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google on noyce
by Coopersmith, Jonathan 12 Dec '11

12 Dec '11

Enjoy the Google celebration of Noyce's 84th birthday today. Jonathan -- Jonathan CoopersmithAssociate Professor    Department of History   Texas A&M University  College Station, TX  77843-4326 979.845.7151    979.862.4314 fax   http://aggiegaijin.blogspot.com/    Secretary   Section L, History & Philosophy of ScienceAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)www.aaas.org

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People love this stuff: "Larry's Museum of Dead Technology"
by William McMillan 07 Dec '11

07 Dec '11

This photo gallery from ZDNet.com shows a very nice little collection of old computers and other tech, apparently located in a guy's office in San Francisco. *http://tinyurl.com/77zmyeb* or http://www.zdnet.com/photos/larrys-museum-of-dead-technology/6332044?tag=ma… As was pointed out in discussions at the SIGCIS meeting in Cleveland, there's a lot of latent interest in the history of such technology.

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2012-13 Arthur L. Norberg Travel Fund
by Jeffrey Yost 05 Dec '11

05 Dec '11

Dear SIGCIS members, Please note the following announcement for the 2012-2013 CBI Arthur L. Norberg Travel Fund (travel assistance competition to help recipients with travel costs to visit CBI to conduct research using CBI collections). Applications are due in a little more than a month (postmark deadline January 15, 2012). If you have any questions, please contact me. Thanks, Jeff Yost *Arthur L. Norberg Travel Fund (CBI). 2012-2013* The Arthur L. Norberg Travel Fund provides short-term grants-in-aid to help scholars with travel expenses to use archival collections at the Charles Babbage Institute. Each year we plan to award two $750 grants. The Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) is an internationally recognized research center and archives focused on the history of information technology. CBI conducts major research projects; publishes books and articles; and collects, processes, and provides open public access to the most diverse and extensive collection of archival materials on computing, software, and networking in the world. CBI collections include the records of corporations, technical and trade associations, personal papers, industry publications, oral histories, photographs, film/video, and an extensive reference library. The Norberg Travel Fund is named for CBI’s founding director, Arthur L. Norberg. To Apply: Applicants should send a 2-page CV as well as a 500-word project description that describes the overall research project, identifies the importance of specific CBI collections, and discusses the projected outcome (journal article, book chapter, museum exhibit, etc.). Applicants are strongly encouraged to examine the extensive on-line finding guides to CBI’s 200-plus archival collections at www.cbi.umn.edu/collections/archmss.html. Applicants should estimate how many days they plan to use CBI collections during their visit (travel should generally be in the calendar year of the award). To be eligible, scholars will reside outside the Twin Cities metropolitan region. Notification of awards will be made within four weeks, and travel can commence directly thereafter. Questions pertaining to collection content and access can be directed to Susan Hoffman, CBI Archivist, at s-hoff(a)umn.edu. Please direct questions about the Arthur Norberg Travel Fund to Jeffrey Yost, CBI Associate Director, yostx003(a)umn.edu, 612.624.5050. For additional information, see www.cbi.umn.edu. Materials must be submitted by email to cbi(a)umn.edu or postmarked no later than January 15, 2012. Charles Babbage Institute: Norberg Travel Fund 211 Andersen Library University of Minnesota 222 - 21st Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455 -- Jeffrey R. Yost, Ph.D. Associate Director, Charles Babbage Institute Faculty, Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 222 21st Avenue South University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55455 612 624 5050 Phone 612 625 8054 Fax

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CBI 2012-2013 Tomash Fellowship Announcment
by Jeffrey Yost 05 Dec '11

