Dear Colleagues, If you are in New York City and would like to see a slice of computing history, consider visiting the New-York Historical Society exhibit called Silicon City: Computer History Made in New York. The exhibit ends 2016 April 17. A link to exhibit information is http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/silicon-city-computer-history-made-new-... The exhibit is at 170 Central Park West (77th Street), next to the American Museum of Natural History. I wish you all a pleasant holiday season. John John Impagliazzo, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Hofstra University IEEE Life Fellow ACM Distinguished Educator
Would also like to encourage others to go, perhaps most especially to start a conversation about how we can imagine computer histories. I attended yesterday with a colleague and left feeling dismayed--the sticky fingers of IBM (a major donor for the exhibit) appeared to be all over it (at one point I openly laughed at some wall text that described Apple as a "plucky startup" but insisting IBM *really* drove the tech revolution). There are a few special, very sincere parts--the 1964 Worlds Fair dome, the focus on NYC's role in electronic art and music (Cage, Bell Labs, etc) but otherwise reads like the history of computing told through the history of IBM--which feels strange given that there's no special effort to frame IBM as a *regionalist *company. Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's impressions...feel free to drop me an email. On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 11:53 AM John Impagliazzo < John.Impagliazzo@hofstra.edu> wrote:
Dear Colleagues,
If you are in New York City and would like to see a slice of computing history, consider visiting the New-York Historical Society exhibit called *Silicon City: Computer History Made in New York*. The exhibit ends 2016 April 17. A link to exhibit information is
http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/silicon-city-computer-history-made-new-...
The exhibit is at 170 Central Park West (77th Street), next to the American Museum of Natural History.
I wish you all a pleasant holiday season.
John
*John Impagliazzo**, Ph.D.*
*Professor Emeritus, Hofstra University*
*IEEE Life Fellow*
*ACM Distinguished Educator*
_______________________________________________ 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
-- Laine Nooney www.lainenooney.com DM <http://dm.lmc.gatech.edu/> @ LMC <http://lmc.gatech.edu/> @ GT <http://www.gatech.edu/> Assistant Professor
Would also like to encourage others to go, perhaps most especially to start a conversation about how we can imagine computer histories. I attended yesterday with a colleague and left feeling dismayed--the sticky fingers of IBM (a major donor for the exhibit) appeared to be all over it (at one point I openly laughed at some wall text that described Apple as a "plucky startup" but insisting IBM /really/ drove the tech revolution). There are a few special, very sincere parts--the 1964 Worlds Fair dome, the focus on NYC's role in electronic art and music (Cage, Bell Labs, etc) but otherwise reads like the history of computing told through the history of IBM--which feels strange given that there's no special effort to frame IBM as a /regionalist /company.
Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's impressions...feel free to drop me an email.
I'm planning to go soon. NYHS asked for my assistance several months ago. I provided a lot of feedback about NY computer history beyond Big Blue. They said I'd be credited as a consultant, so I am disappointed to hear that the exhibition is basically just an IBM gig. I hope that didn't claim Bell Labs as a NY entity. Statue of Liberty is in * New Jersey * waters, the "New York" Giants and Jets both play in New Jersey, now Bell Labs? Note to myself .... go see the exhibit firsthand before getting judgmental. :) In 1966 -- a decade * before * IBM started telling customers that real computers are made out of metal by east coast corporations, not plastic by west coast hippies -- Steven Grey began publishing the "Amateur Computer Society" newsletter from his home in Manhattan. This was before the Mother of All Demos, Xerox PARC, and the People's Computer Company. Upon starting his newsletter, Gray contacted IBM to see about funding. IBM replied with a very nice letter saying no. The letter is signed by Thomas Watson Jr. -- there are copies online, but the original is at the (Wall, N.J.) InfoAge Science Center where I run the computer wing. Tens years later, when Creative Computing, Byte, DDJ, etc. all emerged, and the photocopied ACS newsletter closed, IBM invited Gray to lecture about this "new" idea of microcomputing -- in the Thomas Watson Research Center. I'm just saying. :)
Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's impressions...feel free to drop me an email.
I'm planning to go soon.
NYHS asked for my assistance several months ago. I provided a lot of feedback about NY computer history beyond Big Blue. They said I'd be credited as a consultant, so I am disappointed to hear that the exhibition is basically just an IBM gig.
