May 2026 - Members - lists.sigcis.org

Fwd: Upcoming Event Ticket from IT History Society - Don’t Forget!
by Dag Spicer 31 May '26

31 May '26

Hello SIGCIS Friends! Just a reminder… Dag Hi SIGCIS! Just a friendly reminder that you have tickets for an upcoming event. We wanted to make sure you're aware and have it on your calendar. We hope you enjoy the experience! Click the button below to access your ticket. [https://events-live-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/55f3de6b54a1fef4ebec5a95942d1f…] Analog: The Infinity Between 0 and 1 [Date] Tuesday, June 2nd 1:00pm [Location] https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85609164183?pwd=AMuCbemOPvIEaYDClGF9Xb4hurb3uu.1 [Tickets] 1 x Ticket View Ticket<https://api.neonemails.com/emails/tracking/click-link/aY1uLgkB6Di_BgF0hapw3…> ----- 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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In Memoriam: Cleve Moler
by Dag Spicer 30 May '26

30 May '26

<https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-cleve-moler-1939-2026/> [2026-05-Cleve-Moler-Obit.png] In Memoriam: Cleve Moler (1939–2026)<https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-cleve-moler-1939-2026/> computerhistory.org<https://computerhistory.org/blog/in-memoriam-cleve-moler-1939-2026/> 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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June 1 deadline for CHM's new research travel grants
by DCBROCK 29 May '26

29 May '26

A reminder that the deadline to apply for the Computer History Museum’s new research travel grants program is Monday, June 1st. Please have a look: https://computerhistory.org/access-and-research/research-travel-grants/

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Opportunity with the IEEE History Center
by Julie Cohn 28 May '26

28 May '26

Dear all, This information may be of interest to some of you or your students: The IEEE History Center is inviting applications for the Pugh Young Scholar in Residence program: https://history.ieee.org/programs/fellowships-prizes/pugh-young-scholar-in-…. This opportunity is open to young scholars in history of technology and engineering, interested in interacting with the IEEE History Center, and able to spend time in the New York area, and or a related field. The residency includes a $5,500 stipend. Details are provided on the website. Please note that the deadline for application has been extended indefinitely until the position is filled. Terms of residency are flexible until the end of 2026. Best wishes, Julie Cohn, Ph.D. Non-Resident Scholar, Center for Energy Studies Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, and Research Historian, Center for Public History University of Houston https://www.bakerinstitute.org/expert/julie-cohn email: cohnconnor(a)gmail.com cell: 713.516.0849 Author: The Grid: Biography of an American Technology (MIT Press, 2017) https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/grid

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Cfp: Generative AI and cultural heritage
by Simone Natale 28 May '26

