July 2025 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

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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Call for Proposals: Source Code Exhibition at Software Heritage Symposium 2026
by FICHEN Mathilde 22 Aug '25

22 Aug '25

Dear colleagues and friends, We’re excited to announce a special project to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Software Heritage<https://www.softwareheritage.org/> initiative, which was launched in 2016 as part of Inria<https://www.inria.fr/fr>, the French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology. To mark this milestone, we are organizing a Source Code Exhibition, which will be unveiled during the Software Heritage Symposium 2026, hosted at UNESCO headquarters in Paris in late January or early February 2026. This exhibition offers an unusual approach by elevating source code from a supplementary element to the central focus of display. We aim to explore source code as a form of human expression—one rich with technical, historical, social, and aesthetic meaning. Each panel will feature a short source code snippet printed on a large-format poster, accompanied by a brief commentary written by the contributor. We’re inviting individuals from a diverse backgrounds—computer scientists, historians, philosophers, artists, activists, linguists, and others—to submit a proposal that resonate with one or more of the exhibition’s themes: * Source Code as Historical Testimony * Source Code as a Mirror of Society * Source Code as Cultural Artifact Whether your interest lies in vintage systems, subversive scripts, poetic programming, or something entirely unexpected, we welcome your perspective. At this stage, we are more interested in the ideas you wish to express than in perfect phrasing, so don’t hesitate to submit a well-articulated initial version of your proposal. 📅 Submission deadline: September 8, 2025 📎 Please find the full Call for Proposals below. EN: https://cnam-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/mathilde_fichen_lecnam_net/EW… FR: https://cnam-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/mathilde_fichen_lecnam_net/EY… We especially encourage contributions from individuals belonging to underrepresented groups in technology and culture. One of the goals of this exhibition is to reflect the diversity of people and practices that shape the world of source code. We look forward to reading your ideas! Warm regards, Mathilde, for the organizing team Mathilde Fichen Ph.D Candidate CNAM - HT2S<https://technique-societe.cnam.fr/histoire-des-technosciences-en-societe-ht…>, Software Heritage Personal page: mathfichen.github.io<https://mathfichen.github.io/>

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Undone Computer Science 2026: First call for papers
by Mark Priestley 30 Jul '25