I neglected to mention that NYHS this week asked me about putting together some educational programs for the exhibit. Maybe a lecture or a panel discussion. I'd be glad to work with anyone here in SIGCIS who is also interested in the subject. Specifically, I propose a SHOT-style discussion about NY computer history beyond IBM. I call dibs on the ACS angle. :) Laine, John, and our friends at Stevens/NJIT, Columbia, etc. -- I can take the lead on organizing this -- please reply to me directly
Bell Labs did start in 1925 in NYC on West Street as part of Western Electric and moved to Murray Hill, NJ in the early 1940s. A number of folks that I worked with started at the West Street location. So, some of the computing work was done there but much more after that in NJ. --Kim --Kim Tracy tracy@cs.stanford.edu On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 1:57 PM, Evan Koblentz <evan@snarc.net> wrote:
Would also like to encourage others to go, perhaps most especially to
start a conversation about how we can imagine computer histories. I attended yesterday with a colleague and left feeling dismayed--the sticky fingers of IBM (a major donor for the exhibit) appeared to be all over it (at one point I openly laughed at some wall text that described Apple as a "plucky startup" but insisting IBM /really/ drove the tech revolution). There are a few special, very sincere parts--the 1964 Worlds Fair dome, the focus on NYC's role in electronic art and music (Cage, Bell Labs, etc) but otherwise reads like the history of computing told through the history of IBM--which feels strange given that there's no special effort to frame IBM as a /regionalist /company.
Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's impressions...feel free to drop me an email.
I'm planning to go soon.
NYHS asked for my assistance several months ago. I provided a lot of feedback about NY computer history beyond Big Blue. They said I'd be credited as a consultant, so I am disappointed to hear that the exhibition is basically just an IBM gig.
I hope that didn't claim Bell Labs as a NY entity. Statue of Liberty is in * New Jersey * waters, the "New York" Giants and Jets both play in New Jersey, now Bell Labs? Note to myself .... go see the exhibit firsthand before getting judgmental. :)
In 1966 -- a decade * before * IBM started telling customers that real computers are made out of metal by east coast corporations, not plastic by west coast hippies -- Steven Grey began publishing the "Amateur Computer Society" newsletter from his home in Manhattan. This was before the Mother of All Demos, Xerox PARC, and the People's Computer Company.
Upon starting his newsletter, Gray contacted IBM to see about funding. IBM replied with a very nice letter saying no. The letter is signed by Thomas Watson Jr. -- there are copies online, but the original is at the (Wall, N.J.) InfoAge Science Center where I run the computer wing.
Tens years later, when Creative Computing, Byte, DDJ, etc. all emerged, and the photocopied ACS newsletter closed, IBM invited Gray to lecture about this "new" idea of microcomputing -- in the Thomas Watson Research Center.
I'm just saying. :)
_______________________________________________ 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
The position of the exhibit was "Greater NYC", which certainly makes sense as a regionalist designation, and allowed the exhibit to extend its scope into spaces like Tennis 4 Two at Brookhaven National Lab in Long Island, Bell Labs in NJ (whose famed artistic-engineering collaborations were largely possible because of proximity to the collective creativity of NYC), and IBM itself in upstate. For the sake of transparency in the record, I also consulted very briefly regarding the games component of the exhibit, but ultimately passed the curator off to my colleague Raiford Guins, who was better specialized in topics the exhibit wanted to focus on. Evan I would be very interested in some sort of panel discussion (rather than a series of presentations) about these issues, especially in collaboration with key exhibit decisionmakers. I'd like to find our common ground here. Perhaps it would be even more valuable to bring in people not yet included in the story--it was surprising to see no representation of NYC's 1990s "Silicon Alley" moment. Other topics drifting include Stacy Horn's ECHO, and the history of NYC's polytechnic schools, as well as programs like ITP @ NYU. thoughtfully, Laine On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 2:09 PM Kim Tracy <tracy@cs.stanford.edu> wrote:
Bell Labs did start in 1925 in NYC on West Street as part of Western Electric and moved to Murray Hill, NJ in the early 1940s. A number of folks that I worked with started at the West Street location. So, some of the computing work was done there but much more after that in NJ.