28 May '26

Please feel free to circulate and/or submit a proposal to this cfp. Thank you! Call for Papers Generative AI and cultural heritage International conference, University of Turin, Italy, 29-30 October 2026 Sponsored by Global Media and China<https://journals.sagepub.com/home/GCH> (Sage Journals) Organisers: Simone Natale (University of Turin, Italy) Deqiang Ji (Communication University of China) Anthony Fung (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Dianlin Huang (Communication University of China) Location and date: Scuola di Studi Superiori Ferdinando Rossi, University of Turin, Turin, Italy, 29-30 October 2026 Cultural heritage - defined as the tangible and intangible legacy that is passed down from generation to generation - has always been sensitive to technological innovation. From photography to film, from computing to the Internet, from social media to virtual reality, cultural preservation, exhibition, communication and memory has been informed by the introduction of media innovations, and institutions such as museums, archives and libraries have often been early adopters of new technologies. Technological companies such as internet platforms have also been active in protecting and innovating cultural heritage for either commercial or public purposes. The development of Generative AI signals a new episode in this trajectory. Systems such as Large Language Models (LLMs) and text-to-image models provide new resources for institutions, platforms, practitioners, and users to engage with the historical record, produce text and audiovisuals related to cultural heritage, and access historical sources. Through a combination of interdisciplinary keynotes, paper presentations and roundtables, this conference aims to illuminate the implications of these emerging practices and approaches. As argued by Nieto McAvoy & Kidd (2024), these changes and processes lead to the emergence of “synthetic heritage,” understood as the activation of generative AI to blend authentic historical elements with artificial enhancements. Synthetic heritage opens new pathways of engagement with the public, but also raises several challenges and potential risks: for instance, AI’s uneasy relationship with accuracy and the propensity of LLMs to hallucinate invites questions about its capacity to ensure historical validity and appropriate reliance on sources (Schuh, 2024; Matei, 2024). Synthetic heritage, moreover, invites scholars and practitioners to reconsider existing notions and discussions as well as to imagine new ways to capture and make sense of the ongoing change. The conference will create a forum where theoretical notions such as authenticity, cultural memory, and heritage can be taken into account and rediscussed in the context of changing technological systems. Addressing such issues is particularly urgent in a moment when decisions are being taken in the cultural heritage sector about the adoption of these technologies. Applications of generative AI for cultural heritage are in fact manifold. In institutions such as museums and archives, they include chatbots impersonating historical characters (Natale et al., 2025), the production of synthetic images illustrating possible pasts (Kidd & Nieto McAvoy, 2023), interactive museum guides and search tools powered by LLMs to give access to online databases and archives (Jaillant et al., 2025). Internet platforms, as the main operator of generative AI, use it for producing multi-model cultural products, and moderating/manipulating interactive relations with users. More broadly, the adoption of AI is rapidly informing the practical ways through which practitioners and users access and interact with materials and information about the past: think, for instance, of how LLMs such as ChatGPT and Deepseek provide their users with information about the past, or how search engines such as Google and Baidu create historical narratives through the integration of AI-generated summaries in their services. The conference will take into account these and other applications, providing a forum to interrogate how AI is impacting cultural heritage, memory, communication, and the past through theoretical and empirical-based research. The conference is sponsored by Global Media and China, a Sage journal that pursues an international approach to original research, and hosted by the Scuola di Studi Superiori Ferdinando Rossi, University of Turin. Based on the recognition that AI is a global phenomenon, but at the same time always situated in specific cultural contexts (Natale & Ji, 2025), the conference will particularly welcome contributions that consider the implications of global variation in AI deployment - for instance, differences between different regions of cultural contexts in shaping the production, circulation, and governance of cultural heritage, and/or explore the power relations involved in how global AI platforms moderate, manipulate, and present cultural heritage contents to different public. Empirical research, case studies, and theoretical perspectives from diverse cultural and geographic contexts are welcome. Relevant topics may include, but are not limited to: * Synthetic heritage and synthetic past * Impact of AI on cultural and collective memory * Generative AI, synthetic heritage and authenticity * Public policies on AI and cultural heritage * Applications of AI in cultural heritage institutions including museums, archives and libraries * Opportunities and pitfalls associated with the use of generative AI for cultural heritage * AI and intangible heritage * Generative AI, cultural memory and vernacular practices * Comparative analysis of the use of generative AI in different national, cultural and geographic contexts * AI, digital platforms and cultural heritage * Geopolitics and cultural politics of generative AI in the cultural heritage domain The conference will not require the payment of registration fees. Please send 250-300 words abstracts and a 100 words biographical note in one single document, making sure that the email’s subject indicates “Proposal for the Cultural heritage and generative AI conference,” to the following contacts: simone.natale(a)unito.it<mailto:simone.natale@unito.it> and jideqiang(a)cuc.edu.cn<mailto:jideqiang@cuc.edu.cn> Deadline for the submission of abstracts: 30 June 2026 Accepted abstracts notified by: 20 July 2026 References Jaillant, L., Warwick, C., Gooding, P., Aske, K., Layne-Worthey, G., & Downie, J. S. (eds.) (2025). Navigating artificial intelligence for cultural heritage organisations. UCL Press. Kidd, J., & Nieto McAvoy, E. (2023). Deep Nostalgia: Remediated memory, algorithmic nostalgia and technological ambivalence. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 29(3), 620-640. Matei Ș (2024) Generative artificial intelligence and collective remembering: The technological mediation of mnemotechnic values. Journal of Human-Technology Relations 2.1: 1-22. https://doi.org/10.59490/jhtr.2024.2.7405 Natale, S., & Ji, D. (2025). Human-machine communication cultures: Introduction. Global Media and China, 10(4), 417-424. Natale, S., Surace, B., Mensa, E., & Befera, L. (2025). ChatGPT for cultural heritage and the customization of generative AI: A talkthrough analysis of the Luigi Einaudi chatbot. New Media & Society, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448251384258 Nieto McAvoy, E., & Kidd, J. (2024). Synthetic Heritage: Online platforms, deceptive genealogy and the ethics of algorithmically generated memory. Memory, Mind & Media, 3, e12. Schuh, J. (2024). AI As Artificial Memory: A Global Reconfiguration of Our Collective Memory Practices? Memory Studies Review, 1, 231-55. *** Prof. Simone Natale Associate Professor, University of Turin, Italy Department of Humanities Visiting Professor, Communication and Media Loughborough University School of Social Sciences Editor, Media, Culture & Society (Sage Publishing)