30 Jul '25

[This may be of interest to some on this list. Apologies for any cross-posting.] FIRST CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS 2nd conference on *Undone Science in Computer Science* — A conference to explore epistemological and ethical dimensions of computer science through the concept of undone science * *Luxembourg, 23-25th March 2026* (hybrid) * Calling for short talk proposals (1-3 pages abstracts) * Submission deadline: *October 9th 2025* (anywhere on Earth) * Post-proceedings model: we will send a call for full papers after the conference * Some travel funding available for speakers * More information at <https://www.undonecs.org/2026/> PRESENTATION As researchers, we are committed to advancing computer science in a way that is both epistemologically and ethically sound. With the *Undone Computer Science* conference, we provide an informal venue to pause and reflect on these aspects of our scientific practices. Our goal is to *bring together computer scientists from across the field, but also social scientists, philosophers and historians of science, and other scholars* interested in discussing the ethical and epistemological dimensions of our work. We welcome abstracts exploring these dimensions, and encourage submissions from a wide range of perspectives. *Abstracts should be 1-3 pages*, clearly outlining the main arguments and contributions of the proposed talk. *As a guiding question, we propose to apply the concept of undone science [1] to computer science.* Undone science refers to questions that are left unaddressed, ignored, or unfunded for various reasons, yet demonstrably worthy of exploration. It highlights the idea that the production and dissemination of knowledge are variously influenced, leading to biases in the choice of research that is done, and eventually in a “systematic non-production of knowledge” [2]. We might want to understand, for instance, whether the way in which computer science is established eventually leaves out some potentially crucial questions and areas of investigation, and what pushes some questions or methods to be ignored whilst others might be favoured. The striking example of AI ethics indeed reminds us of some of the society-impacting case studies which originally motivated the analytical concept of undone science—including corporate influence denounced by critical voices [3], and the debate on requirements and evaluation criteria to improve research by acting on what is funded and published [4]. But undone science could also refer to the consequences of “theoretical commitments” [2], i.e., dominant paradigms, when they blind us collectively about what is worthy or not of exploration—all the while accounts of paradigm shifts in our young domain remain rare. It could refer as well to technical or methodological biases, such as when the availability of certain software or hardware at the right time determines which research idea “wins” [5], or when the haste towards automation in algorithm design leads to a loss of valuable insights compared to alternative paths where people are involved in data exploration [6]. Undone science also refers originally to questions first recognised by actors from civil society—for computer scientists, the free software movement and civil liberties organisations come to mind. We believe that the concept of undone science can further help bring out the epistemological and ethical aspects of research in computer science, and encourage submissions from a wide range of perspectives. Undone Computer Science is an informal peer-reviewed conference with separately reviewed post-proceedings: depending upon the eventual number and quality of submissions, we intend to follow up the conference with a call for full papers to be published in an open-access journal. (Presenting at the conference does not commit to submit a full paper; nor is it necessary to present at the conference to respond to the call for full papers.) POTENTIAL TOPICS It is not necessary to be familiar with the concept of undone science in order to contribute. *Potential topics include, but are not limited to:* * Areas of research in computer science meeting challenges that will require or have required *shifts in viewpoint*; conditions responsible for *certain kinds of research being over- or under-represented*; reasons for a set of *questions being neglected* in an area. * Epistemological questions and challenges, for instance arising from the *interdisciplinary nature* of computer science, or dealing with the articulations between theory and practice; investigations on the values of computer science. * How *social movements or civil society organisations* (e.g. free software movement) play a role in identifying areas of research being left aside, in providing new research questions, or on the contrary in demanding that some kind of research remains undone. * Challenges of integrating ethical and political questioning regarding *social, economic, and environmental consequences* of our work into the process of making “good science”. Concrete examples of questions stemming from ethical consideration being introduced to a domain (why/how), are welcome. * How *ethics codes* (including for instance the ACM Code of Ethics) can be leveraged (or fail) to present some questions as being worthy of exploration; more broadly how guiding principles can be put in place to enrich the research practices in an area. * Explorations of the *influence of publishing practices* within our community, and of popular research methodology and scientific writing guides provided within our fields, on the selection, execution, and dissemination of research. * Examinations of biases and limitations present in commonly-used *educational curricula* (for instance leading to or stemming from a lack of diversity, be it social or methodological). * More generally, any discussion of “systematic non-production” or non-dissemination of knowledge in a broad sense, whether in computer science in general or a specific area, whether past or present; whether due to *limitations of available methodologies, blind spots of dominant paradigms, institutional and industrial biases, lack of social representation,* or other factors. We look forward to receiving your abstracts, and to an engaging and thought-provoking conference. Sincerely, the organisers KEY DATES * Submission deadline: October 9th 2025 (anywhere on Earth) * Author notification: December 8th 2025 * Conference: 23-25th March 2026, hosted by the University of Luxembourg SUBMITTING * Instructions: 1. Abstracts should be 1-3 pages in length (excluding bibliography) and should succinctly present the key arguments and contributions of the proposed talk. The submission can contain appendices or a link to a longer version, but the point of the submission should be clear from the first three pages (reviewers are not obligated to read any further). 2. Submissions should be uploaded to EasyChair in PDF format: <https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=undonecs26> 3. The conference being aimed at a wide range of research domains, authors are welcome to include a brief biography if relevant for the contribution (up to 5 lines). 4. Authors can opt for lightweight double-blind reviewing (with the identity of the authors revealed to the reviewers after they submit their review). In this case, the submission should simply be prepared with authors and institutions omitted, and all citations in the 3rd person. The biography can still be included in an anonymised form (omitting the names of both people and institutions). 5. Unfinished or exploratory contributions, that would benefit from discussion at the conference prior to their possible development into full papers, are welcome. There is no submission category, but authors can make it clear in the submission if they strongly prefer a short or a long presentation slot. 6. For a paper accepted at the conference, at least one author is generally expected to present in person, but we will work to make remote presentations possible. (Feel free to inquire in advance with the organisers.) 