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opportunities for book reviewers - IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
by Andrew Russell 12 Sep '16

12 Sep '16

Hi everyone - I hope most of you read the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, and perhaps some of you have noticed that we’ve been trying to bring more variety to the Reviews column in recent years. (I’m the Reviews editor.) We’ve run reviews of technical histories, cultural histories, popular histories, edited volumes, computer game histories, and even a few films and TV shows. The reason I bring this up is that I’m always looking for people who would like to write reviews. I’m open to all sorts of suggestions and ideas. Perhaps you know graduate students who would do a good job with a review; perhaps you would like to write a review essay that draws on 3 to 5 recent books; perhaps you think that Annals readers would be interested to learn about books from areas where they don’t typically read. As we all know, the history of computing is quite a dynamic field that spills across all kinds of disciplinary lines. I think the Reviews column is a good place to try to capture at least a little bit of this dynamism. I’d be happy to hear suggestions from people who have specific books in mind, or who just want to let me know they would be available if something on a certain topic pops up. The process isn’t too formal or exotic - once I can find a good fit between books and reviewers, the publisher is usually good enough to send a free copy. Reviews are typically 800 words, but it’s not difficult to talk me into more (or less) space if you think the review needs it. Thanks and I hope to hear from you! Andy — — — — — — — — — — — Andrew L. Russell, Ph.D. Dean, College of Arts & Sciences SUNY Polytechnic Institute Donovan Hall - 2123B 100 Seymour Road Utica, NY 13502 t. 315-792-7317 w. https://sunypoly.edu/ e. arussell(a)arussell.org

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Computer History Museum: Business History Curator opening
by David C. Brock 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

The Computer History Museum is currently seeking a Business History Curator. The job listing may be found here: http://www.computerhistory.org/jobs/ab73d63f4ff9f0f368f4c966c3582fbd +++++++++++ David C. Brock Director Center for Software History Computer History Museum www.computerhistory.org<http://www.computerhistory.org> dbrock(a)computerhistory.org<mailto:dbrock@computerhistory.org> Twitter @dcbrock www.twitter.com/dcbrock<http://www.twitter.com/dcbrock> Skype dcbrock 1401 North Shoreline Boulevard Mountain View, CA 94043 USA direct line 650.810.1886 main 650.810.1010 fax 650.810.1055 Follow Us: CHM Blog www.computerhistory.org/atchm/<http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/> Facebook www.facebook.com/computerhistory<http://www.facebook.com/computerhistory> Twitter www.twitter.com/computerhistory<http://www.twitter.com/computerhistory> YouTube www.youtube.com/computerhistory<http://www.youtube.com/computerhistory>

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Data systems still using COBOL is part of problem in managing U.S. Veterans Affairs Department; New Chief Information Officer of VA is a black woman
by Clarence Townsend 08 Sep '16

