October 2026 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

IEEE online panel on AI history - Wednesday, free registration
by thomas.haigh＠gmail.com 22 Oct '26

22 Oct '26

Hello everyone, I'll be part of an IEEE history week event on AI history on Wednesday, on behalf of the Computer Society History Committee, as will Ksenia Tatarchenko. Details below. All times central US. There's a link to register at https://ieee.webex.com/weblink/register/r03802f784dc929fec22dc84d10ce1bff Thematic Study Day: Artificial Intelligence Agenda (all times Eastern US) 11:00am-11:05am - Introduction to the event 11:05am-11:35am - IEEE Computer Society Artificial Intelligence: The History of a Brand Presenter: Thomas Haigh 11:35am-12:05pm - IEEE Computer Society Soviet AI and Its Engineering Cultures Presenter: Ksenia Tatarchenko 12:05-12:35pm - IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Tracing the History of Robotics and Automation Through Narratives and Networks Presenter: Selma Sabanovic 12:35-1:05pm - IEEE Computational Intelligence Society AI and the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society: Partners for 39 Years Presenter: James Bezdek Best wishes, Tom Thomas Haigh Professor & Chair, UWM History Department Chair, IEEE Computer Society History Committee Director, ACM History Committee Turing Awards Project See more at www.tomandmaria.com/Tom <http://www.tomandmaria.com/Tom>

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SIGCIS website refresh
by Aron Ambrosiani 19 Oct '26

19 Oct '26

hi everyone, just a heads up that we have refreshed the SIGCIS website at https://www.sigcis.org. Existing content has been migrated into the new site and there are redirects for all the old links. If you find something odd (there might still be some formatting issues from the export/import), please drop me a note and I can fix it. A big thank you to Brent Jesiek who has hosted the previous Drupal site for many years. best, Aron Ambrosiani _______________________ Aron Ambrosiani PhD Student Technology Management and Economics Div. of Science, Technology and Society Chalmers University of Technology aron.ambrosiani(a)chalmers.se +46709495849 https://www.chalmers.se/personer/aronam/

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CHM Fellow Awards -- Nominations Open!
by Dag Spicer 17 Oct '26

17 Oct '26

Hello SIGCIS Friends! I’d like to invite all members to consider submitting a nomination for a CHM Fellow Award for someone they feel has made a big impact in computing. Candidates can come from academia, industry, media, business… or none of those things: 2008 CHM Fellow Linus Torvalds, for example, the inventor of Linux, was barely out of grad school when he was recognized for his work. CHM Fellow Awards recognize individuals who embody the following characteristics: 1. The candidate’s work is of a foundational nature that has strongly influenced the intellectual, disciplinary, or industrial underpinnings of computing. 2. The candidate’s work resulted in a new direction, or significantly changed the evolutionary path of computing. 3. The candidate’s work advanced the adoption of computing by successfully applying research results in an industry, business, or product, or by applying computing technology in society in a new and significant way. 4. The candidate’s work advanced the understanding and adoption of computing through education or promotional activity. Our first CHM Fellow (1987) was Grace Murray Hopper, and one of our most recent was the amazing Margaret Hamilton of NASA / Apollo fame. (And before that, Katherine Johnson, the original ‘hidden figure.’) Others include Gordon Moore, Steve Wozniak, Jensen Huang, Morris Chang, Doug Engelbart, Vint Cerf, Alan Kay … have a look at our Hall of Fellows for the entire list: https://computerhistory.org/hall-of-fellows/ Nominations are just a page with the option to add scholarly references, papers, recommendation letters, and a c.v. But it’s meant to be a lightweight process to encourage participation. Information on the CHM Fellow Awards, including the online nomination form, is available here: https://computerhistory.org/fellow-awards-nomination-form/?alias=nominations Deadline is October 31, 2026. Thanks for considering everyone: we hope to hear from you! All the best, Dag ----- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing ACM History Committee 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View CA 94043 “History is a vast early warning system.” — Norman Cousins, American journalist (1915-1990). Join our Mailing List here: https://info.computerhistory.org/subscribe

