Dear Colleagues, 

IFIP’s Working Group 9.7 is pleased to announce two updates: we have formed our Program Committee and Springer-Nature has accepted our proposal to publish a proceedings volume of selected, edited papers. Although the CoVID-19 coronavirus travel restrictions are daunting, our plan is to meet at the South China University of Technology (SCUT) in Guangzhou, China, from 4 to 8 December 2020 unless further developments require an adjustment. Our biannual meeting will be dedicated to the histories of computing in Asia.

As previously announced, the Program Committee is willing to review extended abstracts from anyone who wishes feedback before submitting a draft paper. For information on how to submit your abstract for an optional review, fill out the form on our website (http://ifipwg97.org/workshops/hca2020/). If you do not wish to submit an abstract, you may still submit a draft paper before June 1.

Please feel forward to anyone who might be interested, and let me know if you have any questions. 

Chris Leslie 

Christopher Leslie, Ph.D.
Lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, South China University of Technology 
Chair, IFIP Working Group 9.7 - History of Computing 

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HCA 2020: Second Call for Papers 

HISTORIES OF COMPUTING IN ASIA

SOUTH CHINA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
GUANGZHOU • DECEMBER 2020

Our proposed workshop will bring together international and Chinese academic researchers, public historians, and industry professionals who are interested in the history of computing. The Program Committee now welcomes the submission of extended abstracts from those researchers who would like comments on their projects before submitting a full paper. 

THEMES

The theme of conference will be histories of computing in Asia, with a particular emphasis on contextualizing China’s success in computing. The program committee will consider any paper in line with this theme, but we are particularly interested in topics such as: 

  1. China, Asia, and Beyond. The rapid rise of Chinese computing:
    1. electronic computing and the three phases of Chinese manufacturing: introduction, digestion, re-innovation
    2. computing innovations by Chinese professionals, both within the PRC and by overseas Chinese in other countries
    3. antecedents to business models like the sharing economy, e-payments, and online shopping that led to success for Alibaba, Tencent, and others
    4. computing in the Asian republics of the former USSR (such as Kazakhstan)
  2. Internationalism. Frameworks that foster multinational cooperation and innovation:
    1. computing on the silk road, and along the modern belt and road
    2. standards, protocols, and diplomacy 
    3. machine translation, global English, and language plurality
  3. Science and Technology Studies. History and philosophy of technology, from east to west:
    1. theoretical and ideological responses to computing
    2. case studies of equitable technological development
    3. insights from feminist, masculinity, and gender studies
    4. linguistic analysis in the history of computing, computing’s contributions to linguistics 
  4. Pedagogy. Teaching the history of computing in or about Asia to:
    1. engineering students
    2. business, humanities, and social science students
    3. high school students
    4. employees or the general public 
  5. Public History and Imagination. Remembering and presenting histories of computing:
    1. images of computing in literature, film, and television
    2. computing in/with/for the arts and humanities
    3. preserving and presenting the history of computing inside and outside of Asia

REVIEW PROCESS

Academic and amateur historians, computing and informatics professionals, archivists, and museum curators are welcome to submit papers for this workshop. Following our typical practice, we will ask for full papers for anonymous peer review by our Program Committee. Accepted papers must be revised according to the comments of the peer reviewers. In order to provide for a lively discussion at the workshop, we will distribute draft papers to participants in advance. After the workshop, authors will have the chance to incorporate feedback from the audience before preparing their final versions. These will be considered for inclusion in the volume of edited, selected papers, which will be published by Springer-Nature in the IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology series. The official language of the workshop and the printed proceedings is English.

IMPORTANT DATES

  • Before 31 March 2020: Optional submission of extended abstracts (500–1500 words and bibliography) for review by the Program Committee
  • 1 May to 1 June 2020: Draft papers accepted for consideration by the Program Committee
  • 1 September 2020: Comments from Program Committee, decisions, and invitations sent to authors
  • 4 November 2020: Collection of papers, revised based on reviewer comments and using Springer template, for distribution to workshop participants
  • 4 December 2020: Participants arrive in Guangzhou, China
  • 13 January 2021: Revised papers due for consideration in proceedings volume, which will be published by Springer in the IFIP AICT series.
For instructions on how to submit your extended abstract or draft paper, please fill out the form at http://ifipwg97.org/workshops/hca2020/

Enquires in advance of your submission may be addressed to the chair of the working group, Christopher Leslie, at <chrisleslienyc@hotmail.com>.