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UCLA Post-Doctoral Research Position
by Sharon Traweek 10 Aug '13

10 Aug '13

UCLA Post-Doctoral Research Position http://knowledgeinfrastructures.gseis.ucla.edu/postdoc2013.html One-year appointment beginning October, 2013, with possibility for renewal. Review of applications begins August 15; submission deadline is September 15. We seek a postdoctoral researcher to join our research project: The Transformation of Knowledge, Culture, and Practice in Data-Driven Science: A Knowledge Infrastructures Perspective (2012-2015) http://knowledgeinfrastructures.gseis.ucla.edu/index.html. We are conducting interview, ethnographic, and document studies of scientific data practices such as data collection, analysis, management, sharing, and reuse at four distributed research projects in astronomy and earth sciences. Our project is funded by the Sloan Foundation Digital Information Technology Program http://www.sloan.org/program/28 The postdoctoral researcher will participate actively in the collaboration, including the design, conduct, and analysis of interviews, document analysis, ethnographic fieldwork, and writing for publication. The postdoctoral researcher will gain experience in collaborative research, research project organization, and digital data research practices. The project is based at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and residence nearby is required for the duration of the postdoctoral research appointment. Some travel is required for research and conferences. Required background includes + completion of the PhD; experience in interview, document analysis, or ethnography; + strong writing skills; + research experience studying astronomy, physical sciences, or earth sciences; + substantial knowledge of scholarly communication, practice and policy in data-driven research, Information Studies, or Science, Technology, and Society studies. Preferred background includes + experience in writing for publication; + expertise in knowledge organization (metadata, ontologies, archival analysis); + expertise in the physical or earth sciences. Please submit a statement of interest that discusses your qualifications and interests with respect to the required and preferred background for the position. Your application should also include two scholarly writing samples (e.g., refereed journal articles or conference papers, dissertation chapters), curriculum vitae, and list of three references. Send these to Prof. Christine Borgman, PI, borgman(a)gseis.ucla.edu and to Prof. Sharon Traweek, Co-PI traweek(a)history.ucla.edu The starting salary is $50,000 per year, plus benefits. Selected candidate may enroll in UC sponsored benefits or opt out. Official documentation for completion of the PhD is required (certificate of completion, transcript, or diploma). Work is to be done 12 months of the year, excluding university holidays; the postdoctoral researcher is entitled to 24 paid personal days and 12 paid sick days per year. For further information about postdoctoral appointments at UCLA: http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/postdocs.html Postdoctoral Researchers at UC are represented by UAW Local 5810. http://uaw5810.org/ More information about the investigators: Christine Borgman, Professor & Presidential Chair in Information Studies, UCLA http://is.gseis.ucla.edu/cborgman/; Sharon Traweek, UCLA Gender Studies & History Departments, with ties to students and faculty in the Anthropology & Information Studies Departments; member of the advisory boards for the UCLA Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies and the UCLA Center for the Study of Women http://www.genderstudies.ucla.edu/people/faculty/Sharon-Traweek http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/history/traweek/ Interviews will be conducted at UCLA, by video, and at conferences attended by the principal investigators prior to the time the position is filled.

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CFP: Asian Histories of Computing (Special Issue of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing)
by Chigusa Kita 08 Aug '13

08 Aug '13

Sorry for the crosspost if you get plural emails on this. CFP: Asian Histories of Computing (Special Issue of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing) In recent years, historians of computing have been discussing the plural "histories" of computing. A derivative of such approach has been the growing importance of transnational historical investigation in this field. This special issue on Asian History of Computing aims at not only to broaden the literature of international case studies, but also to deepen the view on the circulation of knowledge, importation of knowledge, standardization in each region, role of international institutions, and so force, through Asian perspectives on the history of computing. The editors invite original, scholarly treatments of the history of computing that critically examine historical case studies in Asian computing. Submissions could take any number of approaches, including: - Broad historical perspectives on the development of computing in Asian contexts - Historical case studies of particular technological developments - Accounts of governmental role in developing industry - Regional histories of localizations of computing technologies - Studies of institutions - Critical analyses of scholarly or popular narratives about the Asian history of computing These are only illustrative of possible approaches, as we would welcome creative approaches to Asian history of computing that go beyond these specific examples. Abstracts should be submitted to Chigusa Kita (ckita(a)kansai-u.ac.jp) by 30 September 2013. Authors of accepted abstracts will receive invitations to submit their full papers to the Annals manuscript center by 28 February 2014. Chigusa Kita (Kansai University, Japan) Hyungsub Choi (Seoul National University, South Korea)