05 Dec '11

Dear SIGCIS members, Please note the following announcement for the 2012-2013 Tomash Fellowship competition for doctoral disseration research in the history of computing. The application deadline is a little more than a month away (January 15, 2012--postmark date). If you have any questions, please contact me. Best, Jeff *The Tomash Fellowship* *The Adelle and Erwin Tomash Fellowship in the History of Information Technology* The Charles Babbage Institute is accepting applications for the 2012-2013 Adelle and Erwin Tomash Graduate Fellowship. The fellowship will be awarded to a graduate student for doctoral dissertation research in the history of computing. The fellowship may be held at the recipient's home academic institution, the Charles Babbage Institute, or any other location with appropriate research facilities. The stipend is $14,000. It is intended for students who have completed all requirements for the doctoral degree except the research and writing of the dissertation. Preference will be given to applicants indicating a need to use CBI materials, planning research in residence at CBI, and willing to make a brief presentation of their research findings to CBI staff. Questions pertaining to collection content and access can be directed to Susan Hoffman, CBI Archivist, at s-hoff(a)umn.edu. Tomash Fellowship recipients must remain students in good standing throughout the term of their fellowship, but there is no restriction on holding other fellowships, scholarships, or awards concurrent to the Tomash Fellowship. To Apply: Applicants should send to CBI a curriculum vitae and a five-page (single-spaced) statement and justification of the research project including a discussion of methods, research materials, evidence of faculty support for the project, and bibliography (bibliography does not count toward page count). Applicants should also arrange for three letters of reference and certified copies of graduate school transcripts to be sent directly to CBI. *Materials must be postmarked no later than January 15, 2012.* Charles Babbage Institute: Tomash Fellowship 211 Andersen Library University of Minnesota 222 - 21st Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455 Please direct questions about the Tomash Fellowship to Jeffrey Yost, CBI Associate Director, yostx003(a)umn.edu, 612.624.5050 -- Jeffrey R. Yost, Ph.D. Associate Director, Charles Babbage Institute Faculty, Program in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 222 21st Avenue South University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55455 612 624 5050 Phone 612 625 8054 Fax

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"The Complete Historically Brewed" book
by David Greelish 05 Dec '11

05 Dec '11

Almost 100 copies were pre-sold through Kickstarter, but you can still buy a copy of this First Edition / Special Kickstarter Edition - with very limited supplies. Please email me directly if you're interested. Thanks! http://www.classiccomputing.com/CC/HB_Book.html Best, David Greelish, Computer Historian President, Atlanta Historical Computing Society Classic Computing The Home of Computer History Nostalgia http://www.classiccomputing.com Classic Computing Blog Retro Computing Roundtable podcast "Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer" audiobook podcast Classic Computing Show video podcast

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Fwd: Grady Booch's new project, "Computing; the Human Experience"
by Andrew Russell 05 Dec '11

05 Dec '11

Hi everyone - Some of you might have already seen this message posted to Dave Farber's IP list yesterday. It looks like a fascinating project, and, even better, it looks like CHM has a prominent role in its direction. I wonder if anyone from CHM who is on the list (Dag? Alex?) could say more about it? Cheers, Andy Begin forwarded message: > > -----Original Message----- > From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw(a)cs.cmu.edu> > To: Dave Farber <dave(a)farber.net> > Sent: Fri, 02 Dec 2011 2:47 PM > Subject: For IP: Grady Booch's new project, "Computing; the Human Experience" > > Dave, > > I'd like to call IP readers' attention to Grady Booch's new project, > "Computing: The Human Experience". Grady is an IBM Fellow and Chief > Scientist at IBM research; I have held him in high regard for many years. > > Grady has now turned his attention to interpreting computing to the > public at large. He's developing a project in a variety of media, aiming > to explain not only the technology but also how it affects everyone and > how individuals following their own passions have shaped it. Think Carl > Sagan's Cosmos, but for computing. > > The project is at http://computingthehumanexperience.com/public/ > > Grady is currently raising seed funding through Kickstarter, > http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747241049/computing-a-documentary-of-t… > In his description there, he says, > "Computing is a story of ambition, passion, invention, creativity, > vision, avarice, and serendipity, powered by a refusal to accept the > limits of our bodies and our minds. From the abacus to the iPad, from > Gutenberg to Google, from Enigma to GPS, we have created computers to > count the uncountable, remember beyond our own experiences, and see the > invisible as well as the unforeseeable. To explore computing is the 21st > Century equivalent of Cousteau exploring the sea, of Hughes exploring > modern art, and of Burns exploring the American experience through the > Civil War, baseball, and jazz. " > > There's an e-week article at > http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/IBM-Chief-Scientist-to-Launch-TV… > > and an InfoQ article at > http://www.infoq.com/news/2011/12/booch-tv > > I have the great good fortune to serve on the advisory board for the > project, and I thnk IP'ers will be interested in following its progress. > > Mary Shaw

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Yost on "IBM Century"
by Thomas J. Misa 01 Dec '11

01 Dec '11

Dear colleagues, Jeff Yost's _The IBM Century: Creating the IT Revolution_ is now published by the IEEE Computer Society Press and available on Amazon: <http://www.amazon.com/IBM-Century-Creating-Revolution/dp/0769546110/> This book satisfies the need for an historical appraisal of IBM's centennial (not quite delivered with the celebratory in-house volume released this summer). Jeff went through Every Single volume of ANNALS and uncovered ten gems in the biographical/memoir area. Even if you've read every issue of ANNALS since 1981, you still need to get this volume to see Jeff's additional "added value" items: a masterful 36-page introduction, "IBM's 100 years of leadership in information technology," that presents an insightful overview of IBM history since 1911, contextualizing the memoirs and including all the principal topics in IBM history through to the recent shift to services; a detailed and definitive IBM timeline from 1886 to 2010; a 30-page annotated bibliography examining more than 170 secondary and primary sources on IBM history, including books, articles, serials, archival collections, and oral histories. Best, Tom Misa

