Hello SIGCIS, Just a reminder that the 6th International Conference on the History and Philosophy of Computing (HAPOC) will be getting underway in Zurich next week. It's a hybrid event, and registration is free at https://hapoc2021.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/16. For in person participants that even include free meals if you register by Sunday, Oct 24. For those of you who can't make it to Zurich, no food but the talks will still be free. The program (https://hapoc2021.sciencesconf.org/resource/page/id/14) kicks off at 09:00 on Oct 27 and wraps up at 14:00 on Oct 29. An exciting lineup of talks, including Turing Award winner Barbara Liskov (https://amturing.acm.org/award_winners/liskov_1108679.cfm). I'll be giving one of the keynotes at 14:00 local time, with the title "Becoming Universal: A New History of Modern Computing." The picks up on one of the themes of my new book with Paul Ceruzzi - we see the entire history of computing as a series of transformations in which the computer becomes new things. Our idea of a complex historical process through which computer technology slowly approximated universal status contrasts with the logicians' view of computer history, in which the modern computer was universal from the very beginning because it could be equated with Turing's universal machine. That seemed topical as the event is hosted by the Turing Center at ETH. I hope I'll have a chance to catch up with a few of you there, and rediscover what a somewhat in person event feels like. Best wishes, Tom www.tomandmaria.com/tom <http://www.tomandmaria.com/tom>