- Members - lists.sigcis.org

New CBI Newsletter (Fall 2009, Vol. 31:2)
by Charles Babbage Institute 13 Nov '09

13 Nov '09

1 0

World Computer Congress, 2010, second notice
by Ceruzzi, Paul 13 Nov '09

13 Nov '09

The 2010 World Computer Congress will be held next September in Brisbane, Australia. Included in the program will be a history track celebrating the 50th anniversary of IFIP. Here is the web site for further information, and a link to the Call for Papers for the history track. http://www.wcc2010.com/HC/ Paul E. Ceruzzi National Air & Space Museum

1 0

Material and cases on actual management accounting systems
by Lars Heide 13 Nov '09

13 Nov '09

Dear list member, I am working to develop a course on management economy and have been looking for material and cases on actual management accounting systems, particularly cases with problems that can facilitate discussions in a class. I would be pleased with your suggestions. Thanks for your help, Lars Heide Associate Professor, Dr. merc. Centre for Business History Copenhagen Business School Porcelanshaven 18A DK-2000 Frederiksberg DENMARK Tel: +45 3815 3027 Mob: +45 2383 4840 Fax: +45 3815 3635

1 0

Fw: Veterans Rebuild IBM 1401, Patent Case of the Century, and more
by Roger Neil Barton 12 Nov '09

12 Nov '09

IEEE Spectrum Tech Alert - 11/12/2009FYI kind regards neil Dr Roger Neil Barton http://www.uclmail.net/~neil.barton/ ----- Original Message ----- From: IEEE Spectrum Tech Alert To: neil.barton(a)uclmail.net Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 1:29 PM Subject: Veterans Rebuild IBM 1401, Patent Case of the Century, and more To view this e-mail as a web page, go here. ADVERTISEMENT Forward to a Friend Print this Issue Search Back Issues November 12, 2009 Rebuilding the IBM 1401 More than 30 retired computer engineers worked together to resurrect an antique IBM 1401 for the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. Unlike today's computers, this 1960s-era model actually lets you see all the moving parts that make it work. This photo essay documents the team's work with the machine, which was donated to the museum by computer enthusiasts who bought it for US $21 000 from the German eBay site. Read more. The Future of Robotics Nov 12, 2009 Reducing Physical Verification Cycle Times with Debug Innovation ADVERTISEMENT Podcast: Business Patents Up for Grabs Oral arguments started in Bilski v. Kappos this week, in what some have called "the patent case of the century." Could Isaac Newton have patented calculus under U.S. patent law and created an insurance-industry monopoly? Patent attorney Kirk Teska describes the barrage of such questions from U.S. Supreme Court justices and considers what it bodes for the future of business-method patents. Listen now. New MEMS for Monitoring Bridges HP boosted the sensitivity of MEMS acceleration sensors 1000-fold without increasing the cost. The secret was borrowing technology from inkjet printers to make chunkier MEMS. Read more. Push-Button Books Google's deal to digitize books may be in legal limbo this week, but a New York City-based start-up has pressed ahead. On Demand Books' one-off bookmaking technology is pressing pages in bookstores and libraries around the world. Read more. Video: Capturing Sound with Smoke and Lasers A father-and-son team thinks they've discovered the next stage of microphone evolution: replacing the vibrating mechanical diaphragm with a stream of smoke. They measure changes in the stream's shape with a laser and a photodetector. Watch and listen as the inventors give a demonstration of their latest prototype. View now. The Air Piano Omer Yosha's home-brew musical interface is like an invisible multilevel keyboard that floats in the air in front of you. It goes on sale early next year. We've included video of the instrument in action. Read more. IEEE Spectrum Emerging Technology Forum Learn about Enabling Electronics for Smart Grid Technologies & Beyond. What are the opportunities, and what engineering challenges must be met to seize the day successfully? The forum scheduled on Nov 30th in Santa Clara, CA is free for all local members. The video recording of the event will also be available later for all IEEE members. Seats are limited. Learn more. Blogs Risk Factor: British Government: We Want Access to Your Every Phone Call, E-mail and Web Search In England, your home may be your castle, but the government will soon be able to get a rather good idea of what is happening inside it. The British government has decided to go ahead with its Intercept Modernisation Programme, which would force every telecommunication company and Internet service provider to keep a record of all of its customers' personal communications, showing whom they have contacted, when and where, as well as the Web sites they have visited. Read more and comment. Nanoclast: Has China Surpassed the U.S. in Nanotech? At his Metamodern blog, Eric Drexler has been examining the position of China in nanotechnology development. The data seems to suggest that the most prolific authors are based in China. But there is a giant chasm between research projects and commercial products and that probably remains the single biggest obstacle to nanotechnology having a greater impact on our economies. Read more and comment. Automaton: How To Make a Humanoid Robot Open a Door As it turns out, opening a door-in this case, a swinging door-is actually pretty hard, though we humans don't even have to think about it. Hitoshi Arisumi's experiments with an HRP-2 humanoid have shown that the best approach is for a robot to use its whole body, just as you use your hip and shoulder to open a door while carrying groceries. Read more and comment. ADVERTISEMENT Aerospace BioMedical Computing Consumer Electronics Energy GreenTech Robotics Semiconductors Telecom At Work Geek Life Nov 2009 Issue ADVERTISEMENT To ensure delivery of the IEEE Spectrum Tech Alert, please add techalert(a)ieee.org to your e-mail address book or Safe Sender List. If you are still having problems receiving our communications, see our white-listing page for more details. Interested in other IEEE Newsletters? Sign up here. To unsubscribe from future e-mails, click here. Copyright 2009 IEEE Inc. 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor New York, NY 10016-5997 Tel +1 212 419 7760 Fax +1 212 419 7589 www.spectrum.ieee.org IEEE Media, 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10016

