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[updated cfp] Histories of Computing in Asia workshop
by Christopher Leslie 07 May '20

07 May '20

Dear Colleagues, Even though the future is hard to predict, the consensus of IFIP Working Group 9.7 and the program committee is that we should go ahead with our December workshop. The initial interest in our workshop has been keen, and it seems that now more than ever we should maintain our commitment to international scholarship. Ultimately, I think the decision about the fate of the workshop should be made by the participants, based on the advice of our host. Thus, our program committee will start reviewing draft papers as we previously announced on June 1 and we will hope to have a roster of papers announced by September. At that time, we will confer with all parties involved to decide what is the best and safest way for everyone to proceed. It seems possible that some will be able to attend an in-person meeting, and other will prefer to make remote presentations. If in fact the group wishes to postpone the conference to 2021, we can consider that, too. If you would like to participate in the workshop, but you do not think you will be ready to submit your paper by June 1, please let me know. Additionally, if you have any concerns about the workshop in advance of submitting a draft paper, please reach out. These are trying times, and I appreciate everyone’s patience and support. With that lengthy preamble, I am pasting an abbreviated CFP below. More information, including a form to upload your draft paper, is available at http://ifipwg97.org/ Sincerely, Chris Leslie Chair, IFIP Working Group 9.7: History of Computing Lecturer, South China University of Technology Final Call for Papers HISTORIES OF COMPUTING IN ASIA SOUTH CHINA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY GUANGZHOU • DECEMBER 2020 Draft papers are now being accepted for the next meeting of IFIP’s Working Group 9.7, which we hope will be held from 4 to 8 December 2020. Hosted by the South China University of Technology (SCUT) in Guangzhou, China, our proposed workshop will bring together international and Chinese academic researchers, public historians, and industry professionals who are interested in the history of computing. The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has created many uncertainties. Because our workshop is not scheduled until the end of the year, we have decided to proceed with the review of papers as planned, and we will confer with the authors of accepted papers about their ability to travel in the fall. We hope it will be possible to hold the conference in person, but we recognize that for some participants, this may be impossible or uncomfortable. We will discuss alternative arrangements, such as allowing remote presentations or postponing the workshop, in September with the authors of the accepted papers. THEMES The theme of the workshop is histories of computing in Asia, with a particular emphasis on contextualizing China’s success in computing. The program committee will consider any paper in line with this theme, but we are particularly interested in topics such as: China, Asia, and Beyond. The rapid rise of Chinese computing Internationalism. Frameworks that foster multinational cooperation and innovation Science and Technology Studies. History and philosophy of technology, from east to west Pedagogy. Teaching the history of computing in or about Asia Public History and Imagination. Remembering and presenting histories of computing More details about the CFP, guidelines for papers, and a form to upload your draft paper for consideration is available at: http://ifipwg97.org/workshops/hca2020/ <http://ifipwg97.org/workshops/hca2020/> REVIEW PROCESS Academic and amateur historians, computing and informatics professionals, archivists, and museum curators are welcome to submit papers to be considered for this workshop. Following our typical practice, we will ask for full papers for anonymous peer review by a program committee. Accepted papers must be revised according to the comments of the peer reviewers. In order to provide for a lively discussion at the workshop, we will distribute draft papers to participants in advance. After the workshop, authors will have the chance to incorporate feedback from the audience before preparing their final versions. These will be considered for inclusion in the volume of edited, selected papers, which will be published by Springer-Nature in the IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology series. The official language of the workshop and the printed proceedings is English. IMPORTANT DATES 1 May to 1 June 2020: Draft papers accepted for consideration by the Program Committee 1 September 2020: Comments from Program Committee, decisions, and invitations sent to authors 4 November 2020: Collection of papers, revised based on reviewer comments and using Springer template, for distribution to workshop participants 4 December 2020: Participants arrive in Guangzhou, China 13 January 2021: Revised papers due for consideration in proceedings volume, which will be published by Springer Enquires in advance of your submission may be addressed to the conference chair, Christopher Leslie, at <hca2020workshop(a)outlook.com <mailto:hca2020workshop@outlook.com>>.

