October 2024 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

American codebreaker exhibit - but you can't see it
by Jonathan Coopersmith 30 Dec '24

30 Dec '24

https://dcist.com/story/23/09/22/arlington-foreign-service-institute-recogn… Actually, I suspect we could probably arrange a tour. 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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The impact of computer patents
by Brian Randell 30 Dec '24

30 Dec '24

Hi: I would be grateful for recommendations on books and papers containing thoughtful well-justified discussion of the likely or actual practical impact of the outcomes of the various attempts to patent the concept of a programmable computer (whether granted, refused or invalidated) on the early development of the computer industry, in the US and elsewhere. I have in mind the ENIAC and especially the Konrad Zuse patent cases, but am also interested in any others. (My searches for good references have been hampered by the proliferation of articles on software patenting - a topic which I am not trying to cover.) Cheers Brian Randell Sent from my iPhone

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cfa: The Global Cochlear Implant
by Mara Mills 30 Dec '24

30 Dec '24

The Global Cochlear Implant: Provincializing “Brain Implants” through Disability Technocultures Michele Friedner (University of Chicago) and Mara Mills (New York University) have received funding from the US-based National Endowment for the Humanities <https://www.neh.gov/program/dangers-and-opportunities-technology-perspectiv…>for a conference, working group, and book project on “The Global Cochlear Implant” for the period Fall 2023-Fall 2025. We are seeking chapter contributors for our interdisciplinary edited volume that will focus on: -Historical and contemporary accounts of cochlear implant development and utilization in specific geographic contexts, including developing contexts -Pre-histories of cochlear implant development and use (especially in Russia, France, Austria) -Analysis of the ways that cochlear implantation is changing (or not) deaf and disability identities, socialities, solidarities, and life trajectories in specific geographic contexts - Ethics of cochlear implantation development, dissemination, and use in diverse contexts; an exploration of ethics can also include discussions of brain implants and biotechnology more broadly - Humanistic and aesthetic accounts and representations of cochlear implantation - Histories connecting cochlear implants to the broader category of brain implants Doctoral students are welcome and encouraged to apply. Contributors can be at any academic or non-academic rank and will be offered a stipend for their chapters as well as travel and lodging funds to attend the October 2024 conference in Chicago. Participants will also be invited to attend monthly zoom group meetings where they will receive support for writing their chapters. The deadlines are as follows: 1. Submit abstract and cv to michelefriedner(a)uchicago.edu and mmills(a)nyu.edu <mamills(a)nyu.edu> by December 1 2023; please email both with questions and/or concerns. 2. Decisions will be made by Jan 1, 2024. 3. Working group meetings in support of research and writing of papers will commence first week of February. 4. Conference will be held in October 2024 at the University of Chicago; Participants will present talks based on their chapters. 5. Versions of chapters will be sent to the selected press in April 2025. Project Abstract: Perhaps no medical device has sparked more popular discussion of the “dangers and opportunities of technology” than the cochlear implant (CI). The first true bionic device, CIs (re)produce an absent ‘normal’ human function (Blume 2009). Despite ongoing polarizing debates about the ramifications of CI technology, only a few book-length studies of the technology exist, and these have overwhelmingly emphasized U.S. and European perspectives. This collaborative humanities project will document the impacts of the technology itself (e.g. algorithmic bias), the influence of the global corporations that market it, and the range of ways implants have been domesticated, maintained, and re-interpreted. At this pivotal moment for the development and global dissemination of neuroprosthetics, with brain implants widely featured in the popular press, this multi-disciplinary, international project will serve both a documentary and a comparative function, as well as provide a platform, through our conference and published work, for alternative narratives of CI use. Mara Mills <http://maramills.org/> | Associate Professor | Media, Culture, and Communication | New York University Co-Director, NYU Center for Disability Studies <https://disabilitystudies.nyu.edu/> Crip Authorship: Disability as Method <https://nyupress.org/9781479819355/crip-authorship/>, eds. Mills and Sanchez (NYU 2023) Testing Hearing: The Making of Modern Aurality <https://academic.oup.com/book/36957>, eds. Tkaczyk, Mills, and Hui (Oxford 2020)