7. Recognising the importance of the promotion of multilingualism in science [7], we welcome submissions in multiple languages (e.g. translations of the same 1-3 p. talk proposal), provided that the submission can be reviewed from the English version alone. In addition, in special situations where a talk proposal cannot be submitted in English, please contact the chairs in advance to determine if the PC is able to review it. * Acceptance criteria: 1. *Computer Science:* we seek contributions pertaining to computer science (in a broad sense comprising both works *in* computer science and works *on* computer science), 2. *Author expertise:* we expect authors to contribute in accordance with their domains of expertise, in a broad sense; for instance a contribution on ethical issues by a computer scientist can be rooted in their research practice, a contribution by a social scientist can be rooted in the study of an example or through field work; a contribution by a philosopher or historian of science can be rooted in the study of computer science as a specific domain of production of knowledge and scientific practice. 3. *Undone science:* we expect that the question of undone science will inspire presentations that lead to meaningful reflections touching upon ethical or epistemological aspects of computer science in a broad sense, without requiring expertise in epistemology and ethics. For instance, a submission from a computer scientist could outline a potential ethical question, rooted in their research practice, even if its consequences in ethics cannot be fully elaborated at this point. (In doubt, feel free to inquire with the organisers about a potential topic.) * As a general goal, the programme will leave ample time for individual presentations and for discussions. To this end, the program committee can decide to allot presentation slots of varying durations according to the extent of individual submissions and to the authors' expressed preference. * We will endeavour to always give considerate and constructive feedback about proposed abstracts. * Accepted abstracts will be made available online in the programme of the conference. * PC and general chairs are not allowed to submit. Members of the PC are allowed to submit talk proposals in double-blind reviewing. * For all submissions, usual strict rules regarding conflicts of interest apply (see the COPE guidelines < https://doi.org/10.24318/ElTeSLhp> or the ACM policy on conflicts of interest <https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/conflict-of-interest>). Please contact the chairs below regarding any question. REGISTRATION & ATTENDING * Inscription fees: we aim for low fees of around 100€. * The venue has good accessibility and we strive to make our conference accessible; more information will be provided on the website of the conference. Feel free to inquire with the organisers. * A limited number of travel grants might be offered for speakers who require it. Feel free to inquire in advance with the organisers. * The talks will be streamed online. Please visit the website <https://www.undonecs.org/2026/> or contact us below if you need more information. PROGRAMME COMMITTEE Mohamed Abdalla (University of Alberta) Gabriel Alcaras (Médialab, Paris) Antoine Amarilli (INRIA, Lille) Yackolley Amoussou-Guenou (Univ. Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas) Marc Anderson (Independent researcher, Ottawa) Ambre Ayats (Univ. Eastern Finland) Enka Blanchard (CNRS, Paris) — principal chair Aurélie Bugeau (LaBRI, Univ. Bordeaux) Juan Carlos De Martin (Politecnico Di Torino) Liesbeth De Mol (CNRS, Univ. Lille) Pierre Depaz (HfG Karlsruhe) Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay (Centre Internet et Société, CNRS, Paris) — chair Chantal Enguehard (Univ. Nantes) Elina Eriksson (KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm) Ksenia Ermoshina (The Citizen Lab, U. Toronto & CNRS, Paris) Ben Green (U. Michigan) Felienne Hermans (VU Amsterdam) Robin K. Hill (U. Wyoming) Jun Kato (AIST, Japan) Os Keyes (University of Massachusetts Lowell) Laura Kocksch (Aalborg University) Shriram Krishnamurthi (Brown University, USA) Oded Lachish (University of London) Giuseppe Longo (ENS Paris) Fabrizio Li Vigni (Centre Internet et Société, CNRS, Paris) Janos Makowsky (Emeritus, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa) Florence Maraninchi (Ensimag, Grenoble) Ola Michalec (Univ. Bristol) Lionel Morel (INSA Lyon) Francesca Musiani (Centre Internet et Société, CNRS, Paris) Dawn Nafus (Intel, USA) Alberto Naibo (Univ. Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) Edlira Nano (Univ. Lyon 1) Lê Thành Dũng (Tito) Nguyễn (CNRS, Univ. Aix-Marseille) — chair Norberto Patrignani (Politecnico Di Torino) Tomas Petricek (Charles University, Prague) Jörg Pohle (Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin) Mark Priestley (The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park) Carina Prunkl (Utrecht University) Sophie Quinton (INRIA, Grenoble) — chair Pablo Rauzy (Univ. Paris 8) Luc Rocher (Univ. Oxford) Peter Roenne (Univ. Luxembourg) Peter Y A Ryan (Univ. Luxembourg) Valérie Schafer (Univ. Luxembourg) Ari Schlesinger (Univ. Georgia) Alan Sherman (UMBC, Maryland) Katta Spiel (TU Wien, Austria) Maté Szabó (Univ. Southern California) Tiphaine Viard (Télécom Paris) Salomé Viljoen (U. Michigan) Tone Walford (University College London) ORGANISERS *PC Chairs* Enka Blanchard (CNRS) — principal chair Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay (CNRS) Sophie Quinton (INRIA) Lê Thành Dũng (Tito) Nguyễn (CNRS) *General Chairs* Enka Blanchard (CNRS) Guillaume Munch-Maccagnoni (INRIA) *Local Organisers* Peter Roenne (Univ. Luxembourg) — local chair Peter Ryan (Univ. Luxembourg) Valérie Schafer (Univ. Luxembourg) Contact us at <undonecs-2026(a)sciencesconf.org> BIBLIOGRAPHY [1] D. J. Hess (2016). Undone Science: Social Movements, Mobilized Publics, and Industrial Transitions. MIT Press. ISBN 9780262529495. [2] Frickel, S., Gibbon, S., Howard, J., Kempner, J., Ottinger, G., & Hess, D. J. (2010). Undone Science: Charting Social Movement and Civil Society Challenges to Research Agenda Setting. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 35(4), 444–473. <https://doi.org/10.1177/0162243909345836> [3] According to Green, tech ethics increasingly tends to be “subsumed into corporate logics and incentives”; according to Abdalla and Abdalla, actions of “Big Tech” to influence academic and public discourse are reminiscent of the tactics of Big Tobacco: * B. Green (2021). The Contestation of Tech Ethics: A Sociotechnical Approach to Technology Ethics in Practice, Journal of Social Computing, 2 (3), pp. 209-225, September 2021. <https://doi.org/10.23919/JSC.2021.0018> * M. Abdalla & M. Abdalla (2021). The Grey Hoodie Project: Big Tobacco, Big Tech, and the Threat on Academic Integrity. In Proceedings of the 2021 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society (AIES ’21). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 287–297. <https://doi.org/10.1145/3461702.3462563> [4] C.E.A. Prunkl, C. Ashurst, M. Anderljung et al. Institutionalizing ethics in AI through broader impact requirements. Nature Machine Intelligence, 3, 104–110 (2021). <https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-021-00298-y> [5] Sara Hooker. 2021. The hardware lottery. Communications of the ACM, 64, 12 (December 2021), 58–65. <https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3467017> [6] Dawn Nafus. 2018. Exploration or Algorithm? The Undone Science Before the Algorithms. Cultural Anthropology, 33 (3) : 368–374. <https://journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca/article/view/ca33.3.03> [7] Unesco. 2003. Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace. < https://www.unesco.org/legal-affairs/recommendation-concerning-promotion-an… >