--Kim
--Kim Tracy tracy@cs.stanford.edu
On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 1:57 PM, Evan Koblentz <evan@snarc.net> wrote:
Would also like to encourage others to go, perhaps most especially to
start a conversation about how we can imagine computer histories. I attended yesterday with a colleague and left feeling dismayed--the sticky fingers of IBM (a major donor for the exhibit) appeared to be all over it (at one point I openly laughed at some wall text that described Apple as a "plucky startup" but insisting IBM /really/ drove the tech revolution). There are a few special, very sincere parts--the 1964 Worlds Fair dome, the focus on NYC's role in electronic art and music (Cage, Bell Labs, etc) but otherwise reads like the history of computing told through the history of IBM--which feels strange given that there's no special effort to frame IBM as a /regionalist /company.
Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's impressions...feel free to drop me an email.
I'm planning to go soon.
NYHS asked for my assistance several months ago. I provided a lot of feedback about NY computer history beyond Big Blue. They said I'd be credited as a consultant, so I am disappointed to hear that the exhibition is basically just an IBM gig.
I hope that didn't claim Bell Labs as a NY entity. Statue of Liberty is in * New Jersey * waters, the "New York" Giants and Jets both play in New Jersey, now Bell Labs? Note to myself .... go see the exhibit firsthand before getting judgmental. :)
In 1966 -- a decade * before * IBM started telling customers that real computers are made out of metal by east coast corporations, not plastic by west coast hippies -- Steven Grey began publishing the "Amateur Computer Society" newsletter from his home in Manhattan. This was before the Mother of All Demos, Xerox PARC, and the People's Computer Company.
Upon starting his newsletter, Gray contacted IBM to see about funding. IBM replied with a very nice letter saying no. The letter is signed by Thomas Watson Jr. -- there are copies online, but the original is at the (Wall, N.J.) InfoAge Science Center where I run the computer wing.
Tens years later, when Creative Computing, Byte, DDJ, etc. all emerged, and the photocopied ACS newsletter closed, IBM invited Gray to lecture about this "new" idea of microcomputing -- in the Thomas Watson Research Center.
I'm just saying. :)
_______________________________________________ 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
-- Laine Nooney www.lainenooney.com DM <http://dm.lmc.gatech.edu/> @ LMC <http://lmc.gatech.edu/> @ GT <http://www.gatech.edu/> Assistant Professor
I am very pleased with the Tennis For Teo exhibit. Hats off to the museum team that put the exhibit together. Raiford On Friday, December 18, 2015, Laine Nooney <laine.nooney@gmail.com> wrote:
The position of the exhibit was "Greater NYC", which certainly makes sense as a regionalist designation, and allowed the exhibit to extend its scope into spaces like Tennis 4 Two at Brookhaven National Lab in Long Island, Bell Labs in NJ (whose famed artistic-engineering collaborations were largely possible because of proximity to the collective creativity of NYC), and IBM itself in upstate.
For the sake of transparency in the record, I also consulted very briefly regarding the games component of the exhibit, but ultimately passed the curator off to my colleague Raiford Guins, who was better specialized in topics the exhibit wanted to focus on.
Evan I would be very interested in some sort of panel discussion (rather than a series of presentations) about these issues, especially in collaboration with key exhibit decisionmakers. I'd like to find our common ground here. Perhaps it would be even more valuable to bring in people not yet included in the story--it was surprising to see no representation of NYC's 1990s "Silicon Alley" moment. Other topics drifting include Stacy Horn's ECHO, and the history of NYC's polytechnic schools, as well as programs like ITP @ NYU.
thoughtfully, Laine
On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 2:09 PM Kim Tracy <tracy@cs.stanford.edu <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','tracy@cs.stanford.edu');>> wrote:
Bell Labs did start in 1925 in NYC on West Street as part of Western Electric and moved to Murray Hill, NJ in the early 1940s. A number of folks that I worked with started at the West Street location. So, some of the computing work was done there but much more after that in NJ.
