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Dedicated to SIGCIS: A New History of Modern Computing
by thomas.haigh＠gmail.com 01 Oct '21

01 Oct '21

Hello SIGCIS, Im very happy to be able to tell you that MIT Press has now published A New History of Modern Computing, my collaboration with Paul Ceruzzi to produce a replacement for his 1998 classic A History of Modern Computing. https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/new-history-modern-computing MIT has produced a handsome, oversized book with plenty of space to see the detail in the many pictures. Gerado Con Diaz blurbed it as follows: "A New History of Modern Computing is an instant classicessential to historians, curators, and interdisciplinary scholars in information and media studies. Its integrated analysis of usage and technological change is an impressive feat and a real joy to read." Paul Edwards called it "indispensable" and Valérie Schafer called it "a must-read." The price is a fairly reasonable $40, which we lobbied hard for in the hope that this is a book people might buy to read for pleasure, rather than just because it is assigned for a college course. As you would expect from any book with both new and modern in the title, this one strives to be up to date. We have added in-depth coverage of topics neglected in previous overview histories such as communications, video games, digital media, smartphones, cloud computing, home computers, embedded microcontrollers, and operating systems that were given only glancing coverage in previous overview histories. The timeline comes right up to this year, with an epilogue covering the role of computer technology during our current apocalyptic moment. Weve made a particular effort to take serious the evolution of the PC through the 1980s and 1990s rather than just treating the original IBM model as the endpoint of the personal computing story. But we have also tried to come up to date in terms of reflecting much of the wonderful scholarship produced by this community in the two decades since Paul published his original book. Youll see that the book is dedicated to the SIGCIS community, from two former chairs. Even the discussion of topics that were given thorough treatment in the original book, such as chips, timesharing systems, and early personal computing, has been greatly deepened because of all the new work we were able to draw on. We hope that the endnotes and, in many cases, in-text mentions of this work will steer readers deeper into the intellectual life of our community. Id also like to thank the many members of the SIGCIS community who helped us by reading drafts of some or all of the book. That list include David Hemmendinger, Con Diaz, Alana Staiti, Marc Weber, Michael J. Halvorson, Paul McJones, David Brock, Troy Astarte, Tom Lean, Bradley Fidler, and Henry Lowood. Also, of course Bill Aspray and Tom Misa as the editors for the History of Computing Series. Many others helped us by answering specific questions, assisting with image permissions, or critiquing our initial plan for the books content and organization. Our most ambitious goal was to reconceptualize the history of electronic computing as a series of transitions, in which particular groups of users remake the computer to fit their needs. In each chapter the computer becomes something new, such as a scientific supertool, a real-time control system, a communications medium, or a publishing platform. This lets us integrate discussion of users, applications, hardware, and software into a succession of intertwined stories which, cumulatively, add up to an explanation of why and how the computer became a universal machine. I described that objective in more detail in a 2018 working paper called Finding a Story for the History of Computing. (https://mediarep.org/bitstream/handle/doc/4553/Haigh_2018_Finding-a-Story_W orking-Paper-Series-SFB-1187-No-3_.pdf?sequence=10) In the present moment you may feel there is something inherently reactionary about imposing a grand narrative on computing, particularly when the effort is made by two white men both over the age of 45. Its hard, perhaps impossible, to further the widely repeated goal of decentering the computer when writing a book that tries to tell the story of said technology. Given that computing is now a part of pretty much everything, if you remove the thread of technology that holds the thing together you just finish up with the history of the world. But I am by temperament and training a slightly old fashioned social historian, and my teaching consists mostly of telling the story of the US in one survey class on the history of race and heath and another on the history of capitalism. So Im well aware of the tension between a narrative frame based around a technology and the broader themes of US history that have now become part of general discourse. I will say that we have tried to incorporate elements of social, cultural, and political history into the narrative as smoothly as possible in ways that will not seem gratuitous to readers who are there for the technical story. While still US-dominated, the narrative does reach out more than previously to the UK with occasional visits to France and some attention to Asia in the later part. That may not seem like enough to you, but it is more than you are going to get out of a book like The Innovators (which is by far the best-selling overview history of computing). As the saying goes, the problem with being in the middle of the road is that you get runover. The book is unlikely to produce the same excitement currently gathering around cultural history, critique of AI, or media theoretic approaches. But we were in a situation where the established overview histories were falling further and further behind the rapidly expanding and diversifying perspectives of our community. I hope that weve managed to close that gap, by produce something thats engaged with newer work and broader histories while also deeply engaged with the affordances and materiality of computer technology. A book like this gets essentially no marketing and is unlikely to be reviewed in mass-market outlets. So if you do like it, or at least like it more than The Innovators or Turings Cathedral which are the books that general readers are likely to stumble upon, please consider helping to get the word out by using your social media networks, putting a review up on Amazon, or just recommending it to a friend or family member who is looking for something to read. The same goes for almost all scholarly books, by the way. I sometimes think the most helpful thing we could do for each other as a community is to write a bunch of Amazon reviews and add references to Wikipedia entries. Best wishes, Tom

