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SMS+S special issue abstract deadline extension (Mon Aug 15)
by Andrew Iliadis 14 Jul '22

14 Jul '22

Hi all, Hope everyone is safe and doing well. We're writing to say the deadline to submit abstracts for our SM+S special issue on "semantic media" has been extended to Mon Aug 15. Abstracts focusing on histories of the semantic web, knowledge graphs, web schemas, computational ontologies, and virtual assistants are encouraged. best, Andrew and Heather **** Abstract deadline extended to Mon Aug 15 **** Call for Papers Social Media + Society Special Issue: Semantic Media Editors: Andrew Iliadis and Heather Ford This special issue focuses on “semantic media,” which we define as media technologies that primarily orchestrate and convey facts, answers, meanings, and “knowledge” about things directly in media products, rather than lead people to other sources. Search engines and virtual assistants respond directly to questions based on textual or verbal searches (e.g., “Things to do in Philadelphia?” or “What is the capital of Israel?”). The special issue is thus dedicated to the often-invisible ways (to the non-specialist) that internet companies are now actively involved in constructing “knowledge” about the world. Organizations like Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon extract, curate, and store facts served to users in new and emerging media products. Such processes have significant implications for the politics of knowledge sharing in the future. We seek papers that examine how design decisions “bake” these facts into the apps and platforms people use daily while focusing on the infrastructures dedicated to orchestrating and presenting this information. The goal is to understand the technologies that will drive social and political outcomes when large internet companies become a primary conduit through which people directly acquire an understanding of facts about the world. We also seek to understand how governments, nonprofit, and nongovernmental organizations engage these media technologies. Semantic media are less about searching for keywords and matches on different websites that are then ranked for people to choose. Instead, they deal with identifying and describing entities (things like people, products, and places) and directing interactions with those entities (actions like purchasing, scheduling, and contacting). How do semantic media identify concepts and connect related information about them? How do companies and organizations produce facts and organize the data? From where does the data originate? What do these semantic processes mean for web users and administrators? What types of gatekeeping or safety checks do companies and organizations perform concerning these facts? Today’s semantic media have a long history reaching back to the “Semantic Web” project initiated by web inventor Tim Berners-Lee. Yet, media researchers do not adequately cover how companies and organizations implement semantic technologies on platforms relative to their central role. These semantic technologies are in proprietary and open-source products, and extensive media platforms are now using them to provide facts and represent knowledge to various publics. Google’s Knowledge Graph is a database of facts that Google uses to provide quick answers to the public, and such graphs are in use at other companies. At the same time, Wikipedia has a product called Wikidata that similarly stores facts about the world in data formats through which various apps can retrieve the data. Researchers and journalists also use semantic technologies for search engine optimization, fact-checking practices, and data sharing and organization. This special issue thus focuses on such platformized versions of fact production and examines the underlying infrastructures, histories, and modeling techniques used in knowledge representation systems. We are interested in quantitative, qualitative, and critical approaches and papers that propose new methods, theories, and frameworks. Areas of interest: • The creation or transmission of facts, answers, meanings, definitions, and “knowledge” across media systems and their platforms • Answers from virtual assistants such as Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Bixby, etc. • Answers from search engines such as Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, etc. • Products like knowledge panels, infoboxes, carousels, rich results, maps, etc. • Open-source semantic technologies such as Schema.org, Wikidata, etc. • Proprietary semantic technologies such as Google’s Knowledge Graph, etc. • Fact-checking practices for misinformation and disinformation across semantic media platforms • Search engine optimization and semantic search practices • Semantic infrastructure projects such as the semantic web, linked data, etc. • Semantic governance organizations such as the World Wide Web Consortium, etc. • Semantic technologies such as metadata, markup languages, knowledge bases, knowledge graphs, web schemas, applied ontologies, and enterprise semantic software • Semantic, linguistic, and conceptual theories involving rules and logic, theories of meaning, ontology, taxonomy, ideas of truth, social ontology, etc. Timeline: • Extended 1000-word abstracts due Fri July 15 * Mon Aug 15 * • Decisions out to authors Fri Aug 19 • Full 8000-word manuscript due Fri Nov 18 • Final decisions January 2023 • Publication spring 2023 Send submissions to andrew.iliadis(a)temple.edu and heather.ford(a)uts.edu.au with the subject header “Social Media + Society Special Issue: Semantic Media” Link: https://journals.sagepub.com/page/sms/collections/cfp -- Andrew Iliadis, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Media Studies and Production Lew Klein College of Media and Communication Temple University

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Homework assignment types for computer history survey course?
by Koblentz, Evan A 07 Jul '22

07 Jul '22

This week I received my course evaluations from our spring semester. It was my first time working as an adjunct instructor. The student evaluations of my knowledge and teaching were great, the only exception being that everyone ranked the assignments as average, easy, or very easy. The assignments were: - multiple choice quiz at the start of each class, to ensure the students read the homework chapters - midterm with 10 open-ended questions - final paper For those who teach similar courses (survey of the history of computing), what kind of assignments do you give? Also what sort of in-class group projects do you assign? I'm looking for new ideas. There is some concern that CS students might take my course with the expectation of it being an easy A. (It's not, but still I think it needs to be more challenging for them.)

