November 2025 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Conference "Computer in Deutschland", November 7th-8th, Paderborn (Germany)
by Martin Schmitt 16 Feb '26

16 Feb '26

Dear SIGCIS, I hope everyone of you returned home safely from Luxembourg last week. It was awesome to see so many of you there at SHOT. So many good panels on the history of computing! Who still hasn’t enough (and is able to understand German), I just wanted to invite you to a conference on „Computer in Germany. New perspectives in History of Computing and Computer Archeology“. ("Computer in Deutschland“) The conference takes place on the of the 100th anniversary of Heinz Nixdorf in Paderborn, Germany, on November 7th-8th. I’m co-organizing the conference with my colleague Stefan Höltgen with the support of the Historical Institute Paderborn, the German Society for Computer Science (GI) and the Heinz Nixdorf MuseumsForum, on of the largest computer museums in the world. Conference language is German, the conference is free. Please find attached the program and the poster. Best Martin Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter | digital enthusiast UNIVERSITÄT PADERBORN Historisches Institut Zeitgeschichte, Neuere & Neuste Geschichte, Digital History https://www.uni-paderborn.de/person/100968 Tel.: +49 5251 60-2428 Zuletzt erschienen: Schmitt, Martin: „Socialist AI? Societal Use, Economic Implementation, and the Tensions of Applied Computer Science in Late Socialist GDR“, in: IEEE Annals Hist. Comput. (2023), S. 66-79.

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[RESET Journal] Call for Papers – “Towards New Social and Historical Studies of Artificial Intelligence” (January 16, 2026)
by FICHEN Mathilde 15 Jan '26

15 Jan '26

Hello everyone, The journal RESET is issuing a call for contributions on the following theme: “Towards New Social and Historical Studies of Artificial Intelligence”. Details of the call are available in French<https://journals.openedition.org/reset/6249> and English<https://journals.openedition.org/reset/6250> on the journal’s website. This special issue, coordinated by Mathilde Fichen (HT2s, Cnam), Alexander Campolo (Durham University), and Valentin Goujon (médialab, Sciences Po), aims to bring together empirically grounded contributions that fall within one or more of the following areas: * “Winters” and “springs,” symbolic and connectionist: testing the robustness of major historiographical narratives about artificial intelligence * Spaces, objects, intersectionality: renewed perspectives on the history of artificial intelligence * Contemporary socio-histories of artificial intelligence, between commercial breakthroughs and scientific renewals Article abstracts (around 4,000 characters, excluding bibliography) are expected by January 16, 2026 at the following three email addresses: * mathilde.fichen(a)lecnam.net * alexander.campolo(a)durham.ac.uk * valentin.goujon(a)sciencespo.fr The proposal, written in French or English, should indicate the research question, the methodology used, the theoretical framework applied, and the expected results. It should emphasize the scientific relevance of the proposed article in relation to the existing literature and the call for papers, and should be accompanied by a short bibliography. Authors will receive a response in mid-February 2026. For accepted proposals, full articles must be submitted no later than June 2026. The journal RESET is also open, in its Varia<https://journals.openedition.org/reset/3228> section, to all work in the humanities and social sciences that deals with the digital world as an object or method of research. Please feel free to share this call with anyone who may be interested. We remain available at the email addresses above for any questions. We look forward to reading your submissions, Mathilde Fichen, Alexander Campolo, and Valentin Goujon. 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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Simon Lavington
by James Sumner 29 Dec '25

