and provides up-to-date information about the world and U.S. foreign policy on its award-winning website, CFR.org. The Council on Foreign Relations offers a benefits package that is among the best offered by nonprofit institutions today, including an award-winning health and wellness program, an on-site fitness center, and generous leave policies and health insurance programs. The Council on Foreign Relations is an equal opportunity employer and actively seeks candidates from a diverse background. 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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2024 CBI Human-Computer Interaction History Award Call
by Jeffrey Yost 12 Dec '23

12 Dec '23

*2024 CBI Human-Computer Interaction History Award Call *(for nominations/self-nominations) The way people and computers work together has been the subject of intense study since the beginnings of the computer age in the early 1950s. A discipline, known as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), eventually emerged to formalize this research, composed of computer scientists, psychologists, cognitive scientists, artists, and many others. Since these early days of focus on the user experience, Human-Computer Interaction has helped create and shape our ever evolving digital world—from early graphics, networking, and graphical user interfaces to the Web, mobile, the Internet of Things, AI, and the Cloud. The *Annual CBI Ben Shneiderman Award in Human-Computer Interaction History* recognizes excellence in advancing the history/social study (focus must be on change over time) of HCI. The award is for a published book, article, documentary, podcast, website, or other media on HCI’s past. *CBI Human-Computer Interaction History Award. *Eligibility for the 2024 Award is for work (book, article, documentary, podcast, website, or other media) published in 2021, 2022 or 2023. It includes a $500 Prize. ------------------------------ How to Apply To apply (self-nominations are welcome!) or nominate the work of a colleague, please submit either a PDF (or video or audio file if a documentary or podcast) of the book, or six physical copies to CBI at cbi(a)umn.edu <%20cbi(a)umn.edu> (preferred) Or, if mailing, send to: CBI Human-Computer Interaction History Award (c/o Jeffrey Yost) Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota 222 - 21st Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455 ------------------------------ Committee: Jeffrey R. Yost (Chair), Charles Babbage Institute Director and Research Prof., University of Minnesota <https://cse.umn.edu/node/69021> Gerardo Con Diaz, Assoc. Prof. of STS, University of California, Davis <https://sts.ucdavis.edu/people/gerardo-con-diaz> Teasel Muir-Harmony, Curator of Apollo Spacecraft Collections, National Air and Space, Smithsonian Institution <https://airandspace.si.edu/people/staff/teasel-muir-harmony> Fabio Paternò. Research Director of Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) <http://hiis.isti.cnr.it/Users/Fabio/index.html> Elizabeth Petrick, Assoc. Prof. of History, Rice University <https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/elizabeth-petrick> Dag Spicer, Senior Curator, Computer History Museum <https://computerhistory.org/profile/dag-spicer/> *The CBI’s and Committee’s decision about what is eligible and who is to receive the award is final.* If you have questions, please send them to me at yostx003(a)umn.edu ** * * * * ** *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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CHM Fellow Award nominations still open till December 31
by Hansen Hsu 12 Dec '23

12 Dec '23

Know of someone who’s changed the world using computing technology? Why not nominate them for a CHM Fellow award? The Computer History Museum Fellow Awards Program honors technology pioneers—both unsung heroes and well-known legends—for their contributions to computing and the evolution of our digital age, one that started decades ago and which now shapes every aspect of our daily lives. As Steve Jobs once noted, “Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it… Once you learn that, you'll never be the same again.” Who do you know who has built our modern world? Fellows are selected annually through a public nomination process and honored at an exciting online gala ceremony. The selection committee is made up of historians, computer scientists, engineers, journalists, past Fellows, and even a SIGCIS member or two! Past Fellows have included: Grace Murray Hopper, Steve Wozniak, Katherine Johnston, Lee Felsenstein, Margaret Hamilton, Harry Huskey, Lynn Conway, Ed Catmull, Bill Joy, and over 60 others. (See them all in our Hall of Fellows: https://computerhistory.org/hall-of-fellows/) Send in your nominations here: https://computerhistory.org/fellow-awards/#fellow%20nominations Deadline: December 31, 2023. Thank you! CHM Computer History Museum<http://www.computerhistory.org/> 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94043 (650) 810-1010 main (650) 810-1055 fax Follow Us: CHM Blog<http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/> I Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/computerhistory> I Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/computerhistory> I YouTube<http://www.youtube.com/computerhistory>

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CfP: New Media & Society, Special Issue "Digital Twinning"
by thomas.haigh＠gmail.com 08 Dec '23