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Arpanet pictures
by Pierre Mounier 08 Aug '13

08 Aug '13

Hi all, In quest for a piece of advice: - What pictures would you select to illustrate a short story of Arpanet ? - Do you know if the map attached here is free of rights, or still under copyright (of which organization?) With many thanks (and regretting not to be in Manchester with several of you). Best, Pierre Mounier-Kuhn CNRS & Universite Paris-Sorbonne http://pups.paris-sorbonne.fr/pages/aff_livre.php?Id=838 http://www.koyre.cnrs.fr/IMG/pdf/cv_mounier-kuhn.pdf

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silo metaphor
by Sharon Traweek 07 Aug '13

07 Aug '13

Hi For those of us wondering whether/how the silo metaphor translates: In Japan a *tako-tsubo [octopus pot]* is used to capture those invertebrates; once an octopus climbs into the pot it cannot escape. Tako-tsubo is used in Japan as a metaphor for people who join a government ministry, a company, a discipline, a specialty, a club, etc and then form few other ties. [Takotsubo has been translated as squid pot and fox hole.] * This article discusses difficulties of introducing ICT education into traditional takotsubo (discipline-based) university curricula: Murata, Kiyoshi, and Yohko Orito. "Three Challenges for Japanese ICT Professionalism." _Proceedings of ETHICOMP 2008_ (2008): 577-585. www.kisc.meiji.ac.jp/~ethicj/M%20and%20O%20E2008.pdf * See also references to takotsubo in this discussion of the so-called otaku generation in Japan: "Allein, aber nicht einsam" die otaku- Generation: Zu einigen neueren Trends in der japanischen Populr-und Medienkultur Volker Grassmuck in: Norbert Bolz, Friedrich Kittler, Christoph Tholen (Hrsg.), _Computer als Medium_, Wilhelm Fink Verlag Mnchen 1993 http://waste.informatik.hu-berlin.de/Grassmuck/Texts/otaku.d.html -Older English version [without the takotsubo reference]: "I'm alone, but not lonely" Japanese Otaku-Kids colonize the Realm of Information and Media A Tale of Sex and Crime from a faraway Place. Volker Grassmuck (Dec 1990) http://waste.informatik.hu-berlin.de/Grassmuck/Texts/otaku.e.html * In 1961 a prominent Japanese political scientist, Masao Maruyama (1914-96) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masao_Maruyama_%28scholar%29 described Japan as a takutsubo society in his _Nihon no shiso_ (Japanese Thought). Iwanami Shoten, 1961. See also: - J. Victor Koschmann review of "Maruyama Masao, Nihon no Shis Seidoku (An Explication of Japanese Thought by Maruyama Masao), by Miyamura Haruo. Tokyo: Iwanami Gendai Bunko, 2001, 224 pp., _Social Science Japan Journal_ 5, no. 2 (2002): 267-270 http://ssjj.oxfordjournals.org/content/5/2/267.short - Hori, Masaharu. "Japanese public bureaucracy in the era of globalisation." _Ritsumeikan Law Review_ 21 (2004): 1-18. http://202.175.64.236/en/conference_doc/a1/a1_011.doc http://www.asianlii.org/jp/journals/RitsLRev/2004/1.pdf Cheers, Sharon Sharon Traweek, UCLA Gender Studies & History Departments, with strong ties to the Anthropology & Information Studies Departments, as well as the Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies. My PhD is from the interdisciplinary UCSC History of Consciousness Program. [As you can see, unlike many academics, I do not fit into a takotsubo.]

