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Early mobile phone photography
by Friedrich Tietjen 18 Nov '24

18 Nov '24

Dear colleagues, together with a group of Swiss, German and Finnish colleagues I'm currently researching into cameras from a cultural studies perspective. One thing I'm trying to get a better understanding of are early mobile phone cameras and their images. I'm in particular interested in pre-smartphone photography, and I wonder whether you can help me out: # I couldn't find a library of photographs taken with camera-equipped phones. Would you know if there is one? If there is none and you have such photographs (and also videos) somewhere - would you mind sharing some with me (if available with information about the phone used)? # Would you know of a place collecting the tech specifications of these early phones? I'm particularly interested in whether .jpg was consistently used as a format or, if not, which other formats were in use. Many thanks in advance Friedrich -- The gibberish in the attachment is not a corrupt file, but my public PGP key - use it in case you prefer encrypted communication; otherwise ignore.

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Paul Baran's time at UCLA
by ULYSSES PASCAL 14 Nov '24

14 Nov '24

I was reading *Circuits, Packets, and Protocols *and the oral history transcript of Paul Baran at the computer history museum and I was wondering who Paul Baran's professors were at UCLA. I know his advisor was Grerald Estrin. Specifically, I am wondering if he might have crossed paths with Lowell Amdahl who I think (if wikipedia can be trusted) was a professor around the same time. Best, Ulysses Pascal Postdoctoral Researcher Vrije University Brussels Information Studies, PhD ulyssespascal.com

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Fwd: faculty positions at U Maryland
by Andrew Russell 10 Nov '24

10 Nov '24

Passing on this opportunity… ALR Begin forwarded message: The new Artificial Intelligence Interdisciplinary Institute (AIM) at the University of Maryland, College Park (https://aim.umd.edu/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/aim.umd.edu/__;!!IBzWLUs!UzDH-AgA664ZPDs…>) has openings for 30 tenured and/or tenure-track faculty positions in Artificial Intelligence, broadly defined. The job description includes “humanistic and social scientific approaches” to AI. The deadline for best consideration is 12/13/2024. The full text is available at https://ejobs.umd.edu/postings/124144<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/ejobs.umd.edu/postings/124144__;!!IBzWLU…> Questions may be directed to Dr. Neda Atanasoski, AIM Associate Director, at natanaso(a)umd.edu<mailto:natanaso@umd.edu>

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] luddism
by Andrew Butrica 08 Nov '24

08 Nov '24

For the French case, see Jeff Horn, The Path no Taken: French industrialization in the age of revolution, 1750–1830 (2006). He argues for the centrality of "machine breaking" in explaining the specific way in which France industrialized. Other equally valid arguments have been put forward by historians and economists. Andrew J. Butrica Historian -----Original Message----- From: unterluggauer <mariann(a)nomatic.org> Sent: Nov 8, 2024 5:58 AM To: Genevieve Clifford <genevieve(a)mun-tonsi.net> Cc: <members(a)lists.sigcis.org> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] luddism hi, i did research luddism some years ago for a broadcast serial, and would love to share my findings. the best book i found back then is for me still e.p. thompson, the making of the english working class, pinguin books, 1963. because he went to the archives ... all the best, mariann > On 8. Nov 2024, at 08:55, Genevieve Clifford via Members wrote: > > hi ezra, > > would be delighted to get involved :) > > bw, > genevieve > — > genevieve clifford > > apologies for any mistakes in spelling or grammar, i’m typing this response on my phone (and am likely to do so without as much due diligence as i would if at a physical keyboard) > >> On 8 Nov 2024, at 05:34, Ezra J Teboul via Members wrote: >> >> >> Dear Colleagues, >> >> The possibility of a SHOT special interest group on luddism has been floated by me and I was curious to know if anyone on this list would be interested? >> >> all the best, >> >> Ezra >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org (http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/) > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org (http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/) _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org (http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/)

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luddism
by Ezra J Teboul 08 Nov '24

08 Nov '24

Dear Colleagues, The possibility of a SHOT special interest group on luddism has been floated by me and I was curious to know if anyone on this list would be interested? all the best, Ezra