08 Dec '23

Hello SIGCIS, Please find below a CFP for a special issue co-organized by some of the colleagues I've been working with at Siegen University with the ubiquitous Wendy Chun. Abstracts due by the end of the month. For those of you who don't keep up with the present, I think "digital twin" is the new name for computer simulation (with the implication of extreme faithfulness that permits confident decision making, though that claim was often made for earlier models too). So although the term itself seems to have come from NASA jargon to the mainstream with dizzying speed there's potentially a case to be made for a longer history going back at least to the ENIAC Monte Carlo simulations of 1948. Any questions to <mailto:christoph.borbach@uni-siegen.de> christoph.borbach(a)uni-siegen.de, not to me. Best wishes, Tom CfP: New Media & Society, Special Issue "Digital Twinning" ed. Christoph Borbach, Wendy Chun, and Tristan Thielmann Datafication in the analogue era followed a different logic than do today's media processes, with all their entanglements and interdependencies with and within the 'real' world. Human bodies, system processes, and their data traces and virtual models are deeply intertwined in current postdigital-or rather, more-than-human (Lupton 2019)-media cultures. It is surely not a new idea that data and the technologies of its collection, storage, circulation, and evaluation are shaping how societies and individuals see themselves. But it is a novelty that processes of datafication within the context of 'digital twinning' and their future predictions and simulations of behavior-mostly systems behavior but also human purchasing and movement behaviors, with their political implications-are fundamentally changing the methods of production planning, processes, and products. Technologies of digital twinning ask once more how data practices affect and mold decision-making within institutions (Vertesi 2020). 'Digital twins' are currently the most important drivers of the fourth industrial revolution. These ever-more-complex technical products and processes are now developed and tested in the virtual sphere as software models before they emerge in the 'real' world. The paradigm of digital media technologies is therefore subject to fundamental change through the prevalence of digital twins in industry and research. The digital is no longer a real-time virtual representation of a real-world physical object: it is exactly the opposite and concurrently much more than that, allowing new forms of "premediation" (Grusin 2010), in the analysis of future performances of objects without the physical presence of the objects. Digital twinning therefore promises not only the potential of making futures predictable through recognition and correlation of digital and analog, virtual and physical (Chun 2021), but the ability to do so without physical counterparts. Digital twinning is no longer restricted to single entities-like objects being studied-but allows for modeling complex chains of co-operations. What is most striking from a media theory perspective is that technical objects, models, services, operations, or even entire cities, metro systems, or logistical architectures can be objects of digital twinning. Digital twins make clear that the real world is just one possible realization of the primarily virtual world. At the same time, digital twins and other haunting 'data doppelgangers' allow overarching data exchange and cooperation. They are more than pure data, proving once more that so-called "raw data" does not exist (Bowker 2005; Gitelman 2013). Digital twins consist of technical and social models of acting objects, and integrate various embedded sensors related to vital areas of functionality that make things and processes 'sense-able' (Gabrys 2019). Digital twins can therefore also include simulations and services, asking anew if there is anything worldly which may must remain "uncomputable" (Galloway 2021). Taking digital twinning as an analytic lens, the special issue will also try to understand aesthetics, politics, genders, and economies of 'data doubles.' These new symptoms of postdigital media and data cultures differ from previous motifs of doubles, e.g. literary doppelgangers as in the work of E. T. A. Hoffmann, among others. Selfies are emblematic of digital data cultures and their visual regime (Eckel et al. 2018), as are avatar images in avatar-based gaming (Klevjer 2022), since they are not mere pictorial representations but digital images of self-perception and self-modeling. They stand as digital doubles exemplary for the self in extended realities (XR), self-embodiment in digital spheres, and the continuum between offline and online (Coleman 2011). Similar to digital twins, digital 'doubles' even without a physical 'original' can unfold influence, literally, as virtual influencers or actors such as Hatsune Miku demonstrates. Media practices of doubling and storing the self might have predigital histories (Humphreys 2018). But only digital tracking applications can be regarded as real-time feedback loops that influence human behavior. This can be seen positively since it transforms the way humans self-optimize, e.g. their athletic behavior, as quantified self-movement shows. But it can also be critically reflected from a political standpoint, since it evokes a shift from individuals to 'dividuals' and an interpretation of human beings as conglomerates of sensor technology, flesh, and data doubles within surveillant assemblages (Haggerty and Richard 2000). To account for this complex technological situation and its social impacts, the special issue "Digital Twinning" will bring together researchers from different fields: engineering and social science, informatics and media studies. The aim is to understand concepts and practices but also politics and aesthetics of data doubling and digital twinning that are not restricted to purposes of system and production monitoring, maintenance, and simulation-that is, processes of digital engineering. We will also expand the scope, to include real-time interrelations of digital data acquisition and simulation, on the one hand, and the physical performance of humans, things, and systems, on the other. We are seeking abstracts (500 words) for submissions until December 31, 2023 (to be sent to <mailto:christoph.borbach@uni-siegen.de> christoph.borbach(a)uni-siegen.de, subject: "NM&S Special Issue: Digital Twinning"), that might address-but are not limited to-one or more of the following topics: * how is data agential (in digital twinning)? * interrelations and interdependencies between physical and digital twins and doubles * politics, (data) economies, and technologies of digital twinning and doubling * boundaries in the modeling of twins * (de)central places of twinning: where is it to be done, and by whom? * twinning as labor: precarious work, and/or precarious for workers? * histories of twinning: from science fiction, to NASA, to the public? * future digital practices of twinning * imaginaries and aesthetics of twinning * gendering and aesthetics of avatars * challenges and difficulties of data governance, data rights, and data sustainability * sensor ecologies and their impact on digital twinning * media and social theories of digital twinning * digital methods, ethnographic, and ethnomethodological approaches for further research on digital twinning * applications for digital twins in the industrial and consumer metaverse