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Fwd: Origin of term "information silo"?
by Janet Abbate 02 Aug '13

02 Aug '13

Begin forwarded message: > From: Allan Olley <allan.olley(a)utoronto.ca> > Date: August 2, 2013 6:49:21 PM EDT > To: Janet Abbate <abbate(a)vt.edu> > Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Origin of term "information silo"? > > Hi, > I can't get the list serv to accept this message, so I will just send it to you. I apologize that this is a bit long, when I do these searches I like to share all relevant results. > > Well I just did a few searches of Google books and scholar and learned that most if not all references pre the 1980s seem to be to agricultural silos, or to names that abrevate to silo or to ancient romans whose name is silo. > > Interestingly silo effect (I was inspired by looking up the wikipedia page on information silos to try related terms) appears before the 1980s and refers to certain physical effects occuring with silo walls and separately to an optical illusion where bluriness in one eye makes object appear closer to the observer (or something like that). It also > refers to problems handling inventories apparently. Make of this what you will. > > While the business use of the term seems to me hte most prominent now, it does seem that there is a separate information silo concept that may predate the business idea and which is merely a neutral design metaphor, but I'm not clear on when it started or why. > So a 1990 patent details A system for information siloing of information using a timing silo. It seems to be about siloing in the sense of both stockpiling and segregating informaton and insures that input or output is appropriately synchronized when sent or received. > http://www.google.ca/patents?id=LrgWAAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&dq=%22information%20sil… > > > I think an earlier reference to such an computer system "information silo" component is found in the book The Theory and Practice of Reliable System Design, p 407:" control information Silo captures last 16 bus cycles Parity on data paths and Unibus Map Data and Control Bus lines parity" (the quote seems to be extracted hapazardly from a table, > hence the lack of sentence struture) > http://books.google.ca/books?id=S6IEAQAAIAAJ&q=%22information+silo%22&dq=%2… > > On the origin of this I guess we have to ask how long has siloing been a proper word for describing storing and segregating things in general (and not just grain). > > I've found a lone use from 1966 of the idea of an information silo in the sense of an information repository in > The Architects' Journal, Volume 143 (1966?) p. 88, 91 " The Information Silo formed on 1 3 January is to be the co-ordinate element of basa. It > receives, stores, classifies and distributes all basa documentation." (Dating is always a tad unreliable with google books, but looking at the snipits of the article this does seem to be about rather ambitious ideas of data storage and analysis) > http://books.google.ca/books?id=FGFUAAAAMAAJ&q=%22information+silo%22&dq=%2… > OyQGf5YDIDQ&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBQ > > Another orphan use of the metaphor comes from a 1969,1971 science fiction story called The Rings of Garamas by J. Rankine "He was enclosed in a three sided executive console, which gave him a personalized information silo and minimized physical effort." (here again silo seems to denote repository) http://www.goldenapple.u-net.com/ga/fletcher/gara.htm (I found the phrase in a search on google scholar, there are pirated editions on the net or you can buy an e-book) > > On the business concept of an organizational silo (which has the pejorative sense originally mentioned). The earliest clear reference I can find to the broad business concept (in Google books) is a 1988 business article "Opportunities for change can be found in: • Organizational "silos." That's the term I use for rigid departmental structures in which accounts talk only to accountants ... or marketing representatives just to marketing " > Boardroom Reports, Volume 17, p. 14 > http://books.google.ca/books?id=og4cAQAAMAAJ&q=%22organizational+silos%22&d… > > A similar reference which plays with the metaphor a bit more appears in 1989: > "These systems help personnel to fluidly exchange information across organizational "silos" - areas of narrow vertical focus -- and gives them information to make faster, better decisions." > Advances in Instrumentation and Control: Proceedings of the ISA ... International Conference and Exhibit, Volume 44, Part > 2, p. 414 > http://books.google.ca/books?id=zHtRAAAAMAAJ&q=%22organizational+silos%22&d… > > As Tom suggests it seems like the verticality of silos is invoked in the metaphor as analogous to the verticality of the arrangement of such groups in an organizational chart. > > Note that popular metaphors need not have high fidelity and indeed if anything popular metaphors tend to be low in their retention of fidelity. I don't think the inventor of the metaphor of tunnel vision thought that tunnels were not perfectly servicible and useful things in themselves. I find the metaphor between silos and large segregated organizational units relatively natural as these things go. > > > -- > > Yours Truly, > Allan Olley, PhD > > http://individual.utoronto.ca/fofound/ > > On Fri, 2 Aug 2013, Janet Abbate wrote: > >> Does anyone know the origin of the term "information silos"? It's commonly used as a criticism of groups that don't share information for either organizational or technical reasons. >> >> This has always struck me as an odd metaphor. After all, in real life it's a good thing that grain is isolated in a silo; there is no physical-world benefit to connecting or "busting" silos, so how did this become a metaphor for good information management? And why would slowly fermenting fodder be a good metaphor for information? >> >> I'm assuming here that the term refers to farming and not to missile silos... which would be equally odd. >> >> Janet >> >> Dr. Janet Abbate >> Associate Professor >> Science & Technology in Society >> 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(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members