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Study grant: the history of the UK Tech industries
by Tom Abram 04 Jul '22

04 Jul '22

Archives of IT (AIT) seeks a postdoctoral researcher to work on a short study of the social and economic history of the UK Tech industry and its impact on society within a chosen window in the period 1950 to 2022. The precise topic will reflect the successful candidate's research interests, and is for discussion with AIT and our project sponsors, the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. The duration is likely to be around two or three months but is flexible and might be longer with part time working. AIT https://archivesit.org.uk<https://archivesit.org.uk/> is a charity established 6 years ago to encourage study of the history, raise awareness of the industry's contribution to society, and inform young people of the opportunities it offers as a meritocratic profession without regards to social standing, ethnicity or gender. To that end we are creating an open digital archive of oral history and documentary materials, including company records and industry reports. We are approaching leading figures in and around the industry, who have materially influenced it, who are shaping its future now and / or who shed light through their experience of working in it. We have now completed over 200 interviews and collected 30,000 pages of documents. The proposed work should draw upon these AIT materials and other sources as needed. We are open to the idea of gathering additional materials (interviews and documents) to support the work. The output should be a written report of 5,000 -10,000 words and a graphic or multimedia presentation. If you would like more information or an informal chat, email the director of AIT at tom(a)abram.co<mailto:tom@abram.co>. If you know someone who might be interested, then please pass this on. Or if you have some ideas already, send a CV, and a short outline of initial thoughts. Tom Abram Director - Archives of IT research(a)archivesit.org.uk www.archivesit.org.uk<http://www.archivesit.org.uk/> > Subscribe<https://archivesit.org.uk/sign-up/> to our e-newsletter > Follow us on Twitter @ArchivesIT<https://twitter.com/ArchivesIT> Registered Charity No: 1164198 This e-mail is confidential and may be privileged. It may be read, copied and used only by the intended recipient. If you have received it in error, please contact the sender immediately by return e-mail. Please then delete the e-mail and do not disclose its contents to any person.

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Imagining AI, workshop and display, Oxford 9/10 September
by Mate Szabo 04 Jul '22

04 Jul '22

Dear All, We are happy to announce and invite everyone to the Imagining AI pop-up exhibition and workshop in the Bodleian Library in Oxford during the weekend of September 9-10 (https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/60729) The exhibition is organized by Professor Ursula Martin with the members of the Oxford Mathematical Institute, the Bodleian Library and the History of Science Museum in Oxford. The exhibition focuses on the manuscripts of the Bodleian Library, but also includes Jevons' logical piano from the HSM, among other artifacts. On September 9th there will be an academic workshop putting the exhibition in a broader context. The speakers of the event include: - Troy Astarte (Swansea) on Christoper Strachey's 1950s experiments with computer poetry and chess - David Brock (Computer History Museum, Mountain View) on curating AI experiments - Kanta Dihal (Cambridge) author of "AI Narratives" (OUP) - David Dunning (Pennsylvania) on Jevons's 1850s "Reasoning Piano" - Sharon Ruston (Lancaster) author of “The science of life and death in Frankenstein" (Bodleian) - Máté Szabó (Oxford, Greenwich) on Max Newman's influence on Alan Turing On September 10th there will be several demonstrations for the general audience, including, among other, Ai-Da, the world’s first ultra realistic robot artist, a model of Charles Babbage’s Difference Engine in action, and a cybernetic robot ladybug that follows light and sound. All events are free to attend, but registration is required for the workshop. More information and registration links can be found at https://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/node/60729. Kind regards, Máté Szabó --- Postdoctoral Research Associate Mathematical Institute University of Oxford https://oxford.academia.edu/MateSzabo

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Reminder: the "grand narratives" event is coming up July 4 and 5
by thomas.haigh＠gmail.com 02 Jul '22

