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Dinner location set for Cleveland
by Marie Hicks 01 Nov '11

01 Nov '11

Dear all, Thanks for your responses regarding dinner on Sunday. We'll be taking our sizable group over to La Strada restaurant, which has vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options in addition to the rest of the menu: http://lastradacleveland.com/menu.html Because this week is Cleveland Restaurant Week, there will also be a prix fixe menu option for $30. And, as is customary for the SIGCIS, those of us lucky enough to be employed full time will chip in a bit to reduce the amount that the grad students have to pay for dinner--so grad students, don't let cost deter you from coming along! See you in Cleveland, Marie 2011 SIGCIS workshop program chair _______________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History of Technology Lewis Department of the Humanities Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL mhicks1(a)iit.edu www.mariehicks.net

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SHOT SIGCIS dinner--headcount needed! (Please respond by Tuesday at noon)
by Marie Hicks 31 Oct '11

31 Oct '11

Dear all, If you are planning to stay and have dinner Sunday night with the SIGCIS after the workshop, could you please shoot me a quick email so that I can get an accurate headcount? No need to email if you can't make it--only if you do plan to stay. In order to make sure we have the most accurate headcount possible at this point, I'd appreciate a quick confirmation email even if you have already previously mentioned to me that you planned to stay for dinner. Thanks for your help, have a safe trip to Cleveland, and don't forget to take a look at the papers for the dissertations-in-progress and works-in-progress sessions linked from the online program if you haven't already: www.sigcis.org Best, Marie _______________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History of Technology Lewis Department of the Humanities Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL mhicks1(a)iit.edu www.mariehicks.net

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More on WW II Computing
by John Impagliazzo 30 Oct '11

30 Oct '11

Hi all, I thought you might be interested in this BBC rendition of another part of computing history. Currently, it is available only in the UK. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Documentary that reveals the secret story behind one of the greatest intellectual feats of World War II, a feat that gave birth to the digital age. In 1943, a 24-year-old maths student and a GPO engineer combined to hack into Hitler's personal super-code machine - not Enigma but an even tougher system, which he called his 'secrets writer'. Their break turned the Battle of Kursk, powered the D-day landings and orchestrated the end of the conflict in Europe. But it was also to be used during the Cold War - which meant both men's achievements were hushed up and never officially recognised. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016ltm0 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX John John Impagliazzo, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Hofstra University Editor-in-Chief, ACM Inroads; IEEE Life Fellow

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Friedrich A. Kittler, 1943-2011
by Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan 27 Oct '11

27 Oct '11

Dear Members, This list feels a little morose lately with all the death notices. I guess that the passing of so many founders says something about the historicity and age of the digital computer itself. Alas, we can one more to the list. One of our field's most eccentric historians and commentators, Friedrich A. Kittler, recently died. Though largely known as a literary critic and media theorist, he's also had (and has) a major impact on the historiography of technology and computing , particularly in Germany. I wrote an obituary for him. It's online at http://critinq.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/in-memoriam-friedrich-a-kittler-194… Best, Bernie Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan Institut für Kulturwissenschaft Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin www.bernardg.com

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SIGCIS 2011 Meeting: Read Works in Progress Online Now!
by Marie Hicks 26 Oct '11

26 Oct '11

Folks, I'm very pleased to be able to tell you that 5 out of the 6 works-in-progress papers for this year's SIGCIS workshop are now available online, linked from the online program. Please have a look at them before the conference and consider attending either the dissertations-in-progress session in the morning, or the works-in-progress session in the afternoon. The dissertation session, in particular, with works ranging over topics in disability studies, telegraph information infrastructure, and the history of gender and sexuality promises to engender a lively discussion, and the afternoon works-in-progress session, with papers looking at communities and networks in the development of computing will no doubt promote terrific discussion as well. The direct link for the papers is: http://mypages.iit.edu/~mhicks1/SIGCIS2011WIP/ I look forward to seeing many of you at SHOT in a few weeks. Best, Marie _______________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History of Technology Lewis Department of the Humanities Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL mhicks1(a)iit.edu www.mariehicks.net

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SHOT - donations needed for our book auction
by Thomas Haigh 17 Oct '11

