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NPL Scrapbook, Datapac, and more - interview
by Brian E Carpenter 28 Feb '24

28 Feb '24

Hi, I recently did an email interview with Peter Cashin - it was very interesting, and not just about an early hypertext project. Today we met in person in Auckland NZ, and we could have gossipped for hours. The interview was published as a research report this week: https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/research/groups/CDMTCS/researchreports/downlo… Regards Brian Carpenter

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ROMchip Presents: Jaroslav Švelch on Player vs. Monster // FRI March 8, 1PM EST
by Laine Nooney 28 Feb '24

28 Feb '24

Join us Friday, March 8, as *ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories *hosts games studies scholar Jaroslav Švelch for a talk about his recent book, *Player vs. Monster: The Making and Breaking of Video Game Monstrosity.* The event will be at 1PM EST on the ROMchip Twitch channel, https://www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal. Sign up for our newsletter <https://romchip.us13.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=27c1594af9abf2dc80455091b&…> to never miss an update. REGISTER HERE <https://www.tickettailor.com/events/romchipajournalofgamehistories/1144604> *About the Book* Since the early days of video games, monsters have played pivotal roles as dangers to be avoided, level bosses to be defeated, or targets to be destroyed for extra points. But why is the figure of the monster so important in gaming, and how have video games come to shape our culture's conceptions of monstrosity? To answer these questions, *Player vs. Monster *explores the past half-century of monsters in games, from the dragons of early tabletop role-playing games and the pixelated aliens of *Space Invaders *to the malformed mutants of *The Last of Us *and the bizarre beasts of *Bloodborne*, and reveals the common threads among them. Covering examples from aliens to zombies, Jaroslav Švelch explores the art of monster design and traces its influences from mythology, visual arts, popular culture, and tabletop role-playing games. At the same time, he shows that video games follow the Cold War–era notion of clearly defined, calculable enemies, portraying monsters as figures that are irredeemably evil yet invariably vulnerable to defeat. He explains the appeal of such simplistic video game monsters, but also explores how the medium could evolve to present more nuanced depictions of monstrosity. *About the Author* Jaroslav Švelch is Assistant Professor in the Department of Media Studies at Charles University, Prague, and Lecturer in the Department of Game Design at the Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. He is the author of *Gaming the Iron Curtain: How Teenagers and Amateurs in Communist Czechoslovakia Claimed the Medium of Computer Games*. *About ROMchip**ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories <https://www.romchip.org/>* is a free, online scholarly journal for game history. *ROMchip *develops, edits, and publishes ad-free, open access game history research for a range of audiences. It supports any discipline of work enlivening the history of games in local and global contexts, and embraces diversity in how game history is studied, documented, collected, preserved, and practiced. *ROM**c**hip* is a donation-based organization fiscally sponsored by Fractured Atlas <https://www.fracturedatlas.org/>; to donate to ROMchip, please visit our sponsor website <https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/romchip-a-journal-of-game-histories>. -- Laine Nooney <http://www.lainenooney.com/> Assistant Professor | MCC <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/> @ NYU <http://www.nyu.edu/> | they/them -Need to make an appt? Click, don't email: https://bit.ly/2GIHuK0 -Probably typed by voice recognition, so please cherish typos

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2024 Mahoney Prize nominations
by Melanie Swalwell 28 Feb '24

