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2nd cfp Symposium on the History and Philosophy of Programming
by Liesbeth De Mol 16 Jan '12

16 Jan '12

I hope that the following cfp will be of interest to some of you, very best wishes, Liesbeth. CALL FOR PAPERS Symposium on the History and Philosophy of Programming 5-6 July 2012 http://www.computing-conference.ugent.be/hapop12 as part of AISB/IACAP World Congress 2012 - Alan Turing 2012 2-6 July 2012 http://events.cs.bham.ac.uk/turing12/index.php ------------------------------------------------------------------ OCCASION As part of the AISB/IACAP World Congress programme, the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science at Ghent University organizes a one day Symposium on the History and Philosophy of Programming. On the Occasion of the Turing Centennial, from 2-6 July 2012, the AISB (The Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour) and the IACAP (The International Association for Computing and Philosophy) merge their annual symposia/conferences to the AISB/IACAP World Congress. The Congress serves both as the year's AISB Convention and the year's IACAP conference. The Congress has been inspired by a desire to honour Alan Turing, and by the broad and deep significance of Turing's work to AI, to the philosophical ramifications of computing, and to philosophy and computing more generally. The Congress is one of the events forming the Alan Turing Year http://www.mathcomp.leeds.ac.uk/turing2012/ The intent of the Congress is to stimulate a particularly rich interchange between AI and Philosophy on any areas of mutual interest, whether directly addressing Turing's own research output or not. ------------------------------------------------------------------- SCOPE This Symposium follows the organization of the International Conference on History and Philosophy of Computing, held at the University of Ghent from 7 to 10 November 2011 www.computing-conference.ugent.be A historical awareness of the evolution of computing not only helps to clarify the complex structure of the computing sciences, but it also provides an insight in what computing was, is and maybe could be in the future. Philosophy, on the other hand, helps to tackle some of the fundamental problems of computing. The aim of this conference is to zoom into one fundamental aspect of computing, namely the foundational and the historical problems and developments related to the science of programming. Alan Turing himself was driven by the fundamental question of “what are the possible processes which can be carried out in computing a number” [Turing, 1936]. His answer today is well-known, and today we understand a program as a rather complex instance of what became known as the Turing Machine. What is less well-known, is that Turing also wrote one of the first programming manuals ever for the Ferranti Mark I, where one feels the symbolic machine hiding on the back of the Manchester hardware. This was only the beginning of a large research area that today involves logicians, programmers and engineers in the design, understanding and realization of programming languages. That a logico-mathematical-physical object called `program' is so controversial, even though its very nature is mostly hidden away, is rooted in the range of problems, processes and objects that can be solved, simulated, approximated and generated by way of its execution. Given its widespread impact on our lives, it becomes a responsibility of the philosopher and the historian to study the science of programming. ------------------------------------------------------------------- TOPICS The historical and philosophical reflection on the science of programming is the main topic at the core of this Symposium and we expect contributions about the following topics and their intersections: 1. The history of computational systems, machines and programs 2. Foundational issues and paradigms of programming (programming logics, semantics and proof-theories for distributed, secure, cloud, functional, object-oriented, etc.) Our wish is to bring forth to the scientific community a deep understanding and critical view of the problems related to the scientific paradigm represented by the science of programming. Possible and in no way exclusive questions that might be of relevance to this Symposium are: - What was and is the significance of hardware developments for the development of software (and vice versa)? - In how far can the analogue and special-purpose machines built before the 40s programs and what does this mean for our conception of “program” today? - How important has been the hands-off vs. the hands-on approach for the development of programming? - What is the influence of models of computability like Church's lambda-calculus on the development of programming languages? - Which case studies from the history of programming can tell us today something about future directions? - Is programming a science or a technology? - In how far does it make sense to speak about programming paradigms in the sense of Kuhn? - What are the novel and most interesting approaches to the design of programs? - What are the most interesting formal properties of procedural semantics, typed systems, etc? - What is correctness for a program? Issues in Type-checking, Model-checking, etc. - What is the common structure of Proofs and Programs? Logic of Proofs and Curry-Howard Isomorphism. - What are the current logical issues in programming? - How do we understand programs as syntactical-semantical objects? - What is the nature of the relation between algorithms and programs? - What is a program? - Which problems are the most pressing ones and why are they relevant to more than just programmers? - How can epistemology profit from the understanding of programs' behavior and structure? - What legal and socio-economical issues are involved in the creation, patenting or free-distribution of programs? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SUBMISSION DETAILS: The programme will consists of 2 Invited Lectures and up to 8 Contributed Papers. It will takes place in the afternoon session of the 5th and the morning session of the 6th of July. We cordially invite researchers working in a field relevant to the main topics of the conference to submit an extended abstract of minimum 2 and maximum 5 pages to computing.conference(a)ugent.be Please mention "ABSTRACT HAPOP" in the subject line. Abstracts must be written in English. Please note that the format of submitted files must be .pdf or .rtf. Only unpublished material will be considered for presentation. IMPORTANT DATES: Submissions Deadline: 1 February 2012 Acceptance/rejection Decisions: 1 March 2012 Final versions of abstracts for inclusion in proceedings: 30 March 2012. Symposium: 5 July (afternoon) and 6 July (morning) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- INVITED SPEAKERS: Gerard Alberts (Universiteit van Amsterdam) Julian Rohrhuber (Robert Schumann Hochschule Duesseldorf) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZERS: Liesbeth De Mol and Giuseppe Primiero  PROGRAMME COMMITTEE:  S. Artemov (City Univeristy of New York) M. Bullynck (Universite' de Paris 8) L. de Mol (CLPS UGent) V. de Paiva (Reardem Commerce) H. Durnova (Masarykova Univerzita Brno) R. Kahle (Universidade Nova de Lisbona) B. Loewe (Universiteit van Amsterdam) F. Kamareddine (Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh) G. Primiero (CLPS UGent) R. Turner (University of Essex) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- PROCEEDINGS There will be a separate proceedings for each symposium, produced before the Congress. Each delegate at the Congress will receive, on arrival, a memory stick containing the proceedings of all symposia. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTACT AND INFORMATION: For further information please contact us at:  computing.conference(a)ugent.be or have a look at our website: http://www.computing-conference.ugent.be/hapop12 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- RELATED EVENTS The Symposium on History and Philosophy of Programming will be followed by a Roundtable on topics in the Philosophy of Computer Science on the day after. Confirmed participants include: Raymond Turner, University of Essex, UK (MODERATOR) Rainhard Bengez, TU München, Germany Manfred Broy, TU München, Germany, Marcelo Dascal, University of Tel Aviv, Israel Ruth Hagengruber, University of Paderborn, Germany Giovanni Sartor, EUI – European University Institute, Florence, Italy Dov M. Gabbay, King's College, London, UK Jean-Gabriele Ganascia, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris, France Gilles Dowek, l'Ècole polytechnique, Paris, France Jan van Leeuwen, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands Lothar Philipps, University of Munich, Germany Giovanni Sartor, EUI – European University Institute, Florence, Italy Kevin Ashley, University of Pittsburgh, USA Hennry Prakken, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands Erich Schweighofer, University of Vienna, Austria Yoshino Hajime, Meiji Gakuin University, Tokio, Japan Douglas Walton, University of Windsor, Canada Topics include: *Philosophical approaches to Computer Science *Just Counting Machines? From Leibniz via Lovecraft and Babbage to Turing, Zuse and von Neumann. *Which kinds of logic and mathematical concepts are suitable for machines and humans to understand machines? Everyone is cordially invited

