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PC history
by Michael Newman 05 May '13

05 May '13

Hello, I'm new to this list so apologies if I'm asking about something you have discussed in the past. I posed this question on twitter and someone recommended that I do the same here. I'm looking for histories of the emergence of the personal computer that center on ordinary users and ideas about their experiences rather than on inventors, companies, and machines. Something like what Lynn Spigel does with television in her book Make Room for TV - I wonder if anyone has done anything like Make Room for PC? (My interest is actually primarily in early video games but of course there is substantial overlap between video game history and PC history.) Thanks! michael z. newman zigzigger <http://zigzigger.blogspot.com/> | @mznewman<http://twitter.com/mznewman> asst prof, journalism, advertising, & media studies, uw-milwaukee

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Summer Institute for grad students interested in New Economics
by Marie Hicks 05 May '13

05 May '13

Please pass this along to grad students in the social sciences who might be interested. They do not have to be economics students. On a personal note, the lead speaker, feminist economist Juliet Schor, was one of my most inspired undergraduate professors--I'm sure it will be a great experience: http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/sociology/neweconomics/ Second Annual Summer Institute in New Economics hosted by the Wingspread Retreat Center, Wind Point, WI august 12-18, 2013 Dire ecological news and the failures of the global economy are fuelling interest in a “new economics” grounded in principles of ecological sustainability, the democratization of wealth, community empowerment and social and digital connection. Following the success of last year’s first annual Boston College Summer Institute in New Economics, we will be holding another session from August 12-18, 2013. If you are a PhD student in the social sciences, you are invited to apply.The cost of the Institute is $500 and scholarships are available for participants. We will bring together a group of distinguished faculty who are pursuing research and practice in this emerging field. Confirmed faculty include Juliet Schor (Boston College), Gar Alperovitz (University of Maryland), Joel Rogers (University of Wisconsin), Gill Seyfang (University of East Anglia) and Michel Bauwens (P2P Foundation and University of Amsterdam). Practitioners working on new economy projects will join us for workshops. Together with a dynamic group of students, we will meet for an intensive program of classes, workshops and participatory sessions. Graduate students attending the Institute can expect to leave with a solid grounding in the latest research and theory, and as part of a network of faculty and other graduate students. ______________________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Asst. Professor, History of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL USA mhicks1(a)iit.edu | mariehicks.net <http://www.mariehicks.net> | @histoftech<http://twitter.com/histoftech>

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Reminder Call for Papers HaPoC 2013 (Deadline May 15)
by Maarten.Bullynck＠kuttaka.org 02 May '13

02 May '13

Dear SIGCIS members, I would like you to remind you of our call for papers for HaPoC 2013. The deadline for contributions, May 15th, is quickly approaching. with best regards, Maarten Bullynck & Jean-Baptiste Joinet ************************************************************************************************* Call for Papers Conf. History and Philosophy of Computing (HaPoC 2013, 28-31 October, Paris) ************************************************************************************************* CALL FOR PAPERS, 2nd International CONFERENCE on the HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF COMPUTING (HaPoC 2013) Extended Submission Deadline: 15th May 2013 ! 28th - 31st October 2013 Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris. with a special session on "Computing and the Arts" at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs http://hapoc2013.sciencesconf.org The 2nd International Conference on the History and Philosophy of Computing (HaPoC 2013) will take place from the 28th to the 31st of October 2013 at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris (France). The birth of the computing and its sciences has often been the topic of philosophical and historical reflection. The HaPoC-conferences have decided to bring together the historical and the philosophical viewpoints. They want to create an environment for a true interdisciplinary convergence around computer science, reenforcing research on the science(s) of computing and its history and stimulating a theoretical dialogue between these domains. To furter this dialogue HaPoC has chosen to have no parallel sessions. Our invited speakers are: Janet Abbate; Bernard Chazelle; S. Barry Cooper; Walter Dean; Nathan Ensmenger; Jean-Yves Girard; Margit Rosen and Franck Varenne. HaPoC 2013 is the follow-up conference to HaPoC 2011 (Gent, Belgium). Please check out the website of HaPoC 2013 for more information on the conference: http://hapoc2013.sciencesconf.org For HaPoC 2013 we welcome contributions from logicians, philosophers and historians of computing as well as from philosophically aware computer scientists and mathematicians. Topics include but are not limited to: 1. Approaches to the notion of computing a. History and Philosophy of Computability b. History and Philosophy of Computation c. History and Philosophy of Programming d. History and Philosophy of the Computer 2. Applications and uses of Computing a. History and Epistemology of the use of Computing in the sciences b. Computing and the Arts : historical and conceptual issues c. Social, ethical and paedagogical aspects of Computing We cordially invite researchers working in a field relevant to the main topics of the conference to submit a short abstract of approximately 200 words and an extended abstract of at most a 1000 words (references included) to https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=hapoc2 Abstracts must be written in English and anonymized. Please note that the format of uploaded files must be .pdf or .doc. The submission deadline is: May 15th, 2013 (extended!) Notification of acceptance: July 1st, 2013 Best regards, the organisers, Maarten Bullynck (Paris 8 & SPHERE) Jean-Baptiste Joinet (Lyon 3, IRPhil & CIRPHLES)