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Call for Papers "Entangling Mind and Machine: Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience and Neurotechnology" at EASST-4S 2024 Amsterdam
by Christine Aicardi 08 Dec '23

08 Dec '23

Dear SIGCIS members, Hoping that this may be of interest to some of you, we invite you to submit an abstract to our panel at the EASST-4S [The 2024 quadrennial joint meeting of the European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) and the Society for Social Studies of Science (4S)] held in Amsterdam July 16-19, 2024: Entangling Mind and Machine: Artificial Intelligence, Neuroscience and Neurotechnology Short Abstract: In this panel, we seek to address two questions: 1) What can previous iterations of entangling mind and machine tell us about contemporary AI, neuroscience and neurotechnology? 2) How are current entanglements different, and what do they mean for future AI, neuroscience and neurotechnology? Long Abstract: The history of neuroscience is one intertwined with the history of building computational systems and machinic brains/minds – from Alan Turing’s thinking machines, to cybernetic brains, and more recently, the use of experimental and theoretical neuroscience in the development of Google DeepMind’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques. Brains and minds have been, and continue to be, a source of inspiration for AI. Artificial neural networks at the core of recent AI developments are inspired by biological neural networks in animal brains, and new brain-inspired neuromorphic hardware architectures are designed to support them. Biological realism, however, is not the primary concern of AI. It takes inspiration from biology only in order to build more efficient AI tools - improving information processing performance for a vast range of activities, and lowering energy consumption. In this panel, we seek to address two overarching questions: 1) What can previous iterations of entangling mind and machine tell us about contemporary AI, neuroscience and neurotechnology? 2) How are current entanglements between mind and machines different, and what do they mean for future AI, neuroscience and neurotechnology? We invite contributions that will help tackle these topics from various perspectives and various locations, taking diachronic as well as synchronic approaches. Possible questions are: What are the epistemic, political, social and ethical consequences of these entanglements? What epistemic communities and institutions (military, corporate, etc.) are established around these different practices and around different conceptions of intelligence – human, animal, more-than-human? What kinds and what aspects of living organisms are brought up in simulation, mimicry or machinic reproduction of ‘intelligence’? How are they pared down, distorted – or rendered invisible? If you are interested, please submit your abstract by 12 February 2024 here<https://www.easst4s2024.net/callforabstracts/> Christine Aicardi & Tara Mahfoud _______________________________________________________ Christine Aicardi<https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/christine.aicardi.html> Senior Research Fellow in Science & Technology Studies Responsible Research and Innovation Lead | UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Safe & Trusted AI Department of Informatics | King’s College London https://safeandtrustedai.org/ Responsible Research and Innovation Lead | EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Smart Medical Imaging School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences| King’s College London https://www.imagingcdt.com/

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What tale do we tell, and why do we tell it the way we do?
by Doron Swade 07 Dec '23