08 Sep '16

U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald on C-SPAN Washington Journal program 9/07/2016 indicating that one of the major issues in lack of proper administration of the agency was that the financial management software still being used was written in COBOL "which I wrote with in 1971 while going to West Point". Robert McDonald was brought in from Proctor & Gamble to lead VA on 7/30/2014. His statement on the use of antiquated management software by Veterans Affairs Dept. like COBOL is at 15min 40sec to 16 min. 20 seconds of the interview below: https://www.c-span.org/video/?414224-2/washington-journal- veterans-affairs-secretary-robert-mcdonald I have also seen statements he made in testimony to Congress about the antiquated use of COBOL software at the VA contributing to the lack of accountability before.Does anyone in this group know the extent of the US federal government's use of software still written in COBOL? Also an interesting story to pursue is that VA Secretary Robert McDonald brought in LaVerne Council as an Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer for the VA in July 2015. She had been a corporate vice president and Chief Information Officer for Johnson & Johnson and is a black woman with one of the most senior positions in Information Technology in the country. Brief info on her is at: http://www.va.gov/opa/bios/bio_council.asp It seems like this would be an interesting story on diversity in the IT field to pursue. I have copied some of her bio below as a possible incentive for someone looking for a topic in the diversity and technology field to pursue. Clarence Townsend; Eugene Oregon Email: clarence1234(a)gmail.com LaVerne H. Council Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology and Chief Information Officer, Office of Information and Technology [image: LaVerne H. Council Official Biography Image] Ms. LaVerne H. Council joined the Department of Veterans Affairs in July 2015 as the Assistant Secretary for Information and Technology (OI&T) and Chief Information Officer. In this role, Ms. Council oversees the day-to-day activities of VA’s $4 billion IT budget and over 8,000 IT employees to ensure that VA has the IT tools and services needed to support our Nation’s Veterans. Prior to joining VA, Ms. Council served as CEO of Council Advisory Services, LLC and Chair of the National Board of Trustees for the March of Dimes. In December 2011, she retired from Johnson & Johnson after serving as Corporate Vice President and Chief Information Officer for Johnson & Johnson’s global Information Technology group. In this capacity, she was responsible for managing information technology and related systems for the $61.6B Johnson & Johnson worldwide enterprise. She was a Member of the Corporate Global Operating Committee and her organization included more than 250 operating companies with over 4,000 information technology employees and 7,000 contractors. Ms. Council is a proven visionary senior executive with global experience in the development and execution of cutting-edge information technology and supply chain strategies in the healthcare/life sciences, consumer products and telecommunications/hi-tech industries. In 2011, Ms. Council received the Alumni Business Achievement Award from Ernst & Young. Business Trends Quarterly named her as one of the top four CIOs in America in 2010. The New Jersey Technology Council inducted her into their CIO Hall of Fame in 2009, and the Global CIO Executive Summit named her a Top 10 Leader and Change Agent in 2009 and a Top 10 Leader and Innovator in 2008. CAREER CHRONOLOGY: 2015 – Present Assistant Secretary, Information and Technology, Department of Veterans Affairs 2012 – 2015 CEO, Council Advisory Services, LLC 2011 – Present Chairperson of the National Board of Trustees, March of Dimes Foundation 2006 – 2011 Corporate Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Johnson & Johnson 2000 – 2006 Global Vice President for Information Technology, Global Business Solutions and Development Services, Dell, Inc. Ms. Council was also a partner with Ernst and Young and led the company’s Global Supply Chain Strategy practice. She also held leadership positions focusing on infrastructure engineering, networking, security and enterprise application interfaces. EDUCATION: 2010 Doctorate of Business Administration, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 1986 Master of Business Administration, Operations Management from Illinois State University, St. Normal, IL 1983 Bachelor of Science in Business, Western Illinois University, Macomb,the

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Fwd: EDSAC veterans visit to rekindle memories
by Brian Randell 07 Sep '16

07 Sep '16

-- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 FAX = +44 191 208 8232 URL = http://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brian.randell

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Fwd: EDSAC veterans visit to rekindle memories
by Brian Randell 06 Sep '16

06 Sep '16

Hi: I recommend the video to you all. Cheers Brian Randell Begin forwarded message: From: Stephen Fleming <stephen.fleming(a)palam.co.uk<mailto:stephen.fleming@palam.co.uk>> Subject: EDSAC veterans visit to rekindle memories Date: 6 September 2016 10:19:21 BST To: <brian.randell(a)ncl.ac.uk<mailto:brian.randell@ncl.ac.uk>> Reply-To: <stephen.fleming(a)palam.co.uk<mailto:stephen.fleming@palam.co.uk>> NEWS RELEASE EDSAC veterans rekindle memories of working with one of the world’s first computers 6 September 2016 Life working with one of the world’s first general purpose computers was brought vividly to life when EDSAC veterans visited The National Museum of Computing to see the latest stage of the reconstruction of the 1950’s Cambridge University computer. What did they think? Story with short video and photos here: http://www.tnmoc.org/news/news-releases/edsac-veterans-visit-reconstruction… -- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk<mailto:Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk> PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 FAX = +44 191 208 8232 URL = http://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/staff/profile/brian.randell

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Lo and Behold, new movie
by Ceruzzi, Paul 06 Sep '16

06 Sep '16

There have been a lot of movies or television shows about computing history lately: "The Imitation Game," "The Social Network," et al. I found most of them disappointing. Last week I saw "Lo and Behold," a documentary about the Internet by Werner Herzog. I recommend it. I have quibbles about some of the history in it, including the origin of the movie's title, but it is well worth seeing. If anyone wants to discuss it, we can do that off-line, unless you think a discussion is of general interest. Paul Ceruzzi ceruzzip(a)si.edu 202-633-2414

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Chapter contribution to Routledge Companion on Accounting Information Systems
by Martin Quinn 02 Sep '16

