In 1949, the German computer pioneer Konrad Zuse and his closest colleagues considered fleeing to Switzerland with their families. This is evident from a request dated October 20, 1949, which the president of the Swiss Federal School Board, Hans Palmann, sent to the relevant border authorities. In this letter, which was only recently discovered in the archive of the ETH Library in Zurich, he asked the authorities at the Swiss-German border not to turn Zuse and his colleagues back. For more details see https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-a-010001424 Warum wollte Konrad Zuse 1949 in die Schweiz fliehen? https://www.research-collection.ethz.ch/entities/publication/5da6f225-32b6-4... and Bruderer, Herbert: Milestones in Analog and Digital Computing, Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Cham, 3rd edition 2020, 2 volumes, 2113 pages, 715 illustrations, 151 tables, translated from the German by Dr John McMinn, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40974-6 Best, Herbert
Ceruzzi, Paul via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org> hat am 30.12.2025 16:30 CET geschrieben:
Congratulations on an excellent issue of the IEEE Annals. I especially enjoyed the piece by Raúl Rojas https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Ra%FAl&surname=Rojas, about Konrad Zuse and Operation Paperclip. It clarified a lot of questions I had about Zuse's postwar activities. One of the reports retrieved from the Archives mentioned concern that the US Army had about Zuse's plant being located so close to the East German border. More than that: Zuse's residence, in the town of Huenfeld, was very close not only to the border, but to the "Fulda Gap": the low plain that the US and NATO thought would be a route of a Soviet invasion to the west. It has been called "the hottest place in the Cold War." I can't find the documents, but I had read evidence that the Army made plans to secure Zuse in the event of an invasion across the Gap.
Here's the Wikipedia entry about the modest museum/installation commemorating the Gap: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Observation_Post_Alpha
Best,
Paul Ceruzzi
--------------------------------------------- From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Jeffrey Yost via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org> Sent: Saturday, December 27, 2025 5:26 PM To: Troy Astarte <t.k.astarte@swansea.ac.uk> Cc: sigcis <members@sigcis.org> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Our "Automation by Design..." Special Issue of IEEE Annals is out!
External Email - Exercise Caution
Many thanks Troy!! Colette, Con and I are so grateful for your amazing work and guidance in helping to make this issue happen and to making it shine!!
I posted on social platforms on the articles that we as guest editors worked directly with, and quickly cut and pasted from that to the SIGCIS listserv before heading out to visit family in the Pacific NW for the holidays. Tremendous thanks to all who contributed content appearing in the issue--I so enjoyed and appreciate these wonderful department articles and the issue in its entirity!!
Happy upcoming New Year's Eve/Day to all!
Best, Jeff
* * * * * * Jeffrey Yost, Ph.D. Director, Charles Babbage Institute for Computing, Information & Culture Research Professor, History of Sci., Tech., Med., University of Minnesota
Just Code: Power, Inequality and the Political Economy of IT (Johns Hopkins U. Press out in Nov. 2025 co-edited w/ Gerardo Con Diaz) https://press.jhu.edu/books/title/12804/just-code Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry (MIT Press) https://amzn.to/3gqe4R6 Studies in Computing and Culture book series, Johns Hopkins U. Press https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/series/studies-computing-and-culture Co-Editor (w/ Con Diaz) PI, NSF-funded CBI project "Mining a Useable Past: Perspectives, Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy." Blockchain & Society https://www.blockchainandsociety.com/ (crit. inq. essays & resources) (Founder/Leader)
Interfaces: Essays and Reviews in Computing and Culture https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces Co-Editor-in-Chief (w/ Amanda Wick)
On Sat, Dec 27, 2025, 8:01 AM Troy Astarte <t.k.astarte@swansea.ac.uk mailto:t.k.astarte@swansea.ac.uk> wrote:
Dear all,
Jeff, many thanks for announcing this for me! Its publication while I was at a conference/on leave delayed my own announcement. I’ll forgo an additional email, but will give the full ToC here.