07 Dec '23

Dear All I thought I would flag the publication, a year ago, of The History of Computing: A Very Short Introduction. 'Very Short' means not exceeding 35,000 words, which is an absolute upper limit for the OUP VSI series. I wrote the book in answer to two questions: when it comes to the history of computing, what tale do we tell, and why do we tell it the way we do? My purpose was to present, in an accessible way, the narrative of computing's history for those with little or no prior knowledge of the field and, in so doing, describe what it is that historians of computing do and the issues that preoccupy them. Publisher's Links: US: <https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-history-of-computing-a-very-sho rt-introduction-9780198831754?cc=us&lang=en&> https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-history-of-computing-a-very-shor t-introduction-9780198831754?cc=us&lang=en&# UK: <https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-history-of-computing-a-very-sho rt-introduction-9780198831754?q=978-0-19-883175-4&cc=gb&lang=en> https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-history-of-computing-a-very-shor t-introduction-9780198831754?q=978-0-19-883175-4&cc=gb&lang=en Book Abstract This book describes the central events, machines, and people in the history of computing, and traces how innovation has brought us from pebbles used for counting, to the modern age of the computer. It has a strong historiographical theme that offers a new perspective on how to understand the historical narratives we have constructed, and examines the unspoken assumptions that underpin them. It describes inventions, pioneers, milestone systems, and the context of their use. It starts with counting, and traces change through calculating aids, mechanical calculation, and automatic electronic computation, both digital and analogue. It shows how four threads-calculation, automatic computing, information management, and communications-converged to create the 'information age'. It examines three master narratives in established histories that are used as aids to marshal otherwise unmanageable levels detail. The treatment is rooted in the principal episodes that make up canonical histories of computing. Citation: Swade, Doron. The History of Computing: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2022. All best Doron

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Fw: SHOT e-Newsletter #5, December 2023
by Elizabeth Petrick 05 Dec '23

