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query: history of character codes, Unicode?
by Paul N. Edwards 21 Aug '15

21 Aug '15

All, vaguely related to the interesting discussion of race - on which I tend to agree with Tom H - here’s something that’s been niggling away at my historical consciousness. In 1993 Jeffrey Shapard published an intriguing article about the problems created by early standardization on ASCII 7- and 8-bit character codes for Asian and other non-alphabetic languages, which can have many thousands of characters (vs. the 256 representable in 8-bit ASCII). Shapard, “Islands in the (Data) Stream: Language, Character Codes, and Electronic Isolation in Japan,” in Linda Harasim, ed., Global networks: Computers and international communication (MIT Press Cambridge, MA., 1993). This problem carried over into the Web era. It was technically resolved by Unicode, but that standard has still not been universally adopted. I’m wondering whether any historians have written about the history of character encoding, especially Unicode. What I’m curious about is not the technical history itself, but how the character-code problem affected/was affected by culture (“electronic isolation," as per Shapard? indigenous efforts, vs. IBM’s world-market goals? alternative pathways?). Do any of you know archive- or interview-based accounts that go into some of the cultural and social background and implications? NB, there was a 3-part history of IBM's efforts in Asia, especially kanji representations, in the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, Jan.-March 2005, by: Hensch, K.; Iqi, T.; Iwao, M.; Oda, A.; Takeshita. There are also number of rather thorough and interesting histories by developer-protagonists and users, such as these: S. Searle, A Brief History of Character Codes in North America, Europe, and Asia <http://tronweb.super-nova.co.jp/characcodehist.html> S. Searle, Unicode Revisited <http://tronweb.super-nova.co.jp/unicoderevisited.html> J. Becker, Unicode 88 <http://www.unicode.org/history/unicode88.pdf> (1988 proposal from Xerox PARC) Curious for any thoughts or references. Best, Paul ————————————————— Paul N. Edwards, Professor of Information <http://www.si.umich.edu/> and History <http://www.lsa.umich.edu/history/> On sabbatical July-December 2015 — replies will be slow or nonexistent Terse replies are deliberate <http://five.sentenc.es/>. Here's why! <http://emailcharter.org/> University of Michigan School of Information <http://www.si.umich.edu/> 4437 North Quad 105 S. State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285 Twitter: @AVastMachine <https://twitter.com/avastmachine> Web: pne.people.si.umich.edu <http://pne.people.si.umich.edu/>

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Is Unix racist?
by Janet Abbate 21 Aug '15

21 Aug '15

Anyone seen this piece by Tara Mcpherson? It starts with some interesting questions, but I found the follow-through to be disappointingly ahistorical. Again and again she argues that there must be a connection between the modularity of Unix and the compartmentalization of race within American culture, but then immediately admits that she has no evidence for any direct connection. As far as I can tell, the only reason she singles out Unix is because it coincides conveniently with the US Civil Rights era. I'm curious to know what others think. "Why Are the Digital Humanities So White? or Thinking the Histories of Race and Computation." http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/debates/text/29 Janet Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor, Science & Technology in Society Co-director, National Capital Region STS program Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS

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FW: Is Unix racist?
by Subramanian, Ramesh Prof. 17 Aug '15

17 Aug '15

Here is a perspective from India. In the 1970s, India was hobbled by lack of technology, especially computer technology, due largely to the Indian government's restrictive practices (i.e. drive for self-sufficiency, etc). In the late 1970s and early 1980s The government woke up to the fact that all was not going well, and decided to allow the private sector to manufacture small microcomputers in India. Simultaneously, a Committee to improve Banking services was also set up. After analysis, the Banking Committee decided that Unix offered the most modularity that was available for FREE (without any restrictions), and which could be tailored to suit India conditions. The signal went out to the private sector to manufacture Unix-based computers. Mass training on the Unix environment took place. The O/S could be fitted into a CD, and these were used to explore various flavors of Unix. So at least as far as Indian computing is concerned, the modular as well as free (as in free beer) aspect provided Indians with the necessary high level O/S, and taught them specialized computing skills. Regards, -Ramesh --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ramesh Subramanian, Ph.D. Gabriel Ferrucci Professor of Computer Information Systems Quinnipiac University Hamden, CT 06518. Phone: 203-582-5276 Email:rameshs@quinnipiac.edu Web: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/about/directory/faculty-detail/?Dept=16&Person=23… & Fellow, Yale Law School - Information Society Project New Haven, CT 06511 Email: ramesh.subramanian(a)yale.edu Web: http://www.law.yale.edu/intellectuallife/9841.htm ________________________________________ From: Members [members-bounces(a)lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Janet Abbate [abbate(a)vt.edu] Sent: Monday, August 17, 2015 4:57 PM To: Sigcis Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Is Unix racist? Anyone seen this piece by Tara Mcpherson? It starts with some interesting questions, but I found the follow-through to be disappointingly ahistorical. Again and again she argues that there must be a connection between the modularity of Unix and the compartmentalization of race within American culture, but then immediately admits that she has no evidence for any direct connection. As far as I can tell, the only reason she singles out Unix is because it coincides conveniently with the US Civil Rights era. I'm curious to know what others think. "Why Are the Digital Humanities So White? or Thinking the Histories of Race and Computation." http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/debates/text/29 Janet Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor, Science & Technology in Society Co-director, National Capital Region STS program Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS _______________________________________________ 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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FW: New York Conference, on internationalism in IT history
by Petri Paju 17 Aug '15