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The 2026 Tony Sale Award for Computer Conservation
by Brian Randell 16 Oct '26

16 Oct '26

Hi: On 29 September at the National Museum of Computing David Lovett of Usagi Electric was presented with the 2026 Tony Sale Award for Computer Conservation for his phenomenal hands-on hardware restoration work of the 1956 Bendix G-15 computer, and gave an excellent talk about his work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmUtew0NaTQ Cheers Brian Randell

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Three Hybrid Events Related to SRI
by Brian Berg 15 Oct '26

15 Oct '26

Hello, all, FYI: Here are 3 November hybrid events related to SRI International, originally the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRI_International>: 1. *Augmenting Human Intellect: The Mouse, The Mother of All Demos, The Unfinished Revolution <https://californiaconsultants.org/event/augmenting-human-intellect-the-mous…>* - Tue, Nov. 10: 6:45-8pm PST - hybrid event from Sunnyvale, CA 2. *SRI at 80 <https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sri-at-80-tickets-1998321484353>* - Thu, Nov. 12: 6-7:30pm PST - hybrid event from the Computer History Museum in Mtn. View, CA 3. *Dedication of IEEE Milestones for the Mouse and for Telepresence Surgery <https://www.sri.com/events/sri-to-recieve-two-new-ieee-milestones/>* - Fri, Nov. 13: 9:30-11:30am PST - hybrid event from the Computer History Museum in Mtn. View, CA _________________________ Brian A. Berg / bberg(a)StanfordAlumni.org Berg Software Design - LinkedIn Profile <https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianaberg/> 180 Lithia Way, Suite 201, Ashland, OR 97520 USA 14500 Big Basin Way, Suite J, Saratoga, CA 95070 USA Phone: 408.568.2505 <(408)%20568-2505> Consulting: Flash Memory/USB/Storage/Patents IEEE History Committee <https://www.ieee.org/about/history-center/history-committee.html> Member IEEE Region 6 <https://ieee-region6.org/about-us/region-6-officers/> History/Milestones Chair Curator: www.SiliconValleyMilestones.com IEEE SCV Section <http://www.ieee.org/scv/> Past Chair / IEEE-CNSV <http://www.CaliforniaConsultants.org> Board Director Co-Organizer: Celebrating 50 Years of the Internet <https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ieee_ieee-activity-7221529803944771586-HB7S/>

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New book! The Tablet Computer: The Idea of a Machine
by Elizabeth Petrick 14 Oct '26

14 Oct '26

Hi everyone, I wanted to do a quick announcement of my new book, *The Tablet Computer: The Idea of a Machine*. Out now from JHUP! Thank you to many SIGCIS members who talked with me about this book over the years it took me to get it written. https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/54040/tablet-computer *The Tablet Computer: The Idea of a Machine* A history of the ideas behind a device we thought would change everything. Tablet computers appear commonplace today, yet for decades they represented an ambitious—and often unrealized—vision of personal computing. The Tablet Computer traces the long history of this idea, from early conceptual designs in the 1970s to the consumer devices of the twenty-first century. Elizabeth R. Petrick examines the tablet as a shifting concept shaped by expectations about learning, productivity, accessibility, and human–computer interaction. Across multiple generations of failed prototypes, partial successes, and rebranded technologies, developers imagined tablets as book-sized, portable, networked computers operated through touch. These visions promised to transform education, support workers of various kinds, and redefine how humans interact with machines—promises that were repeatedly revised or deferred. Approaching the subject through intellectual history, Petrick follows how engineers, designers, corporations, and users debated what a tablet should be, who it was for, and what role it might play in everyday life. Projects such as the Dynabook, personal digital assistants, and early consumer tablets reveal how technological futures are shaped as much by aspiration and failure as by market success. Best, Liz _________________ Elizabeth Petrick Associate Professor Director of Graduate Studies Department of History Rice University