17 Oct '11

Hello SIGCIS members, Another pre-SHOT ritual is the call for donations for our book auction. This is a centerpiece of our annual lunch meeting (37 people registered so far). This started five years ago as a way to get spare copies of history of computing books to good homes while raising money for the SIG in the process. Thanks to the enthusiastic support of our members, and the generosity of MIT Press (I'm told another well-stuffed box of books is on its way for us) we've been able to raise about $800 a year from the auction in recent years. This has been used for some of our graduate student travel awards (total funding this year over $2,000). One way to support the auction is just to bring your books to the lunch meeting. However several members (e.g. Jim Cortada and Paul Ceruzzi) have been kind enough to mail me books even when they weren't able to attend in person or didn't want to carry them there. When I get multiple copies of a single book I sometimes hold back some for the next year, not to flood the market. So, if there are history of computing books gathering dust on your shelf that you might be willing to donate then please let me know. On request I can note down the amount your books raise and acknowledge this as a charitable contribution to SHOT by the donor. Tom

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SHOT: Online Directory Entires & Registration
by Thomas Haigh 17 Oct '11

17 Oct '11

Hello everyone, It's that "two weeks to SHOT" time of year again. I'm looking forward to seeing many of you again, and to meeting some members for the first time. Look for more messages in the near future, including those summarizing material related to IT history at the SHOT meeting and the collocated 4S and HSS gatherings. One of the things we do is to collect the entries from our online directory at http://www.sigcis.org/members for everyone who we know is attending SHOT. These are printed in the SIGCIS booklet, as a way of helping people get together and of streamlining the lunch meeting so that only new members need introduce themselves verbally to the group. So please take a moment to check that your directory entry is still accurate, and to login and make any necessary updates. Some are rather minimalist, speak of events in 2007 in the present tense, etc. Another point: if you are coming to our full day Sunday workshop and have not yet registered for SHOT then the deadline is Friday. Details at http://www.sigcis.org/workshop11. One day registration is $70, for those not attending the full meeting. If you want to attend the SIGCIS workshop but aren't presenting at it then you can come to the workshop (and other SHOT sessions) without registering as long as you have registered for 4S or HSS. However, in this case we will have no record that you plan to attend. So if you registered for one of the other collocated meetings but are coming to the workshop then please let me know so that we add you to the email list for last minute announcements, submit an accurate count for our coffee break needs, etc. Tom

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Another tough loss: Dennis Ritchie
by Evan Koblentz 13 Oct '11

13 Oct '11

https://plus.google.com/u/0/101960720994009339267/posts/ENuEDDYfvKP?hl=en Rob Pike says Dennis Ritchie died this weekend. I'm writing a blog post tonight for Computerworld magazine. If anybody would like to share some thoughts about Dennis and/or the C language, then please email me privately ASAP tonight, evan(a)snarc.net.

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Koomey's Law findings first published in the Annals
by Jeffrey Yost 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

Writings on Koomey's Law have taken off over the past 30 days following the publication of Jonathan Koomey, Stephen Berard, Marla Sanchez and Henry Wong's research article "Implications of Historical Trends in the Electrical Efficiency of Computing" in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing (July-Sept 2011 vol. 33 no. 3.--issue was out in late August). In an age of pervasive mobile devices--many of these publications are citing it alongside, in comparison to, or even possibly superseding in importance Moore's Law (including The Economist article Tom sent and an article in Technology Review). (Only time will tell and it is an extremely steep hill to reach the level of Moore's insightful prediction/self-fulfilling prophecy--but a fascinating and important article in the Annals that I urge you read). Here are a few other examples of recent articles that cite the Annals breaking this critical research: (MIT's) Technology Review article from mid-Sept. http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=38548 Infoworld http://www.infoworld.com/t/green-it/koomeys-law-computing-efficiency-keeps-… Best, Jeff Jeffrey R. Yost, Ph.D. Associate Director, Charles Babbage Institute Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing Faculty, History of Science, Technology and Medicine University of Minnesota > A deeper law than Moore's? > > Oct 10th 2011, 13:28 by The Economist online > > http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/computing-power > > There "IEEE Annals" is described as an "industry research journal," which > probably will attract 100x readers. > > Congrats! --Tom Misa > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members(a)sigcis.org, the email discussion list > of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at > http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription > options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members > -- 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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IEEE ANNALS in The Economist
by Thomas J. Misa 11 Oct '11

11 Oct '11

An article from a recent annals is prominently featured in The Economist magazine. (Thanks to Dag Spicer for the early alert.) Computing power A deeper law than Moore's? Oct 10th 2011, 13:28 by The Economist online http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/10/computing-power There "IEEE Annals" is described as an "industry research journal," which probably will attract 100x readers. Congrats! --Tom Misa

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