April 2023 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

New Book: Digital Independence. India's Way Into the Computer Age – an International History
by Michael Homberg 29 Dec '24

29 Dec '24

Dear SIGCIS, please excuse the "self-promotion": I am excited to announce the publication of my new book: "Digital Independence. India's Way Into the Computer Age – an International History" ("Digitale Unabhängigkeit. Indiens Weg ins Computerzeitalter – eine Internationale Geschichte"). It has been published this week by Wallstein, and is largely based upon my habilitation thesis which I finished at the University of Potsdam, Germany, in 2021. The book is in German language only, but an English translation is already planned. I've shared the translated German blurb below. Many thanks for all the inspirations I received from the SIGCIS community, and I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Best regards from Berlin, Michael *** Digitale Unabhängigkeit. Indiens Weg ins Computerzeitalter – eine Internationale Geschichte, Göttingen: Wallstein 2022 (Geschichte der Gegenwart, Bd. 32). URL: https://www.wallstein-verlag.de/9783835352674-digitale-unabhaengigkeit.html. Blurb: The first electronic computers arrived in India in the 1950s. Today, Indian programmers embody our globalized world. This book examines the long and chequered history of India's journey into the digital age. It shows how the emergence of digital expertise in India was the result of both national efforts and international cooperations. From early on, the computer thus became a symbol of Indian nation-building at the end of the colonial era, a tool of technocratic planning in the high modern age, and an instrument of power politics, cultural controversies and economic interests. The book interweaves a national history perspective on the Indian republic, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, with an analysis of the country's global relations, analyzing the different speeds and intensities of the computerization of the living and working worlds in the Global North and the Global South. Thus, it reconstructs the highly international networks of computer specialists, technicians, managers and politicians, development experts and activists in India. Since the early days of the Indian republic, industrialized nations such as the USA and the USSR, but also the Federal Republic of Germany and Great Britain promoted the expansion of computer technology and education in India. This study explores the roots of these international technical assistance programs in the Cold War era and the development of its global geopolitics of expertise, the growing desire in the Indian computer industry for “digital independence” in the global IT market since the 1970s and the triumph of elite programmers in Silicon Valley in the early 21st century. It analyzes the preconditions, dynamics, and consequences of global exchange processes in India after 1947, and thus “decenters” the primarily Western perspective of computer history and its master narratives. Drawing on broad (archival) research in India, the USA, and Europe, the study's sources include governmental records, university archival collections, academic literary estates, parliamentary minutes, and contemporary media. _______________________________ PD Dr. Michael Homberg Senior Scientist/Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam Leibniz-Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam (ZZF) e.V. Am Neuen Markt 1 14467 Potsdam

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SIGICS update
by Andrew Russell 01 Jul '24

01 Jul '24

Dear SIGCIS friends - I’m writing to share the news that I’m stepping down as SIGCIS Co-Chair. I started as Chair back in 2014, and became Co-Chair when Melanie Swalwell joined me in this role in 2020. I’m really proud of what we’ve built and sustained together as a community! At the same time, I think it’s healthy for SIGCIS to have some rotation in leadership. The tipping point for me came a couple of months ago, when I was named as Officer-in-Charge (aka interim president) of my university, SUNY Polytechnic Institute. This assignment is as rewarding as it is time-consuming, and leaves me little choice but to pull back from some of my professional commitments, including SIGCIS. Fortunately, Melanie Swalwell has agreed to continue on as SIGCIS Chair. She will be writing to the list soon with an update about SIGCIS in 2023 and beyond. Thank you for your support and kindness over the years, and for making SIGCIS a welcoming and fun place to be :) All the best, Andy — — — — — — — — — — — Andrew L. Russell, Ph.D. Officer-in-Charge SUNY Polytechnic Institute 100 Seymour Road Utica, NY 13502 257 Fuller Road Albany, NY 12203 https://sunypoly.edu/ https://arussell.org/