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Congratulations to Prof. Safiya Noble!
by Mar Hicks 01 Oct '21

01 Oct '21

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet on this list but I just wanted to flag that Prof. Safiya Noble of UCLA--author of Algorithms of Oppression and someone who has worked closely with and inspired many in the SIGCIS community--was awarded a 2021 MacArthur Fellowship this past week! https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-of-2021/safiya-noble Best, Mar ______________________ Mar Hicks, Ph.D. Associate Professor of History of Technology Humanities Department Illinois Institute of Technology marhicks.com *Programmed Inequality <https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/programmed-inequality>: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing *(MIT Press, 2017) * Your Computer Is On Fire <https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/your-computer-fire> * (MIT Press, 2021) ___________________________________________________________ *For students: *Do you want to schedule an appointment to talk to me during online office hours? Please use this link: https://calendly.com/marhicks ____________________________________________________________

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Yet another book
by Subramanian, Ramesh Prof. 01 Oct '21

01 Oct '21

Hi all, It is always nice to follow on ginats' footsteps! I just wanted to mention that the book "Mobile Technology and Social Transformations<https://www.routledge.com/Mobile-Technology-and-Social-Transformations-Acce…> - Access to Knowledge in Global Contexts" co-edited by me and Stefanie Felsberger (PhD candidate in Women's Studies, Cambridge Univ), has been published recently by Routledge (UK), under the "Rethinking Development" banner. The book investigates the ways in which the mobile telephone has transformed societies around the world, bringing both opportunities and challenges. At a time when knowledge and truth are increasingly contested, the book asks how mobile technology has changed the ways in which people create, disseminate, and access knowledge. While this is not a computing-history book per se, it does trace the historical use of mobile telephony in more recent times, especially in recent social transformations. I think that it will be an interesting and easy read for the SIGCIS community. Best Regards, -Ramesh “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.”- Prof. Albert Allen Bartlett --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ramesh Subramanian, Ph.D. Gabriel Ferrucci Professor of Information Systems Quinnipiac University Hamden, CT 06511, USA Email: ramesh.subramanian(a)qu.edu Web: https://www.qu.edu/faculty-and-staff/ramesh-subramanian & Fellow, Information Society Project, Yale Law School New Haven, CT 06511, USA Email: ramesh.subramanian(a)yale.edu Web: https://www.law.yale.edu/ramesh-subramanian Recent book: Mobile Technology and Social Transformations<https://www.routledge.com/Mobile-Technology-and-Social-Transformations-Acce…>, Routledge, UK (2021)

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Fwd: [New post] CALL: KQED is looking for a technology historian with expertise in the development of voice technologies to interview for a reporting project.
by Jonathan Coopersmith 01 Oct '21