05 Dec '23

Hi everyone, Lengthy update from SHOT below. Best, Liz ------------- Elizabeth Petrick Co-Director, STS Program Associate Professor Department of History Rice University http://elizabethpetrick.com/ ________________________________ From: Society for the History of Technology <shot.secretariat(a)tue.nl> Sent: Monday, December 4, 2023 3:14 PM To: Elizabeth Petrick <Elizabeth.Petrick(a)rice.edu> Subject: SHOT e-Newsletter #5, December 2023 [https://r20.rs6.net/on.jsp?ca=9dc6f532-b7af-481a-91ce-c15de0cc1c89&a=110310…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/bf98525f-ef5a-4b9a-ac95-0b7fb…]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> Newsletter, 4 December 2023<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/dacd0d59-07f3-40e8-8390-dbdc6…] Dear SHOT community, First, a huge thanks to everyone who labored so hard to make our annual meeting a smashing success! We were able to overcome most hurdles thanks to the hardworking program committee, the officers, the secretariat, the team at the University of Southern California, and all who attended in person or online. There were glitches, of course, but we try to keep learning from those! The deadlines for submission for next year’s meeting in Chile—8 December for Open Panels, and 18 December for fully formed panels—are coming up fast! This will be our first meeting with ICOHTEC in 30 years, our first meeting in South America, and our first bilingual meeting. It will take place on the campus of the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, in the beautiful seaside town of Viña del Mar from 9 to 14 July 2024. Our local partners are already hard at work organizing the logistics to ensure that everything goes smoothly. We need only receive your proposals for panels and papers, which you can submit here<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…>. As you’ll see from the contents of this newsletter, SHOT has been busy even beyond our annual meeting. I’m particularly excited to foreground the work of the committee on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. In addition to awarding an annual prize and half a dozen travel grants, REDI partnered with the University of Toronto to produce a new Bibliography for an Anti-Racist History of Technology<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…>, and with Drexel University to cosponsor a transhemispheric graduate seminar on Race and Technology. SHOT also worked with its sibling organization focused on Latin American STS, ESOCITE, to cosponsor a doctoral school in Montevideo, Uruguay as preparation for next year’s meeting in Chile. You’ll find more details on these endeavors further down in the newsletter. I’m also excited to announce that as a result of discussions in the Executive Council, we’ve constituted two new ad hoc committees: * The Future of SHOT. This committee is centered around the question: what resources do SHOT members need from their society to help them thrive as scholars in the next decade? Chaired by Asif Siddiqi, this committee will help us to envision what scholarly networks could look like in the future, and how SHOT can creatively use its resources to facilitate that vision. The practical outcome of this work could take the form of a new portal for our work in common, but it could also take other forms. * SHOT Partnerships. This committee will explore how SHOT can continue to partner with universities and other scholarly institutions around the world to strengthen intellectual community in our field. As mentioned above, SHOT has engaged in several such partnership in the last few years. Past President Arwen Mohun, who built a partnership with the Consortium on the History of Science, Technology and Medicine to create a seminar on career diversity, will chair this committee. In addition, we have reshaped our Sites committee, now chaired by President-Elect Debbie Douglas, to work on plans for our annual meetings in 2025 (likely to be in person) and 2026 (likely to be online, with the addition of one-day regional meetings in a number of locations around the world. Finally, by now you’ll have seen our fundraising appeal. Please do take a moment to think about how you can support our many activities by renewing your membership, contributing funds<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…>, and reading Technology and Culture directly via Project Muse! With fervent wishes for a peaceful end to 2023, Gabrielle Hecht SHOT President, 2023-2024 Newsletter Contents * ICOHTEC-SHOT 2024: Call for Papers (reminder) * Results 2023 SHOT Elections * Global Community Scholars * Joan Cahalin Robinson Prize 2023 * SHOT’s new Career Diversity Initiative * Transhemispheric Seminar on Race and the History of Technology * SHOT Participates in Latin American Doctoral School * Bibliography for an Anti-Racist History of Technology * Dibner Award 2023 * SHOT 2023 Annual Meeting Los Angeles * Ads & Announcements ICOHTEC-SHOT 2024: Call for Papers (reminder) Deadline 18 December 2023 Reparando / Repair in the History of Technology The technological environments we inhabit require continual repair and maintenance in order to function. Yet the people on whom such repairs rely—along with their knowledge and labor—too often remain unseen and undervalued, becoming visible only in cases of infrastructural breakdown or spectacular disaster. The routine invisibility of repair facilitates grand proclamations of technological solutionism, distracting from the requirements for living equitably in an increasingly fragmented and fragile world. How, then, does our understanding of the history of technology change when we center repair and maintenance? We will explore this and related questions at the first joint meeting between ICOHTEC and SHOT in three decades. This bilingual conference will take place in Viña del Mar, Chile from 9 to 14 July 2024. For the full Call For Papers and submission instructions, please visit the conference website.<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> (Information on the website is also available in Spanish) Submission deadline: 18 December 2023 Please note: The deadline for posting open session proposals on the SHOT website is 8 December 2023. The 2024 Program Committee: Diana J. Montaño (Chair), Magdalena Zdrodowska (Associate Chair), Itty Abraham, Leticia Galluzzi, José Ragas, Verónica Ramírez Errázuriz. Results 2023 SHOT Elections We are pleased to announce the results of the 2023 SHOT Elections. New members of the Executive Council (2024-2026) Adewumi Damilola Adebayo Diana J. Montaño Magdalena Zdrodowska Secretary (re-election second term) Jan Korsten Treasurer (re-election second term) Amy Bix Nominations Committee (2024-2026) Scott Gabriel Knowles Editorial Committee (2024-2028) Thomas Zeller We congratulate the elected candidates with their election, and we thank the candidates that were not elected for their willingness to take part in the SHOT elections 2023. We are grateful for their willingness to stand up and volunteer! Thank you to all Executive Council and committee members (both elected and appointed) for your efforts in 2023. SHOT depends on the commitment of its volunteer committee