You can find the issue on the Computer Society Digital Library https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2025/04 or IEEE Xplore https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.jsp?punumber=85 according to your preference/subscription. Here is the table of contents:
Guest Editors’ Introduction
Introduction to Automation by Design https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2025/04/11304148/2cygClfVW8w by Colette Perold https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Colette&surname=Perold, Jeffrey R. Yost https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Jeffrey%20R.&surname=Yost
Theme Articles: Automation by Design
Digital Construction Comes to the Pacific Northwest: Timber and the Landscapes of Automation https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2025/04/11031182/27sQG5Y18u4 by Megan Wiessner https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Megan&surname=Wiessner
Machinery of Ethnic Cleansing: Punched Card Machines and the 1920 Greek Population Census https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2025/04/11208589/2aYh0oUQOZi by Christos Karampatsos https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Christos&surname=Karampatsos, Polyxeni Malisova https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Polyxeni&surname=Malisova
Autocoding at Work: COBOL and the Specification of the American Office https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2025/04/10938681/25n2yWIBtYI by David E. Dunning https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=David%20E.&surname=Dunning
Governing Collaboration: Data and Work Relationships in U.K. Software for Building Design, 1970–1980 https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2025/04/11029403/27qQcf3RL6E by Eliza Pertigkiozoglou https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Eliza&surname=Pertigkiozoglou
The Legality of Logistics: On Techno-Orientalism and Geopolitics in Semiconductor Production https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2025/04/10964384/25UAaLnTI88 by Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Ranjodh%20Singh&surname=Dhaliwal
Theme Think Piece
Computing Racial Order https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2025/04/11304157/2cygCLOhoyI by Jason Ludwig https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Jason&surname=Ludwig
Department: Anecdotes
Konrad Zuse and Operation Paperclip https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2025/04/11304160/2cygBlQCgta by Raúl Rojas https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Ra%FAl&surname=Rojas
A Simulated Differential Analyzer https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2025/04/11304149/2cygBMGhfPi by Richard Pawson https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Richard&surname=Pawson
Department: Events and Sightings
“The Computer in Motion”: Symposium Report From the 27th International Congress of History of Science and Technology (ICHST) https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/an/2025/04/11304150/2cygBSWAvLy by Ksenia Tatarchenko https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Ksenia&surname=Tatarchenko, Barbara Hof https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Barbara&surname=Hof, Arianna Borrelli https://www.computer.org/csdl/search/default?type=author&givenName=Arianna&surname=Borrelli
Best,
Dr. Troy Kaighin Astarte (they/them / nhw)
I often dictate messages due to motor disability; please forgive any oddities resulting.
Senior Lecturer, Computer Science / Uwch Darlithydd, Cyfrifiadureg Swansea University / Prifysgol Abertawe Editor-in-Chief / Prif Olygydd, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
troyastarte.com https://troyastarte.com/
For students: my drop in hours are on the Intranet https://fse-intranet.swan.ac.uk/intranet/staff_officehours?selected_staff_id... (office CoFo 407) I fyfyrwyr: mae fy oriau swyddfa ar y fewnrwyd. Meeting booking: via Office Booking https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/8e101a47e22e4af793d033901758d0e4@Swansea.ac.uk/meetingtype/SVRwCe7HMUGxuT6WGxi68g2?anonymous&ep=mlink. Zoom office: https://swanseauniversity.zoom.us/my/t.k.astarte
Every email has a cost to the climate. Please think before sending short emails. Mae gan bob e-bost gost i’r hinsawdd. Meddyliwch cyn i chi anfon e-byst byr.
On 19 Dec 2025, at 18:26, Jeffrey Yost via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org mailto:members@lists.sigcis.org> wrote:
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of Swansea University. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know the content is safe.
RHYBUDD: Daeth yr e-bost hwn o'r tu allan i Brifysgol Abertawe. Peidiwch â chlicio ar atodiadau neu agor atodiadau oni bai eich bod chi'n adnabod yr anfonwr a'ch bod yn gwybod bod y cynnwys yn ddiogel.