17 Aug '15

All, Here's a possibly interesting conference in New York in May 2016, by the IFIP IT history group, focusing on internationalism in computing related history. Best wishes, Petri From: Barbara Tatnall [mailto:barbaratatnall@optusnet.com.au] Sent: 15. elokuuta 2015 9:41 Subject: New York Conference Importance: High Dear Members and Friends Please find attached the Call for Papers for our conference in New York in May 2016. I encourage you to consider carefully how you may be able to contribute to / attend this important event. Should you have friends who you think would be interested, please feel free to pass this Call for Papers on to them. Arthur and I are already thinking about our trip to North America next year, and we hope to see as many of you as possible there. Regards Barbara Barbara Tatnall Secretary IFIP W.G. 9.7 Secretary IFIP W.G. 3.4 BarbaraTatnall(a)optusnet.com.au<mailto:BarbaraTatnall@optusnet.com.au> Telephone: +61 3 9459 2562 Facsimile: +61 3 9459 8827

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cfp: International Communities of Invention and Innovation (New York, May 2016; deadline 8 January 2016)
by Christopher Leslie 15 Aug '15

15 Aug '15

Dear Colleagues, Please consider submitting a paper for the next IFIP History of Computing working group conference. Feel free to forward this announcement as appropriate. Chris Leslie -- --- -- --- -- International Communities of Invention and Innovation IFIP Working Group 9.7 Conference NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY 25-29 May 2016 Analog and digital computers were developed by individuals aware of an international scientific community. Likewise, although sometimes thought of as solely national projects, the first computer networks were built in an age of growing interconnectivity among nations. This meeting of IFIP Working Group 9.7 in New York City gathers historians and other professionals to reflect on histories that foreground the international community. Participants with an interest in this historical context for computers and computer networks may present academic papers or join in roundtable discussions. In accordance with this theme, we hope to blur the dichotomy between core and periphery and complicate simplistic notions of linear technological progress. Far from a deterministic view that computers and computer networks were developed in isolation and according to their own technical imperatives, we will show the history of pre-existing relationships and communities that led to the triumphs (and dead ends) in the history of computing. This broad perspective will help us to tell a more accurate story of important developments like the Internet, to be sure, but also it will provide us with a better understanding of how to sponsor future invention and innovation. At the conference, we seek to foster a conversation about internationalism in the history of computers and computer networks along four broad themes: 1. Invention: • communities where analog computers were developed • communication about and competition for early devices • innovations brought in from the supposed periphery • failed, forgotten, or thwarted efforts to develop networks or industries 2. Policy: • trade and treaties supporting computers and networks • organizations like IFIP with a mission to promote collaboration • long trajectories of digital divides • case studies revealing ethical considerations • cross-national comparisons of gender or ethnic diversity in industry and education 3. Infrastructure: • communication and data networks before the Internet • development and diffusion of TCP/IP • connectivity efforts before NSFNET, NSFNET, and beyond • resistance to and success of the WorldWideWeb 4. Social History: • differences and similarities in international impacts on general society • antecedents (Wells's World Brain) and visions (Human-Nets's WorldNet) • individuals who championed connections between nations • historiography of internationalism in computing • representations of international computing communities in film or literature It is hoped that the conference will be of interest to a broad range of people who study computing and computer networks, including academic scholars and graduate students, but also those who have a professional or technical interest in computing. Accordingly, there are two ways to participate: 1. Academic Papers For consideration, please submit your draft paper before January 8 via the conference website (http://wp.nyu.edu/ifip_wg97/) Enquires are welcome in advance of your submission (wg9.7conference(a)nyu.edu) Draft papers will be circulated before the conference in order to encourage a meaningful discussion. At the conference, each selected participant will be allotted time to present an overview of his or her paper. It is our intention to publish selected conference papers in an anthology by Springer, and hopefully the conference feedback will be useful as presenters complete their final drafts. 2. Roundtable Discussions In order to welcome technical professionals and others who may not desire to prepare a full paper, the conference will also feature roundtables of 10–15 minute, relatively informal presentations related to the conference theme. These presentations could focus on key figures, historical anecdotes, or observations on particular projects. We hope that these roundtables will spark lively conversation and, perhaps, generate research partnerships between historians and technical professionals. For consideration, send a 250-word summary of the topic and your interest in it before January 8 via the conference website (http://wp.nyu.edu/ifip_wg97/) Enquires are welcome in advance of your submission (wg9.7conference(a)nyu.edu ). The conference will be held at New York University's Polytechnic School of Engineering in MetroTech Center, Brooklyn, New York 11201. About 20 minutes away by subway from NYU's Greenwich Village location, MetroTech Center is located in the heart of Downtown Brooklyn and within walking distance of the Brooklyn Bridge as well as the iconic neighborhoods of DUMBO, Fort Greene, and Brooklyn Heights. In order to help make the conference more affordable, we will offer accommodations in the school's dormitory, adjacent to the conference venue, at a competitive price for those who do not wish to stay in a nearby hotel. Further details will be made available at http://wp.nyu.edu/ifip_wg97/ About IFIP WG 9.7: IFIP, the International Federation for Information Processing, was founded in 1960. It is a nongovernmental organization dedicated to information and communication technologies and sciences. It sponsors fourteen committees primarily of a technical nature. Technical Committee 9, however, is dedicated to ICT and Society. The organizer of this conference is TC9’s Working Group 7, which focuses on the history of computing. Important Dates • Deadline for consideration: January 8, 2016 • Acceptances announced: February 5 • Early deadline for payment of registration fee: March 1 • Revised papers and abstracts due: April 1 • Last day to reserve a room in the dormitory: April 10 • Papers and abstracts made available to participants: May 1 • Revised papers due for consideration in proceedings: July 1 -- Christopher S. Leslie, Ph.D. Co-Director of Science and Technology Studies Program Faculty Fellow in Residence for Othmer Hall and Clark Street Vice Chair, IFIP Working Group 9.7 - History of Computing NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering 5 MetroTech Center, LC 131 Brooklyn, NY 11201 (646) 997-3130