02 Sep '16

Dear SIGCS Member, Apologies for intruding in your email. Myself and Prof. Erik Strauss are Editors for an upcoming volume by Routledge in their respected companion series - here is a sample of an existing volume https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to- Accounting-Reporting-and-Regulation/van-Mourik-Walton/p/book/9780415625739. The Companion to AIS has 22 chapters, 21 of which we have received. Unfortunately a contributor has been been unable to complete a chapter titled "Development of AIS over time" - which is essentially a historic chapter. We would really like to keep this chapter and we would love to hear form anyone who may be interested in contributing. Unfortunately the timeline is very tight, and we would need the chapter by 30 Oct 2016 - which is an absolute deadline. A chapter is maximum 8,000 words including references. If you are interested, please contact me at martin.quinn(a)dcu.ie and we can send you a template, the list of existing contributors and an author questionnaire. Can I ask that you please only consider replying if you can deliver a chapter by 30 Oct. There is no fee unfortunately, but all contributors will get a free copy of the volume and of course be a contributor to a respected volume. Looking forward to hearing from you Martin -- Dr Martin Quinn Senior Lecturer and Head of Accounting Twitter: @martyjquinn Internet: http://martinjquinn.com/ http://imarn.org View my research here. <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Martin_Quinn> -- *Email Disclaimer"This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are intended solely for use by the addressee. Any unauthorised dissemination, distribution or copying of this message and any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete the message. Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail may solely be the views of the author and cannot be relied upon as being those of Dublin City University. E-mail communications such as this cannot be guaranteed to be virus-free, timely, secure or error-free and Dublin City University does not accept liability for any such matters or their consequences. Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail."Séanadh Ríomhphoist"Tá an ríomhphost seo agus aon chomhad a sheoltar leis faoi rún agus is lena úsáid ag an seolaí agus sin amháin é. Tá cosc iomlán ar scaipeadh, dháileadh nó chóipeáil neamhúdaraithe ar an teachtaireacht seo agus ar aon cheangaltán atá ag dul leis. Má tá an ríomhphost seo faighte agat trí dhearmad cuir sin in iúl le do thoil don seoltóir agus scrios an teachtaireacht. D’fhéadfadh sé gurb iad tuairimí an údair agus sin amháin atá in aon tuairimí no dearcthaí atá curtha i láthair sa ríomhphost seo agus níor chóir glacadh leo mar thuairimí nó dhearcthaí Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath. Ní ghlactar leis go bhfuil cumarsáid ríomhphoist den sórt seo saor ó víreas, in am, slán, nó saor ó earráid agus ní ghlacann Ollscoil Chathair Bhaile Átha Cliath le dliteanas in aon chás den sórt sin ná as aon iarmhairt a d’eascródh astu. Cuimhnigh ar an timpeallacht le do thoil sula gcuireann tú an ríomhphost seo i gcló."*

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Please help update the SIGCIS Members Directory!
by Andrew Russell 25 Aug '16

25 Aug '16

Dear colleagues - As we embark on a new academic year, now seems as good a time as any to ask you to take a minute and update your profile on the SIGCIS members directory, located at http://www.sigcis.org/members. Over the years, I have heard from many people who use the SIGCIS members directory to locate people for press inquiries, book reviews, peer reviews, publishing opportunities, and so on. Clearly, the directory only works well if the profiles are up to date with contact information, keywords, etc. If you have lost track of your password, there is a "request new password” feature at http://www.sigcis.org/user. If you have problems or run into quirks, you should contact Jason Gallo and Brent Jesiek, who are cc’d on this email. Thank you! Andy Russell SIGCIS Chair — — — — — — — — — — — Please note that I have left Stevens as of June 30, 2016. My email address arussell(a)stevens.edu is no longer be in service. My new contact information is: Andrew L. Russell, Ph.D. Dean, College of Arts & Sciences SUNY Polytechnic Institute Donovan Hall - 2123B 100 Seymour Road Utica, NY 13502 t. 315-792-7317 w. https://sunypoly.edu/ e. arussell(a)arussell.org

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critical infrastructures/criticality/critical studies/critical theory
by Sharon Traweek 24 Aug '16