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Origin of term "information silo"?
by Janet Abbate 02 Aug '13

02 Aug '13

Does anyone know the origin of the term "information silos"? It's commonly used as a criticism of groups that don't share information for either organizational or technical reasons. This has always struck me as an odd metaphor. After all, in real life it's a good thing that grain is isolated in a silo; there is no physical-world benefit to connecting or "busting" silos, so how did this become a metaphor for good information management? And why would slowly fermenting fodder be a good metaphor for information? I'm assuming here that the term refers to farming and not to missile silos... which would be equally odd. Janet Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS

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How the computer changed the office
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 02 Aug '13

02 Aug '13

It is unlikely that colleagues from outside the UK picked up on a recent series in Radio 4, conducted by long time FT collumnist Lucy Kellaway. The series deals with the rise of the manager and office working in general (named "History of Office Life"). This is an item that accompanies the series (published in BBC Magazine): http://www.readability.com/articles/gygt0ceb Business historian Alan McKenley (Newcastle) has advised and contributed to the series' 15 min capsules. However, BBC Magazine runs fortnight articles based on the transcripts of the series. So if you search for Lucy Kellaway in the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/search/news/?q=lucy%20kellaway they come up. This is the one relating on the impact of computers in the office (with accompanying pictures of the LEO and Alan Turing): http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23509153 This one is the podcast on the paperless office (9/10) http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b037jfmw (the BBC Magazine item for this one is not yet up) Hope its of interest, Bernardo (Bangor University, Wales)

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New book on Donald Knuth
by Edgar Daylight 01 Aug '13

01 Aug '13

Dear fellow historian, Just appeared. The Essential Knuth Here's a summary: How, when, and why did mathematics and computing converge for Knuth during the 1960s? To what extent were Turing machines and Chomsky's work relevant to Knuth? More information: www.lonelyscholar.com/Knuth best wishes, Edgar Daylight

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Fwd: New CHM Lecture - The Totalisator
by Dag Spicer 31 Jul '13