02 Jul '22

Hello SIGCIS, Our first and last reminder: the event Rethinking and Rebuilding: Grand Narratives in the History of Computing is being held in Siegen and online this July 4 and 5. All events in the afternoon for Europeans, which will make some sessions accessible to those in other timez ones depending on location and sleep habits. Program at: https://www.socialstudiesof.info/grandnarratives/ Whole bunch of historiographic roundtable discussions. I just posted an informal essay with some thoughts on why we chose the workshop topic and selected the questions we did for each of the roundtable panels. That is at https://tomandmaria.com/Tom/node/32. Registration is free, and will get you a zoom link. Please send an email to Anna Büdenbender at anna.buedenbender(a)student.uni-siegen.de <mailto:anna.buedenbender@student.uni-siegen.de> Best wishes, Tom

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Last call: 15th CIFAS Field School in Ethnographic Research Methods in New York City, July 18 to 29, 2022
by Renzo Taddei 01 Jul '22

01 Jul '22

*Apologies for cross-posting. A few seats are still available. Please disseminate this to potentially interested parties. * *15th CIFAS Field School in Ethnographic Research Methods in New York City* On-site in New York City: July 18 to 29, 2022 – 9 AM to 12 PM EDT [image: image.png] The Comitas Institute for Anthropological Study (CIFAS) is pleased to announce the 15th CIFAS Field School in Ethnographic Research Methods. In 2022, the course returns to its face-to-face modality in New York City. Classes will meet at Teachers College, Columbia University. The Field School aims to offer training in the foundations and practice of ethnographic methods. The faculty works closely with participants to identify the required field methods to address their academic or professional needs. The Field School is suitable for graduate and undergraduate students in social sciences and other fields of study that use qualitative approaches (such as education, communication, cultural studies, health, social work, human ecology, development studies, and consumer behavior, among others), applied social scientists, professionals, and researchers who have an interest in learning more about ethnographic methods and their applications. *Program:* o Foundations of ethnographic research o Theory and practice: social theories in the field o Research design o Data collection techniques o Planning the logistics of field research o Digital ethnography o Ethnography in interface with Social Network Analysis and other trends in the field of the digital humanities o Ethnography in specific fields of activity (applied social sciences, health, social service, environmental studies, public policy design, business, and others) o Principles of organization and indexation of field data o Analyzing field data; qualitative analysis software packages: basic principles The total workload of the course is 30 hours. In this edition of the summer school, the option of earning credits is not available. Places are limited. The tuition fee is US$ 1,200. *Comitas Field School Fellowship:* a limited amount of fellowships are available to students from underrepresented minorities and low-income countries. See information on how to apply at the end of the application form. The application should be completed online *here* <http://cifas.us/field-school-registration-form/>. For more information, please see https://cifas.us/field-school/ or email us at fieldschool(a)cifas.us.

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Hybrid event @Siegen July 4+5: Rethinking and Rebuilding: Grand Narratives in the History of Computing
by thomas.haigh＠gmail.com 19 Jun '22