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SIGCIS 2022 CFP: UNDER CONSTRUCTION | Due June 1
by Laine Nooney 30 Jan '24

30 Jan '24

Dear SIGCIS Community, The SIGCIS Conference Organizing Committee is pleased to *announce the CFP for our 2022 SIGCIS Conference, **UNDER CONSTRUCTION*. Our keynote for the event is Lilly Irani <https://quote.ucsd.edu/lirani/>, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication & Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego. The SIGCIS Conference will take place *November 13th, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, *on the Sunday of the SHOT conference. *Abstracts are due June 1.* Below you can find the full CFP for this year's conference. The CFP can also be viewed as a Google doc here <https://bit.ly/388L3Zk>, or at our conference website: meetings.sigcis.org. Please circulate widely, and we hope to see you at SIGCIS! -Laine Nooney, Morgan G. Ames, Stephanie Dick, and Xiaochang Li -------------------------------------------------------------- *UNDER CONSTRUCTION* *New Orleans, LA, US | November 13, 2022* The Special Interest Group in Computing, Information, and Society [SIGCIS] welcomes submissions to their annual conference meetings.sigcis.org Proposal Due Date: June 1, 2022 KEYNOTE SPEAKER Lilly Irani Associate Professor of Communication & Science Studies University of California, San Diego THEME A shovel strikes dirt in one country, and the Internet goes out in another. Data centers are cooled by local water supplies, fiber-optic cable follows the sightlines left by railroads and telegraph, global hardware semiconductor supplies depend on the labor of rare earth mineral miners: somehow computing always needs more. The past ten years, in particular, have exhibited a perilous turn in the political economy of computing, as software became service, programming became agile, and storage became cloud. This new regime is driven by an accelerated mode of iterative software development that increasingly relies on post-sales bug fixes, security patches, and performance upgrades, producing a litany of products and services whose endless failures aid some and threaten others. From the communities subject to such “innovation” to the shadow workers paid to “be” artificial intelligence to the coders pushing ambient updates by the millions, risk hums through it all. Computation today is locked in a state of perpetual beta testing, forever promising “improved” features—just don’t ask when it will end, and don’t ask who’s doing the work. In the meantime, these new standards of practice generate new labor and resource demands, new forms of risk, and new challenges for accountability and intervention alike. Yet the patched and partial nature of computing isn’t new. Computing is infrastructure, requiring its own forms of construction and maintenance throughout its history, whether tearing up roads, detangling spaghetti code, or hastily soldering circuits. These are metaphors for history too: what better encapsulates the sentiment of doing history, than the feeling that it will never be done? For historians of information and computing itself, such anxieties are particularly acute due to the objects under examination: constant upgrades, absent documentation, planned obsolescence, the failure of historic hardware. For every line of code we save, hundreds, thousands, disappear. As we work to make sense of our contemporary conditions, how does the undone quality of history affect our ability to tell it? The 2022 SIGCIS Conference, convening in-person in New Orleans on November 13 following the SHOT Annual Meeting, invites scholars, museum and archive professionals, journalists, IT practitioners, artists, and independent researchers across the disciplinary spectrum to submit abstracts related to the historical conditions of computing. We are especially interested in (but not limited to) work that relates to the theme of construction, maintenance, and labor, broadly and imaginatively construed. Areas of engagement may include: - Maintenance and infrastructure in the history of computing and information tech - Historically-oriented approaches to the platform and gig economies - Computing as a site of labor struggle - Networks, borders, boundaries - Computational models of resistance: obfuscation, open-source, hacking, going “off grid” - Government’s historic role in the construction of computing industries and infrastructure - Communitarian and utopian applications of computing - Updates, upgrades, failures, and bugs - Modding, re-using, recycling, afterlives - Archival and curatorial practices and methods - Oral history, memory, forgetting - The limits of historical representation SIGCIS is especially welcoming of new directions in scholarship. We maintain an inclusive atmosphere for scholarly inquiry, supporting disciplinary interventions from beyond the traditional history of technology and promoting diversity in STEM. We welcome submissions from: the histories of technology, computing, information, and science; science and technology studies; oral history and archival studies; critical studies of big data and machine learning; studies of women, gender, and sexuality; studies of race, ethnicity, and postcoloniality; film, media, and game studies; software and code studies; network and internet histories; music, sound studies, and art history; and all other applicable domains. The annual SIGCIS Conference begins immediately after the regular annual meeting of our parent organization, the Society for the History of Technology [SHOT]. Information about the annual SHOT conference can be found at: https://bit.ly/3Nswik2 SUBMISSION FORMATS SIGCIS welcomes proposals for individual 15-20 minute papers, 3-4 paper panel proposals, and non-traditional proposals such as roundtables, software demonstrations, art and music performances, hands-on workshops, etc. SUBMISSION PROCEDURES Submissions are due June 1, 2022 via Google form: <https://forms.gle/C8ixar9s3JsCXq8d9>https://forms.gle/sLRowEDz6QitKCfv9. Submissions require: - 300-350 word abstract, summary, or prospectus (as appropriate for the submission type). Full panel proposals should additionally include 200-250 word abstracts for each paper that will be part of the panel. - 100-150 word bios for each participant If you are submitting a co-presented paper, pre-constituted panel, or other submission involving multiple participants, please only have one person submit for the group; contact and professional information for other participants can be included in the Bio submission section. Questions about the submission process should be sent to: xiaochang.li(a)stanford.edu. COSTS/REGISTRATION While last year’s online conference was pay-what-you-can, hosting an in-person event incurs costs related to room and A/V rental, catering, etc. These costs are subsidized in part by our parent organization, SHOT, but participants should expect registration fees in the range of $45-50 for SHOT attendees and $90-120 for those only attending Sunday SIGCIS Conference (we list these rates in good faith, but they are subject to change). Attending SHOT has its own registration costs. TRAVEL AND CARE GRANTS As a new initiative, SIGCIS will be offering grants to support travel expenses and/or expenses related to child, elder, and other forms of care for presenters whose responsibilities at home may present a barrier to in-person participation. The top financial priority of SIGCIS is support for graduate students, visiting faculty without institutional travel support, and others who would be unable to attend the meeting without travel assistance. We understand that for some, participation is more contingent on childcare or elder care, and as such we are opening up these grants to provide that form of support as well. There is no separate application form, though depending on the volume of requests and available resources we may need to contact you for further information before making a decision. Any award offered is contingent on registering for and attending the SIGCIS Conference. Please note that SHOT does not classify the SIGCIS Conference as participation in the SHOT annual meeting, so acceptance by SIGCIS does not imply eligibility for the SHOT travel grant program. ACCESSIBILITY ACCOMMODATIONS REQUESTS The submission Google form will include a field where individuals may make requests for accessibility accommodations. Since our event is coordinated by our parent organization, SHOT, we cannot guarantee our ability to meet all accommodation requests. However, our intent will always be to advocate to meet the accessibility needs of our participants. SIGCIS MEETINGS ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Laine Nooney, New York University (SIGCIS Vice-Chair of Meetings) Morgan Ames, University of California, Berkeley Stephanie Dick, Simon Fraser University Xiaochang Li, Stanford University ---- Laine Nooney <http://www.lainenooney.com/> MCC <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/> @ NYU <http://www.nyu.edu/> Assistant Professor -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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Permanent academic position at Swansea University
by Troy Astarte 16 May '23

