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Fwd: [Edith.sig] Arriving SHOT Milan airport -- avoid $$$ taxi
by Laine Nooney 23 Oct '19

23 Oct '19

Hi all, Relevant info for those going to Milan, via Amy Bix and the EDITH list... ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Bix, Amy S [HIST] <abix(a)iastate.edu> Date: Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 5:58 AM Subject: [Edith.sig] Arriving SHOT Milan airport -- avoid $$$ taxi To: EDITH.SIG <edith.sig(a)mit.edu> Hello, everyone - Sorry to bother anyone not coming to SHOT Milan, but for those who are, we've been asked to spread the word that it's wise to avoid taking a taxi from the airport to hotel, which will run over $100.... Instead, the “Malpensa Express” train from MXP airport is convenient, runs 5.30 am to just before midnight, costs Euro 13 pp one-way, with tickets online, at station, or by “tap.” Arrives Milan at Station Cadorna, a 6-8 minute walk to conference hotel. Tom Misa has tweeted all this, plus detailed Google map with **walking** routes from Station Cadorna to conference hotel: https://twitter.com/tjmisa8/status/1185972325449109506 Hope to see people in Milan soon! yours, amy bix Dr. Amy Bix Professor of History Director, Consortium for Historical Studies of Technology and Science 633 Ross Hall, History Dept., 527 Farm House Ln., Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011 office: (515)294-0122; fax: (515)294-6390; e-mail: abix(a)iastate.edu _______________________________________________ Edith.sig mailing list Edith.sig(a)mit.edu http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/edith.sig

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SIGCIS Conference @ SHOT: Final Housekeeping
by Laine Nooney 21 Oct '19

21 Oct '19

Hi all, Just a couple notes for anyone joining us at the SIGCIS Conference this Sunday. *1. Keynote Change* As you may known, Prof. Safiya Noble was slated to be our keynote for the SIGCIS Conference in Milan. However, due to unexpected and unforeseeable family matters, Prof. Noble had to decline the keynote role a couple weeks ago. There's been lots of work behind the scenes to pull together a new keynote on a tight turnaround, and thus we are pleased to announce that our own SIGCIS Treasurer, Gerardo Con Díaz, will be serving as keynote (just in time for the launch of his new book, *Software Rights*!). The title of his talk will be: "What is Software?: Patent Law and the Many Natures of Software." *2. SIGCIS Badges* In contrast to recent years,* registered SIGICS attendees will have their own badges on Sunday, and these badges will be required to participate in the SIGCIS Conference*. This is part of a larger effort we are coordinating with SHOT to ensure that the costs of the SIGCIS conference are being supported by the membership/attendees. If you did not have a chance to register online, you will be able to do registration onsite in order to get a badge. All attendees should head to the registration table Sunday morning, between 8:00am and 8:45am, to pick up their badge. The general schedule, and a PDF of the program, can be found here: http://meetings.sigcis.org/conference-schedule.html Please don't hesitate to get in touch with me if you have any questions. I look forward to seeing you at SHOT and SIGCIS! -Laine Nooney, Vice-Chair of Meetings 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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ACM human-computer interaction history effort
by Jonathan Grudin 18 Oct '19