1 0

Call for papers, HiNC3
by Per Lundin 10 Nov '09

10 Nov '09

Hi all, The Third IFIP WG 9.7 Working Conference on the History of Nordic Computing (HiNC3) will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, October 18-20, 2010. The deadline for abstracts is February 28, 2010. See the web page http://dsv.su.se/en/hinc3/ for call for contributions and further information. ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ Per Lundin Div. of History of Science and Technology Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) SE-100 44 Stockholm Sweden Phone: +46 8 790 87 41 Fax: +46 8 24 62 63 http://www.teknikhistoria.se ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

1 0

ICOHTEC proposal
by Petri Paju 06 Nov '09

06 Nov '09

Hello all, We, that is I and Jaakko Suominen are organizing a panel proposal for ICOHTEC 2010 in Tampere, Finland in 10th -15th of August 2010. It's a panel on (re)uses of history in the field of information and communication technology and especially in corporate environment. We have three papers (on IBM, Nokia etc.), and are especially looking for a chair, (perhaps someone who is coming to ICOHTEC anyway), but are also open to other suggestions. Please email us during next week. Best wishes, Petri Here's the call again, http://www.tampere.fi/industrialpast2010/callfor.html

1 0

conference on "open source innovation beyond software" at U of Strasbourg, France, Feb 25-26 2010
by Meyer, Peter - BLS 31 Oct '09

31 Oct '09

I believe historical work will be welcomed at this conference. Historical cases per se are relevant, as are comparisons of them to recent open source phenomena. Links between science and industry are relevant. Many attendees will be from business schools. Details are here: http://www.dime-eu.org/open-source-innovation I know one of the organizers and you can ask me or them. -- Peter B. Meyer Research economist 202-691-5678 Office of Productivity and Technology, U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics

1 0

Another question - "Giant Brains"
by Evan Koblentz 31 Oct '09

31 Oct '09

Was the term "Giant Brains" already popular when Edmund Berkeley used it in his 1949 book title, or should he get credit for popularizing it? I'm mentioning the term in a footnote and want to be sure credit goes to the right source.

17 25

Val Schorre
by Dave Walden 30 Oct '09

30 Oct '09

Hi, I have in mind a small history project relating to Meta II developed by Val Schorre. Does anyone have contact information for him, or know if he has passed on? He wrote a now classic paper: http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=808896 Thanks, Dave -- home address: 12 Linden Rd., E. Sandwich, MA 02537; ph/fax=508-888-7655/4168 email address: dave(a)walden-family.com; website(s): http://www.walden-family.com/

1 0

mellon postdoctoral fellowship
by Medina, Eden 29 Oct '09

29 Oct '09

Postdoctoral Fellowship Andrew W. Mellon Sawyer Postdoctoral Fellowship at Indiana University Call for 2010-11 Mellon Sawyer Fellowship - Rupture and Flow: The Circulation of Technoscientific Facts and Objects Receipt deadline: March 1, 2010 The Sawyer Seminar and the Institute of Advanced Study at Indiana University will award one Andrew W. Mellon Sawyer Postdoctoral Fellowships for a one-year appointment beginning July 1, 2010. The Fellow will receive a stipend of $40,000 per year, as well as health insurance and an allowance for relocation. This Sawyer Seminar is based in science and technology studies and focuses specifically on how facts and technologies circulate among diverse communities of producers and consumers, acquiring or losing credibility and utility as they move. We will explore questions including: How has the treatment of failure and errors changed the practice of science across disciplines and over time? How and why do cultural, social and material forces interrupt or thwart the circulation of technoscientific knowledge and objects, and with what consequences for what kinds of communities? How do social, cultural, political, and legal barriers influence technological change historically and geographically? How is the increasing use of lay-produced science shifting what is acknowledged and implemented in scientific practice and policy? Applicants for this postdoctoral fellowship must have research projects that speak to the concerns raised by the circulation of technoscientific knowledge and objects, and the possibilities and consequences of interrupting, reorienting, or preventing this circulation. Besides pursuing his or her own research, the fellowship recipient will play an active role in the intellectual life of the Sawyer Seminar by helping to organize an ongoing seminar series and four workshops. There will be no teaching responsibilities. Selection Process Each proposal will be evaluated by the conveners of the Sawyer Seminar, an interdisciplinary group of IU faculty. The primary evaluation criteria will be intellectual fit with the core ideas of the Seminar, and the promise of the proposed research project, including prospects for publication and significant advances in tangible research. We strongly recommend applicants read the full proposal, available at http://sawyer.indiana.edu<http://sawyer.indiana.edu/> before beginning their application. Applicants will be notified of fellowship decisions in May 2010. Requirements Applicants should have completed the Ph.D. in STS, Sociology, Informatics, Geography, History, English, Anthropology, Philosophy, Comparative Literature, or other related fields no earlier than June 30, 2005 and no later than August 1, 2010. We require proof that the fellow has received a Ph.D. degree before taking up residence. Applicants are welcome to send paper copies by mail or delivery to - Ivona Hedin, Institute for Advanced Study, Poplars 335, 400 E. 7th Street , Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405 The application should include: * 1000-word research project proposal and one-page bibliography, in language appropriate for a multi- disciplinary panel. Please double-space and use 12-point type. * 250-word statement of the project's potential contribution to Indiana University's Sawyer seminar * Curriculum vitae * Three letters of recommendation Fellowship recipients cannot currently hold a tenure-track position. Indiana University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer. Scholars who are members of traditionally under-represented groups are encouraged to apply. There is no citizenship requirement or restriction for this fellowship. Non-U.S. nationals are welcome to apply. Employment eligibility verifications requested upon hire. -- 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> http://www.informatics.indiana.edu/edenm

1 0