Hi everyone -

Some of you might have already seen this message posted to Dave Farber's IP list yesterday. It looks like a fascinating project, and, even better, it looks like CHM has a prominent role in its direction. I wonder if anyone from CHM who is on the list (Dag? Alex?) could say more about it?

Cheers,

Andy

Begin forwarded message:

-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw@cs.cmu.edu>
To: Dave Farber <dave@farber.net>
Sent: Fri, 02 Dec 2011 2:47 PM
Subject: For IP: Grady Booch's new project, "Computing; the Human Experience"

Dave,

I'd like to call IP readers' attention to Grady Booch's new project,
"Computing: The Human Experience". Grady is an IBM Fellow and Chief
Scientist at IBM research; I have held him in high regard for many years.

Grady has now turned his attention to interpreting computing to the
public at large. He's developing a project in a variety of media, aiming
to explain not only the technology but also how it affects everyone and
how individuals following their own passions have shaped it. Think Carl
Sagan's Cosmos, but for computing.

The project is at http://computingthehumanexperience.com/public/

Grady is currently raising seed funding through Kickstarter,
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747241049/computing-a-documentary-of-the-human-experience
In his description there, he says,
"Computing is a story of ambition, passion, invention, creativity,
vision, avarice, and serendipity, powered by a refusal to accept the
limits of our bodies and our minds. From the abacus to the iPad, from
Gutenberg to Google, from Enigma to GPS, we have created computers to
count the uncountable, remember beyond our own experiences, and see the
invisible as well as the unforeseeable. To explore computing is the 21st
Century equivalent of Cousteau exploring the sea, of Hughes exploring
modern art, and of Burns exploring the American experience through the
Civil War, baseball, and jazz. "

There's an e-week article at
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/IT-Infrastructure/IBM-Chief-Scientist-to-Launch-TV-Series-on-Computing-340515/

and an InfoQ article at
http://www.infoq.com/news/2011/12/booch-tv

I have the great good fortune to serve on the advisory board for the
project, and I thnk IP'ers will be interested in following its progress.

Mary Shaw