--Kim
--Kim Tracy tracy@cs.stanford.edu <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','tracy@cs.stanford.edu');>
On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 1:57 PM, Evan Koblentz <evan@snarc.net <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','evan@snarc.net');>> wrote:
Would also like to encourage others to go, perhaps most especially to
start a conversation about how we can imagine computer histories. I attended yesterday with a colleague and left feeling dismayed--the sticky fingers of IBM (a major donor for the exhibit) appeared to be all over it (at one point I openly laughed at some wall text that described Apple as a "plucky startup" but insisting IBM /really/ drove the tech revolution). There are a few special, very sincere parts--the 1964 Worlds Fair dome, the focus on NYC's role in electronic art and music (Cage, Bell Labs, etc) but otherwise reads like the history of computing told through the history of IBM--which feels strange given that there's no special effort to frame IBM as a /regionalist /company.
Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's impressions...feel free to drop me an email.
I'm planning to go soon.
NYHS asked for my assistance several months ago. I provided a lot of feedback about NY computer history beyond Big Blue. They said I'd be credited as a consultant, so I am disappointed to hear that the exhibition is basically just an IBM gig.
I hope that didn't claim Bell Labs as a NY entity. Statue of Liberty is in * New Jersey * waters, the "New York" Giants and Jets both play in New Jersey, now Bell Labs? Note to myself .... go see the exhibit firsthand before getting judgmental. :)
In 1966 -- a decade * before * IBM started telling customers that real computers are made out of metal by east coast corporations, not plastic by west coast hippies -- Steven Grey began publishing the "Amateur Computer Society" newsletter from his home in Manhattan. This was before the Mother of All Demos, Xerox PARC, and the People's Computer Company.
Upon starting his newsletter, Gray contacted IBM to see about funding. IBM replied with a very nice letter saying no. The letter is signed by Thomas Watson Jr. -- there are copies online, but the original is at the (Wall, N.J.) InfoAge Science Center where I run the computer wing.
Tens years later, when Creative Computing, Byte, DDJ, etc. all emerged, and the photocopied ACS newsletter closed, IBM invited Gray to lecture about this "new" idea of microcomputing -- in the Thomas Watson Research Center.
I'm just saying. :)
_______________________________________________ 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
-- Laine Nooney www.lainenooney.com
DM <http://dm.lmc.gatech.edu/> @ LMC <http://lmc.gatech.edu/> @ GT <http://www.gatech.edu/> Assistant Professor
-- Raiford Guins MIT Press "Game Histories" Book Series Editor Principal Editor, *Journal of Visual Culture* Curator, William A. Higinbotham Game Studies Collection Associate Professor of Culture and Technology Stony Brook University 2121 Humanities Bldg Stony Brook, NY 11794-5355 Personal Webpage: raifordguins.com Game Histories webpage: http://www.gamehistoriesbookseries.org/ *Journal of Visual Culture *website: http://www.journalofvisualculture.org/ *G**ame After: A Cultural Study of Video Game Afterlife. *MIT Press, Feb 2014. http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/game-after
George Stibitz worked at he West St. Bell Labs building. That's where he developed the "Complex Number Computer." If I am not mistaken the new "High Line" park terminates at the old building--originally the railroad tracks went through the building but apparently it was bricked up later on. If there are any New York historians on the list I'd love to know. Legend has it that the legendary M-9 Gun Director--an analog computer--was conceived while a Bell Labs engineer was crossing the Hudson on a ferry from Hoboken to West St. Do I have that right or am I mixing that up with someone else? If you haven't visited the High Line you should--a fantastic park. Paul Ceruzzi ________________________________ From: Members [members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Kim Tracy [tracy@cs.stanford.edu] Sent: Friday, December 18, 2015 2:09 PM To: Evan Koblentz Cc: members@SIGCIS.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Silicon City Bell Labs did start in 1925 in NYC on West Street as part of Western Electric and moved to Murray Hill, NJ in the early 1940s. A number of folks that I worked with started at the West Street location. So, some of the computing work was done there but much more after that in NJ. --Kim --Kim Tracy tracy@cs.stanford.edu<mailto:tracy@cs.stanford.edu> On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 1:57 PM, Evan Koblentz <evan@snarc.net<mailto:evan@snarc.net>> wrote: Would also like to encourage others to go, perhaps most especially to start a conversation about how we can imagine computer histories. I attended yesterday with a colleague and left feeling dismayed--the sticky fingers of IBM (a major donor for the exhibit) appeared to be all over it (at one point I openly laughed at some wall text that described Apple as a "plucky startup" but insisting IBM /really/ drove the tech revolution). There are a few special, very sincere parts--the 1964 Worlds Fair dome, the focus on NYC's role in electronic art and music (Cage, Bell Labs, etc) but otherwise reads like the history of computing told through the history of IBM--which feels strange given that there's no special effort to frame IBM as aregionalist /company. Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's impressions...feel free to drop me an email. I'm planning to go soon. NYHS asked for my assistance several months ago. I provided a lot of feedback about NY computer history beyond Big Blue. They said I'd be credited as a consultant, so I am disappointed to hear that the exhibition is basically just an IBM gig. I hope that didn't claim Bell Labs as a NY entity. Statue of Liberty is in * New Jersey * waters, the "New York" Giants and Jets both play in New Jersey, now Bell Labs? Note to myself .... go see the exhibit firsthand before getting judgmental. :) In 1966 -- a decade * before * IBM started telling customers that real computers are made out of metal by east coast corporations, not plastic by west coast hippies -- Steven Grey began publishing the "Amateur Computer Society" newsletter from his home in Manhattan. This was before the Mother of All Demos, Xerox PARC, and the People's Computer Company. Upon starting his newsletter, Gray contacted IBM to see about funding. IBM replied with a very nice letter saying no. The letter is signed by Thomas Watson Jr. -- there are copies online, but the original is at the (Wall, N.J.) InfoAge Science Center where I run the computer wing. Tens years later, when Creative Computing, Byte, DDJ, etc. all emerged, and the photocopied ACS newsletter closed, IBM invited Gray to lecture about this "new" idea of microcomputing -- in the Thomas Watson Research Center. I'm just saying. :) _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org<http://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
Sounds like I am partially mistaken about Bell Labs. I was thinking of the 1940s and later. On Dec 19, 2015, "Ceruzzi, Paul" <CeruzziP@si.edu> wrote:
George Stibitz worked at he West St. Bell Labs building. That's where he developed the "Complex Number Computer." If I am not mistaken the new "High Line" park terminates at the old building--originally the railroad tracks went through the building but apparently it was bricked up later on. If there are any New York historians on the list I'd love to know. Legend has it that the legendary M-9 Gun Director--an analog computer--was conceived while a Bell Labs engineer was crossing the Hudson on a ferry from Hoboken to West St. Do I have that right or am I mixing that up with someone else?
If you haven't visited the High Line you should--a fantastic park.
Paul Ceruzzi ________________________________ From: Members [members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Kim Tracy [tracy@cs.stanford.edu] Sent: Friday, December 18, 2015 2:09 PM To: Evan Koblentz Cc: members@SIGCIS.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Silicon City
Bell Labs did start in 1925 in NYC on West Street as part of Western Electric and moved to Murray Hill, NJ in the early 1940s. A number of folks that I worked with started at the West Street location. So, some of the computing work was done there but much more after that in NJ.
--Kim
--Kim Tracy tracy@cs.stanford.edu<mailto:tracy@cs.stanford.edu>
On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 1:57 PM, Evan Koblentz <evan@snarc.net<mailto:evan@snarc.net>> wrote: Would also like to encourage others to go, perhaps most especially to start a conversation about how we can imagine computer histories. I attended yesterday with a colleague and left feeling dismayed--the sticky fingers of IBM (a major donor for the exhibit) appeared to be all over it (at one point I openly laughed at some wall text that described Apple as a "plucky startup" but insisting IBM /really/ drove the tech revolution). There are a few special, very sincere parts--the 1964 Worlds Fair dome, the focus on NYC's role in electronic art and music (Cage, Bell Labs, etc) but otherwise reads like the history of computing told through the history of IBM--which feels strange given that there's no special effort to frame IBM as aregionalist /company.
Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's impressions...feel free to drop me an email.
I'm planning to go soon.
NYHS asked for my assistance several months ago. I provided a lot of feedback about NY computer history beyond Big Blue. They said I'd be credited as a consultant, so I am disappointed to hear that the exhibition is basically just an IBM gig.