28 Feb '24

Dear SIGCIS, Nominations are now invited for the 2024 Mahoney Prize. The Mahoney Prize recognizes an outstanding article in the history of computing and information technology, broadly conceived. The Mahoney Prize commemorates the late Princeton scholar Michael S. Mahoney, whose profound contributions to the history of computing came from his many articles and book chapters. The prize consists of a $500 award and a certificate. For the 2024 prize, articles published in the preceding three years (2021, 2022 and 2023) are eligible for nomination. The Mahoney Prize is awarded by the Special Interest Group in Computers, Information, and Society (SIGCIS). We plan to present the prize at the SIG's annual meeting in July. Please email copies of articles being nominated to the 2024 Prize Committee by April 15, 2024. Self-nominations are welcome, as are nominations from the SIG's membership. Information on previous winning essays may be found on the website: https://www.sigcis.org/mahoneyprize Committee members' emails are below. Janet Toland (Chair) Adjunct School of Information Management Victoria University of Wellington janet.toland(a)vuw.ac.nz<mailto:janet.toland@vuw.ac.nz> Kevin Driscoll Associate Professor, Department of Media Studies University of Virginia ked5d(a)virginia.edu<mailto:ked5d@virginia.edu> David Murphy Senior Lecturer, Digital, Tech, Innovation & Business Staffordshire University david.murphy(a)staffs.ac.uk<mailto:david.murphy@staffs.ac.uk> Regards, Melanie -- Melanie Swalwell Professor of Digital Media Heritage Co-Chair, SIGCIS<http://www.sigcis.org/> Acting Deputy Director Centre for Transformative Media Technologies School of Social Sciences, Media, Film and Education Swinburne University PO Box 218, Hawthorn Vic 3122 Australia http://transformativemedia.swinburne.edu.au/ Tel +61 3 9214 3911 AS426 mswalwell(a)swin.edu.au @melswal Research project websites: https://ourdigitalheritage.org/ https://playitagainproject.com/ https://aama.net.au/ https://auseaasi.org/ Recent publications: Collecting, Curating, Preserving, and Researching Digital Media Arts: A good practice report<https://aama.net.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Collecting-curating-preservi…> Homebrew Gaming and the Beginnings of Vernacular Digitality<https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/homebrew-gaming-and-beginnings-vernacular-di…> Game History and the Local<https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-66422-0>

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Jim Cortada's "Inside IBM"
by Ceruzzi, Paul 20 Feb '24

20 Feb '24

I finally had a chance to look at the summary of Jim's book from CBI, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I always found IBM's control over nomenclature noteworthy: "Electronic Data Processing," not "Computer"; "Diskette" not "floppy"; "pointing Device" not "mouse." And others. I remember being shocked – shocked! when IBM called its OS2 operating system "Warp." So out of place, but the world, and IBM, moved on. Now we see the proliferation of what I consider inappropriate names for software and services that have a serious place in society: Google, Twitch, Slack, Yahoo! When Tom Haigh & I were writing our Third Edition, we had a discussion about whether to include the exclamation point in Yahoo. We left it off. And when I suggested to my office mates at the Smithsonian that we adopt Slack, they thought I was joking. I'm glad we didn't adopt it, regardless of how useful it isd or isn't. Could you imagine President Eisenhower issuing a Tweet? (General Eisenhower once said, in response to a RAND Corporation report, "There will be no software in this man's army!" Where did it all begin? Maybe from a programmer named Tom Pittman, author of Tiny Basic. He called his service "Itty Bitty Computers." This was around 1976 or so. Anyone have better information? Paul Ceruzzi

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2024 Computer History Museum Prize nominations due April 15
by Elizabeth Petrick 20 Feb '24

20 Feb '24

The Computer History Museum Prize is awarded to the author of an outstanding book in the history of computing broadly conceived, published during the prior three years. The prize of $1,000 is awarded by SIGCIS, the Special Interest Group for Computers, Information and Society. SIGCIS is part of the Society for the History of Technology. In 2012 the prize was endowed in perpetuity through a generous bequest from the estate of Paul Baran, a legendary computer innovator and entrepreneur best known for his work to develop and promote the packet switching approach on which modern networks are built. Baran was a longtime supporter of work on the history of information technology and named the prize to celebrate the contributions of the Computer History Museum to that field. 2024 Nomination instructions Books published in 2021, 2022, and 2023 are eligible for the 2024 prize. Books in translation are eligible for three years following the date of their publication in English. Publishers, authors, and other interested members of the computer history community are invited to nominate books. Please note that books nominated in previous years may be nominated again, provided they have been published in the timeframes specified above. Please send digital and physical copies of the nominated title to each of the committee members listed below, with a postmark no later than April 15, 2024. Please direct any questions to the 2024 committee chair, David Brock, dbrock(a)computerhistory.org<mailto:dbrock@computerhistory.org>. 2024 Prize Committee Members David Brock (Committee Chair, physical copies of books preferred) Director of Curatorial Affairs, Computer History Museum 40 Russell Street Greenfield, MA 01301 dbrock(a)computerhistory.org<mailto:dbrock@computerhistory.org> Nathan Ensmenger Associate Professor, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering Indiana University Informatics East 226a 901 E. 10th St. Bloomington, IN 47408 nensmeng(a)indiana.edu<mailto:nensmeng@indiana.edu> Mar Hicks (physical copies of books preferred) Associate Professor of Data Science UVA Data Science 400 Brandon Ave Charlottesville, VA 22903 mhicks(a)virginia.edu<mailto:mhicks@virginia.edu>