01 Oct '21

Stay sane and keep wearing a mask (partially for you; more for others), Jonathan Jonathan Coopersmith Professor Department of History Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4236 979.739.4708 (cell) 979.862.4314 (fax) Voting challenges: https://theeagle.com/opinion/columnists/texas-should-be-the-model-for-secur… Preserving space archives: https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/ International standards battles: https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/geek-life/history/lets-thwart-this-terr… <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/geek-life/h…> *FAXED. The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine* (Johns Hopkins University Press) ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) <donotreply(a)wordpress.com > Date: Fri, Oct 1, 2021 at 11:23 AM Subject: [New post] CALL: KQED is looking for a technology historian with expertise in the development of voice technologies to interview for a reporting project. To: <j-coopersmith(a)tamu.edu> sonja posted: "KQED, a major NPR/PBS affiliate based in San Francisco is looking for a technology historian with expertise in the development of voice technologies to interview for a reporting project. The project, titled The VoiceBot Chronicles, focuses on how human" New post on *Society for the History of Technology (SHOT)* <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.historyoftechnology.org/?author=12_…> CALL: KQED is looking for a technology historian with expertise in the development of voice technologies to interview for a reporting project. <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.historyoftechnology.org/2021/10/01/…> by sonja <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.historyoftechnology.org/?author=12_…> KQED, a major NPR/PBS affiliate based in San Francisco is looking for a technology historian with expertise in the development of voice technologies to interview for a reporting project. The project, titled The VoiceBot Chronicles, focuses on how humans are coping with living in a world increasingly mediated by voice technologies - from automated customer service agents to talking cars to voice assistants like Alexa and Siri. One section of the project focuses in on history -- looking in particular at the evolution of voice agents that aim to mimic human "personalities" and "emotions." KQED especially welcomes input from a historian who comes from a diverse background -- eg perhaps someone who identifies as a woman or nonbinary person, and/or is a person of color. If you are interested in sharing your expertise with KQED for this project, which would take 30-60 minutes of your time over zoom, please get in touch with reporter Chloe Veltman at cveltman(a)kqed.org. *sonja <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.historyoftechnology.org/?author=12_…>* | October 1, 2021 at 3:22 pm | Categories: Miscellania <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.historyoftechnology.org/?taxonomy=c…>, Publications <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.historyoftechnology.org/?taxonomy=c…> | URL: https://wp.me/p8P8Xs-Pb <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://wp.me/p8P8Xs-Pb__;!!KwNVnqRv!Uk6wqvHJZ1…> Comment <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.historyoftechnology.org/2021/10/01/…> See all comments <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.historyoftechnology.org/2021/10/01/…> Unsubscribe <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://public-api.wordpress.com/bar/?stat=groo…> to no longer receive posts from Society for the History of Technology (SHOT). Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://public-api.wordpress.com/bar/?stat=groo…>. *Trouble clicking?* Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://www.historyoftechnology.org/2021/10/01/call-kqed-is-looking-for-a-t… <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.historyoftechnology.org/2021/10/01/…>

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#SIGCIS2021 Post-Conference Thank You!
by Laine Nooney 30 Sep '21

30 Sep '21

Dear SIGCIS Community, Just sending a brief note of heartfelt thanks and appreciation to everyone who was able to drop in to the conference (and to those of you watching the videos!). Feedback on the event has been tremendously positive, and extended the sense that we are a thriving, generous international community. And to pass on an important announcement: given the unprecedented success of this event--including the geographic and disciplinary range of individuals able to participate, as a fundraising vehicle, and the sincerely felt intellectual camaraderie--the SIGCIS Meetings team is making it our recommendation that our conference move to an online format every other year. We still believe in the fundamental value of meeting in person, but we also want to offer a routine way of convening that is financially and geographically accessible to the whole community. If you have thoughts on this, feel free to send them to me, or to our Exec Co-Chairs, Melanie Swalwell and Andy Russell. Obviously this conference is more than the sum of its parts, but each of you who participated, shared generously, engaged sincerely, and held space for one another, are part of the equation that made this conference such a success. Thank you. Warmly, -Laine, Stephanie, Xiaochang, and Morgan Laine Nooney <http://www.lainenooney.com/> Assistant Professor | MCC <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/> @ NYU <http://www.nyu.edu/> | she/they -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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Shiva Ayyadurai - still challenging electronic reality
by Jonathan Coopersmith 26 Sep '21