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Burroughs Corporation in South Africa
by Bernard Geoghegan 25 Jul '25

25 Jul '25

Hey colleagues, A shot in the dark: Does anyone have a handy reference or link or reproduction to visual illustrations related to Burroughs Corporation activities in South Africa, Morocco (a very long shot indeed), or Africa more generally? (Apparently they were quite active in South Africa.) I’m working on something related to writer William S. Burroughs’ indirect links to high tech via the family biz, esp in the Global South. There’s great visuals of Burroughs Corporation around North American activity, like SAGE and NORAD, I haven’t seen much that is from the wider world. Bonus points for visuals with great design or architectural components. Best wishes, Bernard

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CfA: Restless Egg
by William Morgan 24 Jul '25

24 Jul '25

Dear Colleagues, I am writing with an opportunity that I hope will be relevant to some: my company, Restless Egg <https://restlessegg.com/>, has just announced our call for applications <https://apply.restlessegg.com/>, offering $50k for potential artist-founders to join our 6 month program. We support creators who treat technology as a canvas and attempt to devise answers to questions like 'what is AI for (besides productivity enhancement)?' We are especially interested in opening up the product form factor as an opportunity for artists and academics. Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions :) Very best, William PS we also keep a list of other opportunities on our website that may be of interest https://restlessegg.com/page/opportunities and we put out a fortnightly newsletter in which we highlight the recent calls, fellowships and opportunities: https://restlessegg.com/ (click subscribe)

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Reminder: CfA Funding for Research Sabbaticals (Fellowships) and Working Groups
by Esther Laufer 23 Jul '25

23 Jul '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. You can apply for our regular open call, or for our special call “Creating a Human-Centered Future: Exploring the Promise of Industry 5.0”. 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 31 July 2025. You can currently apply for a fellowship taking place between October 2026 and March 2027, or for working group meetings taking place from March 2026 onwards. 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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Seeking visual resources for a TV show
by christine mitchell 22 Jul '25

22 Jul '25

Hi SIGCIS members, Long-time member, first time poster! I'm hoping to connect with librarians, archivists and/or collectors regarding public domain and low- or no-cost visual materials (clips/images) for a kids educational TV show I'm writing and producing. It's a magazine-style show for kids 8-12 for TVO (TV Ontario, Canada's public broadcaster). Each episode delves into some aspect of the digital technologies kids use every day – from data centers to undersea cables, to recommendation engines, genAI, computer vision, e-waste, etc. In each episode, kid hosts meet an expert to explore how these technologies function in a fun, accessible way. The goal is to encourage kids to get inquisitive about their digital tech and use it in informed ways. Several episodes will have a brief "Tech Tangent" segment covering a cool story from computer history. One on ELIZA, one on floppy disk storage and the "Save" icon. We're still in a pre-production phase, so other topics remain TBA. Our budget is limited and I anticipate that stock image libraries we have access to may not have sufficient or suitable imagery for the computer history segments. If anyone can point me to contacts or resources that would be helpful to the project, I'd be grateful for all ideas and replies – feel free to contact me off-list. Thanks so much! Christine

