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SIGCIS History Page
by Thomas Haigh 01 Aug '09

01 Aug '09

Hello everyone, We recently added a little history section to the website, including material sourced from the CBI Newsletter on our early days and some reminiscences from early chairs Bill Aspray and Paul Ceruzzi. Turns out the group can be traced back to a 1987 meeting, so we are approaching our 22nd anniversary. Read it at http://www.sigcis.org/?q=node/71. If you were involved in the early days and have any corrections or additional information to incorporate then please email it to me. Memories of the first meeting would be particularly interesting. Best wishes, Tom Haigh

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Graduation Announcement
by John Laprise 29 Jul '09

29 Jul '09

Dear Colleagues, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you in SIGCIS who have supported my work over the past six years. My dissertation "White House Computer Adoption and Information Policy 1969-1979" has been accepted by my committee and Northwestern University. Interested parties may email me for a copy of the abstract and/or dissertation. Best regards, John P. Laprise Ph.D. Visiting Assistant Professor Department of Communication Studies School of Communication Northwestern University in Qatar

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Conference Material on the Website
by NOVEMBER, JOSEPH 29 Jul '09

29 Jul '09

For those of you who are having trouble with the PDF attachment containing the preliminary conference schedule, or who simply prefer to read websites instead of email, please head over to the SIGCIS website (http://www.sigcis.org/)

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2009 Workshop Update
by NOVEMBER, JOSEPH 29 Jul '09

29 Jul '09

Dear SIGCISers, It is my pleasure to report that we received an excellent response to our call for papers for the 2009 workshop, Michael Mahoney And The Histories of Computing(s). It will be held on Sunday, October 18, 2009, at the Hilton Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Due to the large volume of good submissions we anticipate a very full and productive day. Attached is the preliminary schedule for the workshop. The session times and lengths are approximate and subject to change. The order of presenters within sessions may change as well. At this point we need chairs and commentators for all of the traditional paper sessions and chairs for the Dissertation Workshop and the Works In Progress Workshop. The chairs responsibility will be to ensure that presenters adhere to time limitsa crucial duty given that we have so much material to cover in just one dayand to manage question-and-answer sessions following each presentation. Commentators for the traditional paper sessions will offer a 10-15 minute analysis of the papers in that session; typically, presenters will send the commentator a draft of their talk at least a week before the workshop. Anyone who is not presenting at the workshop is eligible to volunteer for one of these positions. To volunteer please email Joseph November [november(at)sc.edu] Meal information: We plan to eat lunch at one of the cafes or sandwich places near the conference hotel. It will be pay-as-you-go. Dinner will be in a restaurant in Pittsburgh. We look forward to seeing everyone in Pittsburgh! Joseph November, Program Committee Chair for the 2009 SIGCIS Workshop

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(no subject)
by NOVEMBER, JOSEPH 29 Jul '09

29 Jul '09

Dear SIGCISers, It is my pleasure to report that we received an excellent response to our call for papers for the 2009 workshop, Michael Mahoney And The Histories of Computing(s). It will be held on Sunday, October 18, 2009, at the Hilton Hotel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Due to the large volume of good submissions we anticipate a very full and productive day. Attached is the preliminary schedule for the workshop. The session times and lengths are approximate and subject to change. The order of presenters within sessions may change as well. At this point we need chairs and commentators for all of the traditional paper sessions and chairs for the Dissertation Workshop and the Works In Progress Workshop. The chairs responsibility will be to ensure that presenters adhere to time limitsa crucial duty given that we have so much material to cover in just one dayand to manage question-and-answer sessions following each presentation. Commentators for the traditional paper sessions will offer a 10-15 minute analysis of the papers in that session; typically, presenters will send the commentator a draft of their talk at least a week before the workshop. Anyone who is not presenting at the workshop is eligible to volunteer for one of these positions. To volunteer please email Joseph November [november(at)sc.edu] Meal information: We plan to eat lunch at one of the cafes or sandwich places near the conference hotel. It will be pay-as-you-go. Dinner will be in a restaurant in Pittsburgh. We look forward to seeing everyone in Pittsburgh! Joseph November, Program Committee Chair for the 2009 SIGCIS Workshop

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Anyone in Georgia?
by Evan Koblentz 17 Jul '09

17 Jul '09

This week I heard from Ryan Gill, who's an IT worker in Atlanta. Says he was given some copies of ENIAC documents, various ENIAC-era photographs, and some Hollerith cards. He's looking to donate these materials to a university in his area. Ryan's email is rmgill(a)mindspring.com.