29 Dec '25

Dear SIGCIS The death was announced last week <https://www.facebook.com/TNMOC/videos/it-is-with-great-sadness-that-the-nat…> of Professor Simon Lavington, one of the earliest and most prolific of British computer historians. Originally trained as an electrical engineer, Simon Lavington was a graduate student in the University of Manchester's emerging Department of Computer Science under Tom Kilburn in the 1960s. His historical research, mostly in the internal machine-history tradition, developed alongside an academic career in computer science and systems design at Manchester and the University of Essex, and expanded after his official retirement in 2002. His first book, the short illustrated study /A History of Manchester Computers/ (1975; 2nd ed., 1998), was followed by /Early British Computers /(1980), a technical survey of the hardware industry's development; /The Pegasus Story/ (2000), a machine history; and two detailed studies of British manufacturers, /Moving Targets: Elliott-Automation and the Dawn of the Computer Age /(2011) and /Early Computing in Britain: Ferranti Ltd and Government Funding/ (2019). He also edited the multi-authored work /Alan Turing and his Contemporaries/ (2012, with Chris Burton, Martin Campbell-Kelly and Roger Johnson). His published articles include a description of the high-speed text analysis machine Oedipus, developed secretly for the intelligence service GCHQ in the 1950s and loosely descended from the Bletchley Park Colossus project (/Annals/, 2006: doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2006.34 <https://doi.org/10.1109/MAHC.2006.34>) and a short biography of Dina Vaughan/St Johnston, whose company Vaughan Programming Services was a defining influence on the concept of the independent software house (/Computer Journal/, 2009: doi.org/10.1093/comjnl/bxn019 <https://doi.org/10.1093/comjnl/bxn019>). He was also the digital archivist for the Computer Conservation Society, where he co-ordinated the Our Computer Heritage <https://www.ourcomputerheritage.org/> project. In 2024 he was awarded an honorary fellowship of the National Museum of Computing, and he remained active in research and commemorative activities to the end of his life. His papers <https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/search/archives/fcb6b66a-adc2-38f1-a409-0bc6…> are held at the University of Manchester Library. Best wishes James

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available now for pre-order: Other Networks / A Radical Technology Sourcebook
by Lori Emerson 21 Nov '25

