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SIGCIS 2012 Workshop schedule posted
by Andrew Russell 19 Sep '12

19 Sep '12

Greetings all - I wanted to share a quick update on the SIGCIS 2012 Workshop on "Information Identities," to be held on Sunday October 7 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Our workshop webpage, http://www.sigcis.org/workshop12, is now posted and has abstracts for the 18 papers that will be presented. Stay tuned, as we will continue to post updates, pre-circulated papers, and other information. Cheers, Andy

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Fwd: NSA Museum Foundation General Membership Meeting - October 17th 2012
by William McMillan 18 Sep '12

18 Sep '12

For those with an interest in the history of security and cryptography. This was forwarded to me by a member, so if you'd like to go and the referral of a member is required, please let me know. - Bill

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Fwd: Historian looking for information on Esther Gersten
by Janet Abbate 18 Sep '12

18 Sep '12

I received the inquiry below from historian of mathematics Judy Green, who is trying to research the career of Esther Gersten, one of the ENIAC programmers at Aberdeen. If anyone has information about Gersten, or experience accessing archival materials from BRL (now ARL), please respond directly to Judy (jgreen(a)marymount.edu) FYI, she is the co-author of Pioneering Women in American Mathematics (AMS, 2008). thanks, Janet Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor Science & Technology in Society Virginia Tech Begin forwarded message: > From: Judy Green <jgreen(a)marymount.edu> > Date: September 16, 2012 5:43:37 PM EDT > To: abbate(a)vt.edu > Subject: The history of computing in the 1940s and early 1950s > > Dear Janet Abbate, > > I'm a retired mathematician whose research interest is mainly in the history of American women in mathematics and am an author, together with Jeanne LaDuke, of a book on American women who received PhD's im mathematics before WWII. Because of that book I was asked to, and did, review the video “Top Secret Rosies” for the Notices of the American Mathematical Society. A niece of a woman who had an undergraduate mathematics degree and worked on the ENIAC at Aberdeen and on the first UNIVAC at U Calif's Radiation Lab at Livermore ran into that review and contacted me about her aunt, who died in 1955. The woman's name is Esther Gersten and she is briefly mentioned (as Ester Gersten) in Barkley Fritz's ENIAC articles in the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. Gersten's niece has a picture taken at Aberdeen in January 1946 as well as a lot of letters from between Gersten and her family. I've become interested and have started to write a short piece about Gersten. However, as I am not as familiar with the resources in the history of computing as I am with those in the history of mathematics, Peggy Kidwell, whom I know through the Smithsonian where I was a research associate many years ago and am now a volunteer, suggested I contact you with my questions. I hope you will be able to point me in the right direction in getting some more information about Esther Gersten. > > Specifically, what I would most like to find is the equivalent of a CV for her. As far as I know, the only places she worked were at the BRL at Aberdeenthe and at Lawrence Livermore. While the Smithsonian has some photographs of the computers and people who worked on them at Aberdeen, they don't have the one that her family has. If the BRL photos and/or records are open I'd really like to take a look at them too. > > Thanks very much. > Judy Green

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SIGCIS lunch details from SHOT, from Bernie Carlson
by Thomas Haigh 17 Sep '12

17 Sep '12

[Below is a message that SHOT Secretary Bernie Carlson, wc4p(a)virginia.edu, has asked me to forward to SIGCIS. This includes the new arrangements for the SIGCIS lunch, which SHOT had left off the registration form this year. So even if you already registered for SHOT, please follow the instructions below. Also below are the details for the one day registration option for those only attending the Sunday SIGCIS workshop. Tom] Dear CISSIG members, We are much looking forward to having you participate in the SHOT meeting coming up in Copenhagen from 4-7 October, and I want to alert you to several aspects of the meeting. First, the annual CISSIG lunch will be held on Friday, 5 October, from 12.30-2 PM on the campus of the Copenhagen Business School. You will be meeting in the Rotunda of the cafeteria of the Solbjerg Plads building. If you wish to attend this lunch, please email Jane Carlson <janecarlson(a)ntelos.net> no later than 27 SEPTEMBER. The charge for this lunch will be $25 and you will need to pay for the lunch by cash or check at the SHOT registration desk in Copenhagen. Second, while we hope that most of you will be able to register and attend the entire SHOT meeting, we recognize that some individuals participating in the CISSIG workshop on Sunday may only be able to attend that day. If you are only participating in the Sunday workshop, then we are able to extend a special one-day rate of $70. To request this Sunday rate, please fill out the regular registration form that can be downloaded from http://www.historyoftechnology.org/copenhagen/copenhagen_registration.html and FAX this form to Jane at 434.975.2190 by 27 SEPTEMEBER. Indicate on the top of the form that you are registering for Sunday and indicate $70 as the total amount due. Do NOT attempt to sign up for the Sunday rate using the on-line system as there is no category for Sunday registration on the on-line form. If you wish, you can pay also pay for your Sunday registration in Copenhagen by cash or check, but do let Jane know in advance that you are requesting the Sunday rate. Note that in order to participate in the Sunday workshop you MUST register for either the regular SHOT meeting or the Sunday workshop; if you do not register by 27 September, we will be obliged to drop you from the program. Thank you for your interest in the history of technology, and please let Jane or me know if you have any questions about this year's meeting. Sincerely, Bernie Carlson SHOT Executive Secretary SHOTsecy(a)virginia.edu

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NYRB on first stored-program computer
by david nofre 17 Sep '12

17 Sep '12

Dear all, It might be of interest for the members of this list the discussion in the last issue of the New York Review of Books about the 'first' stored-program computer. The discussion originated as response to a review of George Dyson’s /Turing’s Cathedral /in the previous issue: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/sep/27/who-gets-credit-comput… Best, David Nofre