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Networking artifacts
by Michael McGovern 13 Aug '15

13 Aug '15

Hello all, I'm working on a computer history micro-exhibit, and we are having some trouble picking good artifacts. Maybe some museum-minded people on this list or collectors might be able to advise. At this point, my team has divided our artifacts into a few sections: memory, storage, processors, and networks. The first three are pretty much finished or already exist but need slight tweaking. For networks, however, I'm on our 5th or 6th big re-concepting and keep running into the same problem: a lack of good objects to tell a story. The idea is to explain the basic structure of the internet and how computers sending information differs from a phone connection. However, while most of the other sections show change over time through objects (ex. the processors section shows an IBM 704 tube rack, IBM Standard Modular System chips, a TI integrated circuit, and an Intel 486 processor), networking artifacts don't furnish much physical proof for a basic concept in the same way. We currently have some old modems and have decided that those are pretty uninteresting. The artifact we are happy about is an IBM network controller. We have thrown around ideas like showing different kinds of cables but it felt too much like a hardware store display. If anyone has worked on something similar, or has seen something inspirational (the Science Museum's awesome Information Age exhibit comes to mind), I would appreciate some guidance! Sincerely, Mikey McGovern <https://cambridge.academia.edu/MikeyMcGovern>

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HiNC4 Proceedings
by Gustav Sjöblom 12 Aug '15

12 Aug '15

Dear colleagues, Those with an interest in computing in the Nordic countries may note that Springer has just published the proceedings from the fourth History of Nordic Computing conference. The conference took place in Copenhagen in August 2014. The proceedings consist of 37 full papers, including ones by SIGCIS members Per Lundin and J. Carles Maixé-Altés (and maybe someone else whom I have missed). The proceedings are available at http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319171449 or, for those who have Springer Link: http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-3-319-17145-6 Best regards, Gustav ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gustav Sjöblom PhD (Cantab) Assistant Professor in the History of Technology Teknikens ekonomi och organisation| Department of technology management and economics Innovationsteknik | Innovation Engineering and Management +46(0)31 772 1232 +46(0)70-2014011 (mobile) [cid:image001.jpg@01CC2F3C.8093B9D0] Chalmers tekniska högskola | Chalmers University of Technology Vera Sandbergs allé 8A SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden Website: http://www.chalmers.se/tme/SV/organisation/personliga-sidor/sjoblom-gustav9… Blog: http://gustavsjoblom.blogspot.com/ Twitter: gustavsjoblom

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Heads-up about SHOT Singapore 2016 deadlines!
by Subramanian, Ramesh Prof. 08 Aug '15