18 Oct '19

Hello all, The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction has just initiated an effort to foster historical research by collecting materials that students, historians, and others can freely access. With no historians, taxonomists, data repository experts as yet attached to the project, there is ample opportunity to participate and lead parts of the project. There are three principal efforts. 1. Digitize paper and video material from the past. This is underway. Brad Myers of CMU is working on paper, Catherine Plaisant of UMD on video. 1. Collect oral histories of people who were involved in HCI in different times and regions. People with experience conducting oral histories would be welcome as advisors or participate. Limited funding to cover some costs or to conduct an initial model oral history is possible. Ron Baecker (University of Toronto Emeritus, Visiting Professor at Columbia University) is on point for this. 1. Design and build a searchable repository with links to existing digital material that describes, analyzes, or synthesizes aspects of HCI's past. Links not to primary source material but to material that takes a perspective on the past: Sites with anniversary commemoration meeting videos or transcripts, articles that consider an aspect of HCI history, and so on. The repository could include relevant non-digital museum archives and books with brief synopses. Finding help for (3), designing a flexible system to handle the storage and retrieval of information, the right tags and indices, is the task of Loren Terveen of University of Minnesota and me. A known difficult problem, with different terms used for the same thing at one time or at different times, the same word used for different things at one time or different times, some events occurring on a specific date, others over a stretch of time, some elements are parts of different wholes, and so on. Guidance on this would be great and active participation or leadership welcome. A starter set of essays, articles, and books can be pulled together, but planning will be needed to collect links to materials from different fields, times, regions and languages. We can reached at sigchi-history(a)acm.org<mailto:sigchi-history@acm.org>. Jonathan Jonathan Grudin Principal Researcher, Microsoft Affiliate Professor, Information School, University of Washington Website: jonathangrudin.com

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SIGCIS WANTS YOUR BOOKS!
by Laine Nooney 17 Oct '19

17 Oct '19

Hello SIGCIS membership! For those who missed the announcement in Andy Russell's prior email about upcoming SIGCIS events at SHOT Milan: *Con Diaz and I will be hosting a book raffle at the Friday SIGCIS lunch on October 25th, from 12:30-2pm*. Traditionally, books for auction/raffle are a mix of donations from MIT Press and our members. Which means...we want your books! If you've published anything--be it a monograph, edited collection, whatever--in the past 5 years or so and have a few copies to spare, please consider donating to the book auction! Funds from the book auction go directly to travel grants for our grad students. In other words: books = money = travel grants = bigger, better sigcis = more books in the future? Truly, a virtuous circle. If you've got books to spare, *please drop me an email*. Its easier for us to prepare if we know what might be in store! Ciao, 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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Internet traffic in northern Virginia
by Ceruzzi, Paul 16 Oct '19

16 Oct '19

An article in yesterday's Washington Post (by Antonio Olivo, Metro Section, Oct. 13, 2019), is about the changing racial and ethnic demographics of Loudoun County, Virginia, once a sleepy southern farming area, little changed for a century. It is now a diverse, IT- and Defense-oriented exurb of DC. The article mentions in passing that "70% of the world's Internet Traffic passes through" Loudoun County data centers. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/in-fast-growing-va-s… Is this possible? On what sources did the reporter base that information? I've driven by the "cloud servers" in Ashburn, Virginia, and they are impressive. But still? Paul Ceruzzi Curator Emeritus, Department of Space History National Air and Space Museum Smithsonian Institution Washington, DC 20013-7012 202-633-2414

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] New Book: Software Rights
by Bernard Geoghegan 16 Oct '19