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computer room visual simulation
by Guy Fedorkow 06 May '20

06 May '20

Greetings colleagues, someone circulated a link to a video recently, a visual simulation of what you might think of as a "drone's eye" view of a walk through a classic behind-the-glass-wall mainframe computer installation. I think there were a couple versions, something like an s/360-165, and another one with something like a cdc 6600. Does anyone recall seeing the video? Can you send me a link? Thanks /guy fedorkow

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Coding vs programing (starting a new thread)
by Ceruzzi, Paul 06 May '20

06 May '20

To those excellent suggestions I would also add the notes of Edsger Dijkstra. Some of his writings also come across as a "rant," but given the current muddy state of programming / coding, I conclude that he was spot on. Bill: sometimes it is OK to rant! His "EWD" notes have been archived and are available on-line at the University of Texas. Some of them were gathered a few years ago and published by Springer. http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ Paul Ceruzzi ----------------- Message: 6 Date: Tue, 5 May 2020 19:50:48 +0000 From: "McMillan, William W" <william.mcmillan(a)cuaa.edu> To: "members(a)sigcis.org" <members(a)sigcis.org> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Programmer vs. coder vs. sofware developer vs. software engineer Message-ID: <BCD19775A5154645AD4E79C257C1E37A02812E64F6(a)CUAA-EX02.cuaa.cuw.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Thanks to those who sent suggestions for background info on this topic! My own interest in the history of computing is really more about understanding the present, and my concern about the use and misuse of professional titles, though informed by history, leads to questions such as: - Why do we call programmers and software developers coders nowadays, when that term has long been used to label those with quite limited intellectual involvement in software development, and even considered to be carrying out a clerical task (as explained well in Nathan's book)? - Why do we apply the term software engineer to those who can program, but who really know very little about software engineering in the broader sense? To me this suggests that our society, and the enterprises that create the software we use, have extremely limited understanding of software development and what it entails. This is a failure of those of us who teach computing and software engineering and maybe of professional societies. The risks to society are immense. Imagine if a machinist or even a self-taught tinkerer could adopt the title mechanical engineer at will and be tasked with designing the critical devices of our civilization. Or if anyone with some knowledge of biochemistry could serve as a pharmacist? Maybe SIGCIS members don't believe that this topic belongs on this list, but I feel that historians might be better positioned to address it than many in the technical and commercial communities who are consumed by immediate demands, and who have very limited understanding of their profession's past. OK, end of rant! Thanks, Bill

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SIGCIS Conference 2020: Regretfully Canceled
by Laine Nooney 04 May '20