19 Jun '22

Hello SIGCIS, Anyone not already committed to spending July 4 & 5 in a patriotic fervor to celebrate the revolt of the colonies might instead be interested in a little event we have planned in Siegen. Its inspired by the publication last year of A New History of Modern Computing but the format is primarily roundtable discussions exploring other possible ways of structuring and framing big picture narratives around the history of computing. Honestly, nothing makes you more aware of the arbitrariness of such a book than writing one. Weve got a very interesting and interdisciplinary lineup assembled for your pleasure. Everything is in the afternoon German time, giving North Americans a shot at attending at least some of the panels (depending on time zone and waking habits). Free registration for both online and in person. A little more than half of the panelists are expected to be in person, but realistically most of the other attendees will be online. But if any of you are nearby and want to call into Siegen I would be happy to see you! We always offer lots of food and drink, and given the late running time I will be mixing up some cocktails prior to the final sessions on both days. The program is at https://www.socialstudiesof.info/grandnarratives/ While I am pasting the current text below, this will continue to change (dinners added, possible tweaks to timing and panel titles, couple people we invited who havent confirmed yet). So do not trust the version pasted below for anything other than a general sense of whether you are going to bother to register and mark your calendar. Best wishes, Tom NB: All times below are European. Subtract 1 hour for UK, 6 for E. Coast, 9 for W. Coast and so on. Rethinking and Rebuilding: Grand Narratives in the History of Computing July 4 & 5, 2022 at Siegen University and online Most current program: <https://www.socialstudiesof.info/grandnarratives/> https://www.socialstudiesof.info/grandnarratives Organizer: Thomas Haigh (University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee & Siegen University). This event is part of project A01 of the <https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de/en/> SFB 1187: Media of Cooperation. Theme: This event is prompted by the publication of A New History of Modern Computing by Thomas Haigh and Paul Ceruzzi (MIT Press, 2021), a book that was planned and largely written under the auspices of Siegen University. As the most ambitious scholarly overview history of computing published this century, this book updates the grand narrative of computing history by drawing on new generations of scholarship. Topics such as digital media devices, videogames, home computing, computer networking, smartphones, cloud computing, and the evolution of the IBM PC standard are integrated into the overall story for the first time. Yet our purpose here is less to celebrate the new book as to ask what it, and its silences, tell us about the potential to tell other stories on a similar scale about computers and their history. The workshop gathers scholars from fields such as media studies, the history of science and mathematics, and science and technology studies to ask what a grand narrative of the history of computing might look like if told from other perspectives. What do Haigh and Ceruzzi get right, and what opportunities did they neglect? What topics and chapters would appear if the story was told in a different way? What would be the protagonists and the plots? Venue: Room 217/18 of Herrengarten 3, 57072 Siegen and online. This is a hybrid event. Speakers are roughly evenly divided between those in Siegen and those participating by Zoom. To allow for participation from North America each day's sessions start in the afternoon. Registration: There is no charge for registration. To register, for in-person or online participation, please email Anna Büdenbender at <mailto:anna.buedenbender@student.uni-siegen.de> anna.buedenbender(a)student.uni-siegen.de. July 4 (13:00 Coffee & snacks) 13:30-13:45 Introduction by Erhard Schüttpelz (Siegen University) 13:45-14:00 Remarks by Paul Ceruzzi 14:00-15:30 Could we structure a big story around the materialities of data, computation and networks? Roundtable discussion featuring Cyrus Mody (Maastricht University), Moritz Feichtinger (Universität Bern), Axel Volmar (Siegen University) & Valérie Schafer (C2DH, University of Luxembourg). (15:30-16:00) Coffee & snack break. 16:00-17:30 What if we dont center the United States? Roundtable discussion featuring Ksenia Tatarchenko (Singapore Management University). Pierre Mounier -Kuhn (CNRS & Université Paris-Sorbonne), Petri Paju (University of Turku), Elisabetta Mori (Middlesex University) & Gerard Alberts (University of Amsterdam). (17:30-18:00 Cocktail break, featuring cassis gin & tonic and Pimms & ginger ale) 18:00-19:30 Chances Seized and Opportunities Squandered: Writing A New History of Modern Computing, Thomas Haigh (University of WisconsinMilwaukee & Siegen University). 20:00 Dinner. Details TBA July 5 12:00-13:30 What can we gain by reconnecting the history of computing with the histories of computer science and mathematics? Roundtable discussion featuring Ulf Hashagen (Deutsches Museum), Helena Durnova (Masaryk University, Brno), Mark Priestley (National Museum of Computing, UK) & Liesbeth de Mol (Université de Lille). (13:30-14:00 Coffee & snack break) 14:00-15:30 How could media theory and STS underpin new historical ways of understanding the story of the computer? Roundtable discussion, convened by Sebastian Giessmann and Tatjana Seitz . Featuring Ben Peters (Tulsa University), Till Heilmann (Bochum), Elisa Linseisen (Vienna/Paderborn), Sebastian Giessmann (University of Siegen) & Tatjana Seitz (University of Siegen, moderator) (15:30-16:00 Coffee & snack break) 16:00 -17:30 Can we integrate issues of gender, justice and embodiment into the story of the computer itself or must these narratives remain separate and particular? Roundtable discussion featuring Elizabeth Petrick (Rice University), Valérie Schafer (C2DH, University of Luxembourg), Jeffrey Yost (Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota). (17:30-18:00 Cocktail break featuring Toms famous negroni) 18:00-19:30 Where did the dominant scholarly narratives in the history of computing come from, and how well have they held up? Roundtable discussion with William Aspray & Martin Campbell-Kelly (authors of Computer: A History of the Information Machine) and Paul Ceruzzi (author of A History of Modern Computing) moderated by JoAnne Yates (author of Structuring the Information Age). 20:00 Dinner. Details TBA

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seeking freelance research assistants
by danah boyd 11 Jun '22