26 Sep '21

a blast from the past, but in a more damaging (and lucrative?) role https://news.yahoo.com/arizona-gop-hired-anti-vaccine-104148614.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/23/us/arizona-election-review.html Stay sane and keep wearing a mask (partially for you; more for others), Jonathan Jonathan Coopersmith Professor Department of History Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4236 979.739.4708 (cell) 979.862.4314 (fax) Voting challenges: https://theeagle.com/opinion/columnists/texas-should-be-the-model-for-secur… Preserving space archives: https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/ International standards battles: https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/geek-life/history/lets-thwart-this-terr… <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/geek-life/h…> *FAXED. The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine* (Johns Hopkins University Press)

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faxing, covid, and printout v faxing confusion
by Jonathan Coopersmith 24 Sep '21

24 Sep '21

At the risk of self-promotion, this might be of interest, if only to note the photo with a computer printout and not faxed sheets - I pointed out the error to the author https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210903-how-covid-19-could-finally-be-t… Stay sane and keep wearing a mask (partially for you; more for others), Jonathan Jonathan Coopersmith Professor Department of History Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-4236 979.739.4708 (cell) 979.862.4314 (fax) Voting challenges: https://theeagle.com/opinion/columnists/texas-should-be-the-model-for-secur… Preserving space archives: https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/ International standards battles: https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/geek-life/history/lets-thwart-this-terr… <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/geek-life/h…> *FAXED. The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine* (Johns Hopkins University Press)

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Special Issue on the Histories of Computing in Oceania
by Janet Toland 21 Sep '21

21 Sep '21

Dear SIGCIS Members, I would like to let you know about a call for papers for a special issue of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing on Oceania. https://www.computer.org/digital-library/magazines/an/call-for-papers-speci… We are particularly keen to receive articles from the wider Pacific region (South Pacific and Papua New Guinea) alongside submissions from Australia and New Zealand. Please do feel free to share this call more widely. Regards Janet Dr Janet Toland Associate Professor in Information Systems Victoria University of Wellington/ Te Herenga Waka +64 4 463 6861 Editor: From Yesterday to Tomorrow 60 Years of Tech in New Zealand https://history.itp.nz/

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Google's Grace Hopper Subsea Cable Lands in the UK
by Brian Randell 21 Sep '21

21 Sep '21

Hi: From PCMag: "Google's Grace Hopper undersea cable has landed in the UK. Acting as a new link between the US, UK, and Spain, the internet cable stretches 3,900 miles from New York to Cornwall and Bilbao. Grace Hopper, one of the first new cables to bridge the US and UK since 2003, joins Google's quartet of private networks—Curie, Dunant, Equiano, and Firmina—in tethering distant continents along the ocean floor. . . . The cable is named after computer science pioneer Grace Brewster Murray Hopper, US Navy rear admiral and inventor of one of the first linkers—critical in the development of the high-level COBOL programming language. She is also credited as an early programmer of the Harvard Mark 1 computer and was awarded 40 honorary degrees from universities across the world. Hopper died at the age of 85 on Jan. 1, 1992." Full story: https://uk.pcmag.com/news/135690/googles-grace-hopper-subsea-cable-lands-in… Cheers Brian Randell — School of Computing, Newcastle University, 1 Science Square, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE4 5TG EMAIL = Brian.Randell(a)ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 208 7923 URL = http://www.ncl.ac.uk/computing/people/profile/brianrandell.html

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Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair dies aged 81
by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo 16 Sep '21

16 Sep '21

In case you missed it https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/16/home-computing-pioneer-s… -- ================== Twitter @BatizLazo Cash and Dash: How ATMs and Computers Changed Banking By Bernardon Batiz-Lazo (Oxford University Press, 2018) https://global.oup.com/academic/product/cash-and-dash-9780198782810?cc=gb&l… The Book of Payments: Historical and Contemporary Views on the Cashless Society Edited by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo and Leonidas Efthymiou (Palgrave, 2016) http://www.palgrave.com/de/book/9781137602305 Technological Innovation in Retail Finance: International Historical Perspectives Edited by Bernardo Batiz-Lazo, J. Carles Maixé-Altés, and Paul Thomes (Routledge, 2011) http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/details/9780415880671 Home page: https://researchportal.northumbria.ac.uk/en/researchers/bernardo-batizlazo(… Working papers: http://ideas.repec.org/e/pba14.html

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