04 May '20

To our fabulous SIGCIS community, It is with great regret that I write to announce the cancellation of the SIGCIS 2020 fall conference. The organizing team was incredibly excited to share the conference call and keynote selection for our annually co-located event with SHOT, scheduled for this year in New Orleans. Yet as the time for launching the CFP approached, we felt it was essential to take an unvarnished view of current events. Travel and large gatherings seem likely to remain restricted in the fall and will certainly remain high risk for many members of our community. Furthermore, many of us are experiencing greater institutional and economic precarity than ever before, as we watch hiring lines pulled, offers withdrawn, and research funds frozen. The full impact of COVID-19 is going to run a long course through our community. This decision is not a message about the likelihood of SHOT happening. Rather, as a small set of volunteers with no economic liabilities/contracts in play, we made the decision that we did not want to go through the labor of pulling together a conference if there was a probability that it would need to be canceled or it would be challenging for members of our community to attend. We considered keeping our call and holding the conference virtually, but virtual events have their own logistical challenges, in addition to all the standard labor of conference organization. In short, we did not think it was prudent for the mental health of any of us to take on a set of new and unfamiliar burdens in the middle of a pandemic that is rapidly changing our research, teaching, and service. Furthermore, we all shared an unease about putting out a call for scholarship during these obviously turbulent times; moving forward as if business was usual did not sit well with any of us. We do intend to organize some kind of connecting event, probably virtually, during the weekend that SIGCIS would usually occur. However, we want to be able to be responsive to where people are, professionally and emotionally, in several months. Therefore, we are not making commitments to format just yet. This decision was made with a grim certainty that this was the right course of action; that doesn’t mean it wasn’t hard to make. For all of us on the organizing committee—myself, Stephanie, Morgan, Andy, and Kera—SIGCIS is a key intellectual and interpersonal community, a space of not just colleagues, but friends. Personally speaking, SIGCIS has become one of the highlights of my academic year, and I have tremendous gratitude for how enthusiastically so many of you have supported the work this team does, as we work to build a history that imagines a better future. Stay safe--until we meet again, SIGCIS Conference Committee Laine Nooney, Vice-Chair of Meetings Stephanie Dick Morgan Ames Andy Russell, SIGCIS Chair Kera Allen --------------------------------------- Laine Nooney <http://www.lainenooney.com/> MCC <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/> @ NYU <http://www.nyu.edu/> Assistant Professor -Need to make an appt? Click, don't email: https://bit.ly/2GIHuK0 -Probably typed by voice recognition, so please cherish typos

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WEBCAST TODAY: Internet Independence Day marking 25th anniversary of NSFNET decommissioning
by Joly MacFie 30 Apr '20

30 Apr '20

An auspicious day, and an illustrious line up of speakers! Starts shortly. ISOC Live posted: "On April 30 2020, at 5pm EDT (21:00 UTC) Internet elders will gather to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1995 decommissioning of the NSFNET backbone, following the passage of Al Gore's High Performance Computing Act of 1991. This was the moment that the I" *ISOC LIVE NOTICEBOARD* [image: livestream] <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/iid25>On *April 30 2020*, at *5pm EDT* (21:00 UTC) Internet elders will gather to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1995 decommissioning of the *NSFNET backbone <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Science_Foundation_Network>*, following the passage of *Al Gore*'s *High Performance Computing Act of 1991 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Performance_Computing_Act_of_1991>*. This was the moment that the Internet fully transitioned from a government to a private enterprise. A select group of the elders including *Jeff Jarvis* (American journalist); *Esther Dyson* (first CEO of ICANN); *James Lewis* (SVP CSIS); *Tom Evslin* (founder ITXC); *Andrew Odlyzko* (former Bell Labs and Prof U MN), *Gary Shapiro*, President, Consumer Technology Association, and *Scott McNealy* (co-founder Sun Microsystems) will discuss how the Internet has developed since the *last such celebration <https://isoc.live/7746/>*, 5 years ago. The event will be hosted by *Daniel Berninger* of VCXC, and webcast via a partnership with the *Internet Society Washington DC Chapter <http://isoc-dc.org/> *(ISOC-DC) *LIVESTREAM: https://livestream.com/internetsociety/iid25 <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/iid25>* *TWITTER: #internetindependenceday <http://bit.ly/iid25> | #iid25 <http://bit.ly/IID25> * *Permalink* https://isoc.live/12014/ - -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +2185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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SHOT IEEE/Finn prize --> deadline **extended 15 May**
by Thomas Misa 16 Apr '20

16 Apr '20

Updating Tom Haigh’s suggestion for nominating your own or another’s article for SHOT's Bernard S. Finn IEEE History Prize The prize is awarded annually to the best paper in the history of electrotechnology—power, electronics, telecommunications, and computer science—published during the preceding year. Any article published in a learned periodical is eligible if it treats the art or engineering aspects of electrotechnology and its practitioners. The article must be written in English, although the journal or periodical in which it appears may be a foreign language publication. The prize consists of a cash award of $1,000 and a certificate. In addition, IEEE will provide a travel subsidy ($750 domestic, $1,000 international) to allow the winner to attend SHOT’s annual meeting, and SHOT will waive the basic registration and awards-banquet fees for the winner. Nominations for the 2020 Bernard S. Finn IEEE History Prize can be submitted until the extended deadline of 15 May 2020 To nominate an article, please upload a digital copy of the article to the online submission system at https://tinyurl.com/yd6khjku <https://tinyurl.com/yd6khjku> or https://www.historyoftechnology.org/about-us/awards-prizes-and-grants/the-b…