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Open position at the Computer History Museum
by DCBROCK 27 May '26

27 May '26

This role could have a lot of creative potential. Might be of interest to people on this list. Have a look. https://computerhistory.org/jobs/founding-director-ai-initiative/ +++++++++++++++ David C. Brock dcb(a)dcbrock.net 40 Russell Street, Greenfield, MA 01301 Mobile: 413-522-3578 Pronouns: he, him, his

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Last Call: SIGCIS 2026 in-person registration closes Mon, 5/25
by Gili Vidan 22 May '26

22 May '26

Dear all, One final nudge to join us in person in a just under 4 weeks, June 17-18 for SIGCIS 2026: Known Error. *Registration for in-person attendance closes this coming Monday, 5/25*. Virtual registration will remain open until Tues, 6/16. You can register for either in-person or virtual attendance here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sigcis-2026-known-error-tickets-1986214059720 Our program is available here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Iauq2S39_rQIUa6ZhwXWk4hozD7QkyErVtx0X1r… Information about lodging and local transportation is posted here: https://meetings.sigcis.org/registration--location.html For those attending in-person, we're hoping to bring back the *book raffle* this year. In past years, in-person attendees brought with them history of computing-related books to donate to our fundraiser raffle. If you have an extra copy of your own or a colleague's, *please consider bringing it with you* when you travel to Berkeley. We will offer raffle tickets throughout the conference and draw winners during lunch on the second day. We look forward to seeing many of you in person and online in June! The SIGCIS Organizing Committee: Morgan G. Ames <http://morganya.org/>, University of California, Berkeley (SIGCIS Co-Chair) Katya Babintseva <https://www.cla.purdue.edu/directory/profiles/ekaterina-babintseva.html>, Purdue University Jason Ludwig <https://www.filmandmedia.ucsb.edu/person/jason-ludwig/>, University of California, Santa Barbara Colette Perold <https://www.colorado.edu/cmci/people/media-studies/colette-perold>, University of Colorado, Boulder Honghong Tinn <https://cse.umn.edu/hstm/honghong-tinn>, University of Minnesota Gili Vidan <https://infosci.cornell.edu/content/vidan>, Cornell University (Vice-Chair of Meetings)

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Lecture this Thursday: "Misread Signals. How History Overlooked Women Codebreakers"
by Dag Spicer 17 May '26