I hope that didn't claim Bell Labs as a NY entity. Statue of Liberty is in * New Jersey * waters, the "New York" Giants and Jets both play in New Jersey, now Bell Labs? Note to myself .... go see the exhibit firsthand before getting judgmental. :)
In 1966 -- a decade * before * IBM started telling customers that real computers are made out of metal by east coast corporations, not plastic by west coast hippies -- Steven Grey began publishing the "Amateur Computer Society" newsletter from his home in Manhattan. This was before the Mother of All Demos, Xerox PARC, and the People's Computer Company.
Upon starting his newsletter, Gray contacted IBM to see about funding. IBM replied with a very nice letter saying no. The letter is signed by Thomas Watson Jr. -- there are copies online, but the original is at the (Wall, N.J.) InfoAge Science Center where I run the computer wing.
Tens years later, when Creative Computing, Byte, DDJ, etc. all emerged, and the photocopied ACS newsletter closed, IBM invited Gray to lecture about this "new" idea of microcomputing -- in the Thomas Watson Research Center.
I'm just saying. :)
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org<http://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
FYI, there's a nice article article on the M9 Gun Director from IEEE Control Systems (published in 1995) on this. I don't see a mention of the crossing the Hudson being the genesis of the idea, but it does discuss the genesis of the idea in this article: http://www.ieeecss.org/CSM/library/1995/dec1995/05-BellLabsnAutoCtrl.pdf. --Kim --Kim Tracy tracy@cs.stanford.edu On Sat, Dec 19, 2015 at 9:16 PM, Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP@si.edu> wrote:
George Stibitz worked at he West St. Bell Labs building. That's where he developed the "Complex Number Computer." If I am not mistaken the new "High Line" park terminates at the old building--originally the railroad tracks went through the building but apparently it was bricked up later on. If there are any New York historians on the list I'd love to know. Legend has it that the legendary M-9 Gun Director--an analog computer--was conceived while a Bell Labs engineer was crossing the Hudson on a ferry from Hoboken to West St. Do I have that right or am I mixing that up with someone else?
If you haven't visited the High Line you should--a fantastic park.
Paul Ceruzzi ------------------------------ *From:* Members [members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Kim Tracy [tracy@cs.stanford.edu] *Sent:* Friday, December 18, 2015 2:09 PM *To:* Evan Koblentz *Cc:* members@SIGCIS.org *Subject:* Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Silicon City
Bell Labs did start in 1925 in NYC on West Street as part of Western Electric and moved to Murray Hill, NJ in the early 1940s. A number of folks that I worked with started at the West Street location. So, some of the computing work was done there but much more after that in NJ.
--Kim
--Kim Tracy tracy@cs.stanford.edu
On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 1:57 PM, Evan Koblentz <evan@snarc.net> wrote:
Would also like to encourage others to go, perhaps most especially to
start a conversation about how we can imagine computer histories. I attended yesterday with a colleague and left feeling dismayed--the sticky fingers of IBM (a major donor for the exhibit) appeared to be all over it (at one point I openly laughed at some wall text that described Apple as a "plucky startup" but insisting IBM /really/ drove the tech revolution). There are a few special, very sincere parts--the 1964 Worlds Fair dome, the focus on NYC's role in electronic art and music (Cage, Bell Labs, etc) but otherwise reads like the history of computing told through the history of IBM--which feels strange given that there's no special effort to frame IBM as aregionalist /company.
Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's impressions...feel free to drop me an email.
I'm planning to go soon.
NYHS asked for my assistance several months ago. I provided a lot of feedback about NY computer history beyond Big Blue. They said I'd be credited as a consultant, so I am disappointed to hear that the exhibition is basically just an IBM gig.
I hope that didn't claim Bell Labs as a NY entity. Statue of Liberty is in * New Jersey * waters, the "New York" Giants and Jets both play in New Jersey, now Bell Labs? Note to myself .... go see the exhibit firsthand before getting judgmental. :)
In 1966 -- a decade * before * IBM started telling customers that real computers are made out of metal by east coast corporations, not plastic by west coast hippies -- Steven Grey began publishing the "Amateur Computer Society" newsletter from his home in Manhattan. This was before the Mother of All Demos, Xerox PARC, and the People's Computer Company.
