Hi all, Just a "follow-up" to Tom Haigh's suggestion -- he is exactly right: "There are really an enormous number of topics that could be fitted into this call." See the detailed listing of possible ACM Research materials, linked to: <http://history.acm.org/content.php?do=fellowship> 1. GOOD proposals are what ACM's History Committee is looking for -- and needs to see. Please don't send in incomplete, poorly done attempts. That will do no one credit. 2. The ACM headquarters papers are still being processed at CBI as we speak. For questions about possible access, prior to the archiving project's completion, please contact Loralee Bloom <bloom191@umn.edu>. 3. The HC wants to draw attention to the entire range of historical materials that the ACM has devoted resources to. In addition to traditional paper-based archives, there are also on-line "raw materials" for a possible project: oral histories, ACM Turing prize websites, and a treasure-trove of historical material in ACM's immense "Digital Library." For the latter, you'll need to get access through your university/institution (or by joining ACM including Digital Library access). You can find there full text of most ACM journals and proceedings since 1950 . . . publications of affiliated organization (24 journals, including ALGOL Bulletin [1959-84], Computational Linguistics [1980--], Very Large Data Bases [1975--], etc.) . . . AFIPS Joint Computer Conferences 1951-84 . . . . Many thanks, Tom Misa On Mar 25 2009, Thomas Haigh wrote:
Hello everyone,
Let me just encourage you to follow up on Tom's call to ensure a good supply high grade proposals.
As far as I know CBI has not yet issued a finding aid for its new ACM collection, so taking advantage of existing collections with published finding aids could be a valuable complement. In working out a proposal you may find useful my article "Sources for ACM History: What, Where, Why" (with Elizabeth Kaplan and Carrie Seib), Communications of the ACM 50:5 (May 2007):36-41. http://www.tomandmaria.com/tom/Writing/ACMHistorySources.pdf This includes discussion (mostly by the coauthors, who are formed CBI archivists) of ACM related materials in archival centers across the country. There are really an enormous number of topics that could be fitted into this call.
According to the CBI blog at http://blog.lib.umn.edu/horow021/cbi/ you can email horow021@umn.edu if you want to know more about the new collection.
If you're interested in seeing what else the ACM History Committee has been doing its website at http://history.acm.org/ includes links and minutes. Back in 2003/4 as an original member of the ACM History Committee I did my best to convince its non-historian members that the three most effective and cost effective investments the association could make to ensure that its own history and the history of its field were told would be (1) get its papers archived at a major center, (2) set up grants in aid, and (3) sponsor a SHOT prize. I'm thrilled to see that the ACM (prompted I'm sure by Tom Misa's and Bill Aspray's skills of charm and persuasion rather than any influence of my own long ago suggestions) has now acted on the two most important of these.
Tom
-----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of tmisa@umn.edu Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2009 8:42 AM To: SIGCIS special interest group Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] ACM-HC: Short-term Fellowships in ACM History (deadline 30 April)
Dear colleagues,
Please think seriously about developing a proposal for this new fellowship opportunity. As I mentioned in the "early" version, this is an experiment. If there are numerous, high-quality proposals it's more likely that the experiment will continue. The 'fine print' is true: there are not extensive requirements or restrictions; the intent is to cultivate ACM history -- and to draw attention -- and use -- to the ACM research materials.
Best, Tom Misa
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website: <history.acm.org/content.php?do=fellowship>
ACM History Committee Short-term Fellowships in ACM History
The Association for Computing Machinery, founded in 1947, is the oldest and largest educational and scientific society dedicated to the computing profession, and today has members in more than 100 countries. To encourage historical research, the ACM History Committee announces a new program of short-term fellowships in ACM history. This year we plan to make up to two $2,500 awards to support historical research on the wide variety of ACM related activities, including ACM members, officers, and prize winners, as well as ACM as an organization. Successful candidates may be of any rank, from graduate students through senior researchers.
To Apply:
Applicants should send 2-page CV as well as a 750-word project description that [a] describes the proposed research project; [b] identifies the importance of specific ACM historical materials, whether traditional archival collections or online historical materials (oral histories, digitized conference papers, ACM organizational records, et al.); and [c] discusses the project's planned outcome (e.g. conference paper, journal article, book or dissertation chapter, teaching resource, museum exhibit, etc.).
In preparing a proposal, applicants should examine the extensive list of ACM historical resources posted at <history.acm.org/content.php?do=fellowship>. Other research materials relating to ACM's rich history may also be used. Applications should include a letter of endorsement from their home department or institution.
Proposals are due by 30 April 2009. Proposals should be submitted as .pdf documents to <history-webmaster@acm.org>. Notification of awards will be made within six weeks.
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-- Thomas J. Misa Director, Charles Babbage Institute 211 Andersen Library 222 - 21st Avenue South University of Minnesota Minneapolis, MN 55455 612 624.5050 tel 612 625.8054 fax http://www.cbi.umn.edu Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Program for History of Science, Technology & Medicine ===========================================================