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Call for papers: 2012 Pre-Conference on the History of ASIST and Information Science and Technology
by Thomas Haigh 01 Dec '11

01 Dec '11

This CFP may be of interest to some SIGCIS members. The main focus is on the history of information science, meaning information retrieval, indexing, classification, library automation, etc. Also the internal history of what is now called the American Society for Information Science and Technology. Tom From: sighfis-l-bounces(a)asis.org [mailto:sighfis-l-bounces@asis.org] On Behalf Of WILLIAMS, ROBERT Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 12:43 PM To: asis-l; sighfis-l; sharp-l; 'jesse(a)listserv.utk.edu' Subject: [Sighfis-l] Call for papers: 2012 Pre-Conference on the History of ASIST and Information Science and Technology Pre-Conference on the History of ASIST and Information Science and Technology Call for Papers The 75th Anniversary Task Force of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIST) announces a call for papers for the 2012 Pre-Conference on the history of ASIST and the history of information science and technology. The Pre-Conference will be held immediately prior to the 2012 Annual Meeting of ASIST, Oct. 26-31, 2012, in Baltimore, Maryland. This conference will explore the 75 year history of ASIST and the longer history of information science and technology worldwide. Abstracts of papers (maximum 1,000 words) not previously published or submitted elsewhere should be submitted by March 1, 2012 and authors of tentatively accepted papers will be promptly notified. Full acceptance of papers will be based on receipt of the complete paper, which should be received no later than June 1, 2012. Alternative presentations, such as videos, posters, exhibits, and demonstration of historical information technologies, are also encouraged. All submissions will be refereed by a panel of experts and all accepted papers will be published as a Web-based publication prior to the conference. Submissions by students and authors outside the U.S. are particularly encouraged. Specific topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: --The development of ASIST (and its predecessors, the American Documentation Institute, the American Society for Information Science) as a professional organization and scholarly society in context with its times, relationships with competing or affiliated organizations, major contributions and influences on the study of information science worldwide, forces shaping the research agenda and scope of the field, roles and contributions of specific individuals or groups within and outside of ASIST, and related issues. --The development of the foundational ideas and theories of information science and its earlier name, documentation. --The evolution of the multifaceted and multiple-named field referred to as information science with a focus on what the past says about the future of information science research and development. --The historical contexts of major technological innovations and the impacts they have had on societies, organizations, governments, or individuals worldwide. --The role of government (nationally or internationally) in influencing the development of information science and technology, with particular attention to the support of research and development of information policies. -- The development of information science education and its relationships with other fields of study, such as Library Science, Informatics, Archival Science, Museum Studies, and related specializations (such as information ethics, information architecture, geographic information systems or medical informatics). For more information and questions about this call for papers contact Robert V. Williams at bobwill(a)sc.edu or call 803-777-2324. Submit abstract (maximum of 1,000 words) electronically to the following site, completing the required contact information: http://www.softconf.com/asist2/Hist_Pre_Con/

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computer exhibit: request for help
by hemmendd＠union.edu 19 Nov '11

19 Nov '11

This message went to the ACM SIGCSE list. Can anyone in SIGCIS help him? David Hemmendinger hemmendd(a)union.edu Professor Emeritus http://athena.union.edu/~hemmendd Computer Science Dept. +1 518 346 4489 Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308 FAX: +1 518 388 6789 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- My department has received a donation of approximately 30 "antique" personal computers and associated paraphernalia , including a TRS80 with 8 inch floppies, a first generation IBM PC, a T1000 laptop, etc. We plan to display these in the foyer of our building. We are a bunch of computer scientists, however, with no expertise in buying or building display cabinets, securing the displays, etc. Does anyone out there is SIGCSE land have experience they care to share with setting up a personal computer museum display? Thanks, Stu Hansen ******************************************** * Stuart Hansen, Chair CS Department * UW-Parkside * (262) 595 - 3395 hansen(a)UWP.EDU

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CfP History and Philosophy of Programming -- IACAP/AISB world congress, July 2012
by Liesbeth De Mol 18 Nov '11

18 Nov '11

Dear all, I hope this conference will be of interest to some of you, best wishes, Liesbeth. ------------------APOLOGIES FOR MULTIPLE POSTINGS------------------- 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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