Upon starting his newsletter, Gray contacted IBM to see about funding. IBM replied with a very nice letter saying no. The letter is signed by Thomas Watson Jr. -- there are copies online, but the original is at the (Wall, N.J.) InfoAge Science Center where I run the computer wing.
Tens years later, when Creative Computing, Byte, DDJ, etc. all emerged, and the photocopied ACS newsletter closed, IBM invited Gray to lecture about this "new" idea of microcomputing -- in the Thomas Watson Research Center.
I'm just saying. :)
_______________________________________________ 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
Sorry--I got it wrong. It was Harold Black who had the inspiration, and it was for the concept of negative feedback. Oh well, at least I got the West St. part right. <Harold S. Black, "Inventing the negative feedback amplifier", IEEE Spectrum, vol. 14, pp. 54-60, Dec. 1977.> A lot of Bell Labs engineers lived in New Jersey & commuted on the Hoboken ferry. Paul ________________________________________ From: Kim Tracy [tracy@cs.stanford.edu] Sent: Saturday, December 19, 2015 9:24 PM To: Ceruzzi, Paul Cc: Evan Koblentz; members@SIGCIS.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Silicon City FYI, there's a nice article article on the M9 Gun Director from IEEE Control Systems (published in 1995) on this. I don't see a mention of the crossing the Hudson being the genesis of the idea, but it does discuss the genesis of the idea in this article: http://www.ieeecss.org/CSM/library/1995/dec1995/05-BellLabsnAutoCtrl.pdf. --Kim --Kim Tracy tracy@cs.stanford.edu<mailto:tracy@cs.stanford.edu> On Sat, Dec 19, 2015 at 9:16 PM, Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP@si.edu<mailto:CeruzziP@si.edu>> wrote: George Stibitz worked at he West St. Bell Labs building. That's where he developed the "Complex Number Computer." If I am not mistaken the new "High Line" park terminates at the old building--originally the railroad tracks went through the building but apparently it was bricked up later on. If there are any New York historians on the list I'd love to know. Legend has it that the legendary M-9 Gun Director--an analog computer--was conceived while a Bell Labs engineer was crossing the Hudson on a ferry from Hoboken to West St. Do I have that right or am I mixing that up with someone else? If you haven't visited the High Line you should--a fantastic park. Paul Ceruzzi ________________________________ F
Paul The high line is close. The old bell labs building now houses an arts center and the Labrynth Theatre, which was founded by Philip Seymor Hoffman among others. While many of the old partitions are gone you can see a lot of the old building including the Machine Shop the basement and the switching room. The conclusion I took from my visit was how small it actually was. When you read the old annual reports, you get the sense that it was a very big operation. It's a pretty tight building that is really the same kind of facility as a 1920s engineering building at a university. David _______________ David Alan Grier George Washington University Sent from my iPhone
On Dec 19, 2015, at 7:16 PM, Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP@si.edu> wrote:
George Stibitz worked at he West St. Bell Labs building. That's where he developed the "Complex Number Computer." If I am not mistaken the new "High Line" park terminates at the old building--originally the railroad tracks went through the building but apparently it was bricked up later on. If there are any New York historians on the list I'd love to know. Legend has it that the legendary M-9 Gun Director--an analog computer--was conceived while a Bell Labs engineer was crossing the Hudson on a ferry from Hoboken to West St. Do I have that right or am I mixing that up with someone else?
If you haven't visited the High Line you should--a fantastic park.
Paul Ceruzzi From: Members [members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Kim Tracy [tracy@cs.stanford.edu] Sent: Friday, December 18, 2015 2:09 PM To: Evan Koblentz Cc: members@SIGCIS.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Silicon City
Bell Labs did start in 1925 in NYC on West Street as part of Western Electric and moved to Murray Hill, NJ in the early 1940s. A number of folks that I worked with started at the West Street location. So, some of the computing work was done there but much more after that in NJ.
--Kim
--Kim Tracy tracy@cs.stanford.edu
On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 1:57 PM, Evan Koblentz <evan@snarc.net> wrote:
Would also like to encourage others to go, perhaps most especially to start a conversation about how we can imagine computer histories. I attended yesterday with a colleague and left feeling dismayed--the sticky fingers of IBM (a major donor for the exhibit) appeared to be all over it (at one point I openly laughed at some wall text that described Apple as a "plucky startup" but insisting IBM /really/ drove the tech revolution). There are a few special, very sincere parts--the 1964 Worlds Fair dome, the focus on NYC's role in electronic art and music (Cage, Bell Labs, etc) but otherwise reads like the history of computing told through the history of IBM--which feels strange given that there's no special effort to frame IBM as aregionalist /company.
Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's impressions...feel free to drop me an email.
I'm planning to go soon.
NYHS asked for my assistance several months ago. I provided a lot of feedback about NY computer history beyond Big Blue. They said I'd be credited as a consultant, so I am disappointed to hear that the exhibition is basically just an IBM gig.
I hope that didn't claim Bell Labs as a NY entity. Statue of Liberty is in * New Jersey * waters, the "New York" Giants and Jets both play in New Jersey, now Bell Labs? Note to myself .... go see the exhibit firsthand before getting judgmental. :)
In 1966 -- a decade * before * IBM started telling customers that real computers are made out of metal by east coast corporations, not plastic by west coast hippies -- Steven Grey began publishing the "Amateur Computer Society" newsletter from his home in Manhattan. This was before the Mother of All Demos, Xerox PARC, and the People's Computer Company.
Upon starting his newsletter, Gray contacted IBM to see about funding. IBM replied with a very nice letter saying no. The letter is signed by Thomas Watson Jr. -- there are copies online, but the original is at the (Wall, N.J.) InfoAge Science Center where I run the computer wing.
Tens years later, when Creative Computing, Byte, DDJ, etc. all emerged, and the photocopied ACS newsletter closed, IBM invited Gray to lecture about this "new" idea of microcomputing -- in the Thomas Watson Research Center.
I'm just saying. :)
_______________________________________________ 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
Maybe "plucky startup" is condescending and maybe the exhibit is too IBM-heavy, but I'll point out that until around 2000, personal computers of all stripes were as toys compared to IBM mainframes, almost like hobby drones compared to Boeing jetliners. Even today Unix-, Linux-, and Windows-based computers suffer from their toy-like, "plucky" beginnings, and can't hold a candle to IBM z/OS as far as power and security go. If I were an IBMer, I'd probably also be condescending to the likes of Apple in the 1970s. - Bill ________________________________ From: Members [members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] on behalf of Laine Nooney [laine.nooney@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, December 18, 2015 12:30 PM To: John Impagliazzo; members@SIGCIS.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Silicon City Would also like to encourage others to go, perhaps most especially to start a conversation about how we can imagine computer histories. I attended yesterday with a colleague and left feeling dismayed--the sticky fingers of IBM (a major donor for the exhibit) appeared to be all over it (at one point I openly laughed at some wall text that described Apple as a "plucky startup" but insisting IBM really drove the tech revolution). There are a few special, very sincere parts--the 1964 Worlds Fair dome, the focus on NYC's role in electronic art and music (Cage, Bell Labs, etc) but otherwise reads like the history of computing told through the history of IBM--which feels strange given that there's no special effort to frame IBM as a regionalist company. Would love to stoke a conversation, even off list, about other's impressions...feel free to drop me an email. On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 11:53 AM John Impagliazzo <John.Impagliazzo@hofstra.edu<mailto:John.Impagliazzo@hofstra.edu>> wrote: Dear Colleagues, If you are in New York City and would like to see a slice of computing history, consider visiting the New-York Historical Society exhibit called Silicon City: Computer History Made in New York. The exhibit ends 2016 April 17. A link to exhibit information is http://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/silicon-city-computer-history-made-new-... The exhibit is at 170 Central Park West (77th Street), next to the American Museum of Natural History. I wish you all a pleasant holiday season. John John Impagliazzo, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Hofstra University IEEE Life Fellow ACM Distinguished Educator _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org<http://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 -- Laine Nooney www.lainenooney.com<http://www.lainenooney.com/> DM<http://dm.lmc.gatech.edu/> @ LMC<http://lmc.gatech.edu/> @ GT<http://www.gatech.edu/> Assistant Professor
participants (8)
-
Ceruzzi, Paul -
David Alan Grier -
Evan Koblentz -
John Impagliazzo -
Kim Tracy -
Laine Nooney -
McMillan, William W -
Raiford Guins