To Janet's suggestion, one of the sf stories that features in Ferro and Swedin's book is Murray Leinster's 1946 short story "A Logic Named Joe <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Logic_Named_Joe>". ( https://www.baen.com/chapters/W200506/0743499107___2.htm ) I've occasionally assigned it to undergrads and it makes for great conversations. Did it change computing? Not sure. But it certainly was prescient. Luke Fernandez Weber State University lfernandez.org On Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 12:25 PM Janet Abbate <abbate@vt.edu> wrote:
Hi Evan,
David Ferro and Eric Swedin’s anthology, "Science Fiction and Computing: Essays on Interlinked Domains" (McFarland & Company, 2011) is a series of essays about science fiction that affected real-life computing. I don’t recall how much coverage there was of pre-1965 SF.
I used to teach Asimov’s short story “The Last Question” (1956), which is one of his most widely read, but I don’t know if it influenced actual computing.
Janet
Dr. Janet Abbate Professor, Science, Technology and Society Virginia Tech Co-director, VT National Capital Region STS program liberalarts.vt.edu/sts www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS https://sites.google.com/vt.edu/stsconnect/
On Mar 17, 2022, at 11:23 AM, Evan Koblentz <evank@njit.edu> wrote:
Good suggestion! Science fiction often tells us about the present, sometimes more than the future.
---- Evan Koblentz
Staff Writer, Office of Strategic Communications Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing
evank@njit.edu (973) 596-3065 Https://web.njit.edu/~evank @TechnicallyEvan
-------- Original message -------- From: Adam Hyland <achyland@uw.edu> Date: 3/17/22 11:15 AM (GMT-05:00) To: Jean Graham <jean.graham@stonybrook.edu> Cc: Evan Koblentz <evank@njit.edu>, "members@SIGCIS.org" < members@sigcis.org> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] The Communicators
I wouldn't know how to begin writing about this, but Asimov comes immediately to mind for pre 1965.
On Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 8:04 AM Jean Graham <jean.graham@stonybrook.edu> wrote: Definitely the people who wrote hacker zines and bulletin boards, not least because they combined a political point of view with their technical writing
On Thu, Mar 17, 2022 at 10:58 AM Evan Koblentz <evank@njit.edu> wrote: I’m interested in a new-to-me research angle: the people who changed computing by writing about it.
Lovelace comes to mind. So do Vannevar Bush and Edmund Berkeley.
• Who else should I consider from prior to 1965? (I have the microcomputer generation covered.) • Are there existing papers on this subject?
Evan A Koblentz Staff Writer, Office of Strategic Communications Adjunct Instructor, Ying Wu College of Computing evan.a.koblentz@njit.edu • (973) 596-3065 https://web.njit.edu/~evank @TechnicallyEvan
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-- Adam Hyland (he/him) adampunk.com UW HCDE PhD Student _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org