members! Finally we would like to especially thank Executive Council and committee members who are rotating of at the end of this year for all their work! If you are interested in serving the Society, please let us know. Global Community Scholars [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/dacd0d59-07f3-40e8-8390-dbdc6…] Each year, SHOT designates selected Global Community Scholars for a two-year term. These scholars act as ambassadors for the society in their countries and regions, both by informing SHOT about the history of technology in their regions, and by helping to disseminate information about the society and its activities. In return, they receive priority for travel grant applications and a free two-year SHOT membership, which includes a subscription to Technology and Culture. The 2023 Global Community Committee – Madhumita Saha (Chair), Damilola Adebayo, Sonia Robles, and Yovanna Pineda – is pleased to announce the 2023-2025 SHOT Global Community Scholars: * MUMTAZ ALAM is a citizen of Fiji. His work examined the intricate interplay between Fijian medicine, cultures, and history. Currently, he is working in Fiji National University. He writes, ‘My participation in the program enables cross-cultural insights and comparative discussions that broaden the scholarly community’s horizons.’ * FELIPE TRUJILLO BILBAO is a doctoral candidate at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. He is writing his dissertation on the topic of the green revolution and technological change in water usage in engineers who traveled from Chile to the US for technical assistance during the Cold War. He writes, ‘I would be honored to be nominated for this endeavor and put all of my efforts in promoting the work of the SHOT in the region, as well as helping in any way I can in the next SHOT annual meeting, which is a responsibility I have began to felt after seeing how difficult it has been to maintain a group of non-native English students and scholars engaged with the History of Technology.’ * JOSE G. ALVAREZ CORNETT is an independent scholar from Caracas, Venezuela with a background in Physics, Geosciences, and Asia-Pacific business. He created VES PROJECT, an independent research initiative to study the life of immigrant STEM professionals in Venezuela. He is a lecturer in the History of Science at the Faculty of Science of the Central University of Venezuela (UCV). He writes that he wants ‘To communicate to the international HST community, either in English or Spanish, the main characteristics of HST and SSST research work that has been carried out in Venezuela. Additionally, I would like to present to the SHOT community (1) the story of the outstanding role played by Venezuelan women in the development of technologies during the 20th century and the first quinquennial of the 21st century; (2) the Asian influence on science, medicine, and technology in Venezuela during the 20th century; and (3) the influence of Ukrainian immigration in the Venezuelan society in science, the arts, technology, and medicine (1949-1999).’ * BLESSING J. EDET did his Ph.D. at the University of Uyo, Nigeria. His thesis is titled, “Nigeria’s First Division and Trench Warfare in the Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970”. Currently, he is a Lecturer at the School of Basic Studies (SBS) and the School of Continuing Education (SCE ) Department of History, University of Uyo. He hopes he ‘will contribute significantly to the SHOT debate on historicizing regional technologies as well as in achieving my long-term research goals.’ * ADENIJI OWALE specializes in military history. He takes a keen interest in the role of technology in Nigeria’s security architecture up until postcolonial times. Currently, he is a doctoral student at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Nigeria. He writes, ‘As a SHOT Global Community Scholar, I aim to share insights and enrich the global discourse on technology’s historical impact.’ * THAMARAI SELVAN KANNAN is a doctoral student at IIT-Madras, India. His areas of specialization include History of Science, Technology, Craft and Education. The applicant writes, ‘I have volunteered for the online (2021) and in-person (2022) annual conferences of our society in supporting the over-all organizing team. Last year I have organized a panel with fellow PhD candidates especially who comes from global south.’ Joan Cahalin Robinson Prize 2023 The Joan Cahalin Robinson Prize is awarded annually for the best-delivered paper by an individual who is making his/her/their first appearance at the Society’s annual meeting. Candidates for the award are judged not only on the quality of the historical research and scholarship of their paper, but also on the effectiveness of the oral presentation. At the annual meeting in Los Angeles the Robinson Prize Committee - David Munns (chair), Amy Bix, Jip van Besouw, Susan Schmidt Horning, Pete Soppelsa, Marco Storni, Aro Velmet, and Daniel Williford - compared the papers and presentations of 30 candidates. As winner of the 2023 Joan Cahalin Robinson Prize the committee selected: Roan Parrish (Virginia Tech) for “Constructing an Electronic Medical Record”. Roan's paper presentation was part of the session Medical Technologies I – Making Things, Producing Knowledge. SHOT’s new Career Diversity Initiative SHOT’s new Career Diversity initiative, in partnership with the Consortium for the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, is off to a great start. The series began with informative and inspiring conversation featuring museum professionals, Debbie Douglas (MIT) and Tony Perry (Smithsonian), followed by an equally compelling session about employment in the U.S. Federal Government, with Adrienne Noe and Angel Callahan. If you are a graduate student, early career scholar, or advisor interested in learning more about the hows and whys of careers beyond the academy, this series is for you. Please join us for the next session on careers in oral history with David Caruso (Science History Institute) and Jannekan Smucker (West Chester University). The session is December 5, 2-3:30 on Zoom. Registration is required<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…>. You can find more information at: https://www.chstm.org/groups<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> and https://www.chstm.org/content/career-diversity<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> or by contacting the conveners: Arwen Mohun mohun(a)udel.edu<mailto:mohun@udel.edu> and Jesse Smith JSmith(a)sciencehistory.org<mailto:JSmith@sciencehistory.org> Transhemispheric Seminar on Race and the History of Technology, September 12-15, Philadelphia Tiago Saraiva (Drexel University) Co-sponsored by Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), Drexel University, and the University of Toronto, this seminar brought together 11 early career scholars from Brazil, Canada, Colombia, India, Mexico, Namibia, Nigeria, Portugal, and the US for an immersive four-day trans-hemispheric conversation on race and the history of technology. Together with professors Edward Jones-Imhotep (University of Toronto), Projit Mukharji (Ashoka University), and Rosanna Dent (Rutgers), the editors of History and Technology, Amy Slaton and Tiago Saraiva, and Tapuya, Vivette García-Deister, facilitated diverse-format activities in the seminar room of the Department of History at Drexel University, in Philadelphia. [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/a20a9079-b835-4c99-8bc8-8d99b…] Building up from participants’ own research, we explored technological dimensions of blackness, mestizaje, blanquitud, and caste. Outside the room and about the city, Jason Ludwig (PhD Candidate, Cornell University) guided the group to the site of the Archeology West heritage project<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…>, and we learned about the oldest LGBTQ+ library and archive in the US from John Anderies, Director of the J. Wilcox Jr. Archives collections of the William Way Community Center<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…>. A visit to the Making Worlds Bookstore and Community Center<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> and a writing-exercise at the Merion Botanical Park were also on the schedule. As a result of this seminar, we are working with participants to generate a special issue to be published jointly by History and Techonlogy and Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society (Taylor&Francis). [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/01996162-a6a4-4b91-874f-561a2…] SHOT Participates in Latin American Doctoral School As part of SHOT’s efforts to foster global community and prepare for our 2024 meeting in Chile, the society participated in organizing the Summer 2023 VII Doctoral School of the Latin American Association for the Social Study of Science and Technology<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> (Asociación Latinoamericana de Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnología,ESOCITE). The week-long event was held July 24-28 at the Universidad de la República in Montevideo, Uruguay. SHOT representative Sonia Robles, who was part of SHOT’s global community committee, participated in the workshop’s organizing committee. Nelson Arellano part of the SHOT/ICOTECH committee working on the 2024 SHOT meeting in Viña del Mar Chile, delivered a keynote address on “Relations between Science and Technology Studies and the History of Technology.” SHOT’s participation alongside the NSF-funded RECSLAC Network for the Study of Science and Knowledge in Latin America and the Caribbean<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> is part of broader efforts to strengthen ties between US scholars of science and technology and their counterparts in Latin America and the Caribbean. For the first time, US-based PhD students presented dissertation chapters alongside their peers from Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. Presenters received commentary from their peers and from faculty from across the Americas. A fuller account in Spanish<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> is available. Bibliography for an Anti-Racist History of Technology Do you want to learn about scholarship at the intersection of race studies and technology studies? Perhaps you’re designing a course module or starting a new project? Please check out our newly posted Bibliography for an Anti-Racist History of Technology<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…>. Compiled by Justine “Tola” Ajao at the University of Toronto’s Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, this bibliography builds on previous efforts by SHOT members. It includes article abstracts and review excerpts that help to orient readers new to this area. Dibner Award 2023 In our previous newsletter the winner of the Dibner Award for Excellence in Museum Exhibits was missing. The prize has been awarded to the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (University of Luxembourg) for the online exhibit Minett Stories: Remixing Industrial Pasts in the Digital Age. You can read the full prize citation on our website<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…>. Discover all our 2023 Award and Fellowship winners here<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…>. SHOT 2023 Annual Meeting Los Angeles The Society for the History of Technology gratefully acknowledges the following sponsors, publishers, and supporters. We thank them for their generosity and support AIP B and B Stern Foundation Inc. CIFAR Eindhoven University of Technology Foundation for the History of Technology Hagley Museum and Library John Hopkins University Press Linda Hall Library of Science, Engineering and Technology MIT Press The University of Chicago Press University of Southern California (USC) Ads & Announcements [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/6c8db46a-32f3-4e02-8150-7df2c…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/023b3f3c-4ee7-47d0-90c9-f5458…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/67f8d69a-ed32-4139-8e0e-817b2…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/833121fe-3864-49de-a5cb-8fa88…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/16a53f80-8012-471c-93ac-eaecc…]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/e73235ee-53d8-4e3c-ab23-67dae…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/dfb9d081-4f98-4f1b-b6f0-30373…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/e19ad4af-957f-4c4f-9d71-444ce…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/78c171e3-b556-4cdd-8bd3-eca71…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/7b3603e3-90b6-4689-a39e-da506…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/8fa75e4c-f88c-4e22-81c9-eb489…] [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/b645d3cf-bd8f-4735-99a4-8d886…] Society F<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…>or The History Of Technology<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> SHOT.secretariat(a)tue.nl Newsletter editors: Jan Korsten, Alina Bykova, and Sonja Beekers Contact Us<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> [https://files.constantcontact.com/880a246d001/a83ad4b0-bf9c-497a-9508-6dea3…]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> [Facebook]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> Share This Email<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> [Twitter]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> Share This Email<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> [LinkedIn]<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> Share This Email<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> Society for the History of Technology | Sonja Beekers, Foundation for the History of Technology, Eindhoven, 5600 MB Netherlands Unsubscribe petrick(a)rice.edu<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://visitor.constantcontact.com/do?p=un&m=0…> Constant Contact Data Notice<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> Sent by shot.secretariat(a)tue.nl<mailto:shot.secretariat@tue.nl> powered by [Trusted Email from Constant Contact - Try it FREE today.] <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…> Try email marketing for free today!<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=0017VkoeFWY_oCxU14…>