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In memory of Robert W. Doran
by Brian E Carpenter 04 Nov '24

04 Nov '24

Dear colleagues, Today (November 5, in New Zealand) Bob Doran, among other things a computing historian, would have been 80 years old. A few of us have edited a memorial to him: C.S. Calude, B.E. Carpenter, M.J. Dinneen and G. Dobbie (eds.), In Memory of Robert W. Doran, Centre for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, 5 Nov. 2024. https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/research/groups/CDMTCS/researchreports/downlo… (83 MB) Regards Brian Carpenter

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The Connectivity of Things: Network Cultures since 1832
by Sebastian Gießmann 04 Nov '24

04 Nov '24

Dear members of SIGCIS, when Henri de Saint-Simon was broke, he handwrote and manually copied his treatises so that they might see some distribution. I always think of this early 19th century story when I reach out to say that there's a new book out there. As historians of technology you might enjoy reading "The Connectivity of Things: Network Cultures since 1832," which comes out today with MIT Press. I always wanted to find out about why the Internet is considered a network of networks. The book itself is a /longue durée/ cultural-technical answer to that question. While this is hopefully going to see open access soon, the actual printed book is a real beauty! I do continue with the Saint-Simonian business just a bit: If you indulge in reading "Connectivity" on paper, there's a 30 percent discount _only today_ on Barnes and Noble. Please use PUBDAY30 as a discount code on https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/763375/the-connectivity-of-things-…. MIT Press has some more information on the discount code business: https://mitpress.mit.edu/discount-codes/. Btw, there's a 20 percent discount if you use READMIT20 on any other day. All of this certainly works with a US address - hopefully, people in Canada might also profit from it. In my humble East German yet Gutenbergian ways, this kind of book promotion still feels a bit awkward. But who would not like to save some money? Feel free to share this information as you like. All the best from Cologne, Sebastian -- AOR Dr. Sebastian Gießmann Reader | Media Theory https://www.uni-siegen.de/phil/medienwissenschaft/personal/lehrende/giessma… Sprechstunde DO 13-14 Uhr:https://sprechstunde.tools.phil.uni-siegen.de/?id=93 https://uni-siegen.webex.com/meet/giessmann https://mastodon.social/@sebgiessmann http://www.sebastiangiessmann.de https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de

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Book Announcement
by James Cortada 25 Oct '24

25 Oct '24

Several years ago Bill Aspray and I wrote *Fake News Nation*, as part of our ongoing studies of modern uses of information, misinformation, fake info and conspiracies, arguing that these topics had a long history dating back almost 200 years before the Internet's influence. Then 5 years later the problems we identified had continued to intensify, hence our publisher just brought out a paperback edition for $25. First, thanks to those of you who supported our work and also by buying the original edition. Second, Rowman and Littlefield is offering a 30% discount off the price of the paperback edition if ordered directly from it, using code RLFANDF30. It might now be affordable for your students at $17.50; otherwise AMazon etc will have it available in mid-November. Again, many thanks for your ongoing support of our work, for the kind reviews a number of you were asked to write, and for acquiring the original volume. -- James W. Cortada Senior Research Fellow Charles Babbage Institute University of Minnesota jcortada(a)umn.edu 608-274-6382

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NEXT FRIDAY: ROMchip Presents: José Zagal on Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy
by Laine Nooney 24 Oct '24