08 Aug '15

Hi all, The following note was posted on SHOT-Asia Network by Francesca Bray. Notice the early deadlines! ----- Francesca Bray<https://www.facebook.com/francesca.bray.5?fref=nf> Yesterday at 5:49am<https://www.facebook.com/groups/165579264697/permalink/10154155690639698/> DEADLINES for SHOT 2016: Dear all, just an informal heads-up that the deadlines for proposing papers and panels for SHOT 2016 in Singapore will be coming up very soon. As yet to be finalised but it looks like 1 Oct 2015 for proposals for open panels, and 15 Dec 2015 for proposals for other formats including routine panels, round tables, individual papers, etc. Please pass this information on! Regards, -Ramesh --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ramesh Subramanian, Ph.D. Gabriel Ferrucci Professor of Computer Information Systems Quinnipiac University Hamden, CT 06518. Phone: 203-582-5276 Email:rameshs@quinnipiac.edu Web: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/about/directory/faculty-detail/?Dept=16&Person=23… & Fellow, Yale Law School - Information Society Project New Haven, CT 06511 Email: ramesh.subramanian(a)yale.edu Web: http://www.law.yale.edu/intellectuallife/9841.htm ________________________________ From: Members [members-bounces(a)lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Andrew Russell [arussell(a)stevens.edu] Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2015 9:39 AM To: members Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] SIGCIS 2015 Workshop (draft) program Dear colleagues - The draft program for our SIGCIS 2015 Workshop is now posted at http://www.sigcis.org/workshop15. We meet this year on Sunday, October 11, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As you can see, we have a large and rich set of papers this year! I’m also very happy to announce that Nathan Ensmenger from the University of Indiana has agreed to be our keynote speaker. We will update the program with abstracts of all papers, as well as room information when it becomes available. All the best, Andy PS - if you’re so inclined, you can follow SIGCIS on Twitter - https://twitter.com/SIGCIS - and on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SIGCIS

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HaPoC 2015: Call for Participation
by Giuseppe Lettieri 07 Aug '15

07 Aug '15

First Call For Participation HaPoC 2015: 3rd International CONFERENCE on the HISTORY and PHILOSOPHY of COMPUTING October 8-11, 2015, Pisa, Italy http://hapoc2015.di.unipi.it <http://hapoc2015.di.unipi.it/> *** Early Registration until September 6, 2015 ! *** This is an invitation to attend the 3rd International Conference on the History and Philosophy of Computing (HaPoC 2015). The conference brings together researchers interested in the historical developments of computers and their sciences, as well as those reflecting on the sociological and philosophical issues springing from the rise and ubiquity of computing machines in the contemporary landscape. The conference is composed of 30 research presentations, with no parallels sessions, and 6 invited talks from renowned experts in the relevant fields. The conference will take place in Pisa, the cradle of Italian computer science: here the first Italian computers were designed in the mid-Fifties and the first Master course in informatics was established in 1969. The Museum of Computing Machinery (Museo degli Strumenti per il Calcolo), part of the University of Pisa, shows some artefacts from the early days of Italian CS, as well a selection of personal computing machines. Besides its artistic attractions, among them the world-famous leaning tower, during the days of the conference Pisa will host the Internet Festival, devoted to all the aspects of the net (http://www.internetfestival.it) Invited speakers ------------------- Nicola Angius, Universita' di Sassari Lenore Blum, Carnegie Mellon University David Alan Grier, IEEE & George Washington University Furio Honsell, Universita' di Udine Pierre Mounier-Kuhn, CNRS & Universite' Paris-Sorbonne Franck Varenne, Universite' de Rouen Visit http://goo.gl/ubgl2E <http://hapoc2015.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/5> for a list of the abstracts. Accepted Talks --------------- The list of accepted abstracts can be found at _http://goo.gl/BTJsTC_ Venue ------ The conference will take place in Pisa, at the Museum of Computing Machinery. Additional information can be found at http://goo.gl/APJPff <http://hapoc2015.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/3> Registration information -------------------------- Registration is required to attend. You may find all the information concerning the registration fee at http://goo.gl/j0mZMV Grant Application ------------------- By registering for membership to the HaPoC commission you can apply for a grant of up to 400 EUR which can be used to partially fund your participation to HaPoC 2015. Applications should be sent before August 15. All information available at: http://www.hapoc.org/node/124

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SIGCIS 2015 Workshop (draft) program
by Andrew Russell 06 Aug '15

06 Aug '15

Dear colleagues - The draft program for our SIGCIS 2015 Workshop is now posted at http://www.sigcis.org/workshop15. We meet this year on Sunday, October 11, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. As you can see, we have a large and rich set of papers this year! I’m also very happy to announce that Nathan Ensmenger from the University of Indiana has agreed to be our keynote speaker. We will update the program with abstracts of all papers, as well as room information when it becomes available. All the best, Andy PS - if you’re so inclined, you can follow SIGCIS on Twitter - https://twitter.com/SIGCIS - and on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SIGCIS

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