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The Connectivity of Things: Network Cultures since 1832
by Sebastian Gießmann 04 Nov '24

04 Nov '24

Dear members of SIGCIS, when Henri de Saint-Simon was broke, he handwrote and manually copied his treatises so that they might see some distribution. I always think of this early 19th century story when I reach out to say that there's a new book out there. As historians of technology you might enjoy reading "The Connectivity of Things: Network Cultures since 1832," which comes out today with MIT Press. I always wanted to find out about why the Internet is considered a network of networks. The book itself is a /longue durée/ cultural-technical answer to that question. While this is hopefully going to see open access soon, the actual printed book is a real beauty! I do continue with the Saint-Simonian business just a bit: If you indulge in reading "Connectivity" on paper, there's a 30 percent discount _only today_ on Barnes and Noble. Please use PUBDAY30 as a discount code on https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/763375/the-connectivity-of-things-…. MIT Press has some more information on the discount code business: https://mitpress.mit.edu/discount-codes/. Btw, there's a 20 percent discount if you use READMIT20 on any other day. All of this certainly works with a US address - hopefully, people in Canada might also profit from it. In my humble East German yet Gutenbergian ways, this kind of book promotion still feels a bit awkward. But who would not like to save some money? Feel free to share this information as you like. All the best from Cologne, Sebastian -- AOR Dr. Sebastian Gießmann Reader | Media Theory https://www.uni-siegen.de/phil/medienwissenschaft/personal/lehrende/giessma… Sprechstunde DO 13-14 Uhr:https://sprechstunde.tools.phil.uni-siegen.de/?id=93 https://uni-siegen.webex.com/meet/giessmann https://mastodon.social/@sebgiessmann http://www.sebastiangiessmann.de https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de

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Book Announcement
by James Cortada 25 Oct '24

25 Oct '24

Several years ago Bill Aspray and I wrote *Fake News Nation*, as part of our ongoing studies of modern uses of information, misinformation, fake info and conspiracies, arguing that these topics had a long history dating back almost 200 years before the Internet's influence. Then 5 years later the problems we identified had continued to intensify, hence our publisher just brought out a paperback edition for $25. First, thanks to those of you who supported our work and also by buying the original edition. Second, Rowman and Littlefield is offering a 30% discount off the price of the paperback edition if ordered directly from it, using code RLFANDF30. It might now be affordable for your students at $17.50; otherwise AMazon etc will have it available in mid-November. Again, many thanks for your ongoing support of our work, for the kind reviews a number of you were asked to write, and for acquiring the original volume. -- James W. Cortada Senior Research Fellow Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota jcortada(a)umn.edu 608-274-6382

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NEXT FRIDAY: ROMchip Presents: José Zagal on Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy
by Laine Nooney 24 Oct '24