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Coming up this week: AI and History Conference 2026
by Dag Spicer 12 Oct '26

12 Oct '26

Greetings SIGCIS! An exciting two-day conference is coming up at Johns Hopkins this week. About the Conference ________________________________ The AI and History Conference 2026 is a practitioner-focused convening for historians at all career stages who are working with, teaching, or trying to evaluate AI and computational methods in their research and institutions. This event is anchored squarely in historical practice: its organizing questions are what AI can do for historians specifically, and what structural, methodological, and professional changes the discipline needs to make computational methods sustainable and rigorous. The conference addresses the full range of experience, from historians sent by their departments to report back on AI, to scholars already producing advanced computational work, by running sessions leveled for different backgrounds in parallel rather than forcing everyone into the same room. It treats AI as consequential on two fronts at once: as a tool for large-scale research that was previously impossible for a single historian to undertake, and as a way to rejuvenate the classroom. Attendees should leave with a network of peers, a clearer sense of the field's best current work, and concrete skills or project plans they can use immediately. Read the full program and sign up — in-person (SOLD OUT) and virtual -- here: <https://proflouishyman.github.io/ai_conference_2026/> [card-landscape.png] AI and History Conference 2026<https://proflouishyman.github.io/ai_conference_2026/> proflouishyman.github.io<https://proflouishyman.github.io/ai_conference_2026/> See you there! Dag ----- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing ACM History Committee 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View CA 94043 “History is a vast early warning system.” — Norman Cousins, American journalist (1915-1990). Join our Mailing List here: https://info.computerhistory.org/subscribe

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Please announce -book: Technology and Oligopoly Capitalism
by Luis Suarez-Villa 10 Oct '26