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Tom Kurtz / History of BASIC / VCF East
by Evan Koblentz 08 Jan '12

08 Jan '12

Hi all, Vintage Computer Festival East 8.0 is May 5-6, 2012, at the InfoAge Science Center (officially it's "Information Age Science History Learning Center and Museum" ... sadly that decision was left to a committee of non-historians) in Wall, New Jersey. Dr. Thomas Kurtz, who (co-)invented BASIC while at Dartmouth in 1964, will be our keynote speaker for the first day. He's on at noon. We hope to announce the second day's keynote speaker and other event details soon (other lectures, hands-on workshops, exhibitors, etc.) - Evan

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Origin of the word "throughput"
by Lambert, Kevin 03 Jan '12

03 Jan '12

Dear all, My name is Kevin Lambert, an historian of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century physic-mathematics with an interest in the history of the computer and someone who very much appreciates your exchanges. I have recently had the following inquiry (see below) directed my way. Can anybody help? Prof. Lambert, > > I am a contributing editor at Popular Science, and I am working on a feature > for the magazine for which I'm trying to find the origin of the term "high > throughput." Andy Jewett at Harvard (who was my advisor for my MA thesis at > NYU a few years ago) suggested I contact you. > > I have asked a few bioinformatics people where "high throughput" comes from, > because the first time I learned about it was through genomics and drug > discovery. They couldn't answer. I am now wondering if it is a computing > term-- I know that "high throughput computing" exists-- that was adapted for > biology. Andy suggested I check with you on the computing connection. > > Any ideas on the origin of this term? If not, any suggestions on who might > know? I've run multiple book/journal article searches and haven't come up > with anything useful. > > I realize this is very short notice right before the holidays, but if you have > time to respond sometime tomorrow or by early next week, I'd be very grateful. > If you'd like to learn more about my project, I'm happy to explain on the > phone. > > Thanks very much, > Brooke > > -- > ___________________ > Brooke Borel > www.brookeborel.com <http://www.brookeborel.com> > (001) 646.262.4346 <tel:646.262.4346> twitter: @brookeborel