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Call for papers // Emerging researchers
by Friedrich Tietjen 21 Jul '25

21 Jul '25

Dear colleagues, if you happen to know of emerging researchers (grad/post-grad students, PhD candidates &c) who do research on the the history of photolithography for manufacturing integrated cicuits, lens design for smartphones, the logistics of image databases, the photorealism of AI generated imagery or similar or other topics - please encourage them to send us a paper. Many greetings Friedrich ---snip--- International conference on visual studies, history and theory of photography After Post-Photography-10: APP+ workshop/panel for emerging researchers CFP In 2025, After Post-Photography will celebrate its 10th year. After several years of online conferences we move back into the more material world: this year’s conference will be held offline in Yerevan, Armenia, on 5-8 November. We are very much looking forward to meeting cherished colleagues and friends and new people, learning and sharing about new research and trade ideas and stories. And as with previous conferences we have set the first day of the conference aside for emerging researchers to share their ongoing work and receive feedback from colleagues in photography studies. The APP+ panel/workshop is tailored for detailed discussion of the participants’ projects in order to serve as a think tank for their work to develop further, so it will suit best research that is still in progress. As before, this Call for Papers has no specific subject – we’re open to, and interested in, projects from all walks of research, as wide apart as x-ray movies, the history of photo-novellas in Brazil, poverty in private photography, new approaches to photo-realism, the use of AI generated images in local elections in India, smartphone optics – and similar, or completely different topics. APP+ timeline: 15 August - deadline for submissions 25 August - participants whose work is selected for the panel will be notified 25 October - selected participants to send full text of their research (5000-8000 units) in to be reviewed 6 November - selected participants meet at the conference site in Yerevan Please submit your proposal of no more than 1600 characters in English no later than 15 August 2025 to app(a)mur.at. As we will do blind reviews of the submissions, make sure that your name does not appear in the proposal itself. If your work aims at analyzing visual material please include images or links where we can see what you intend to talk about. If you have any questions, please send an e-mail to app(a)mur.at – we should get back to you within a few days. And should you like to know more about previous conferences, have a look at our website http://after-post.photography/ APP+ team: Pavel Sharkov, Olga Davidenko, Ksenia Kuznetsova APP organizing committee: Olga Davydova, Maria Gourieva, Farrah Karapetian, Daria Panaiotti, Friedrich Tietjen, Erika Wolf -- The gibberish in the attachment is not a corrupt file, but my public PGP key - use it in case you prefer encrypted communication; otherwise ignore.

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Joseph A. Weisbecker = Joe Weisbecker (author of "Home Computers Can Make You Rich", 1980)?
by Albert Gleb J. 15 Jul '25

15 Jul '25

Dear colleagues While currently analysing microcomputer business advice literature of the 1980s, I am trying to establish the identity and background of the author of a classic in the field: "Home Computers Can Make You Rich", published in 1980 (<https://archive.org/details/homecomputerscan0000weis/>). The book is written by one Joe Weisbecker, and I wonder whether the author is identical to Joseph Weisbecker, the famous microprocessor designer many of you are surely familiar with. However, none of this official bibliographies and none of the obituaries list this book (that seemed to have been highly successful and was translated into several languages, including German in 1984). Also, the book itself has no author bio or any other further information about the author. Can anyone possibly confirm that the book was really written by Joseph Weisbecker? Many thanks in advance Gleb -- Ass.-Prof. Dr. Gleb J. Albert SNSF Starting Grant Assistant Professor for General and Eastern European Contemporary History Department of History, University of Lucerne Universität Luzern Historisches Seminar Frohburgstrasse 3 Postfach 4466 CH-6002 Luzern Switzerland Room 3.A29 Tel. +41-41-2295527

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Looking for studies / surveys of the uses of computing in scientific fields
by Eric Gade 10 Jul '25

10 Jul '25

Hi all, I am looking for any studies or surveys that look at the specific uses of computing (applications, hardware, and in particular anything "custom") across scientific fields, broadly defined. By "scientific" here I mean everything from physics to archaeology to psychology. Aside from a desire to familiarize myself with such literature, I'm also looking to form a kind of understanding of the computing cultures within or even across some of these disciplines, especially how these cultures contrast with the uses of computing in the wider commercial world. Thanks for any guidance! -- Eric

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