16 Oct '19

Hi Con, What a timely and essential intervention—thanks for your work, I can’t wait to read it. We have a few people here in London interested in the intersections of digital media and law, and this will be an exciting contribution to our conversations. Congrats! Best, b -- Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media Chair of the UG Assessment Board, Digital Culture www.bernardg.com Department of Digital Humanities King's College London The Strand Building Room S3.08 WC2R 2LS Office: +44 (0)20 7848 4750 From: Members <members-bounces(a)lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Jaroslav Švelch <jaroslav(a)svelch.com> Date: Tuesday, 15 October 2019 at 23:18 To: Theodora Dryer <tjdryer(a)gmail.com>, "Dr. Joy Lisi Rankin" <drjoy(a)joyrankin.com> Cc: Sigcis <members(a)sigcis.org>, Gerardo Con Diaz <condiaz(a)ucdavis.edu> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] New Book: Software Rights Dear Con, Congratulations! Your book sounds fascinating and I’m looking forward to reading it! Best, Jaroslav Jaroslav Švelch, Ph.D. New media and digital games scholar Assistant professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague Postdoctoral fellow (2017-2019), Games and Transgressive Aesthetics project, University of Bergen: http://gta.b.uib.no/ ________________________________________________________ My book GAMING THE IRON CURTAIN: How Teenagers and Amateurs in Communist Czechoslovakia Claimed the Medium of Computer Games Out now on MIT Press, http://ironcurtain.svelch.com @raguklemenso Phone: +420 773 988 425 From: Theodora Dryer Sent: úterý 15. října 2019 19:31 To: Dr. Joy Lisi Rankin Cc: Sigcis; Gerardo Con Diaz Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] New Book: Software Rights Dear Con, Many congratulations!! This is a much needed history and I hope you might sign my copy in Milan. :) All best, Theo On Tue, Oct 15, 2019 at 8:59 AM Dr. Joy Lisi Rankin <drjoy(a)joyrankin.com> wrote: Dear Con, Warmest congratulations on the publication of your book! I’m looking forward to reading it. I know it’s a valuable contribution to our field. Regards, Joy On October 14, 2019 at 5:01:28 PM, Gerardo Con Diaz (condiaz(a)ucdavis.edu) wrote: Dear SIGCIS, I'm happy to share the publication of my first book, Software Rights: How Patent Law Transformed Software Development in America (Yale Press). I attached a flyer with more information about it. You can find it through independent bookstores through Indiebound, major online retailers such as Amazon, or directly from Yale University Press. I look forward to seeing many of you in a few weeks! Best, Con :) _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org -- Dr. Theodora J. Dryer AI Now Institute _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org

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New public TV History of Computing documentary (on MN)--a CBI Collaboration available for streaming
by Jeffrey Yost 15 Oct '19

15 Oct '19

Dear Colleagues, Wanted to make people aware of an hour-long history of computing documentary on Minnesota IT history. It was a collaborative project of the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA-an industry association with 300 member companies), Twin Cities Public Television (TPT), the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI), the Minnesota Historical Society, the Dakota Country Historical Society, and The VIP Club (ERA/Univac retirees group). The documentary is titled: Solid State: Minnesota's High-Tech History. I participated in a pre-screening event last week and had the opportunity to serve on the panel following the screening at TPT with the film-maker Kevin Dragseth, MC MHTA CEO Jeff Tollefson, and a few IT pioneers, and we had several hundred guests in the audience (Oct. 8th). It aired on public television on TPT on Oct.13th, and it will likely be shown on some public television affiliates throughout the nation, especially in high tech regions (such as in San Francisco/San Jose/Palo Alto/S. Valley, Boston, Seattle, Los Angeles, Austin, etc.) in the near future. The easier way to see it if interested (or to use in a class), it is now, and will remain, available to stream in full--see URL below. Despite not having Control Data (for a time 2nd to only IBM) since its early 1990's liquidity crisis, receivership, and breakup, there is still much IT here in the Twin Cities, but some it more behind the scenes. The HQs of Target and Best Buy and their advanced logistics systems, 3M as a leading force in the Internet of Things (IoT) in manufacturing (Accenture estimates IoT in manufacturing, factory sensors/transmission to the Cloud/associated analytics, will save $15 Trillion globally in efficiencies by 2030), and Optum (an absolute giant health information services platform/provider used in 150 countries) that represents half the income of its parent the nation's 6th largest public company Minnetonka, MN's United Health, as well as the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, Medtronic, and other constituents of our Medical Alley to name just a few. Documentary is available at: https://www.tpt.org/solid-state/ Former CBI Director, HSTM and ECE Prof. Emeritus, and current SHOT President Tom Misa is the on-air historian throughout (author of Digital State on MN's IT history and an inspiration for the documentary). In addition to extensive footage and insights from Tom, about 20 video interviews with IT pioneers were used (including with early ERA engineers, as well as with leading women and African Americans advancing IT here and beyond). CBI Archivist Amanda Wick was the lead archivist advisor, I was the lead historian advisor, and UMN History of Science Tech and Med (HSTM) ABD student Liz Semler was the chief researcher/project manager and did absolutely incredible work on the effort (on both the documentary and the website www.mncomputinghistory.com) HSTM Postdoc and former CBI GSRA Dr. Jonathan Clemens (a senior consultant) also provided very important work and input throughout. Most of the footage and many of the photographs are from the Charles Babbage Institute Archives. Best, Jeff Jeffrey R. Yost, Ph.D. Director, Charles Babbage Institute Research Professor, Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine 222 21st Avenue South University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55455 612 624 5050 Phone 612 625 8054 Fax