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New CHM Blog!
by Dag Spicer 13 Sep '12

13 Sep '12

Hello everyone! We're delighted to announce our new blog, which you can access at: http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/ The blog also features an RSS feed, so you can have content delivered to you automatically. Today's story: "Who invented which Internet?" by CHM curator Marc Weber: http://www.computerhistory.org/atchm/who-invented-which-internet/ Enjoy! Dag -- Dag Spicer | Senior Curator | Computer History Museum Editorial Board | Annals of the History of Computing 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View CA 94043 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 | Fax: +1 650 810 1055 Twitter: @ComputerHistory FB: facebook.com/computerhistory Technology married with the humanities makes our hearts sing. -- Steve Jobs

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Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Bill Moggridge
by Evan Koblentz 10 Sep '12

10 Sep '12

I concur that it's reasonable to credit Grid in general, and Moggridge specifically, with starting the clamshell trend in portable computers which became ubiquitous by the end of the 1980s. But it's wrong to call the Compass a laptop. A laptop, by definition, runs on its own power, allowing the owner to use it anywhere. Let's not forget that the Compass had to be plugged into the wall. This is not mere semantics. The Compass in shape is the first of its kind, but in tethering its user to a wall is just a smaller/lighter version of a suitcase computer. It wasn't until the 1983-1984 generation -- such as Gavilan, HP-110, Sharp PC-5000, and Tandy 200 -- that clamshell-shaped * laptops * became available, running on batteries. - Evan

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Bill Moggridge
by Dag Spicer 10 Sep '12

10 Sep '12

Dear SIGCIS Friends, You may have by now heard that leading industrial designer Bill Moggridge has passed away. He was likely the first to conceive of the 'clamshell' laptop design that is now a standard. This initial computer, the $8,000 Grid Compass (1982), was a bit a bit hit with NASA and DoD--who appreciated its magnesium case (durability and lightness) and performance. The idea of a 'display up top, keyboard down below' in a easy-to-carry case is now part of our design DNA. Moggridge also founded IDEO, one of the world's top design consultancies, and was director the Cooper-Hewitt when he passed. CHM was fortunate to have Bill moderate a lecture on industrial design back in 2007. You can watch the lecture here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--7Br07QKMk Blurb from event: [Recorded June 4, 2007] Apple Computer has long been noted for its industrial design prowess and ability to generate public interest with each new offering. Hear fascinating personal stories and perspectives of what it was like to be an industrial designer at Apple. Meet Jerry Manock, designer of the Apple II, Apple III and the original Mac, and Robert Brunner, head of Apple's newly-formed Industrial Design Group (IDg) in 1990 that produced the PowerBook, Color Classic, and LC 520. Moderated by noted industrial designer and IDEO co-founder Bill Moggridge. Enjoy! Dag -- Dag Spicer | Senior Curator | Computer History Museum Editorial Board | Annals of the History of Computing 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View CA 94043 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 | Fax: +1 650 810 1055 Twitter: @ComputerHistory FB: facebook.com/computerhistory Technology married with the humanities makes our hearts sing. -- Steve Jobs

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CACM Column on "Inventor of Email" affair
by Thomas Haigh 31 Aug '12

31 Aug '12

Hello SIGCIS people, I've been writing a series of entries for the Historical Reflections column that appears quarterly in Communications of the ACM. The most recent just appeared online, and will be out in print soon. In "Seven Lessons from Bad History: Journalists, Historians, and the Invention of Email" I tried to step back from the twists and turns of the "Inventor of Email" affair to explore what it tells us about the place of high technology history in the Internet age. Read it at www.tomandmaria.com/tom/Writing/CACM-SevenLessons.pdf, or for those with ACM Digital Library access at http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2330676. The column may also bring some attention to SIGCIS and to the importance of history of computing community as a guardian of the historical record. For anyone who does have an interest in the specifics of the saga I have extended my analysis of Shiva Ayyadurai's case to deal with his latest claims. Go to http://www.sigcis.org/ayyadurai and scroll down for the new stuff. If you have an interesting paper published or a talk coming up relevant to the history of computing (or, should you be hopelessly modest, if a colleague you respect does) then please do send an email to members(a)sigcis.org to share it with the community. Best wishes, Tom

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Turdean on Computers in Casinos at the Hagley (Wilmington, DE) on Sept 20th
by Thomas Haigh 31 Aug '12

31 Aug '12

Of interest to members in the Mid-Atlantic area. The Hagley is always a lovely spot to visit (a bucolic estate that used to be full of DuPont factories) and David Sicilia is a top notch business historian. Christina Turdean may be familiar to you from our 2009 SIGCIS workshop, where she was part of the inaugural dissertations in progress session. She also published an article in the IEEE Annals last year as part of the New Voices, New Topics special issue, http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ieee_annals_of_the_history_of_computing/summary /v033/33.2.turdean.html. Tom From: Carol Lockman [mailto:clockman@Hagley.org] Sent: Friday, August 31, 2012 1:52 PM To: Carol Lockman Subject: Research seminar 2012-2013/Hagley Center The 2012-2013 research seminar series begins with a paper by Cristina Turdean, University of Mary Washington on Thursday, September 20th-let me know if you will attend and/or would like the paper. Attached is the research seminar schedule for 2012-2013. Best, C. Carol Ressler Lockman Hagley Center Research Seminar Thursday, September 20th, 2012 "A Casino's Nerve System: The Development of Computer Systems in Casinos" Cristina Turdean, University of Mary Washington Comment: David Sicilia, University of Maryland Copeland Room, Hagley Library 6:00 p.m. Informal reception 6:30 p.m. Seminar

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