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CHM Prize -- reminder, deadline April 30
by Thomas Haigh 24 Apr '13

24 Apr '13

Hello everyone, Just a reminder to those of you with books first published in 2010, 2011 or 2012 that the deadline to submit them for our Computer History Museum Prize for an outstanding book on the history of computing is coming up very soon. So make sure that they are postmarked by April 30. See below for the call. It is well worth resubmitting books from 2010 or 2011 even if they were already considered by the prize committee in previous rounds. Two of the four awards so far made were for books published more than one year previously. Tom Computer History Museum Prize The Computer History Museum Prize is awarded to the author of an outstanding book in the history of computing broadly conceived, published during the prior three years. The prize of $1,000 is awarded by SIGCIS, the Special Interest Group for Computers, Information and Society. SIGCIS is part of the Society for the History of Technology. In 2012 the prize was endowed in perpetuity through a generous bequest from the estate of Paul Baran, a legendary computer innovator and entrepreneur best known for his work to develop and promote the packet switching approach on which modern networks are built. Baran was a longtime supporter of work on the history of information technology and named the prize to celebrate the contributions of the Computer History Museum to that field. 2013 Call for Submissions Books published in 2010-2012 are eligible for the 2013 award. Books in translation are eligible for three years following the date of their publication in English. Publishers, authors, and other interested members of the computer history community are invited to nominate books. Send one copy of the nominated title to each of the committee members listed below. To be considered, book submissions must be postmarked by 30 April 2013. For more information, please contact the prize committee chair. Current information about the prize, including the most recent call and a list of previous winners, may always be found at http://www.sigcis.org/chmprize. 2013 Prize Committee Members Rebecca Slayton (chair): Lecturer in Public Polic, Stanford University, 616 Serra Street, Stanford, CA 94305-6055. rslayton(a)stanford.edu David Nofre: Research Affiliate, Centre d'Estudis d'Història de la Ciència at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Send books to him at Kleyn Proffijtlaan 47, 2343DB Oegstgeest, Netherlands d.nofre(a)gmail.com Jonathan Coopersmith: Associate Professor Department of History, Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4326 j-coopersmith(a)neo.tamu.edu Previous Winners 2009: Christophe Lécuyer, Making Silicon Valley: Innovation and the Growth of High Tech, 1930-1970 (MIT Press, 2006) 2010: Atsushi Akera, Calculating a Natural World: Scientists, Engineers, and Computers During the Rise of U.S. Cold War Research (MIT Press, 2007) 2011: Paul N. Edwards, A Vast Machine: Computer Models, Climate Data, and the Politics of Global Warming (MIT Press, 2010). 2012: Eden Medina, Cybernetic Revolutionaries:Technology and Politics in Allende's Chile (MIT Press, 2011).

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2nd CfP Hist. & Phil. of Computing (28-31 October 2013, Paris)
by Maarten.Bullynck＠kuttaka.org 15 Apr '13