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New Book: Software Rights
by Gerardo Con Diaz 15 Oct '19

15 Oct '19

Dear SIGCIS, I'm happy to share the publication of my first book, Software Rights: How Patent Law Transformed Software Development in America (Yale Press). I attached a flyer with more information about it. You can find it through independent bookstores through Indiebound<https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780300228397>, major online retailers such as Amazon<https://www.amazon.com/Software-Rights-Transformed-Development-America/dp/0…>, or directly from Yale University Press<https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300228397/software-rights>. I look forward to seeing many of you in a few weeks! Best, Con :)

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Fw: Question from a reporter - TI calculators
by Jesiek, Brent K 15 Oct '19

15 Oct '19

Hi all, see inquiry below about TI calculators. With Maya's permission, I am forwarding her message to this list. If you can assist, please contact her directly at: Maya Kosoff <mekosoff(a)gmail.com> Best, Brent ________________________________ From: Maya Kosoff <mekosoff(a)gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2019 11:29 AM To: admin(a)sigcis.org <admin(a)sigcis.org> Subject: Question from a reporter Hi! I'm a reporter writing for GEN<https://gen.medium.com/>, a Medium publication focused on culture and politics. I'm hoping to speak to someone from SIGCIS who may be able to help me with a story I'm writing. I'm reporting about income inequality and Texas Instruments graphing calculators, and I've mostly spoken with teachers who have had to buy TI calculators for their students in low-income districts. I'm hoping to speak with someone from SIGCIS who can help me understand how Texas Instruments became the de facto brand of graphing calculator in schools everywhere, even though I understand the calculators make up a relatively small percentage of Texas Instruments' overall business. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Best, Maya Kosoff -- Maya Kosoff @mekosoff<https://twitter.com/mekosoff> (717) 644-5691

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Introduction and SHOT Talk
by Salem Elzway 15 Oct '19

15 Oct '19

Greetings everyone, I've long been a spectator of the SIGCIS mailing list and thought now would be a good time to formally introduce myself. My name is Salem Elzway and I'm a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan. I'm currently researching and (slowly) writing my dissertation that will explore the history and political economy of industrial robots. Although robots are the fulcrum of the dissertation, I'm equally interested in rethinking how industrial and national security policy formation and implementation became mutually-oriented around specific processes and technologies in the post war world. (And speaking of "mutual orientation," Paul Edwards said I could drop his name as one of my committee members, just to give myself some street cred!) The dissertation is essentially envisioned as a follow-up to David Noble's *Forces of Production.* And, like all good sequels, I'm picking up where Noble left off with the hope that the next phase of the story will lead to new insights and constructive complications of the original. Also, I'll be presenting a paper in Milano (shameless plug, I know!) called "Arming the Artificial Intelligentsia: AI, Robots, and the Design of National Security" that's essentially an extremely condensed version of two in-progress dissertation chapters: one on MIT and the other on Stanford. Please come to what I'm sure will be an excellent panel (Session #S18, "Controlling the AI Future: Shaping Emerging Technologies") chaired by Jonathan Coopersmith, and featuring talks by Andrew Meade McGee, Ramesh Subramanian, and myself. Excited to meet any and all of you in Italy, and looking forward to some great conversations in the years ahead! Best, Salem -- Salem Elzway PhD Candidate Department of History University of Michigan (402)730-4775 selzway(a)umich.edu

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