10 Oct '26

Technology and Oligopoly Capitalism, by Luis Suarez-Villa (publisher: Routledge). https://www.routledge.com/Technology-and-Oligopoly-Capitalism/Suarez-Villa/…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.routledge.com/Technology-and-Oligop…> [To request inspection copy: https://www.routledge.com/textbooks/evaluation/9781003345893?utm_id=<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.routledge.com/textbooks/evaluation/…> ] Description: Technology and Oligopoly Capitalism is a major contribution to our understanding of how technology oligopolies are shaping America’s social, economic, and political reality. Technology oligopolies are the most powerful socioeconomic entities in America. From cradle to grave, the decisions they make affect the most intimate aspects of our lives, how we work, what we eat, our health, how we communicate, what we know and believe, whom we elect, and how we relate to one another and to nature. Their power over markets, trade, regulation, and most every aspect of our governance is more intrusive and farther-reaching than ever. They benefit from tax breaks, government guarantees, and bailouts that we must pay for and have no control over. Their accumulation of capital creates immense wealth for a minuscule elite, deepening disparities while politics and governance become ever more subservient to their power. They determine our skills and transform employment through the tools and services they create, as no other organizations can. They produce a vast array of goods and services with labor, marketing, and research that are more intrusively controlled than ever, as workplace rights and job security are curtailed or disappear. Our consumption of their products---and their capacity to promote wants---is deep and far reaching, while the waste they generate raises concerns about the survival of life on our planet. And their links to geopolitics and the martial domain are stronger than ever, as they influence how warfare is waged and who will be vanquished. Technology and Oligopoly Capitalism’s critical, multidisciplinary perspective provides a systemic vision of how oligopolistic power shapes these forces and phenomena. An inclusive approach spans the spectrum of technology oligopolies and the ways in which they deploy their power. Numerous, previously unpublished ideas expand the repertory of established work on the topics covered, advancing explanatory quality---to elucidate how and why technology oligopolies operate as they do, the dysfunctions that accompany their power, and their effects on society and nature. This book has no peers in the literature, in its scope, the unprecedented amount and diversity of documentation, the breadth of concepts, and the vast number of examples it provides. Its premises deserve to be taken into account by every student, researcher, policymaker, bibliographer, and author interested in the socioeconomic and political dimensions of technology in America. Contents: 1. Introduction 2. Power Pricing Co-Respectiveness Shareholder Returns Mergers and Acquisitions Entry Barrier Engineering Neo-Conglomerates Standards Setting Deregulation Innovation Development vs. Research Technological Barriers Intangibles International Projection Trade and the Dollar Cross-Shareholding Public Governance Anti-Regulatory Praxis Lobbying and Patronage Money in Politics Revolving Doors Judiciary System 3. Accumulation Value Commodity Value Product Markets Competition Capital and Labor Accumulation and Pricing Oligopolistic Accumulation Consolidation Speculative Finance New Technologies Input Markets Imposing Terms Dual Oligopoly: Inputs, Products Labor Markets Insecurity Contingency Labor Uselabor Dual Oligopoly: Labor, Products Compound Oligopoly Complexity and Lock-In 4. Transformation Elements Labor Capital Production Research and Product Development Commodification Commodity Fetishism Technological Fetishism Data Commodification Standardizing and Systematizing Reproduction Capital Resources Capacity for Work Labor Intangibles Capacity Utilization Excess Capacity Capacity-Price Engineering Typologies Extraction and Assemblage Integrative Production Inventive Appropriation 5. Dysfunction Employment Technocapitalist Control Compensation and Productivity Long-Term Deficit Consumer Exploitation Pricing Differential Add-Ons Data Exploitation Clouds Networks Wants Contrivance Overconsumption Addictions Typologies Waste Toxicity and Pollution E-Waste Agro-Tech Microbiome Disruption Eco-Planetary Techno-Fixes Efficiency Mirage The Commons Lauderdale Paradox Access and Benefit Appropriation 6. Domination Commodity Chains Arbitrage Labor Arbitrage Value Arbitrage Control Hierarchies Biotechnology Intellectual Property Cybernetics Financial Socio-Political Enforcement Enforcement Platform Multimodality Taxpaying Contractual Money Taxpayer Exploitation 7. Techno-Oligarchy Chapter abstracts: 2. Power. Considers the sources of power of technology oligopoly capitalism. A broad scope on how power is amassed and imposed is unique in treatments of technology. Control over market pricing is critically addressed, to show the importance of co-respectiveness, purported optimization of returns, mergers, acquisitions, entry barrier engineering, standards setting, and deregulation for oligopolistic power. Conceptualization of technology neo-conglomerates provides insights on how oligopolies expand their power as they deepen control over market pricing. Innovation is examined---to consider how invention and research have been turned into marketing accessories. The vital relevance of intangible resources, their social reproduction, and the obstacles posed by technology oligopolies are examined. International trade, monetary issues, and risky financial cross-shareholding are discussed critically. The influence of technology oligopolies on public governance considers strategies, how they promote anti-regulatory efforts, the spread of lobbying, patronage, and political contributions. The judiciary system’s role is addressed by considering landmark decisions and precedent as major sources of power. Treatment of strategies and actions---including those unique to technology oligopolies---and a vast amount of documentation make this chapter essential for researchers, students, policy-makers, and bibliographers. The contents of this chapter have no peer in the literature on technology, and are vitally important for specialists considering antitrust action. 