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computers and management science
by Medina, Eden 17 Jul '09

17 Jul '09

Dear SIGCIS colleagues: I am hoping that your collective wisdom might help me check out a claim. The British cybernetician Stafford Beer claims that the Ferranti Pegasus 1 machine he bought in 1956 was the only computer at that time dedicated entirely to applications in management science. Do you know of any other examples of computers fully dedicated to management science applications during this time period? Many thanks, -- Eden Medina Assistant Professor of Informatics School of Informatics and Computing Indiana University edenm(a)indiana.edu<mailto:edenm@indiana.edu> www.informatics.indiana.edu/edenm<http://www.informatics.indiana.edu/edenm>

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Speakers needed: Vintage Computer Festival East 6.0
by Evan Koblentz 10 Jul '09

10 Jul '09

As many of you know, I produce an annual hobbyist convention, the Vintage Computer Festival East. This year's event is Sept. 12-13 at the InfoAge Science Center, located in Wall, New Jersey. VCF has two parts: morning lectures, and afternoon exhibits. The afternoon part is like an antique car show, the difference being that everything is running! But we're in need of some guest speakers. First, we need a keynote speaker. Some of our past years' speakers were David Ahl (of Creative Computing magazine), Steve Lukasik (of the ARPANET), Chuck Peddle (MOS 6502), and Bill Mauchly (son of John.) We also need some "regular" speakers -- people who have expertise in a particular history topic, but may not have actually been there when history was made. Remember though, this is a hobbyist convention, not an academic conference. All are welcome, but anyone who shows up in formal attire will be (ahem) "shot" on site. :) Anyone interested should email me privately. Thank you. - Evan (evan(a)snarc.net)

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Call For Papers - Interdisciplinary Essays on Science Fiction and Computers
by David Ferro 30 Jun '09

30 Jun '09

David Ferro and Eric Swedin (both at Weber State University and members of sigcis) are editing a volume for McFarland & Company with a working title of "Canticle for the Machine: Interdisciplinary Essays on Science Fiction and Computers." In this volume we are bringing together voices from numerous disciplines, such as literature studies, history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, science and technology studies, and the other humanities and social science disciplines. In addition, we are bringing together voices from disciplines such as computer science, aeronautics, and physics, as well as pioneers in the computer industry. We are also looking to add the voices of some science fiction authors. The point of assembling these voices is to broadly explore the importance of science fiction as a body of literature that has, through various means, facilitated invention and discovery in computing. We also recognize that science fiction is not just stories and novels, but includes movies, television series, and graphic novels. Science fiction acts as a source of inspiration for invention and participation. It supplies metaphors and analogies. It facilitates communication within and outside a community of practitioners. It helps create world views and shape critical and reflective thinking. It plays a role in defining social relations and helps to determine who is inside and outside of the community of the creators of digital culture. It assists in imagining the implications of computing on society and ourselves, or, vice versa, the needs of a society that promotes computer development. Our intention is to gather those who are informed by experience and/or academic study, but who will communicate clearly across disciplinary boundaries. We are approaching this email list as some here have expressed an interest in science fiction and society. Please contact us via the contact information listed below. Currently we are looking for 6,000 word entries; however, we welcome email inquiries about possible essays of shorter length. The schedule for contributing to this work is as follows: ASAP: A response that you are interested. August 31, 2009: A 250 word abstract of the intended work November 30, 2009: Author First. February 28, 2010: Author Second. We look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, David L. Ferro, PhD (Science and Technology Studies, Virginia Tech) Associate Professor of Computer Science at Weber State University dferro(a)weber.edu Eric G. Swedin, PhD (History of Science, Case Western Reserve) Associate Professor of Information Systems and Technologies at Weber State University eswedin(a)weber.edu or eswedin(a)gmail.com Physical address: Weber State University 2401 University Circle Weber State University Ogden, Utah 84408 -- David Ferro, Associate Professor in Computer Science and Chair of Faculty Senate, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah

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Reminder: SIGCIS Workshop Proposal Deadline is June 22
by Thomas Haigh 20 Jun '09

20 Jun '09

Hello everyone, We're all looking forward to the very first SIGCIS workshop, held on Sunday 18 at the conclusion of the SHOT conference. (As you start to make your travel arrangements, please do your best to stay for Sunday afternoon so you get the whole thing. We'll also have a little dinner Sunday evening for those who can stick around). It's still not too late to submit an abstract for a paper or session, a work in progress, or a dissertation proposal. But Monday is the day we shut down the submission system and get to work reviewing. So hurry, hurry, hurry to http://www.sigcis.org/?q=workshop09. Tom

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