11 Jun '22

::wave:: Happy summer! I'm hoping to hire a few freelance RAs for short-term work later this summer/fall. Perhaps someone on this list? Perhaps you know someone who would like these jobs? tl;dr on Freelance RA Jobs: - Task: Read/critique my work-in-progress book (an ethnography of the 2020 US census) with an eye towards how I am engaging with key scholarly literatures (namely STS, org soc, history of numbers, public administration). Be the Reviewer #2 you wish you had. - Basics: Freelance work, ~80-100 hours of work @ $25/hr, somewhere between July-October - Qualifications: Deep familiarity with a literature I'm engaging with. (Probably ideal for a post-quals ABD, postdoc, or alt-ac researcher.) Full job description available here: http://www.danah.org/jobs/2022CensusRAs.html <http://www.danah.org/jobs/2022CensusRAs.html> PDF of the call is also attached. Please forward to anyone you think might find this of interest!! Thanks so much!!!! danah

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Last Call - CFP: HICSS 2023 minitrack "Critical and Ethical Studies of Digital and Social Media"
by Andrew Iliadis 09 Jun '22

09 Jun '22

Hi everyone, Apologies for cross posting. There's only one week left to submit to our HICSS 2023 minitrack "Critical and Ethical Studies of Digital and Social Media" (due Weds June 15). * Info: https://hicss.hawaii.edu/tracks-56/digital-and-social-media/#critical-and-e… * Submit: https://hicss-submissions.org/ * Template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WwsaGKmJ93PWRAqHNbW_vMeZ9f4huALFPK3RPgc… Full CFP posted below. We'd love to see your submissions. best, Andrew Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) January 3-6, 2023, Maui Critical and Ethical Studies of Digital and Social Media Minitrack This minitrack focuses on two themes: a) research that critically interrogates how and when digital and social media reify existing power structures or realign power for underrepresented or marginalized groups, and b) research that addresses ethical issues associated with doing research on digital and social media. The minitrack seeks both conceptual and empirical approaches to these two themes. Conceptual papers should address foundational scholarship and theories —e.g., important interventions for thinking about information exchange in communities and societies, key ideas, paradigms, and methods. Empirical papers should draw on original studies of digital and social media that illustrate the critical or ethical dimensions of digital infrastructures, social media platforms, or data use. Potential paper topics could explore the following topics and themes: * studies of the perpetuation of gender, race, ethno-nationalist, and faith-based hostility and bullying found in a range of online environments; * studies of the values and worldviews embedded within specific hardware and software technologies; * studies that look at the political economies and labor conditions of digital content creation, digital work, and the consequences of sharing economy platforms; * studies that look at mediated representations and practices of political community; * studies that examine digital power relations between individuals, collectives, and societal institutions. * case studies that grapple with the challenges and opportunities of unequal data access among digital and social media researchers (e.g., APIs, open vs. proprietary data); * studies that explore the situated ethics of social media research in different digital contexts * studies of the environmental impact that digital and social media researchers have on the planet by using and reusing data and metadata stored in resource-intensive ways; * studies of academic collaborations with actors that are a focus of controversies (e.g., military units, immigration enforcement officials, lobbying groups); * studies that mobilize non-traditional or experimental research methods developed for the specificities of digital and social media. Minitrack Co-chairs: Amelia Acker (Primary Contact) University of Texas at Austin aacker(a)ischool.utexas.edu Andrew Iliadis Temple University andrew.iliadis(a)temple.edu Nicholas Proferes Arizona State University nicholas.proferes(a)asu.edu Important Dates for Paper Submission * April 15: Paper Submission System Reopened for HICSS-56 * June 15: Paper Submission Deadline * August 17: Notification of Acceptance/Rejection * September 4: Deadline for authors whose papers are conditionally accepted to submit a revised manuscript * September 22: Deadline for Authors to Submit Final Manuscript for Publication * October 1: Deadline for at least one author of each paper to register for the conference -- Andrew Iliadis, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Media Studies and Production Lew Klein College of Media and Communication Temple University

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Computing's Woodstock
by Dag Spicer 09 Jun '22

09 Jun '22

Hello SIGCIS friends, Today we released 21 original and never before seen recordings of the First International Research Conference in the History of Computing held at Los Alamos, NM in August 1976. I have a short blog about the event: https://computerhistory.org/blog/computings-woodstock/ And you can access the playlist directly here: https://computerhistory.org/playlists/international-research-conference-on-… Enjoy! Dag PS Many of these lectures were also summarized in Nick Metropolis’ book on the conference: A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century (N. Metropolis, J. Howlett and G. C. Rota, Eds.), Academic Press, New York, 1980. However, several of the CHM lectures are not included in this book. ----- Dag Spicer Senior Curator Computer History Museum Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd. Mountain View CA 94043 Tel: +1 650 810 1035 Make Software: Change the World! Visit online: https://www.computerhistory.org/makesoftware/exhibit/

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