31 Jul '13

Dear SIGCIS colleagues, Please see historical note below on totalisators from Peter Eckstein. Best, Dag Begin forwarded message: > From: <PeterEckstein(a)comcast.net> > Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] New CHM Lecture - The Totalisator > Date: July 31, 2013 8:30:07 AM PDT > To: Dag Spicer <spicer(a)computerhistory.org> > Cc: <members(a)sigcis.org> > > This was not "totally" an historical byway, because the American Totalisator Company, spurred on by its vice-president, Henry Straus, began in 1948 providing financing for the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Company and this, according to Nancy Stern's history, "kept EMCC solvent for fourteen months," during which time BINAC was developed. Then Straus was killed in a plane crash and the company plunged back into financial troubles. Straus obviously saw electronic digital technology as a logical next step in the development of the "tote board." > > From: "Dag Spicer" <spicer(a)computerhistory.org> > To: members(a)sigcis.org > Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2013 1:32:21 AM > Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] New CHM Lecture - The Totalisator > > Dear SIGCIS colleagues! > > Here is a recent talk at the Museum about a really interesting historical byway… computing odds for racetracks using gears! Totalisators were beautifully elaborate systems of mechanical sculpture the size of houses… > > From the lecture brief: > > Published on Jul 30, 2013 > > [Recorded: July 16, 2013] > > Before the advent of computers, special-purpose hardware was used to solve computational problems. For the pari-mutuel system of gambling the main problem was keeping accurate totals of the bets placed on each horse in a race, and the grand total of all bets, in the frenzied half hour before the race, when, at the larger racecourses, tens of thousands of bets would be placed at 100s of betting booths. Mechanical solutions to this problem were pioneered by Sir George Julius who formed the company Automatic Totalisators Ltd., operating from Sydney, Australia. Indeed, this year is the centenary of Julius' first machine which was set operating in Auckland, New Zealand in 1913. > > Please join Bob Doran, Emeritus Professor of Computer Science at the University of Auckland, for a presentation on the history of a little-known application of large-scale mechanical calculating machines -- the horse track betting machines pioneered by Sir George Julius a century ago. > > Doran will also touch on the origins of the Pari-mutuel system, devised by Joseph Oller in the 1860s. Then the first generation of simple machines that started in the 1880s and the course-wide manual systems that were used well into the 20th century. Then he will look at Julius's first machine, its "Principles of Operation", and how it was developed into a reliable product that was widely used in the 1920s, culminating with the truly giant Longchamp totalisator installed in Paris in 1927 which had 293 on-line ticket-selling machines. He will also summarize some of the further developments, including dividend prediction, that took place over the years until the special-purpose machines were phased-out in the 1970s. > > Watch the lecture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfbzmq8_4c8 > > Enjoy! > > Dag > > -- > Dag Spicer > Senior Curator > Computer History Museum > > 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd > Mountain View, CA 94043 > 650.810.1035 direct > 650.810.1055 fax > > Follow Us: > CHM Blog I Facebook I Twitter I YouTube > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options athttp://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members -- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043 650.810.1035 direct 650.810.1055 fax Follow Us: CHM Blog I Facebook I Twitter I YouTube

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New CHM Lecture - The Totalisator
by Dag Spicer 31 Jul '13

31 Jul '13

Dear SIGCIS colleagues! Here is a recent talk at the Museum about a really interesting historical byway… computing odds for racetracks using gears! Totalisators were beautifully elaborate systems of mechanical sculpture the size of houses… From the lecture brief: Published on Jul 30, 2013 [Recorded: July 16, 2013] Before the advent of computers, special-purpose hardware was used to solve computational problems. For the pari-mutuel system of gambling the main problem was keeping accurate totals of the bets placed on each horse in a race, and the grand total of all bets, in the frenzied half hour before the race, when, at the larger racecourses, tens of thousands of bets would be placed at 100s of betting booths. Mechanical solutions to this problem were pioneered by Sir George Julius who formed the company Automatic Totalisators Ltd., operating from Sydney, Australia. Indeed, this year is the centenary of Julius' first machine which was set operating in Auckland, New Zealand in 1913. Please join Bob Doran, Emeritus Professor of Computer Science at the University of Auckland, for a presentation on the history of a little-known application of large-scale mechanical calculating machines -- the horse track betting machines pioneered by Sir George Julius a century ago. Doran will also touch on the origins of the Pari-mutuel system, devised by Joseph Oller in the 1860s. Then the first generation of simple machines that started in the 1880s and the course-wide manual systems that were used well into the 20th century. Then he will look at Julius's first machine, its "Principles of Operation", and how it was developed into a reliable product that was widely used in the 1920s, culminating with the truly giant Longchamp totalisator installed in Paris in 1927 which had 293 on-line ticket-selling machines. He will also summarize some of the further developments, including dividend prediction, that took place over the years until the special-purpose machines were phased-out in the 1970s. Watch the lecture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfbzmq8_4c8 Enjoy! Dag -- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd Mountain View, CA 94043 650.810.1035 direct 650.810.1055 fax Follow Us: CHM Blog I Facebook I Twitter I YouTube

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