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Obituaries in the History of Computing
by Chris McDonald 22 Dec '11

22 Dec '11

SIGICSers, I've posted a blog entry about some of the men and women of significance to the history of computing who have died in the last year:http://www.sigcis.org/node/318 <https://exchange1.ecfs.org/owa/redir.aspx?C=1d28094030c14dddae21e80534de9a9…> Let me know who I've missed! Chris McDonald

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Science Museum gift press release
by Blyth Tilly 16 Dec '11

16 Dec '11

Google formally announced their gift to the Science Museum in London today, which will enable a new temporary Alan Turing exhibition to co-incide with the centenary of his birth and support the development of a new permanent Information and Communications gallery. More information is on the Google European Public Policy Blog <https://mobileuser.nmsi.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://googlepolicy…> . best wishes, Tilly Dr Tilly Blyth Curator of Computing and Information Science Museum Exhibition Road London SW7 2DD For updates on all Science Museum news and events sign up to our free e-newsletter at www.sciencemuseum.org.uk This e-mail and attachments are intended for the named addressee only and are confidential. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately, delete the message from your computer system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and may not reflect the views of the National Museum of Science & Industry. This email has been scanned for all viruses by the MessageLabs Email Security System.

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interesting paper
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 15 Dec '11

15 Dec '11

Something a bit out of the norm which might be of interest Season's greetings Bernardo Bangor University (Wales) An Historically-Grounded Critical Analysis of Research Articles in MIS Date: 2011 By: François-Xavier De Vaujany (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - CNRS : UMR7088 - Université Paris IX - Paris Dauphine) Isabelle Walsh (Humanis - Humans and Management in Society - Université de Strasbourg) Nathalie Mitev (Departement of information systems - London School of Economics) URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00644398&r=his In order to explore scientific writing in Information Systems (IS) journals, we adopt a combination of historical and rhetorical approaches. We first investigate the history of universities, business schools, learned societies and scientific articles. This perspective allows us to capture the legacy of scientific writing standards, which emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries. Then, we focus on two leading IS journals (EJIS and MISQ). An historical analysis of both outlets is carried out, based on data related to their creation, evolution of editorial statements, and key epistemological and methodological aspects. We also focus on argumentative strategies found in a sample of 436 abstracts from both journals. Three main logical anchorages (sometimes combined) are identified, and related to three argumentative strategies: 'deepening of knowledge', 'solving an enigma' and 'addressing a practical managerial issue'. We relate these writing norms to historical imprints of management and business studies, in particular: enigmafocused rhetorics, interest in institutionalized literature, neglect for managerially grounded rhetoric and lack of reflexivity in scientific writing. We explain this relation as a quest for academic legitimacy. Lastly, some suggestions are offered to address the discrepancies between these writing norms and more recent epistemological and theoretical stances adopted by IS researchers. Keywords: argumentative strategies; history; academic writing; legitimacy

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CHM Digital Repository Grant Press Release
by Al Kossow 14 Dec '11

14 Dec '11

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/computer-history-museum-receives-goo gleorg-grant-for-digital-repository-1598242.htm December 14, 2011 03:00 ET Computer History Museum Receives Google.org Grant for Digital Repository Preserving and Creating Access to Original Digital and Digitized Artifacts MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA--(Marketwire - Dec 14, 2011) - The Computer History Museum announced today that Google.org has provided a grant of $500,000 for the Museum to preserve its valuable digital collection chronicling the birth of computing through the modern networked world. Support from Google.org will allow the Computer History Museum to create a Digital Repository infrastructure that will effectively preserve its present digital collection as well as future acquisitions, to prevent the loss of digital material through physical degradation and digital obsolescence, as well as support increased storage capacity, to allow the Museum to expand its collection to include new media, such as email, websites, databases and datasets. ...