16 May '23

Dear SIGCIS Swansea University Department of Computer Science is looking to recruit a lecturer or senior lecturer in Digital Technology. This post would suit a candidate with interdisciplinary research interests studying the interactions between computing technology and society. We invite applications from researchers in fields like history of science, science and technology studies, Digital media, or human centred computing. A successful candidate would be expected to contribute to teaching in computer science. For more information, to make an informal enquiry, or to apply, see: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/jobs-at-swansea/current-vacancies/details/?nPosti… Please note the deadline for application is 2023–05–04. Apologies for the late notice. Best, Dr. Troy Kaighin Astarte (they/them / nhw) 📱 I am currently dictating messages due to RSI. Please forgive any strange spelling. Lecturer, Computer Science / Darlithydd, Cyfrifiadureg Swansea University / Prifysgol Abertawe

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New(ish) book: Klara and the Bomb
by Crystal Bennes 01 May '23

01 May '23

Dear SIGCIS, Some of you may remember my posting about my photobook project on Klara Dan von Neumann and women in computing to the list during its crowdfunding days in autumn 2021 (which many of you were kind enough to support!), but I wanted to flag that Klara and the Bomb was indeed published for anyone who might find the book of interest and hasn’t yet procured a copy. Publisher's blurb: Klara and the Bomb is a photographical and historical work that charts connecting threads between the invention of modern computers, the history of nuclear weapons and, in particular, the narratives of the women involved. While computing technology is ubiquitous today, its militaristic history and colonial connections continue to be underplayed or obscured: the modern computer originates in military-funded nuclear weapons research and development that took place during and after the Second World War. Many of these weapons were later detonated in the Marshall Islands where indigenous communities were coerced into leaving their homes. These interconnected stories are told through the little-known life of Klara von Neumann, who came to the United States after marrying the noted mathematician John von Neumann. As one of the first computer programmers, Klara’s story highlights the extent to which women were involved in the development of both computing and nuclear weapons from the 1940s onwards. Klara’s life ended tragically: in 1963, her body was found on the beach not far from her California home. Suicide by drowning, the coroner’s report stated. The book is available directly from the publishers (based in the Netherlands) for €35 + shipping: https://www.eriskayconnection.com/home/123-klara-and-the-bomb.html For those in the UK, I also have a number of copies remaining in my personal stash which are £35 (includes shipping). Please do get in touch if you’d like one. Very best wishes, Crystal -------------- Crystal Bennes Artist, Researcher & Writer hello(a)crystalbennes.comwebsite | twitter | instagram Order my debut photobook, Klara and the BombThorvaldsen's Weeds at Thorvaldsens Museum, June 2023 Platform, Edinburgh Art Festival, August 2023

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(no subject)
by Jonathan Coopersmith 28 Apr '23

28 Apr '23

At this weekend's NYC antiquarian book show: Thinking Machines Image [image: A book with a yellow, slightly tattered dust jacket, with the title “Giant Brains or Machines That Think,” by Edmund C. Berkeley, and a black circle containing an image of a human face with a yellow wire connecting the forehead to a box.] A first edition of the 1949 book “Giant Brains: Or, Machines That Think” is on offer as part of a collection of books, documents and artifacts called “A.I.: The Hidden History.”Credit...via Christian White Rare Books [image: A book with a yellow, slightly tattered dust jacket, with the title “Giant Brains or Machines That Think,” by Edmund C. Berkeley, and a black circle containing an image of a human face with a yellow wire connecting the forehead to a box.] Today, the specter of artificial intelligence may rouse anxiety in the minds of the bookish sorts who pack the fair. But in his 1949 book “Giant Brains: Or, Machines That Think,” the American computer scientist Edmund Callis Berkeley struck a more upbeat note. “It seems to me,” he wrote, “that they will take a load off men’s minds as great as the load that printing took off men’s writing: a great burden lifted.” A first edition of Berkeley’s book is among the dozens of items included in “A.I.: The Hidden History,” a collection of books, documents and artifacts offered by Christian White Rare Books ($125,000). The collection includes material from leading figures like the mathematician Claude Shannon (known as the father of information theory) and the philosopher David Lewis, as well as from (ahem) women who were active in the field. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/27/arts/new-york-antiquarian-book-fair.html Stay sane, Jonathan Jonathan Coopersmith Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science Professor (retired) Department of History Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4236 979.739.4708 (cell) "A Chief Skunk Looks Back," <https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/departments/a-chief-skunk-looks-back/> (interview with Sherm Mullin) *Aerospace America* March 2023 It's taking longer to vote - especially if you are Black or Hispanic <https://theconversation.com/its-taking-more-time-to-cast-a-ballot-in-us-ele…> , theconversation.com Preserving space archives: https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/ *FAXED. The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine* (Johns Hopkins University Press)

