March 2024 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Walter Shawlee - slide rules - obit
by Jonathan Coopersmith 11 Mar '24

11 Mar '24

FYI https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/08/science/walter-shawlee-dead.html https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/17/technology/slide-rules-tap-into-nostalgi… Stay sane, Jonathan PS I do do more than read obits. I'm just not sure what. 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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TOMORROW Mar 8: ROMchip Presents Jaroslav Švelch on Player vs. Monster // 1PM EST
by Laine Nooney 07 Mar '24

07 Mar '24

Join us Friday, March 8, as *ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories *hosts games studies scholar Jaroslav Švelch for a talk about his recent book, *Player vs. Monster: The Making and Breaking of Video Game Monstrosity.* The event will be at 1PM 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. *About the Book* Since the early days of video games, monsters have played pivotal roles as dangers to be avoided, level bosses to be defeated, or targets to be destroyed for extra points. But why is the figure of the monster so important in gaming, and how have video games come to shape our culture's conceptions of monstrosity? To answer these questions, *Player vs. Monster *explores the past half-century of monsters in games, from the dragons of early tabletop role-playing games and the pixelated aliens of *Space Invaders *to the malformed mutants of *The Last of Us *and the bizarre beasts of *Bloodborne*, and reveals the common threads among them. Covering examples from aliens to zombies, Jaroslav Švelch explores the art of monster design and traces its influences from mythology, visual arts, popular culture, and tabletop role-playing games. At the same time, he shows that video games follow the Cold War–era notion of clearly defined, calculable enemies, portraying monsters as figures that are irredeemably evil yet invariably vulnerable to defeat. He explains the appeal of such simplistic video game monsters, but also explores how the medium could evolve to present more nuanced depictions of monstrosity. *About the Author* Jaroslav Švelch is Assistant Professor in the Department of Media Studies at Charles University, Prague, and Lecturer in the Department of Game Design at the Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He is the author of *Gaming the Iron Curtain: How Teenagers and Amateurs in Communist Czechoslovakia Claimed the Medium of Computer Games*. *Upcoming Talks*On Friday, April 12, we'll be hosting scholar Whit Pow for their talk "People Orientations: Toward a Transgender Video Game and Software History." The event will be at 2PM EST on the *ROMchip *Twitch channel. REGISTER HERE <https://www.tickettailor.com/events/romchipajournalofgamehistories/1175812> . *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 Fractured Atlas <https://www.fracturedatlas.org/>; to donate to ROMchip, please visit our sponsor website <https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/romchip-a-journal-of-game-histories>. -- 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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Garry Tee (1932-2024)
by Brian E Carpenter 05 Mar '24

05 Mar '24

Garry was, among many things, a DEUCE programmer and New Zealand's first historian of computing. He was also a real gentleman, who I am honoured to have known. Brian Carpenter -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: [cs-retired-and-honorary] Garry Tee (1932-2024) Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2024 23:26:24 +0000 It is with much sadness that I pass on the news that Garry Tee died yesterday. I will pass on details of the funeral when the family has provided them. Garry was a member of the university staff in mathematics and computer science for many years, and was a familiar sight on campus well into his retirement. For those who didn't know Garry, here is a profile from 1992: https://nzmathsoc.org.nz/downloads/profiles/NZMSprofile54_Garry_Tee.pdf Kind regards | Ngā mihi Steven Professor Steven Galbraith Department of Mathematics Te Whare Pūtaiao | Faculty of Science Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of Auckland

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