24 Oct '24

Join us Friday, November 1, as *ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories *hosts games researcher José P. Zagal for a talk about *Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy*, co-authored with Benj Edwards*.* The event will be at 3PM EST on the ROMchip Twitch channel <https://www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal>. Sign up for our newsletter <https://romchip.us13.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=27c1594af9abf2dc80455091b&…> to never miss an update. RSVP Here <https://www.tickettailor.com/events/romchipajournalofgamehistories/1386247>. Tickets serve as calendar reminders for the event. Head to https://www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal join the talk on Nov 1. *About the Book* *The curious history, technology, and cultural context of Nintendo's short-lived stereoscopic gaming console, the Virtual Boy.* With glowing red stereoscopic 3D graphics, the Virtual Boy cast a prophetic hue: Shortly after its release in 1995, Nintendo's balance sheet for the product was "in the red" as well. Of all the innovative long shots the game industry has witnessed over the years, perhaps the most infamous and least understood was the Virtual Boy. Why the Virtual Boy failed, and where it succeeded, are questions that video game experts José Zagal and Benj Edwards explore in *Seeing Red*, but even more interesting to the authors is what the platform actually was: what it promised, how it worked, and where it fit into the story of gaming. Nintendo released the Virtual Boy as a standalone table-top device in 1995—and quickly discontinued it after lackluster sales and a lukewarm critical reception. In *Seeing Red,* Zagal and Edwards examine the device's technical capabilities, its games, and the cultural context in the US in the 1990s when Nintendo developed and released the unusual console. The Virtual Boy, in their account, built upon and extended an often-forgotten historical tradition of immersive layered dioramas going back 100 years that was largely unexplored in video games at the time. The authors also show how the platform's library of games conveyed a distinct visual aesthetic style that has not been significantly explored since the Virtual Boy's release, having been superseded by polygonal 3D graphics. The platform's meaning, they contend, lies as much in its design and technical capabilities and affordances as it does in an audience's perception of those capabilities. Offering rare insight into how we think about video game platforms, *Seeing Red* illustrates where perception and context come, quite literally, into play. *About the Authors*José P. Zagal is Professor at the University of Utah's Entertainment Arts & Engineering program. He is the author of *Ludoliteracy*, coeditor of *The Videogame Ethics Reader*, and Editor-in-Chief of *Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association*. Zagal has been honored as a DiGRA Distinguished Scholar and a Fellow of the Higher Education Video Game Alliance for his contributions to games research. Benj Edwards is a tech historian and journalist. He is currently the AI and Machine Learning reporter for Ars Technica and a tech journalist for *The Atlantic, Wired, Macworld*, *PC World*, *Fast Company*, and other publications. Edwards is also the Editor-in-Chief of *Vintage Computing and Gaming*, a contributor to the *Retronauts* podcast, and creator of *The Culture of Tech* podcast. *About ROMchip**ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories <https://www.romchip.org/>* is a free, online scholarly journal for game history. *ROMchip *develops, edits, and publishes ad-free, open access game history research for a range of audiences. It supports any discipline of work enlivening the history of games in local and global contexts, and embraces diversity in how game history is studied, documented, collected, preserved, and practiced. *ROM**c**hip* is a donation-based organization fiscally sponsored by The Hack Foundation <https://hackclub.com/fiscal-sponsorship/> (d.b.a. Hack Club), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 81-2908499). Laine Nooney <http://www.lainenooney.com/> Associate Professor | MCC <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/> @ NYU <http://www.nyu.edu/> | they/them Managing Editor | ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories <https://romchip.org/index.php/romchip-journal> | Join our Newsletter <http://eepurl.com/crCul1> -Need to make an appt? Click, don't email: https://calendar.app.google/V9ZuMRWEKnnUBdQ56 -Probably typed by voice recognition, so please cherish typos

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[SFHST 2025] - Panel "Histories and Historiographies of AI"
by FICHEN Mathilde 21 Oct '24

21 Oct '24

Dear all, We are pleased to announce the panel "Histories and Historiographies of Artificial Intelligence" as part of the upcoming Congress of the French Society for the History of Science and Technology (SFHST), which will be held from April 9-11 in Nancy. You can find the panel's argument attached as well as on the SFHST website: https://sfhstnancy2025.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/3#S7 Proposals for presentations must be submitted by Tuesday, December 31, through the Scienceconf platform via the SFHST website: https://sfhstnancy2025.sciencesconf.org/submission/submit We look forward to reading your proposals. Mathilde Fichen (HT2S, Cnam) et Valentin Goujon (médialab, Science Po) Mathilde Fichen Ph.D Candidate CNAM - HT2S<https://technique-societe.cnam.fr/histoire-des-technosciences-en-societe-ht…> Personal page: mathfichen.github.io<https://mathfichen.github.io/>

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IEEE Annals of the History of Computing - CfP Special Issue "Computing and the Built Environment"
by Theodora Vardouli, Prof. 18 Oct '24