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Finn Prize -- deadline TODAY, also my winning paper from last year
by thomas.haigh＠gmail.com 15 Apr '20

15 Apr '20

Hello SIGCIS, Reminder: the deadline to nominate yourself for the SHOT Bernard S. Finn IEEE History prize is today. Procedures at https://www.historyoftechnology.org/about-us/awards-prizes-and-grants/the-be rnard-s-finn-ieee-history-prize/. Short version: all you have to do is email your paper published in 2019 on any aspect of the history of computing (or other field of "electrical history") to the three committee members. So it is not too late! Unlike some of the other SHOT prizes this has not been deferred for this year. I won it last year, with Mark Priestley, for our article "Colossus and Programmability" which appeared in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. You can read a copy at http://www.tomandmaria.com/Tom/Writing/ColossusProgrammabilityWeb.pdf. It looks at what Colossus could and couldn't do, with a historiographic dimension that asks "What does programmable even mean, anyway?" That must be at least the 20th time I've sent something in for a SHOT prize and the first success. It's not even an article I had high hopes for when I dispatched it to the committee. I basically submitted it out of habit. I'm proud of it, and all the analysis that underlies it (mostly Mark's work), but as a technically informed piece of work focused on a specific machine it seemed to be swimming against the tide. Moral: if you've written something good send it in. You never know. Bonus: if you want to see something really inscrutable and technical, try our "Colossus: The Missing Manual" published last year in the Siegen University working paper series Media of Cooperation. https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de/wp-content/uploads/WPS_10_Haigh.pdf Best wishes, Tom

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RIP John Conway
by Elizabeth Petrick 15 Apr '20

15 Apr '20

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/john-conway-inventor-of-the-game-of… ------------- Elizabeth Petrick Associate Professor Department of History Rice University http://elizabethpetrick.com/

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Digital culture accepted first time as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
by Andreas Lange 15 Apr '20

15 Apr '20

Dear all, for all of you, who are interested in the cultural recognition of programming culture, this recent decision of the Finnish UNESCO surely represents a milestone: As announced at April 9th, 2020 the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture listed the Demoscene on proposals from the National Board of Antiquities and the Intangible Cultural Heritage Expert Group as national cultural heritage of humanity. And that is only the start. Since the Demoscene is an international culture, similar applications has been initiated or already submitted in other countries. Further reading: https://efgamp.eu/2020/04/15/digital-culture-accepted-first-time-as-unesco-… In spite the umbrella campaign 'Art of Coding' was launched before COVID19 it is shedding additional attention on this groundbreaking decision in Finland. Andreas -- Andreas Lange - COO - EFGAMP e.V. (European Federation of Game Archives, Museums and Preservation Projects) Spittastr. 13, 10317 Berlin, Germany registered as non-profit under VR 32659 B www.efgamp.eu Twitter: @A_Lange_Berlin

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Archives of old computer simulations
by Fenwick Mckelvey 15 Apr '20

15 Apr '20

Hi all, I am wondering if anyone had any suggestions of links to older political simulations running on Dos. I am particularly interested in two games, On the Campaign Trail and Micro Globus both from the 1980s. I have looked into the Internet Archive and some library catologs with limited success. I guess I am looking for recommendations for other software archives. Any help is appreciated. Take care and stay safe in these times. Be good, Fenwick McKelvey http://www.fenwickmckelvey.com Associate Professor, Communication Studies, Concordia University Director of the Algorithmic Media Observatory http://www.amo-oma.ca/en/ Member of the Center for the Study of Democratic Citizenship http://csdc-cecd.ca/

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