I'm glad you mentioned Asimov, because it jogged my memory: Asimov, I., Warrick, P. S., & Greenberg, M. H. (1984). Machines that Think: the best science fiction stories about robots and computers. Henry Holt & Co.

It has some very good stories, including one of my personal favorites: A Logic Named Joe, which effectively describes modern client/server computing as a universal information resource.  Asimov leaves tying together the stories to the theme as an 'exercise for the student'.  -- Ian 

On Fri, Aug 17, 2018 at 3:21 PM, Janet Abbate <abbate@fastmail.com> wrote:
David Ferro and Eric Swedin edited a volume called "Science Fiction and Computing: Essays on Interlinked Domains” (McFarland & Company, 2011).  I have an essay in there on Vernor Vinge and the Internet.

I used to assign SF in an undergrad history of technology course as a way for students to grasp both cultural meanings of technology and the fact that assumptions about how technology will evolve are often wrong. For example, Isaac Asimov’s 1956 story “The Last Question” (which students love) assumes that as computers get more powerful they must become physically larger, culminating with planet-sized supercomputers. Miniaturization was not a self-evident trend. Then I ask students what current conventional wisdom about computers might be wrong.

Janet

> On Aug 17, 2018, at 11:48 AM, David C. Brock <dcb@dcbrock.net> wrote:
>
> Dear All,
>
> I would be very grateful to learn of your favorite pieces that you’ve read on this topic: the place, role, and function of science fiction and science fiction fandom in the history of technology, and especially the history of computing. I’m wholly ignorant about it, bibliographically.
>
> Thanks as ever,
>
> David
>
> +++++++++++++++
> David C. Brock
> dcb@dcbrock.net
> 40 Russell Street, Greenfield, MA 01301
> Mobile: 413-522-3578
> Skype: dcbrock
> Twitter: @dcbrock
>
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--
Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate
The Information School
Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens

Principal Investigator, "Reflections on Early Computing and Social Change", UW IRB #42619


University of Washington

There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."