17 May '26

Dear SIGCIS Friends, Here is an important upcoming lecture by the Computer Conservation Society in the UK. Note: The speaker, Dermot Turing, is the nephew of Alan Turing! +++++++ Dear Fellow Members: The next meeting of the Computer Conservation Society for the 2025/26 season is on Thursday May 21st 2026 at 2.30pm. The subject is a Misread Signals. How History Overlooked Women Codebreakers. Our speaker is an old friend of the CCS, Dermot Turing. It will be a hybrid meeting with the lecture being given at the BCS London meeting room which is at 25 Copthall Avenue, London EC2R 7BP (near Moorgate tube) with an option for interactive participation via Zoom. The Zoom link for the lecture will be https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87490007950<https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fus06web.zoom.us%2Fj…>. A waiting room will be in operation. About the seminar Bletchley Park is remembered as a land of male intellectuals who were supported by a staff of women in menial roles, with figures such as Alan Turing, William Tutte and John Tiltman taking centre stage. These are the men who helped sway the course of the war in the Allies’ favour. But, as is often the case in the historical record, this is not the whole story. Women were not just secretaries and assistants: they had serious full-on codebreaking roles. Somehow, when the histories were written, these women were left out. Who were they? What did they achieve? How did they ‘vanish’? In Misread Signals, codebreaking historian Dermot Turing turns his attention to these long-ignored women and puts their contributions back in the spotlight where they belong. .About the speaker Dermot Turing is the award-winning author of X, Y and Z – the real story of how Enigma was broken and Enigma Traitors, which reveals the failings of Allied cipher security during World War II. His most recent book is Misread Signals – how History Overlooked Women Codebreakers, which was published in August 2025. He has written numerous other books relating to his famous uncle Alan Turing, codebreaking and computing history. He began writing in 2014 after a career in law, principally at the international law firm Clifford Chance. As well as writing and speaking, Dermot is a trustee of the National Museum of Computing and a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, Oxford. Please pre-register for the event. To do so, follow this linkhttp://www.computerconservationsociety.org/lectures/current/lecture.htm<https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Flinkprotect.cudasvc…> and click on the “Book” symbol. Please indicate if you intend to participate in person or remotely. Remote participants will be notified of the URL for the Zoom link a few days in advance of the meeting. Our meetings are open to all free of charge so do pass on this invitation to others who may be interested in this meeting or other CCS activities. This is the final lecture of the year we will be back in September with the 2026/27 session. Good wishes Roger Johnson CCS London Programme Secretary ________________________________ <https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F…> <https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F…> <https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2F…> <https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2F…> <https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fc…> <https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fc…> <https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbcs%3…> <https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fbcs%3…> <https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwam.bcs.org%2Fwam%2…> <https://kjwwrjln.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F%2Fwam.bcs.org%2Fwam%2…> ________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE You are receiving this email because you are subscribed to it. 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Jensen's decimal print routine?
by Jeffrey Starr 15 May '26

15 May '26

One of the technical anecdotes in Steven Levy's *Hackers* is about Jensen's decimal print routine. Described as a "tall, silent hacker from Maine" (pg 33), Jensen wrote a decimal print routine for the TX-0 that did not use a table of powers of ten and fit within 46 instructions, less than the 50 instructions thought necessary. Is there a copy of this algorithm? The Computer History Museum archives include some TX-0 paper tape artifacts, but the description of the contents is minimal. I've also looked at Bitsaver's collection of TX-0 documents, but this doesn't seem to be included.

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request to post
by Mora Matassi 15 May '26

15 May '26

Hello - I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to ask if this post could be shared with members. Many thanks in advance, Mora SUBJECT: CFP: Special issue on mobile disconnection, join our online events next May 18 With colleagues Trine Syvertsen and Morgan Quinn Ross, we are editing a special issue on mobile disconnection in *Mobile Media & Communication*. You can check out the call for papers with extended abstracts due on 31 July 2026 here: https://journals.sagepub.com/page/mmc/mobiledisconnection If you are thinking about submitting to it, we are holding two online events next May 18, tailored to different time zones to reach potential contributors. You are welcome to join and get feedback from other participants and editors. More on the special events and a tab to register here: https://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/research/projects/digital-disconnection/e… Best regards, Mora Matassi Mora Matassi, Ph.D. Assistant professor and program director, Department of Social Sciences, Universidad de San Andrés Co-author of *To Know Is to Compare: Studying Social Media across Nations, Media, and Platforms* <https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262545938/to-know-is-to-compare/> (MIT Press)

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