15 Apr '13

Dear Colleagues, Please find below the second call for papers of the Conference on the History and Philosophy of Computing (HaPoC 2013) that will take place from the 28th to the 31st of October 2013 at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris. Please note also that the deadline for submissions has been extended to May 15th 2013! best regards, Maarten Bullynck (Dept. of Mathematics and History of Science, Paris 8) ************************************************************************************************* 2nd CfP Conf. History and Philosophy of Computing (HaPoC 2013, 28-31 October, Paris) ************************************************************************************************* SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS, 2nd International CONFERENCE on the HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF COMPUTING (HaPoC 2013) Extended Submission Deadline: 15th May 2013 ! 28th - 31st October 2013 Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris. with a special session on "Computing and the Arts" at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs http://hapoc2013.sciencesconf.org The 2nd International Conference on the History and Philosophy of Computing (HaPoC 2013) will take place from the 28th to the 31st of October 2013 at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris (France). The birth of the computing and its sciences has often been the topic of philosophical and historical reflection. The HaPoC-conferences have decided to bring together the historical and the philosophical viewpoints. They want to create an environment for a true interdisciplinary convergence around computer science, reenforcing research on the science(s) of computing and its history and stimulating a theoretical dialogue between these domains. To furter this dialogue HaPoC has chosen to have no parallel sessions. Our invited speakers are: Janet Abbate; Bernard Chazelle; S. Barry Cooper; Walter Dean; Nathan Ensmenger; Jean-Yves Girard; Margit Rosen and Franck Varenne. HaPoC 2013 is the follow-up conference to HaPoC 2011 (Gent, Belgium). Please check out the website of HaPoC 2013 for more information on the conference: http://hapoc2013.sciencesconf.org For HaPoC 2013 we welcome contributions from logicians, philosophers and historians of computing as well as from philosophically aware computer scientists and mathematicians. Topics include but are not limited to: 1. Approaches to the notion of computing a. History and Philosophy of Computability b. History and Philosophy of Computation c. History and Philosophy of Programming d. History and Philosophy of the Computer 2. Applications and uses of Computing a. History and Epistemology of the use of Computing in the sciences b. Computing and the Arts : historical and conceptual issues c. Social, ethical and paedagogical aspects of Computing We cordially invite researchers working in a field relevant to the main topics of the conference to submit a short abstract of approximately 200 words and an extended abstract of at most a 1000 words (references included) to https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=hapoc2 Abstracts must be written in English and anonymized. Please note that the format of uploaded files must be .pdf or .doc. The submission deadline is: May 15th, 2013 (extended!) Notification of acceptance: July 1st, 2013 Best regards, the organisers, Maarten Bullynck (Paris 8 & SPHERE) Jean-Baptiste Joinet (Lyon 3, IRPhil & CIRPHLES)

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Computing, IT and data concepts history at iCHSTM 2013
by Petri Paju 05 Apr '13