21 Nov '25

Dear all, At long last, my beloved book, Other Networks:A Radical Technology Sourcebook, is officially available from Anthology Editions for pre-order here<https://shop.mexicansummer.com/merch/495898-lori-emerson-other-networks-a-r…>! Sadly, despite publishing many beautifully designed art books, the publisher won’t be around for much longer which means there are only 1000 copies available of Other Networks. If you think you’d like a copy, consider pre-ordering as soon as you can manage it. With deep gratitude to my editor Mark Iosifescu<https://iosifescu.biz/>, book cover designer Robert Beatty<https://robertbeattyart.com/>, and interior book designer Ella Gold<https://ellagold.com/>, Other Networks catalogs 80+ networks that preceded or existed outside of the internet. It is also an educational project that comes out of my belief that we are all capable both of understanding networks from the past and of building alternative networks for the future; a love letter to experimental art and technology; and a liberatory guide for escaping the corporate present. The design brilliantly both recalls the long history of telecommunications networks (exemplified by late 19th century/early 20th century telegraph and telephone manuals) and rewrites that same history to have a more global perspective and to include more women; Black, Indigenous, and People of Color; and artist experiments with/on these pre-internet networks. Below is the table of contents. I have also posted on my blog excerpts from or expanded versions of entries on microbroadcasting<https://loriemerson.net/2024/09/21/the-history-of-microbroadcasting-and-how…>, barbed wire fence phones<https://loriemerson.net/2024/08/31/a-brief-history-of-barbed-wire-fence-tel…>, and imaginary networks<https://loriemerson.net/2025/01/04/brief-notes-toward-activating-the-potent…>. Sincerely, Lori (Emerson) *** Chronological List of Networks<https://loriemerson.net/2024/03/15/chronological-list-of-networks-in-other-…> Chronological List of Network Experiments<https://loriemerson.net/2024/03/15/chronological-list-of-network-experiment…> Acknowledgements Foreword Introduction Wireless Networks: Sound Networks [1] Drums [2] Whistling Air Networks [3] Fire or Smoke Signals [4] Pneumatic Tubes [5] Skywriting Water Networks [6] Hydraulic Semaphore Optical Networks [7] Flag Signaling [8] Optical Telegraph [9] Infrared Communication [10] Signal Lamp [11] Heliograph [12] Photophone [13] Ultraviolet Communication [14] Laser Communication [15] Visible Light Communication Radio Networks [16] Amateur Radio [16.1] Radiotelegraphy [16.2] Radioteletype [16.3] Amateur Television [16.4] Hellschreiber [16.5] Earth-Moon-Earth Communication [16.6] Amateur Radio Satellite [16.7] Amateur Packet Radio [17] Radio Broadcast [18] Pirate Radio [19] Radiofax [20] Two-Way Radio [21] Pager [22] Meteor Burst Communication [23] Slow Scan Television [24] Project West Ford [25] Pirate Television [26] Packet Radio Network [27] Microbroadcast [28] Software Defined Radio [29] Wi-Fi [30] Bluetooth Microwave Networks [31] Microwave Radio-Relay [32] Communications Satellite Wired Networks: Electrical Wire Networks [33] Electrical telegraph [33.1] Electrical Printing Telegraph [33.2] Image Telegraph [33.3] Fire Alarm Telegraph [33.4] Pantelegraph [33.5] Telephonic Telegraph [34] Telephone [35] Wired Radio [36] Telautograph [37] Telefacsimile [38] Videophone [39] Telex Barbed Wire Networks [40] Barbed Wire Telegraph [41] Fence Phones Hybrid Networks: [42] Library [43] Book [44] Postal System [44.1] Pigeon Post [44.2] Projectile Post [44.3] Balloon Mail [44.4] Pony Express [44.5] Airgraph and V-Mail [44.6] Email Letter [45] Sneakernet [46] Radio Broadcast Network [47] Broadcast Television [48] Cable Television [48.1] NABU [49] Cellular Network [50] Time-Sharing Network [51] Teletext [52] Videotex Imaginary Networks: [53] Necromancy [54] Pasilalinic-Sympathetic Compass [55] Telephonoscope [56] Telepathy [57] Ley Lines [58] Mundaneum [59] World Brain [60] Memex [61] Faster-Than-Light Communication Networks [62] Project Xanadu [63] Metaverse [64] The Clacks [65] Pandoran Neural Network [66] Cosmic Internet -- “I use technology in order to hate it properly.” — Nam June Paik Lori Emerson | KF0LCB | she/her/they/them Associate Professor | Associate Chair Graduate Studies | Director, Media Archaeology Lab Media Studies Department | University Colorado Boulder Traditional territories of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Ute Nations Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook<https://shop.mexicansummer.com/merch/495898-lori-emerson-other-networks-a-r…> Mastodon<https://post.lurk.org/@loriemerson> | Bluesky<https://bsky.app/profile/loriemerson.net> | loriemerson.net<http://loriemerson.net/> | mediaarchaeologylab.com<http://mediaarchaeologylab.com/>

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TOMORROW: Nov 21 @ 2PM ET // ROMchip Presents: TreaAndrea M. Russworm on "Utopian Funk: Playing and Breaking The Sims in Dark Times"
by Laine Nooney 21 Nov '25

21 Nov '25

Join us TOMORROW, Nov 21, as *ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories <https://romchip.org/index.php/romchip-journal> *hosts scholar TreaAndrea M. Russworm for a talk titled "Utopian Funk: Playing and Breaking The Sims in Dark Times." The event will be at 2PM ET 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. Head to https://www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal join the talk @ 2PM. *About the Talk* This talk explores how Black arts traditions—like funk music, speculative fiction, and televisual forms—intersect with video game histories and player practices to chart what Russworm frames as “utopian funk.” Focusing on The Sims and Black player communities, the talk will examine how games become sites of both speculative possibility and structural failure, revealing how utopian impulses and broken systems coexist as generative spaces for cultural production and critique. *About the Speaker* TreaAndrea M. Russworm, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) is a Professor in the Interactive Media & Games Division at the University of Southern California and a Series Editor of *Power Play: Games, Politics, Culture *(Duke University Press). She teaches courses on video games, digital culture, and popular media like film, television, and streaming platforms. She is also the director of the Radical Play Game Design Lab, an Associate Editor for Outreach and Equity for the *Journal of Cinema and Media Studies*, and she has appeared in popular media venues like CNN. A prolific writer and editor on film, television, games, and other media, Professor Russworm has published widely, including the books *Gaming Representation: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Video Games*; *Blackness is Burning: Civil Rights, Popular Culture, and the Problem of Recognition*; and *From Madea to Media Mogul: Theorizing Tyler Perry. *She is currently working on three new books on race and gaming cultures. *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. *ROMchip* 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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Call for applications · The Craft of Science with AI (online, Mar 19–20, 2026)
by Michelle Spektor 19 Nov '25