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Search information technology history - not via Google
by Info ＠ IT History Society 13 Dec '11

13 Dec '11

The IT History Society Historical Resources sites database has just grown over 1,500 websites. These worldwide websites contain information technology history of our information industry. Each month computers at the Internet Archive under the direction of Archive-IT crawl and index the entire database. Educators, IT professionals, IT companies, students, and information technology historians both professional and hobbyists can now roam with information technology searches and not have extraneous entrees that are not related to information technology. Take a moment and have some fun going back in time. Go to http://ithistory.org/archiveit/archiveit-search.php and start with some search terms such as IBM 701, PDD-11, ENIAC, Grace Hopper, COBOL, Apple 1, etc. To view a listing of all the websites that are crawled and indexed monthly, go <http://ithistory.org/resource_sites/resource-sites.php> to http://ithistory.org/resource_sites/resource-sites.php We are still adding sites daily. If you would like to have a site added, please go to http://ithistory.org/resource_sites/resource-form.php <http://u106606.sendgrid.org/wf/click?c=GpFvcUDYuAwQI4JxQ4Vn6H9hwH3YCfhBKFPj pS7v7ZPvdz8mOkQMRTPzBRDPfBkKnFNwDzftGKTe0DpLceJtyw%3D%3D&rp=buZGV13pDR7RFjMH D2IQxY%2FTb5sgbNVmeUmSudFLwu4n2jzaQX5eGWVw%2B%2BhyZ4I%2Fbq59qFrDcllOhPbH9VnL h%2FNHQAVkE8VdfVoOsDPDe%2Bc%3D&u=94GVE13CTUuhFw6czGdadA%2Fh1> 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

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Springer History of Computing titles ---> $24.95
by Thomas J. Misa 13 Dec '11

13 Dec '11

Hi all, I've been admiring the titles that Martin Campbell-Kelly is publishing in the Springer History of Computing series, six titles to date, . . . but also (to be honest) fretting about the high price (mostly $99). <http://www.springer.com/series/8442?detailsPage=titles> You can get these titles (if <your> library happens to subscribe to a Springer list) for the very decent price of $24.95 -- including shipping. I ordered Mark Priestly's _Science of Operations_ (regular price at $129) for the same price. Here's a route worth trying: 1. Look up the Springer title in WORLDCAT.org (not your library). 2. Navigate to an "E-book" listing for the title; then look for "SpringerLink" and click on it. 3. At the top of the "SpringerLink" page, under the Shopping Cart, look for and click on: "Buy a Print Copy" • Buy a Print Copy (USD 24.95) • Because your library offers access to Springer eBooks, you can have a printed copy of this book delivered to you from SpringerLink for just EUR 24.95 [US$ as well] (free shipping) What came (in a week or so) was a print-on-demand softcover book, nicely done, color cover, black-and-white insides; completely readable. Great value. The book is clearly stamped for /personal/ use only. Clearly, Springer hopes that libraries buy the expensive hardback edition. Best, Tom Misa

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book announcement: Cybernetic Revolutionaries
by Medina, Eden 13 Dec '11

13 Dec '11

Dear SIGCIS colleagues: Just a short note to announce the publication of my book Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende’s Chile, which was just released from MIT Press. I am pasting the back cover blurb below. More information about the book is available at: http://cyberneticrevolutionaries.com. Best wishes for the holidays, Eden ---- Book Summary: In Cybernetic Revolutionaries, Eden Medina tells the history of two intersecting utopian visions, one political and one technological. The first was Chile’s experiment with peaceful socialist change under Salvador Allende; the second was the simultaneous attempt to build a computer system that would manage Chile’s economy. Neither vision was fully realized—Allende’s government ended with a violent military coup; the system, known as Project Cybersyn, was never completely implemented—but they hold lessons for today about the relationship between technology and politics. Drawing on extensive archival material and interviews, Medina examines the cybernetic system envisioned by the Chilean government—which was to feature holistic system design, decentralized management, human-computer interaction, a national telex network, near real-time control of the growing industrial sector, and modeling of the behavior of dynamic systems. She also describes, and documents with photographs, the network’s Star Trek-like operations room, which featured swivel chairs with armrest control panels, a wall of screens displaying data, and flashing red lights to indicate economic emergencies. Studying Project Cybersyn today helps us understand not only the technological ambitions of a government in the midst of political change but also the limitations of the Chilean revolution. This history further shows how human attempts to combine the political and the technological with the goal of creating a more just society can open new technological, intellectual, and political possibilities. Technologies, Medina writes, are historical texts; when we read them we are reading history. -- Eden Medina Assistant Professor of Informatics Adjunct Assistant Professor of History School of Informatics and Computing Indiana University, Bloomington edenm(a)indiana.edu<mailto:edenm@indiana.edu> www.edenmedina.com<http://www.edenmedina.com> Learn about "Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende's Chile" (MIT Press, 2011) @ www.cyberneticrevolutionaries.com<http://www.cyberneticrevolutionaries.com/>

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