05 Apr '13

Dear all, below is what you should know about most SIGCIS relevant presentations in Manchester this July. (James has trouble sending to the list.) Best, Petri From: James Sumner <james.sumner(a)manchester.ac.uk> To: members(a)sigcis.org Dear SIGCIS friends and colleagues As many of you know, I'm one of the local organisers for the 24th International Congress of History of Science, Technology and Medicine (iCHSTM 2013), to be held in Manchester, UK from Sunday 21 to Sunday 28 July. SIGCIS has a symposium (group of themed sessions) at the Congress, organised by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo, Miguel Garcia-Sancho and myself, and a lot of familiar SIGCIS faces will be presenting both within this symposium and elsewhere. But I wanted to get in touch partly to recommend the Congress to anyone who *isn't* on the programme, but may have an opportunity to attend. The deadline for early discounted registration is in just ten days' time (Sunday 14 April). Registration details are easily found on the main website at <http://www.ichstm2013.com/>. The theme of the SIGCIS symposium is "Data at work". This is a theme I've become closely acquainted with from a variety of angles recently, as I have somehow ended up with sole responsibility for building and managing the data systems for the Congress programme from scratch. The Congress (a four-yearly event) is, by most standards, big -- over 20 parallel session tracks across the full week, adding up to more than 1600 papers in total -- and fairly complex in its structure, and a certain amount of crying over spilt PHP has been involved. You can see the results of my handiwork at <http://www.ichstm2013.com/programme/guide/>. By my reckoning, there are at least 40 obviously SIGCIS-relevant papers on the programme, most of which appear on a dedicated "Computing, information, comms" track to avoid clashes: see the timetable at <http://www.ichstm2013.com/programme/timetable.html>. Some wider connections to themes relevant to some researchers on this list are covered in the "Systems, data, automation, computation" section at <http://www.ichstm2013.com/programme/guide/m/discipline.html#a3>. Below (with apologies for likelihood of mangled text on some systems) I have cut and pasted listings of several core relevant symposia. I would emphasise, however, that there is a *lot* of interesting material on the wider programme, in fields ranging from military communications to systems biology to the use of digital techniques in teaching history. And there are highly relevant papers in broader sessions about other themes. Two that leapt out at me are Per Lundin in S078 on oral history, and Dick van Lente in T193 on STM in the public sphere. There are almost certainly others: let me know what I've missed! (Oh, and wearing my other apron, I'll also be presenting on nineteenth-century beer...) All best James S005. Mathematics and machines: explorations of machine-assisted mathematics since 1800 Symposium organisers: Maarten BULLYNCK | Université Paris 8, France Liesbeth DE MOL | Ghent University, Belgium Marie-José DURAND-RICHARD | Laboratoire SPHERE-UMR 7219, France Fri 26 July, early morning until late afternoon S005-A. Approaching machines and mathematics Fri 26 July, early morning Chair: Maarten BULLYNCK | Université Paris 8, France Anthony MOORE | Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, France Music machines and aural arithmetic Peggy Aldrich KIDWELL | Smithsonian Institution, United States Mathematical recreations and machines Doron SWADE | Independent scholar, United Kingdom Mathematics and machines: from calculation to computing Gerard ALBERTS | University of Amsterdam, Netherlands Mathematics as a machine S005-B. Numerical mathematics and analog computing Fri 26 July, late morning Chair: Marie-José DURAND-RICHARD | Laboratoire SPHERE-UMR 7219, France Johannes LENHARD | University of Bielefeld, Germany Mathematics, machines, design: Carl Runge and the contested status of numerical mathematics Helena DURNOVA | Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic Václav Láska (1862-1943) and Václav Hruška (1888-1954): machines and practices in calculation in interwar Czechoslovakia Ulf HASHAGEN | Deutsches Museum, Germany Analog computing as a failed modernization program in the military-industrial-academic complex of the Third Reich Loïc PETITGIRARD | Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, France Analog computing and the mathematics of dynamical systems: ‘theoretical dynamics’ at the Centre de Recherche en Physique, Marseille, France, 1948-1964 S005-C. Mathematics through the machine's eye: the advent of digital computing Fri 26 July, early afternoon Chair: Liesbeth DE MOL | Ghent University, Belgium Marie-José DURAND-RICHARD | Laboratoire SPHERE-UMR 7219, France Douglas R Hartree (1897-1958): from the differential analyzer to digital computers Allan OLLEY | Independent scholar, Canada A task that exceeded the technology: early applications of the computer to the lunar three-body problem Maarten BULLYNCK | Université Paris 8, France Computing primes with the help of machinery (1929-1949) Mark PRIESTLEY | University College London, United Kingdom From computing plan to computer program: Monte Carlo and the ‘miracle of the ENIAC’ S005-D. Programming mathematics on digital computers Fri 26 July, late afternoon Chair: Liesbeth DE MOL | Ghent University, Belgium Claude LOBRY | INRIA-MODEMIC, France De la «mise en equation» à la «mise en programme» Wolfgang BRAND | University of Stuttgart, Germany Getting in shape, form-finding in architecture: the force-density method as a bridge between mathematics and machine Edgar DAYLIGHT | Independent Scholar, Belgium Edsger W. Dijkstra in the 1980s: proving theorems by programming an ideal, non-existing, machine Commentary: Renate TOBIES | Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Germany S086. Data at work Sponsoring body: SIGCIS: Society for the History of Technology Special Interest Group on Computers, Information and Society Symposium organisers: Bernardo BATIZ-LAZO | Bangor University, United Kingdom Miguel GARCIA-SANCHO | University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom James SUMNER | University of Manchester, United Kingdom Mon 22 July, late morning until late afternoon S086-A. Banking and innovation Mon 22 July, late morning Chair: Miguel GARCIA-SANCHO | University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom Bernardo BATIZ-LAZO | Bangor University, United Kingdom Myths and realities of the cashless society J. Carles MAIXE-ALTES | University of A Coruña, Spain Retail banking networks and teleprocessing in Europe, circa 1960-90 Ian MARTIN | Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom Plastic concepts and material constraints: Barclaycard, Britain and the rhetoric of the cashless society Paul THOMES | RWTH Aachen University, Germany The impact of technical progress on distribution and bank branches: a quantitative and qualitative approach S086-B. Biology, agriculture and medicine Mon 22 July, early afternoon Chair: to be announced Miguel GARCIA-SANCHO | University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom Writing the history of ‘computers’ and ‘data’ through their interactions with biomedical research: from the genetic code to DNA sequencing (1950s-1980s) Joseph NOVEMBER | University of South Carolina, United States The Cochrane Collaboration, beyond Cochrane Hallam STEVENS | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Generating value: the Ensembl database and the dynamics of data Sabina LEONELLI | University of Exeter, United Kingdom Putting data to work in plant science, 1990-2012 S086-C. Making coding cultures Mon 22 July, late afternoon Chair: James SUMNER | University of Manchester, United Kingdom Liesbeth DE MOL | Ghent University, Belgium From the machine’s eye? ENIAC and its different users Thomas HAIGH | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, United States Rethinking the stored-program concept David NOFRE | Independent scholar, Netherlands The promises and problems of a universal programming language: reconciling scientific inquiry and technological stability in the ALGOL project, 1960-1965 Tilly BLYTH | Science Museum, London, United Kingdom De-coding public service: the production and consumption of cultural values in the BBC microcomputer P125. Enforced specialization in computing technology: debugging the history of cooperation and competition in COMECON countries Sponsoring body: ICOHTEC: International Committee for the History of Technology Organisers: Helena DURNOVA | Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic Slawomir LOTYSZ | University of Zielona Gora, Poland Tue 23 July, early morning until early morning Chair: Thomas HAIGH | University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, United States Pierre BOUILLON | École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr, France A paradoxical Franco-Romanian cooperation in computers, both supported and circumscribed by the Cold War Slawomir LOTYSZ | University of Zielona Gora, Poland Plaiting a whip of sand: ups and downs of optical fiber technology in pre-1989 Poland Petri PAJU | University of Turku, Finland Finlandized computing or business as usual? Computer trade between Finland and the Soviet bloc in the 1970s Frank DITTMANN | Deutsches Museum, Germany The development of network technology in COMECON countries T202-A. Information technology Sat 27 July, early morning Chair: to be announced Marcelo VIANNA | Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul - PUCRS, Brazil Para além dos clones – a formação do campo da Informática no Brasil nos anos 1980 através de três casos de fabricantes de microcomputadores (1980-1988). Beyond clones: the building up of the Brazilian information technology field in the 1980s through three cases of personal computer manufacturers, 1980-1988 Aracele TORRES | University of São Paulo, Brazil Os estudos do software e a compreensão da sociedade contemporânea: o caso do movimento software livre Software studies and the understanding of contemporary society: the free software movement case BAO Ou | Institution of Science Technology & Society, School of Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, China 翻译工作在中国计算机起步中的作用（1953-1967） The role of translation in China’s starting development of the computer, 1953-1967 Scott CAMPBELL | University of Waterloo, Canada Computation centres, configured users and early computer technology in Canada