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Kenneth Mark Colby Papers
by David Brock 20 Feb '24

20 Feb '24

Does anyone know if there is an archive of Ken Colby’s papers? I did a web search, looked at UCLA Special Collections, and the Online Archive of California, but couldn’t find one. Best wishes, David +++++++++++++++ David C. Brock dcb(a)dcbrock.net 40 Russell Street, Greenfield, MA 01301 Mobile: 413-522-3578 Skype: dcbrock Twitter: @dcbrock Pronouns: he, him, his

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THIS FRIDAY: Aaron Trammell on The Privilege of Play, hosted by ROMchip
by Laine Nooney 14 Feb '24

14 Feb '24

Join us Friday, February 16, as *ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories *hosts games studies scholar Aaron Trammell for a talk about his recent book, *The Privilege of Play: A History of Hobby Games, Race, and Geek Culture.* The event will be at 2PM EST on the ROMchip Twitch channel, https://www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal. REGISTER HERE <https://www.tickettailor.com/events/romchipajournalofgamehistories/1144389> *About the Book* *The Privilege of Play* contends that in order to understand geek identity’s exclusionary tendencies, we need to know the history of the overwhelmingly white communities of tabletop gaming hobbyists that preceded it. It begins by looking at how the privileged networks of model railroad hobbyists in the early twentieth century laid a cultural foundation for the scenes that would grow up around war games, role-playing games, and board games in the decades ahead. These early networks of hobbyists were able to thrive because of how their leisure interests and professional ambitions overlapped. Yet despite the personal and professional strides made by individuals in these networks, the networks themselves remained cloistered and homogeneous—the secret playgrounds of white men. *About the Author*Aaron Trammell is Assistant Professor of Informatics and Core Faculty in Visual Studies at University of California, Irvine and author of *Repairing Play: A Black Phenomenology*. He is Editor-in-Chief of the journal *Analog Games Studies* and was an honoree of the hobby game industry’s prestigious Diana Jones Award. *About ROMchip* * <https://www.romchip.org/>* *ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories <https://www.romchip.org/>* is a free, online scholarly journal for game history. *ROMchip *develops, edits, and publishes ad-free, open access game history research for a range of audiences. It supports any discipline of work enlivening the history of games in local and global contexts, and embraces diversity in how game history is studied, documented, collected, preserved, and practiced. *ROM* *c**hip* is a donation-based organization fiscally sponsored by Fractured Atlas <https://www.fracturedatlas.org/>; to donate to ROMchip, please visit our sponsor website <https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/romchip-a-journal-of-game-histories>. Sign up for our newsletter <https://romchip.us13.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=27c1594af9abf2dc80455091b&…> to never miss an update. -- Laine Nooney <http://www.lainenooney.com/> Assistant Professor | MCC <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/> @ NYU <http://www.nyu.edu/> | they/them -Need to make an appt? Click, don't email: https://bit.ly/2GIHuK0 -Probably typed by voice recognition, so please cherish typos

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CFP for HAPOC Symposium “The Computer in Motion,” ICHST 2025 in New Zealand
by Ksenia Tatarchenko 13 Feb '24