24 Aug '16

Just a reminder: we are using a set of words with different meanings developed by different kinds of experts in different sub/fields, some of whom do not know the other meanings, nor why they developed. At least since the 1930s there also have been multiple kinds of territorial 'boundary maintenance' around/within some of those terms by those aware of the various terms and their histories. Some of the multiple meanings, their histories, and their affiliated communities of expertise intersect in some infrastructure studies. Here are a few of the distinctions, as drawn by our colleagues writing essays for wikipedia: Criticality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticality Criticality index<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticality_index> Criticality matrix<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticality_matrix> Critical theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory "... As a term, critical theory has two meanings. with different origins and histories: the first originated in sociology<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology> and political philosophy<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_philosophy>, while the second originated in literary studies<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_studies> and literary theory<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_theory>. ... While they can be considered completely independent intellectual pursuits, increasingly scholars are interested in the areas of critique where the two overlap. ..." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory Note too the differences between/within modernist, postmodern, and current critical theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory#Postmodern_critical_theory See also these links, among others, listed as "subfields" at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory * Critical ethnography<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_ethnography> * Critical legal studies<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_legal_studies> * Critical management studies<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_management_studies> * Critical pedagogy<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_pedagogy> * Critical philosophy<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_philosophy> * Critical psychiatry<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_psychiatry> * Critical psychology<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_psychology> * Critical race theory<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory> * Cultural studies<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_studies> ________________________________ From: Members [members-bounces(a)lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Alberts, Gerard [G.Alberts(a)uva.nl] Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2016 3:27 PM To: Thomas Haigh; 'Lori Emerson' Cc: members(a)lists.sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Call for Ideas! Eh, but Tom, aren't getting off on a tangent here? I agree with Brian that "critical" in this context is an adjective to infrastructures, not to the study of it -even if we do not have to exclude to possibility of a critical theory of infrastructures. Infrastructures were deemed critical by those who observed that the breakdown of such infrastructures would bring the whole of society to a standstill. I would think, the high voltage power networks were the key example. Whether the expression "critical infrastructure" was brought into the debate by military strategists, political scientists, anthropologists or by those building the networks, I do not know. Interesting historical question. Of equal interest is when and by whom IT-infrastructures were considered so crucially important, that they were called "critical". Gerard ________________________________________ From: Members [members-bounces(a)lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Brian Randell [brian.randell(a)newcastle.ac.uk] Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2016 3:22 PM To: Thomas Haigh Cc: members(a)lists.sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Call for Ideas! Hi Tom: In the research communities I inhabit the meaning that would be attached to “critical infrastructure studies” is “studies of critical infrastructure” not “critical studies of infrastructure”. Further, “critical infrastructure” typically concerns "critical national infrastructure”, such as the electricity grid - see http://www.cpni.gov.uk/about/cni/ or on your side of the Atlantic - https://www.dhs.gov/what-critical-infrastructure As regards the word “infrastructure”, here is a summary explanation that I and my computer science colleagues have used: •Infrastructure is by definition reusable by different individuals/organizations for different purposes on different occasions. •Not all of these uses are known to, or even the concern of, the designer(s) of the infrastructure who must create something which will respond to and support uses that have not yet been conceived. •Infrastructures need to be capacity engineered - so that the amount of resource can be changed to meet current and expected demand. •Over-deployment endangers the supplier, under-deployment frustrates the user. •One organization’s system often becomes another organization’s infrastructure. Cheers Brian ________________________________ From: Members [members-bounces(a)lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Thomas Haigh [thomas.haigh(a)gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2016 2:42 PM To: 'Lori Emerson' Cc: members(a)lists.sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Call for Ideas! I don’t think critical adds a whole lot to “infrastructure studies.” It has some usefulness in formulations like “critical management studies” (a thing in Northern Europe but no so much in the US) as management scholarship is usually uncritical in every sense of the word. So “critical” demarcates a scholarly community deliberately taking a unorthodox approaches to challenge the assumptions of the field. http://www.criticalmanagement.org/content/about-cms But science studies, STS, media studies, etc. manage to embrace a variety of socially and culturally informed perspectives without their practitioners needing to add the “critical” in front of them. Adding “critical” might be seen as a challenge to those currently embracing “infrastructure studies” as a scholarly identity. There’s also the question of whether “critical” means critical as in “critical thinking” or as in “critical theory,” and while critical theory certainly has a place among other approaches in the study of infrastructure not everyone would feel comfortable with the suggestion that it should be elevated over approaches grounded in STS, history, sociology, anthropology, etc. Best wishes, Tom _____________________________________________ From: Members [mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Lori Emerson Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2016 1:39 PM To: Paul N. Edwards <pne(a)umich.edu> Cc: Dag Spicer <dspicer(a)computerhistory.org>; members(a)lists.sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Call for Ideas! Dear all, I just wanted to thank you for sending in these great resources for infrastructure studies - I came across the term "critical infrastructure studies" a couple months ago and got quite excited about how it seemed more expansive and more useful for describing my projects on labs and the pre-history of the internet than either "media archaeology" or just "media studies." But now I wonder what the extra "critical" denotes since there's a somewhat well established field already of I.S.? Any thoughts? yours, Lori

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Call for Ideas!
by Dag Spicer 23 Aug '16

23 Aug '16

Can anyone suggest some canonical and effective texts in Infrastructure Studies? Thanks! Dag -- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 1401 North Shoreline Boulevard Mountain View, CA 94043-1311 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 Fax: +1 650 810 1055

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