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Two papers on the history of concurrency
by Troy Astarte 26 Apr '23

26 Apr '23

Dear list, I am happy to share with you two recent Open access publications coming from the Leverhulme Trust funded project on the history of concurrency led by my colleague Cliff Jones. Jones, C.B. Three Early Formal Approaches to the Verification of Concurrent Programs. Minds & Machines (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-023-09621-5 Astarte, T.K. From Monitors to Monitors: A Primitive History. Minds & Machines (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-023-09632-2 Best, Dr. Troy Kaighin Astarte (they/them / nhw) 📱 I am currently dictating messages due to RSI. Please forgive any strange spelling. Lecturer, Computer Science / Darlithydd, Cyfrifiadureg Swansea University / Prifysgol Abertawe

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APPLE II AGE: BOOK LAUNCH // Thurs May 11 // Internet Archive, SF
by Laine Nooney 24 Apr '23

24 Apr '23

Dear SIGCIS! My first book, THE APPLE II AGE: HOW THE COMPUTER BECAME PERSONAL officially drops May 8 (though lots of folks have already gotten their pre-orders!). My official *book launch* is happening Thursday, May 11 at the Internet Archive in San Francisco. If you're local to the area, please stop by! I'll be doing a short talk and reading, followed by conversation with Finn Brunton (UC-Davis), and then a signing. Registration here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-talk-the-apple-ii-age-tickets-622292011157 More about the book here: http://www.lainenooney.com/the-apple-ii-age.html. Pre-order from UCP <https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo195231688.html>, Amazon <https://a.co/d/j0EHjlt>, or your local bookstore :) Many thanks to the support and mentorship provided by so many in this community! Warmly, Laine Nooney <http://www.lainenooney.com/> Assistant Professor | MCC <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/> @ NYU <http://www.nyu.edu/> | they/them -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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Mahoney Prize: Call for Nominations (reminder)
by Kevin Driscoll 24 Apr '23

24 Apr '23

Dear SIGCIS, Nominations are now open for the 2023 Mahoney Prize. 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 2023 prize, articles published in the preceding three years (2020, 2021 and 2022) are eligible for nomination. The Mahoney Prize is awarded by the Special Interest Group in Computers, Information, and Society (SIGCIS) and will be presented at the SIG’s annual meeting. We encourage self-nominations and do not require a cover letter. Please email a PDF of the article you would like to nominate to the 2023 Prize Committee by April 30, 2023. For committee email addresses and a list of prior winners, see: https://www.sigcis.org/mahoneyprize If you have any questions about the award or the nomination process, please reply to me directly. On behalf of your Mahoney Prize committee, Kevin Driscoll University of Virginia

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IEEE Annals of the History of Computing Reviews
by Theodora J Dryer 20 Apr '23

20 Apr '23

Dear SIGCIS community, I have a stack of gorgeous new books for reviews! I am looking to connect with more early and alternative career folks who would benefit from a review publication. Please feel free to forward my contact to students and colleagues in your networks. I am not assigning books to ChatGPT at this time. Thank you, Theodora -- Theodora Dryer, PhD she/her www.theodoradryer.com Advancing Climate Justice Priorities <https://ssir.org/articles/entry/advancing_climate_justice_priorities_over_p…> Seeds of Control in Algorithmic Modernity (preorder) <https://global.oup.com/academic/product/algorithmic-modernity-9780197502426…>

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