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Annals Oct-Dec Table of Contents
by hemmendd＠union.edu 03 Dec '23

03 Dec '23

We are pleased to announce this special issue. David Hemmendinger, Editor Histories of Computing in Oceania, Guest Editors' Introduction, Sebastian K. Boell and Janet M. Toland The Modern History of ICT in Oceania-PEACESAT and USPNet Rieko Hayakawa, Robert Underwood, and Jennifer Anson Computing Technologies for Resilience, Sustainability, and Resistance Petera Hudson, Hemi Whaanga, and Te Taka Keegan Educational Computers in New Zealand Schools: 1977 to 1983 Alastair Nisbet Trevor Pearcey and the Development of CSIRAC-An Australian First-Generation Computer, Barbara Ainsworth Biography: Monte Sala's Cryptographic Achievements, T. Alex Reid Anecdotes: Computer Networking Initiatives in One of the World's Remote Cities T. Alex Reid Tracing the Origins of the First Soviet Computers, Beyond Legends Giovanni A. Cignoni and Sergei P. Prokhorov Events and Sightings: Opening of the Bob Doran Museum of Computing Brian E. Carpenter Capturing an Oral History of Computing in Australia, Sebastian K. Boell and Peter Thorne Documenting CAD History With CHM's Software Industry Special Interest Group David Brock Interview: Oral History of Rodney Brooks, Hansen Hsu Think Piece: Dissecting Data: History of Data as History of the Body, Andrew S. Lea

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Babbage Engine - Full Technical Description on Open Access
by Doron Swade 02 Dec '23

02 Dec '23

Dear All I am pleased to report that the full technical description of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2 has recently been made available online on open access by the Science Museum (London). The Engine was built to Babbage's original drawings (1847-1849) and completed in 2002. It has 8,000 parts, weighs 5 tonnes, and works as Babbage intended. It is the first of Babbage's calculating engines to be built in its entirety. Over the decades-long life of the project I documented the interpretation of the 19th-century drawings, the design decisions made in its construction, its assembly, operational debugging, and what was learned from running the Engine for countless live public demonstrations. A full description of the Engine is presented in two works available online: <https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-09/DE2_Technical_ Description.pdf> Difference Engine No.2 Technical Description (232 pages, 131 illustrations) Provides a detailed interpretation of Babbage's design, and documents the technical understanding that informed the successful construction of the working machine. <https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-08/User_Manual_PD F_Vsn_1.1_Final_SEC1.pdf> Difference Engine No.2 User Manual (147 pages, 199 illustrations) Documents the practical procedures for operating the Engine safely, setting up a calculation, testing, trouble-shooting, fault-finding, and maintenance including lubrication. The two documents are free-standing i.e. relevant drawing-excerpts are embedded in the text so that understanding does not, for the most part, rely on reference to the full 19th-century design drawings. Direct Browser Links: Technical Description: https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-09/DE2_Technical_D escription.pdf User Manual: <https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-08/User_Manual_PD F_Vsn_1.1_Final_SEC1.pdf> https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-08/User_Manual_PDF _Vsn_1.1_Final_SEC1.pdf Additional Material <https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/documents/aa110000003/the-babb age-papers> The Babbage Papers at the Science Museum: * Digitised archive of Babbage papers including full technical archive and Notebooks. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/documents/aa110000003/the-babba ge-papers <https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/charles-babbages-diffe rence-engines-and-science-museum> Charles Babbage's Difference Engines and the Science Museum | Science Museum * Short contextual and historical summary. * Links to the Technical Description and User Manual are in Further Reading. https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/charles-babbages-differ ence-engines-and-science-museum Citation: Swade, Doron, Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2: Technical Description. Science Museum, 2023. Swade Doron, Charles Babbage's Difference Engine No. 2: User Manual. Science Museum, 2023. Best wishes Doron Swade

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