August 2023 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Kleiman: the women behind ENIAC
by Jonathan Coopersmith 30 Dec '24

30 Dec '24

FYI: https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-women-behind-eniac 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) "Technological obsolescence, <https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2023/05/technological-obsolescence>" National Academy of Engineering *Perspectives* May 23, 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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CFP Journal of Cinema & Media Studies: "But is it media?"
by Liz Ellcessor 30 Dec '24

30 Dec '24

Hello all, Excited to share this call for the inaugural special issue of JCMS: The Journal of Cinema and Media Studies. Work on media technologies, computing, digital systems, and so on is absolutely welcome! Abstracts (500 words) due: September 6, 2023 Full article drafts (8,000 - 10,000 words) due: January 15, 2024 Anticipated publication: fall 2025, volume 65, issue 1 To submit, email the JCMS managing editor: editors(a)jcmsjournal.org<mailto:editors@jcmsjournal.org> With questions, email the JCMS co-editors-in-chief: liz(a)jcmsjournal.org<mailto:liz@jcmsjournal.org> and bo(a)jcmsjournal.org<mailto:bo@jcmsjournal.org> About the topic: “But Is it Media?” The topic of the special issue is “But Is It Media?” As the field of media studies continues to expand, many scholars who operate under the media studies banner are shifting to studying objects, practices, and histories that look unlike traditional objects of media studies analysis. Such work pushes the boundaries of media studies, productively challenging our conceptualization of what constitutes media and what value media studies analysis brings to our understanding of the world. While this work often generates enthusiasm, it is also frequently met with skepticism. Scholars who conduct and present this work commonly find themselves asked, whether in Q&As or job interviews, “Sure, this is interesting, but is it really media?” This special issue takes up that question–“But is it media?”–as a provocation to embrace the elements of media studies that enhance, shift, or destabilize the very notion of media itself. In particular, we are interested in work that models how media studies scholars can approach seemingly “non-media” objects, bringing out their aesthetic and cultural qualities as media. In conceptualizing this issue, we draw inspiration from the many scholarly works, some recent and some already foundational, that raise eyebrows and push boundaries. Is a shoe a work of media? Is a filing cabinet? What about a seaweed forest, or a color, or a sex toy? These may seem like odd examples, yet existing scholarship has revealed their deep ties to media cultures, histories, reception, and/or production. Our goal with this issue is not to seek some new, more definitive definition of media–that is, to relitigate what defines media–but rather to inspire a more capacious view of what media already is and the immense value of studying the lived world around us through the lens of media. To read the full CFP, click here<https://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001rqnKV65sC5VxftUQfawEVcvgU0kVX4uTWNsJXKWdwIj…>. We look forward to receiving your submission! Best, Liz -- Elizabeth Ellcessor Associate Professor & Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Media Studies Director, Disability Studies Initiative Senior Faculty Fellow, Miller Center for Public Affairs University of Virginia lizellcessor(a)virginia.edu<mailto:lizellcessor@virginia.edu> Co-editor, Journal of Cinema and Media Studies<https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jcms/> In Case of Emergency: How Technologies Mediate Crisis and Normalize Inequality<https://nyupress.org/9781479811632/in-case-of-emergency/> (NYU Press, 2022) Disability Media Studies<https://www.amazon.com/Disability-Media-Studies-Elizabeth-Ellcessor/dp/1479…>, with Bill Kirkpatrick, eds. (NYU Press, 2017) Restricted Access: Media, Disability, and the Politics of Participation<https://www.amazon.com/Restricted-Access-Disability-Participation-Postmille…> (NYU Press, 2016)

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New Resource: The Archival Internet Video Index
by Avery Dame-Griff 30 Dec '24

