Dear SIGCIS -
Many of you will already be familiar with Dave Walden’s many contributions to computing history, not only as a member of the Arpanet and Internet communities from his perch at BBN but also as a contributor (and ed board member) to IEEE Annals of the History of Computing and this SIGCIS list and meetings.
I found the essay to be a characteristically succinct and insightful, sitting at the crossroads of practitioners and professional historians, and attentive to the urgent need to document computer history from the vantage point of individual experience. From the abstract: "We have access to memories, papers, and flexibility
in what we study, and how we present what we learn,
that won’t all be available to professional historians.
I believe it is our job to help the computing history
world capture more computing history while it still
exists to be captured."
I hope you enjoy & share -
Andy