3. Accumulation. Analyzes the accumulative dynamic of technology oligopoly capitalism, its elements and market scenarios. Unique in its conceptualization of how the accumulative dynamic operates, and the importance of surpluses in the productive cycle. The relationship of oligopolistic capital accumulation to classical works provides much needed historical perspective on the importance of labor and capital in accumulation. Consideration of strategies that expand accumulation by capturing market segments---and the role of acquisitions, entry barriers, finance, data appropriation, clouds and platforms---document their importance for oligopolistic control over the productive cycle. Conceptualization and discussion of dual and compound oligopoly---and their relationship with aspects uniquely found in technology oligopolies---have no peers in the literature. Definition and elaboration of the concept of uselabor provides insights on a phenomenon unique to social media and search oligopolies. Emergence of uselabor and its relationship with the commercialization of the web, data appropriation, and capital accumulation is considered in detail. A vast amount of documentation makes this chapter a vital reference work for technology studies. The contents of this chapter should be considered essential reading and reference for researchers, students, policy-makers, bibliographers, and those interested in knowing how technology oligopolies became as important as they are. 4. Transformation. Examines the deep structure of how commodities are transformed through production, research and product development. Unique in its breadth, details, and documentation. Distinctive systemic elements and phenomena of productive transformation are considered critically. The relationship of transformation to classical works and their views on labor provides historical perspective, relating it to critical aspects of value and creativity. In-depth treatment of the phenomena of commodification and reproduction is unprecedented in the literature, providing unique insights on the technology domain. Definition and elaboration of the concepts of technological fetishism and of capacity-price engineering explain distinctive operational features of oligopolistic control. Use of the concept of systematized research regimes to explain how research and product development operate provides necessary perspectives on the value of labor intangibles. Further development of the concept of uselabor explains how production operates in social media oligopolies, and its implications for fairness and justice. A typological analysis then provides a synthesis of how the multiple facets of transformation operate in concert. The vast amount of documentation makes this chapter a major reference work. This chapter has no peers in the literature, and should be of vital interest to bibliographers, researchers, policy analysts, students, and authors interested in how technology oligopolies produce, create and exploit. 5. Dysfunction. Analyzes major systemic dysfunctions of technology oligopolies and their effects on economic wellbeing, health and nature. Influence of new technologies on employment and their dysfunctional effects regarding productivity, the long-term job deficit, and workplace control. Conceptualization of consumer exploitation has no peers in the technology literature. Role of the pricing differential as a dysfunctional feature of consumption is documented with numerous examples. Unique in its conceptualization of data exploitation in technology oligopolies, the role of networks and data clouds. Conceptualization of wants contrivance, its effects and typologies, provides much needed perspective. Analyses of the micro- and macro-panorama of waste and their effects on the environment, health and nature have no peer in the literature. Examination of proposed techno-fixes to eco-planetary dysfunction emphasizes the urgency of addressing carbon emissions, climate change and the destruction of life. Consideration of the commons addresses dysfunctional aspects of access, benefit and expropriation---addressing the contradiction between private wealth and collective benefit. Extensive documentation makes this chapter a major reference work for bibliographers, students, researchers, policy analysts, and authors interested in technology. The contents of this chapter have no peer in the technology literature, and should be considered required reading for courses on technology and society, policy analysis, and social economics. 6. Domination. Provides macro-systemic perspectives on the vital importance of global domination for technology oligopoly capitalism. Unique in how it relates technology oligopoly capitalism to the martial domain, and to global domination over new technologies. The symbiotic relationship between technology oligopolies and the martial domain is explored through several binding elements---geopolitics, commodity chains, labor and value arbitrage, and the setting of hierarchic global controls over the most advanced technologies. Technology-enabled, “soft” approaches to domination---and the role of technology oligopolies---are explored and documented. Ways of enforcing domination are analyzed, considering the role of technology oligopolies, their symbiosis with the military apparatus, and their global impacts. Multimodality in warfare---and its relationship with technology oligopolies---is explored and documented. The concept of taxpayer exploitation---and its relationship with the creation and use of new technologies by the martial domain---is presented and extensively documented. Numerous contemporary examples are provided throughout, along with a vast bibliography that reaches across the technology spectrum. The contents of this chapter have no peers in the literature, in their scope and multidisciplinary perspectives. The vast amount of documentation provided makes it essential reading for any researcher, student, author or bibliographer wishing to explore how technology oligopolies condition our contemporary global reality. 7. Techno-Oligarchy. The existential impasse of technology oligopoly capitalism, and the relations of power imposed by a minuscule, but very wealthy and powerful elite, are core concerns of this chapter. Unique in its conceptualization of a totalistic supra-structure that operates as an alter state---to perpetuate the power of a minuscule elite. Its systemic inducement of social alienation---a pervasive feature of contemporary life---is examined. Alienation from nature, from invention and innovation, from governance, the martial domain, and from socially responsible taxation are considered---to link up with contents of previous chapters. This approach broadens the concept of social alienation, by relating it to macro-scale aspects of technology oligopoly capitalism that are unique in the technology literature. Ways to move forward are addressed, to help chart a trajectory that can provide constructive alternatives. The concept of totalistic control structure may motivate researchers and students to look into the macro dimensions of social systems, and the impacts of technology. Important for conceptualizations of social structure, and the evolution of the relations of power in society. The contents of this chapter should be considered essential reading for researchers, authors and students who wish to understand the power of oligarchic elites over technology, and the imposition of totalistic supra-structures. Notes. Provide the most extensive documentation of any work in the technology literature (existing or past). Unique as a reference resource for bibliographers, librarians, students, researchers and policy-makers. References can become the core of a digital library on technology---due to their breadth, their extent, and the level of detail. Such a library would be a major reference resource for the twenty-first century. ________ Luis Suarez-Villa is Professor Emeritus of Social Ecology and of Planning, Policy, and Design at the University of California (Irvine). Among his previous books are Corporate Power, Oligopolies, and the Crisis of the State; Globalization and Technocapitalism; and Technocapitalism: A Critical Perspective on Technological Innovation and Corporatism. Luis Suarez-Villa – UCI School of Social Ecology<https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/suarezvilla/> ________