30 Dec '24

All, (Apologies for cross-posting!) I just wanted to share a new resource I've been working on that might be of interest to folks for research or teaching: The Archival Internet Video Index <https://apdame.github.io/vidindex/>. While the name is a bit of a misnomer, the AIVI indexes archival footage of early digital communications and information services in use, ranging from videotex to the early years of the web. I've focused on video in particular because it allows folks, especially students, to see these technologies in use. They're also great for illustrating public understandings of technology, as well as contemporaneous corporate rhetoric (the CompuServe/Mickey Mouse Club theme mashup might be my favorite find so far). Please feel free to reach out if you have questions, suggestions, or any updated information for an entry - in almost all cases, I've based what I've indexed on what the poster shared, so some of the dates for when these videos were produced are very fuzzy. Best, Avery Dame-Griff -- Avery Dame-Griff (he/him/his) Lecturer, Women's and Gender Studies (Gonzaga University) Author, *The Two Revolutions: A History of the Transgender Internet* (NYU Press, August 2023) Curator, Queer Digital History Project <http://queerdigital.com/> averydame.net

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Announcing SIGCIS 2023 Conference Schedule (Sep 21-23, 2023) - Online Edition 2.0
by Babintseva, Ekaterina 30 Dec '24

30 Dec '24

Dear SIGCIS, On behalf of the SIGCIS organizing committee -- Morgan Ames, Steph Dick, Xiaochang Li, Laine Nooney, Colette Perold, Gili Vidan, and myself -- I am happy to announce that the program for the 14th Annual Meeting of SIGCIS is now live and can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/yc4xssv2 Our keynote for the event is Tung Hui-Hu (University of Michigan), the author of Digital Lethargy: Dispatchers from an Age of Disconnection (2022) and A Prehistory of the Cloud (2015). This year, the conference will take place on Zoom on Sep 21-23, 2023. For registration, please use Eventbrite: https://tinyurl.com/ycxz384s In order to maximize access to all members of the SIGCIS community, the conference fees are donation-based this year. We offer suggested rates for academic and non-academic participants here<https://meetings.sigcis.org/registration.html> and trust that you will select the fee that makes sense for your context, especially for scholars with limited research funds. Please note that Eventbrite does not permit $0 donations. If you would like to register without having to pay, please email the SIGCIS Meetings Organizing Committee at sigcis2023(a)morganya.org and we will register you for no cost. We hope to see many of you there! All best, Katya Babintseva Ekaterina Babintseva [bahb-int-seva]<https://www.cla.purdue.edu/directory/profiles/ekaterina-babintseva.html> www.ekaterina-babintseva.com<https://www.ekaterina-babintseva.com/> Assistant Professor in the History of Technology Purdue University Department of History, University Hall 120 672 Oval Drive West Lafayette, Indiana 47907 ebabints(a)purdue.edu

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Permanent academic post in Educational, Historical, and Philosophical Foundations of Computing
by Troy Astarte 30 Dec '24