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CBI Newsletter (Spring 2013, Vol. 35:1) --> link here
by Thomas J. Misa 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

http://www.cbi.umn.edu/about/newsletter.html In this issue: • Director’s Desk • Erwin Tomash (1921-2012) • Cortada CBI Senior Research Fellow • Rankin 2013 Tomash Fellow • CBI: Glimpses of the Founding, Part 2 • News from the Archives • 2013 Norberg Travel Grants • When Computers were Amateur (Norberg Grant) • Pioneering Patents (Norberg Grant) • Origins of Computer Networks (Norberg Grant) • Computer Security History Workshop - Call for Papers • Recent Publications • CBI Photo Contest

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New CBI Newsletter (Spring 2013, Vol. 35:1)
by Charles Babbage Institute 02 Apr '13

02 Apr '13

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History of IT in banks: An exhibition in Paris
by Pierre Mounier 29 Mar '13

29 Mar '13

Hi, For those of you who happen to visit Paris these days, an exhibition on the history of information technologies in banks is visible at BNP Paribas' "Concept Store" 2, place de l'Opera (in front of the Opera house… and two blocks from the Harry's bar) Admission free "Mémoires vives - 50 ans d'informatique chez BNP Paribas" Best, Pierre Mounier-Kuhn CNRS & University of Paris-Sorbonne http://pups.paris-sorbonne.fr/pages/aff_livre.php?Id=838

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IT Companies Database
by Info ＠ IT History Society 28 Mar '13

28 Mar '13

The IT History Society is pleased to announce the beginnings of the IT Companies Database, a list of summary entries of every information technology company that has ever existed. The current database has over 4,600 entries and is expected to take over 2 years for near completion. The total database is expected to reach over 50,000 entries. New entries will be coming from a research project managed by the IT History Society and the greater community of interested parties. The database is located for viewing at http://ithistory.org/companies/companies-name.php. Full entries can be submitted at http://ithistory.org/companies/companies-form.php or suggestions can be sent to info(a)ithistory.org. Other databases that exist are the IT Hardware Database located at http://ithistory.org/hardware/hardware-name.php, the IT Honor Roll located at http://ithistory.org/honor_roll/honor-roll.php, the IT Historical Sites located at http://ithistory.org/resource_sites/resource-sites.php, and the IT Technology Quotations located at http://ithistory.org/quotes/quotes.php. IT History Society One Blackfield Drive - Suite 331 Tiburon, CA 94920 (415) 435-2263 info(a)ITHistory.org www.ITHistory.org <http://www.ithistory.org/> Sm logo dropEnsuring the Future by Preserving the Past <http://www.twitter.com/ithistoryorg> twitter <http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/It-History-Society/143799552346273> find-us-on-facebook <https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=RRE7C2 JV47KKJ> btn_donate_LG

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