19 Nov '25

Please see below for a workshop hosted by Data & Society that may interest many in SIGCIS: --- Data & Society is organizing The Craft of Science with AI: Evidence, Judgment, and Practice (online, March 19–20, 2026), an academic workshop organized around the concrete ways that AI tools are reshaping questions, shifting what counts as evidence, and altering practices of interpretation, verification, and collaboration. The format centers on small-group sessions, each anchored by pre-read drafts and discussants who help sharpen the analysis and surface points of friction. Drafts remain with authors; confidentiality is the default, and anonymization is supported where needed. We welcome scientists, STS and social science researchers, research-software engineers, librarians, policy and legal scholars, lab managers, and others working at the intersection of scientific reasoning and computational practice. Whether you bring a project-in-progress (~75% complete) or plan to contribute as a participant offering rigorous feedback, we invite you to apply by December 8, 2025 (Anywhere on Earth) What: The Craft of Science with AI: Evidence, Judgment, and Practice (online) When: Thu–Fri, March 19–20, 2026 Focus: How AI tools reshape questions, evidence, interpretation, verification, writing, and lab coordination. Format: Small-group feedback sessions with pre-reads and discussants. Drafts remain with authors; confidentiality by default. Who: Scientists; STS/anthropology/sociology/philosophy of science/HCI; research-software engineers; librarians and data stewards; policy/legal researchers; lab managers; applied R&D. Apply by: Mon, Dec 8, 2025 (AoE). Authors (~75% draft) or Participants (prepared feedback). Details: https://datasociety.net/announcements/2025/11/05/the-craft-of-science-with-…

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Kaypro
by Jonathan Coopersmith 18 Nov '25

18 Nov '25

Anyone interested in a Kaypro? Comes with manual, not sure about original packaging. 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) with Arthur Daemmrich, “The Road Not (Yet) Taken. Historians As Policy Professionals*,” AHA Perspectives* May 2025, 18-20. "'What Were We Thinking?' Space Commercialization, 1960-1990," in Brian C. Odom, ed., *The Rise of the Commercial Space Industry. Early Space Age to Present* (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).

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Save the Date: [SIGCIS 2026]: June 17-18, Berkeley, CA
by Gili Vidan 17 Nov '25

17 Nov '25

Dear all, The SIGCIS Meeting Organizing Committee is excited to share the details for our upcoming SIGCIS 2026 Annual Meeting, which will be held in person at UC Berkeley and via Zoom, *June 17-18, 2026*. Since our parent conference, SHOT, will be held virtually this coming year, we're taking advantage of the opportunity to expand our hybrid meeting to take place over 2 days. A full CFP will be shared in coming weeks and the deadline for submitting paper and panel abstracts is *February 16*, 2026, 11:59pm Pacific time. Please see the SIGCIS Meeting website <https://meetings.sigcis.org/> for more details and additional key dates <https://meetings.sigcis.org/key-dates-sigcis-2026.html>. We hope many of you will be able to join us in person or online for this two-day meeting. Please feel free to share the announcement with colleagues and relevant listservs. The SIGCIS Meetings Organizing Committee, Morgan Ames, Katya Babintseva, Colette Perold, and Gili Vidan --- Gili Vidan Assistant Professor | Information Science | Cornell University Pronouns: she/her