30 Dec '24

Dear list, I am happy to announce a new opening for a Lecturer or Senior Lecturer in Educational, Historical, and Philosophical Foundations of Computer Science at Swansea University. Submissions close on 3rd September 2023. See here for more information: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/jobs-at-swansea/current-vacancies/details/?nPosti…<https://www.swansea.ac.uk/jobs-at-swansea/current-vacancies/details/?nPosti…> We are looking for a candidate with a strong research background in one or more of these research fields to contribute to our research theme. An ideal candidate has some technical understanding and ability but focuses their research interests strongly on the role of computing in society—perfect for someone from the SIGCIS community. Our ambition is to make Swansea University the best computer science department in the UK for this kind of critical and reflective study of computing. The Department of Computer Science already benefits from resources like · History of Computing Collection<https://collections.swansea.ac.uk/s/history-of-computing-collection/page/we…> · Technocamps<https://www.technocamps.com/>, That support our research and education outreach to schools, teachers and the citizens. We also have a diverse group of academics working across all kinds of computer science open to interdisciplinary research opportunities and a very strong School of Culture and Communication elsewhere in the university with a great deal of expertise in the digital media space. Our department has the opportunity to develop and teach material related to the context and impact of computing. We would be grateful for suggestions for people who might be interested in this opportunity or if you could simply pass this on to people you know who might be interested in applying. Please feel free to get in touch with one of us if you would like any further information about our programme or have any questions. Sent on behalf of the Search Committee: John Tucker j.v.tucker(a)swansea.ac.uk<mailto:j.v.tucker@swansea.ac.uk> Faron Moller f.g.moller(a)swansea.ac.uk<mailto:f.g.moller@swansea.ac.uk> Troy Astarte t.k.astarte(a)swansea.ac.uk<mailto:t.k.astarte@swansea.ac.uk> Best, Dr. Troy Kaighin Astarte (they/them / nhw) Lecturer, Computer Science / Darlithydd, Cyfrifiadureg Swansea University / Prifysgol Abertawe For students: my office hours are on the Intranet<https://fse-intranet.swan.ac.uk/intranet/staff_officehours?selected_staff_i…>. I fyfyrwyr: mae fy oriau swyddfa ar y fewnrwyd. Zoom office: https://swanseauniversity.zoom.us/my/t.k.astarte Supervision booking: https://doodle.com/bp/troyastarte/supervision Every email has a cost to the climate. Please think before sending short emails. Mae gan bob e-bost gost i’r hinsawdd. Meddyliwch cyn i chi anfon e-byst byr. Due to RSI sometimes I’ll need to dictate messages and they might come out a bit weird. Thanks for your patience.

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Internet Histories, Volume 7, Issue 3 (2023) is now available online
by Asger Harlung 30 Dec '24

30 Dec '24

To whom it may concern The editors of Internet Histories are pleased to announce that Internet Histories, Volume 7, Issue 3, December 2023 is complete, and available online. Two articles are open access. Internet Histories, Volume 7, Issue 3, December 2023 https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rint20/7/3 Contents: Articles Internet freedom, free culture, and free information: Aaron Swartz and cyberlibertarianism’s neoliberal turn Michael Buozis Shaping the digital world: views on the internet in India in Prime Ministerial speeches (1998–2019) Lasya Tandon A history of features for online tie breaking, 1997-2021 | Open Access Nicholas John & Dekel Katz Cryptoeconomics as governance: an intellectual history from “Crypto Anarchy” to “Cryptoeconomics” | Open Access Kelsie Nabben Genealogy of an archive. The birth, construction, and development of the World Wide Web collection at CERN | Open Access Martin Fomasi, Deborah Barcella, Eleonora Benecchi & Gabriele Balbi Kind regards on behalf of the Internet Histories editorial team, Asger Harlung, Editorial Assistant, Internet Histories

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New Book: Digital Independence. India's Way Into the Computer Age – an International History
by Michael Homberg 30 Dec '24

30 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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Book now for the Archives of IT Forum on the Histories of the Internet: 9 January 2024, London and Online
by Tom Abram 29 Aug '23

29 Aug '23

Tickets, details, program and speakers at <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archives-of-it-forum-on-the-histories-of-the…> [https://img.evbuc.com/https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.evbuc.com%2Fimages%2F569313469%2F68…]<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archives-of-it-forum-on-the-histories-of-the…> Archives of IT Forum on the Histories of the Internet<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archives-of-it-forum-on-the-histories-of-the…> A one-day academic-practitioner forum fostering multidisciplinary perspectives on the history of computers and telecommunications www.eventbrite.co.uk    The Forum will * Illuminate how people, policies, initiatives and other social factors have shaped and are shaping technological developments * Feature talks and panels identifying a variety of competing perspectives on innovations or other key events in the history of information and communication technologies Places are strictly limited to enable and promote discussion and debate, so book now to * Join us and colleagues in person for a full day at the Hall of The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists for the panels, with networking over lunch and post event drinks * Or secure one of the online slots to participate from wherever you are, at your convenience Enquiries to forum(a)archivesit.org.uk

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