Many thanks to David Hemmendinger for a correction. Given there is only 2008 to 2022 content on MUSE for IEEE Annals now, there seems to be a few years delay, but it is available now at IEEE Xplore. David also pointed out that it is available on the IEEE Annals main page too as of today. (it was on Xplore a day earlier, yesterday). That CSDL IEEE Annals' URL is: http://computer.org/annals
Best, Jeff
Jeffrey Yost, Ph.D. Director, Charles Babbage Institute for Computing, Information & Culture Research Professor, History of Sci., Tech., Med., University of Minnesota
Just Code: Power, Inequality and the Political Economy of IT (Johns Hopkins U. Press out in Nov. 2025 co-edited w/ Gerardo Con Diaz) https://press.jhu.edu/books/title/12804/just-code Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry (MIT Press) https://amzn.to/3gqe4R6 Studies in Computing and Culture book series, Johns Hopkins U. Press https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/series/studies-computing-and-culture Co-Editor (w/ Con Diaz) PI, NSF-funded CBI project "Mining a Useable Past: Perspectives, Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy." Blockchain & Society https://www.blockchainandsociety.com/ (crit. inq. essays & resources) (Founder/Leader)
Interfaces: Essays and Reviews in Computing and Culture https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces Co-Editor-in-Chief (w/ Amanda Wick)
On Fri, Dec 19, 2025 at 10:45 AM Jeffrey Yost <yostx003@umn.edu mailto:yostx003@umn.edu> wrote:
Dear Colleagues,
Wanted to share the news that our special issue of IEEE Annals of the History of Computing entitled "Automation by Design: Politics, Culture, and Landscape in an Age of Machines That Learn" came out yesterday!
It is now available on IEEE Xplore and soon will be on MUSE too. Colette Perold and my historiographically-contextualizing article "Introduction to Automation by Design" is open access as are a few of the articles (IEEE Digital Library, link below as a UMN z link, and many libraries subscribe to IEEE library & or MUSE where there is complete access). Special thanks to Honghong Tinn, who joined Colette, me, and Con on our 2023 CBI Symposium of the same name. It was an interdisciplinary event (History, STS, Sociology, Media Studies...) and this issue represents select historical-oriented articles. Articles and authors are listed below.
It was so wonderful to partner with tremendously gifted colleagues/friends Colette and Con on this issue and an honor for us to work with such an incredibly talented group of article authors writing cutting edge scholarship on the history of automation/"artificial intelligence"!!
Many thanks to IEEE Annals EiC Troy Astarte for helpful guidance throughout!
Happy holidays to everyone!
https://z.umn.edu/AutomationbyDesign
Best, Jeff Articles Introduction to Automation by Design Colette Perold and Jeffrey R. Yost 6-10 Digital Construction Comes to the Pacific Northwest: Timber and the Landscapes of Automation Megan Wiessner 11 - 23
Machinery of Ethnic Cleansing: Punched Card Machines and the 1920 Greek Population Census Christos Karampatsos; Polyxeni Malisova 24 - 37
Autocoding at Work: COBOL and the Specification of the American Office David E. Dunning 38 - 49
Governing Collaboration: Data and Work Relationships in U.K. Software for Building Design, 1970–1980 Eliza Pertigkiozoglou 50 - 62
The Legality of Logistics: On Techno-Orientalism and Geopolitics in Semiconductor Production Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal 63 - 77
Computing Racial Order Jason Ludwig 79-83 * * * * * * Jeffrey Yost, Ph.D. Director, Charles Babbage Institute for Computing, Information & Culture Research Professor, History of Sci., Tech., Med., University of Minnesota
Just Code: Power, Inequality and the Political Economy of IT (Johns Hopkins U. Press out in Nov. 2025 co-edited w/ Gerardo Con Diaz) https://press.jhu.edu/books/title/12804/just-code Making IT Work: A History of the Computer Services Industry (MIT Press) https://amzn.to/3gqe4R6 Studies in Computing and Culture book series, Johns Hopkins U. Press https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/series/studies-computing-and-culture Co-Editor (w/ Con Diaz) PI, NSF-funded CBI project "Mining a Useable Past: Perspectives, Paradoxes, and Possibilities with Security and Privacy." Blockchain & Society https://www.blockchainandsociety.com/ (crit. inq. essays & resources) (Founder/Leader)
Interfaces: Essays and Reviews in Computing and Culture https://cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces Co-Editor-in-Chief (w/ Amanda Wick)
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