13 Feb '24

Dear list members, We hope you would be interested to participate in the HAPOC Symposium at ICHST 2025 held in New Zealand. Call for Papers for participation at ICHST 2025 in New Zealand HAPOC Symposium “The Computer in Motion” The DHST Commission for the History and Philosophy of Computing (HAPOC) is inviting proposals for participation in the HAPOC symposium to be held as part of ICHST 2025 conference (https://www.ichst2025.org/) We invite scholars to present their research on subjects that explore computers and computing from historical perspectives within the framework of the congress theme “Peoples, Places, Exchanges, and Circulation”. Computers have always been on the move between disciplines, nations, communities, cultures, and social spheres. With each move they adapt to the milieu, and the milieu adapts to them. The symposium focuses on all forms of computers in motion, from the most abstract to the most material, from global to locally situated. Contributions could address, but are not limited to the following topics: - Metadisciplinary ambitions of computerisation; roots and models of digital humanities; the computational turn in natural sciences and humanities. - Epistemics, history, and politics of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and language models. - Materiality of data exchange, data sharing and data access, as well as standards and protocols. - Collaboration and/or its failure between computer experts, international circulation of ideas and appropriation of concepts and practices between disciplines; politics of computing as well as regimes of secrecy, censorship, spying, and proprietary ownership that prevent circulation. - Local, national, and international computer networks; global communication infrastructures. - Visioners, founding figures, and hidden figures of computing; hackers, crackers, gamers, and game-changing technologies. Submission Guidelines: If you want to be included in the HAPOC symposium as part of ICHST 2025 conference at the University of Otago’s Dunedin campus in New Zealand: - Please send us your expression of commitment (title and two sentence description of your topic: and a brief biography (50-100 words) to hapoc2025(a)gmail.com no later than Friday, 15 March 2024. If you already know whether you can attend in-person or virtually, please let us know to help us in our planning. - The symposium aims at a diversified line-up, with a balance of age, gender, and geographic backgrounds. Proposals from Early-Career Researchers are particularly welcome. - For now, sending an abstract is not mandatory. Prospective presenters whose papers get accepted for the symposium will be asked for an abstract (250 words) after 1 June 2024. Organizers: Arianna Borrelli, Barbara Hof, and Ksenia Tatarchenko

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David Kahn obit
by Jonathan Coopersmith 12 Feb '24

12 Feb '24

https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/02/01/david-kahn-codebreaker… Stay sane, Jonathan Jonathan Coopersmith Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science Professor Emeritus Department of History Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4236 979.739.4708 (cell) John Mather "Instrument Maker to the Stars," <https://aerospaceamerica.aiaa.org/departments/instrument-maker-to-the-stars/> *Aerospace America* November 2023 "Technological obsolescence, <https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2023/05/technological-obsolescence>" National Academy of Engineering *Perspectives* May 23, 2023 Preserving space archives: https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/

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1 PhD position on microcomputers and social transformation in Eastern Europe (University of Lucerne, Switzerland)
by Albert Gleb J. 11 Feb '24

11 Feb '24

Dear list members After having received a Swiss National Science Foundation grant for a research project on the role of microcomputers in the social, cultural and ecenomic transformations in Western and Eastern Europe in the 1980s and 1990s, I am advertising, once again, a fully funded PhD position in history at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland: Sub-project 2, "The Microcomputer as a Medium of Communication Within the Eastern Bloc and Across the Iron Curtain": https://www.unilu.ch/universitaet/personal/personaldienst/offene-stellen/ph… Due to lack of interest in the original position, I broadened the scope a bit: Now, the PhD project should be a case study exploring the role microcomputers played in practices of communication within the Eastern Bloc or across the bloc divide in a domain of the candidate's own choosing - be it hobbyist (hackers, gamers etc.), political (dissident networks), religious, artistic etc. Application deadline is 11 March 2024. Please feel free to share the information and pass it on to interested potential candidates. Thank you! Best wishes, Gleb -- Ass.-Prof. Dr. Gleb J. Albert SNSF Starting Grant Assistant Professor for General and Eastern European Contemporary History Department of History, University of Lucerne Universität Luzern Historisches Seminar Frohburgstrasse 3 Postfach 4466 CH-6002 Luzern Switzerland Room 3.A29 Tel. +41-41-2295527

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