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CfA Funding for Research Sabbaticals (Fellowships) and Working Groups
by Esther Laufer 17 Nov '25

17 Nov '25

The Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) funds innovative research on the societal impact of digital transformation. We support individual researchers (fellows) and collaborative projects (working groups). Fellowships: Time and Space for Focus and Inspiration A fellowship at CAIS provides the freedom to dedicate yourself to your research and the opportunity to become part of a vibrant interdisciplinary community. Step away from daily work routines to gain new perspectives and build lasting connections. As a fellow, you can spend either six or three months in Bochum, Germany. During this time, we will cover your sabbatical leave from work through financial compensation (e.g. for a teaching substitute) or provide grants of up to 2.000 € per month. In addition, we will provide a fully furnished apartment free of charge. You can invite guests for collaboration and receive financial support for research expenses. Private offices and meeting rooms with modern facilities offer optimal working conditions. Find out more: https://www.cais-research.de/en/cais-college/fellowships/ Working Groups: Boost Your Research Collaboration A working group at CAIS enables you to assemble your own team of experts from different locations to collaborate in a stimulating environment. We provide modern meeting facilities and catering for 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 several shorter meetings. Find out more: https://www.cais-research.de/en/cais-college/working-groups/ Application The next deadline for applications is 19 December 2025. You can currently apply for a fellowship taking place between April and September 2027, or for working group meetings in 2027. Please use the application forms provided on our website. The funding program is open to excellent scholars and practitioners at all career stages and from all disciplines. Both fundamental research and applied projects are welcome. Questions? Please contact esther.laufer(a)cais-research.de mailto:esther.laufer@cais-research.de.

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Peter Naur papers (ALGOL 60)
by Paul McJones 10 Nov '25

10 Nov '25

The References section of Peter Naur’s paper “The European Side of the Last Phase of the Development of ALGOL 60” in the first HOPL conference [1] includes an item that begins: ALGOL 60 documents (1959–1960). Unpublished technical memoranda prepared in connection with the ALGOL 60 conference in Paris, 1960, Jan. 11–16. During the conference the available documents were numbered 1 to 30. Here the numbers 31 and 201 to 221 have been used for further related documents. and continues with a long numbered sequence of items. [1] R. L. Wexelblat, editor. History of Programming Languages I. ACM, New York, 1981. https://dl.acm.org/doi/book/10.1145/800025 I’ve long wished I could see the actual items. Recently I learned that Naur's son Thorkil donated Naur’s papers to the Niels Bohr Institute and scanned and curated all the ALGOL 60 papers (plus some related ALGOL 58 items) and posted them online at the Dansk Datahistorisk Forenings (Danish Data History Association): Peter Naur og Algol 60. (Danish: Peter Naur on Algol 60) https://datamuseum.dk/wiki/Peter_Naur_og_Algol_60 An overview of Algol 60 development, sources, and Peter Naur's involvement. Peter Naur. Hvorledes Algol 60 blev til (Danish: How Algol 60 was created). Colloquium at the Datalogisk Institut, 10 March 1972. Transcript. https://datamuseum.dk/wiki/Peter_Naur_Algol_60_DIKU_Kollokvium_1972-03-10 Audio. https://datamuseum.dk/wiki/Bits:30009181 Peter Naur Algol 60 Documents. (Danish) https://datamuseum.dk/wiki/Peter_Naur_Algol_60_Documents The papers and notes by Naur and others during his involvement with Algol 60 during 1959 and 1960 (plus a 1970 letter to Donald Knuth serving as a key to many of the documents). Most of the actual papers are in English. I’ve also incorporated links to the individual items in the Standards: evolving algorithmic language <https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/ALGOL/standards.html> section of my History of ALGOL <https://softwarepreservation.computerhistory.org/ALGOL/>web site. Paul McJones paul(a)mcjones.org

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