18 Oct '24

Dear SIGCIS, We are excited to share with you the Call for Papers for a Special Issue themed “Computing and the Built Environment” we are guest editing for the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. https://www.computer.org/digital-library/magazines/an/cfp-special-proposal-… We are looking for new historical work examining techniques and discourses on environmental computability cultivated at the mesoscale of buildings and urban infrastructures. Please circulate and consider submitting your work! If you have any questions, feel free to email us. We are looking forward to your submissions. All best, Theodora Vardouli and David Theodore Guest Editors -- Theodora Vardouli Associate Professor Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture McGill University Macdonald-Harrington Building, Room 311 815 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal Quebec H3A 0C2 T: 514-398-6709 / C: 514-572-0575 [signature_2904995222] https://www.mcgill.ca/codex/ https://theodoravardouli.com/ Graph Vision: Digital Architectures Skeletons (MIT Press)<https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262049016/graph-vision/> Designing the Computational Image, Imagining Computational Design (AR+D)<https://appliedresearchanddesign.com/product/designing-the-computational-im…>

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Georgia Tech hiring in digital systems and international affairs
by Jon Lindsay 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Hello friends, The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Tech is conducting a broad search — multiple open rank positions — in digital systems and international affairs. I personally would love to see historians apply. If you know anyone working on global or transnational topics in computation or information, please encourage them to apply. The great thing about this position is that there is a possibility for joint appointment with the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy in the College of Computing. I have a joint appointment and am happy to answer any questions! Best, Jon The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia invites applications for multiple open rank, tenure-track faculty positions in the areas of Digital Systems and International Affairs. These appointments are part of a strategic cluster hire initiative coordinated with the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy. The expected start date is Fall 2025. Scholars with a research specialization at the intersection of international affairs and digital systems are encouraged to apply. Potential research topics of interest include but are not limited to the security, governance, economic, privacy, resilience, justice and equity, development, or geographical aspects of information technology, communication infrastructure, digital devices, data systems, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, synthetic biology, or augmented reality. We invite applicants with disciplinary backgrounds in political science, international relations, sociology, STS, history, public policy, and interdisciplinary researchers with backgrounds at the intersections of computing and social sciences. Applicants to this cluster hire can be considered for joint appointments including with the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy within the College of Computing. Specifics of any joint appointment will be based upon the needs of the schools and the intellectual fit of the applicant. https://careers.hprod.onehcm.usg.edu/psc/careers/CAREERS/HRMS/c/HRS_HRAM_FL…

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Reminder CfA: Fully Funded Sabbaticals and Working Groups
by Esther Laufer 14 Oct '24

14 Oct '24

Dear all, This is a reminder for the upcoming application deadline for fellowships and working groups at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) on 31 October. Best wishes, Esther **** The Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) funds innovative projects that deal with the social opportunities and challenges of the digital transformation. We support individual researchers and groups. You want to spend a sabbatical in a vibrant interdisciplinary research community? Become a fellow at CAIS! A fellowship at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) releases you from your regular work obligations and opens up new perspectives. As a fellow, you can spend either six or three months in Bochum, Germany. During this period, we will finance your sabbatical leave from work through compensation (e.g. for a teaching substitute). Alternatively, we will pay grants of up to 2.000 € per month. You can invite guests for collaboration and will receive financial support for research expenses. Individual offices and meeting rooms with modern facilities offer optimal working conditions. In addition, we will provide comfortable apartments free of charge. You can apply for our regular open call, or for our special call on “Sustainability in the Age of Digital Transformation”: https://www.cais-research.de/wp-content/uploads/Special-Call_Sustainability… Find out more at https://www.cais-research.de/en/cais-college/fellowships/ You want to boost your collaboration? Bring your group together at CAIS! Working groups bring together experts from different locations to work on joint projects in an inspiring environment. We provide modern meeting facilities and catering for working groups of up to ten members. In addition, we will cover travel and accommodation expenses. You can spend up to three weeks in Bochum or get together for up to three shorter meetings. Find out more at https://www.cais-research.de/en/cais-college/working-groups/ Application The next deadline for applications is 31 October 2024. The earliest possible starting date for new fellowships is October 2025. The earliest possible starting date for new working groups is May 2025. Please use the application forms provided on our website. The funding program is open to excellent scholars and practitioners, to all career stages, disciplines and areas of investigation, as well as to pure research and to projects that are more applied in orientation. Further questions? Please contact esther.laufer(a)cais-research.de mailto:esther.laufer@cais-research.de.

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