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[CHSTM Computing] The Long Retirement of Triple Data Encryption Standard | Thu, October 8 at 12 PM EDT | Pooja Shyamsundar
by Yoehan Oh 03 Oct '26

03 Oct '26

Dear colleagues, Next Thursday, on October 8 at 12:00-13:30 PM EDT, the CHSTM History of Computing Working Group will have a monthly online meeting, and we are pleased to welcome *Pooja Shyamsundar*, presenting their work-in-progress "*Dead Cipher Walking: The Long Retirement of Triple Data Encryption Standard and its Institutional Afterlife (1977-2025)*." The draft may be found on the working group page <https://www.chstm.org/group/history-computing> as an attachment to the October meeting, with the meeting Zoom link in the same page. If you're interested, please read it and come prepared with feedback and questions for Pooja. If you are new to the CHSTM (Consortium for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine), please join the consortium first by registering <https://www.chstm.org/user/register> your account and then joining <https://www.chstm.org/group/history-computing> our working group. Prospect speakers are welcome! Please submit your work on the history of computing (broadly construed) through the CHSTM's call for paper proposals <https://www.chstm.org/news/call-working-group-papers-2026-2027>, using the "Submit a Proposal" link at the bottom. Lastly, please help us by spreading the word to any interested parties. We look forward to a lively and productive discussion. Best wishes, Yoehan, on behalf of the conveners (Chen-Pang Yeang and Kye Palider) ~~~~~~~~ *Yoehan Oh | Visiting Assistant Professor* he/him/his Science, Technology, Health & Society (STHS) Program *UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND* 1500 N. Warner St., Tacoma, WA 98416 yoehan.oh(a)gmail.com | yoh(a)pugetsound.edu https://www.pugetsound.edu/directory/yoehan-oh LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoehan-oh/> | Bluesky <https://bsky.app/profile/yoehanee.bsky.social/> | Wordpress <https://yoehanoh.wordpress.com/> | Google Scholar <https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GUN4-BgAAAAJ&hl=en>

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