24 Oct '24

Join us Friday, November 1, as *ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories *hosts games researcher José P. Zagal for a talk about *Seeing Red: Nintendo's Virtual Boy*, co-authored with Benj Edwards*.* The event will be at 3PM EST on the ROMchip Twitch channel <https://www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal>. Sign up for our newsletter <https://romchip.us13.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=27c1594af9abf2dc80455091b&…> to never miss an update. RSVP Here <https://www.tickettailor.com/events/romchipajournalofgamehistories/1386247>. Tickets serve as calendar reminders for the event. Head to https://www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal join the talk on Nov 1. *About the Book* *The curious history, technology, and cultural context of Nintendo's short-lived stereoscopic gaming console, the Virtual Boy.* With glowing red stereoscopic 3D graphics, the Virtual Boy cast a prophetic hue: Shortly after its release in 1995, Nintendo's balance sheet for the product was "in the red" as well. Of all the innovative long shots the game industry has witnessed over the years, perhaps the most infamous and least understood was the Virtual Boy. Why the Virtual Boy failed, and where it succeeded, are questions that video game experts José Zagal and Benj Edwards explore in *Seeing Red*, but even more interesting to the authors is what the platform actually was: what it promised, how it worked, and where it fit into the story of gaming. Nintendo released the Virtual Boy as a standalone table-top device in 1995—and quickly discontinued it after lackluster sales and a lukewarm critical reception. In *Seeing Red,* Zagal and Edwards examine the device's technical capabilities, its games, and the cultural context in the US in the 1990s when Nintendo developed and released the unusual console. The Virtual Boy, in their account, built upon and extended an often-forgotten historical tradition of immersive layered dioramas going back 100 years that was largely unexplored in video games at the time. The authors also show how the platform's library of games conveyed a distinct visual aesthetic style that has not been significantly explored since the Virtual Boy's release, having been superseded by polygonal 3D graphics. The platform's meaning, they contend, lies as much in its design and technical capabilities and affordances as it does in an audience's perception of those capabilities. Offering rare insight into how we think about video game platforms, *Seeing Red* illustrates where perception and context come, quite literally, into play. *About the Authors*José P. Zagal is Professor at the University of Utah's Entertainment Arts & Engineering program. He is the author of *Ludoliteracy*, coeditor of *The Videogame Ethics Reader*, and Editor-in-Chief of *Transactions of the Digital Games Research Association*. Zagal has been honored as a DiGRA Distinguished Scholar and a Fellow of the Higher Education Video Game Alliance for his contributions to games research. Benj Edwards is a tech historian and journalist. He is currently the AI and Machine Learning reporter for Ars Technica and a tech journalist for *The Atlantic, Wired, Macworld*, *PC World*, *Fast Company*, and other publications. Edwards is also the Editor-in-Chief of *Vintage Computing and Gaming*, a contributor to the *Retronauts* podcast, and creator of *The Culture of Tech* podcast. *About ROMchip**ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories <https://www.romchip.org/>* is a free, online scholarly journal for game history. *ROMchip *develops, edits, and publishes ad-free, open access game history research for a range of audiences. It supports any discipline of work enlivening the history of games in local and global contexts, and embraces diversity in how game history is studied, documented, collected, preserved, and practiced. *ROM**c**hip* is a donation-based organization fiscally sponsored by The Hack Foundation <https://hackclub.com/fiscal-sponsorship/> (d.b.a. Hack Club), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN: 81-2908499). Laine Nooney <http://www.lainenooney.com/> Associate Professor | MCC <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/> @ NYU <http://www.nyu.edu/> | they/them Managing Editor | ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories <https://romchip.org/index.php/romchip-journal> | Join our Newsletter <http://eepurl.com/crCul1> -Need to make an appt? Click, don't email: https://calendar.app.google/V9ZuMRWEKnnUBdQ56 -Probably typed by voice recognition, so please cherish typos

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[SFHST 2025] - Panel "Histories and Historiographies of AI"
by FICHEN Mathilde 21 Oct '24

21 Oct '24

Dear all, We are pleased to announce the panel "Histories and Historiographies of Artificial Intelligence" as part of the upcoming Congress of the French Society for the History of Science and Technology (SFHST), which will be held from April 9-11 in Nancy. You can find the panel's argument attached as well as on the SFHST website: https://sfhstnancy2025.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/3#S7 Proposals for presentations must be submitted by Tuesday, December 31, through the Scienceconf platform via the SFHST website: https://sfhstnancy2025.sciencesconf.org/submission/submit We look forward to reading your proposals. Mathilde Fichen (HT2S, Cnam) et Valentin Goujon (médialab, Science Po) Mathilde Fichen Ph.D Candidate CNAM - HT2S<https://technique-societe.cnam.fr/histoire-des-technosciences-en-societe-ht…> Personal page: mathfichen.github.io<https://mathfichen.github.io/>

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