Fwd: Re HuffPo article on Ayyadurai
Hi everyone - I’m reposting below an email from Dave Farber's list - it's another interesting turn in this bizarre tale. Andy Begin forwarded message:
From: "Dave Farber via ip" <ip@listbox.com> Subject: [IP] Re HuffPo article on Ayyadurai Date: September 8, 2014 at 11:25:26 AM EDT To: "ip" <ip@listbox.com> Reply-To: dave@farber.net
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "Declan McCullagh" <declan@well.com> Date: Sep 8, 2014 1:49 AM Subject: Re: [IP] HuffPo article on Ayyadurai To: <jpgs@ittc.ku.edu>, <jpgs@comp.lancs.ac.uk> Cc: <dave@farber.net>, <dnight@mit.edu>, <news@the-tech.mit.edu>
[Dave, for IP if you like]
Prof. James P.G. Sterbenz wrote to MIT prof Deborah Nightingale: Do you plan to make a statement on your Web page to protect your reputation, or do we assume that you are (figuratively) in bed with Ayyadurai? If you do make such a statement I would like a pointer and will include in with the other materials I maintain on this case along with your original blog entry.
I just noticed something unusual about the now-deleted Huffington Post article published under the name of MIT professor Deborah Nightingale.
What's unusual is that paragraphs of that now-deleted article defending "email inventor" Shiva Ayyadurai are word-for-word identical to a web page called InventorOfEmail.com. It looks like Mr. Ayyadurai created that page himself, though I haven't checked.
You can see this unexpected bit of synchronicity for yourself. Prof Nightingale's article is archived here: https://web.archive.org/web/20140905024145/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deb... "Those who promoted MAIL as "email," when the term "email" did not even exist in 1965, were attempting to redefine "email" as a command-driven program that transferred BCD-encoded text files, written in an external editor, among timesharing system users, to be reviewed serially in a flat-file." "One would be hard-pressed to draw a historical straight line from MAIL to today’s email systems. MAIL was not "email", but a text messaging command line system, at best."
The InventorOfEmail.com page, which Archive.org says predates Prof. Nightingale's HuffPo blog, is here: http://www.inventorofemail.com/claims_about_email.asp "Those who promoted MAIL was "email" when the term "email" did not even exist in 1965 are attempting to redefine "email" to be a command-driven program that transferred BCD-encoded text files, written in an external editor, among timesharing system users, to be reviewed serially in a flat-file." "One would be hard-pressed to draw a historical straight line from MAIL to today’s email systems. MAIL was not "email", but a text messaging command line system, at best."
Also it looks like about 10 paragraphs in Prof. Nightingale's now-deleted HuffPo blog, published September 2, appear in a Google+ comment posted under the name "Jason Rebule" a week earlier. That comment appeared in a KQED thread attacking critics of Ayyadurai. You can see the thread here: https://plus.google.com/+KQEDSCIENCE/posts/emYcPo9ZjVw
Similarly, another now-deleted HuffPo blog post in the series was published under the name of Rutgers technologist Robert Field. It uses this sentence: https://web.archive.org/web/20140904233350/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob... "Standard histories of the Internet are full of claims that certain individuals (and teams) in the ARPAnet environment in the 1970s and 1980s "invented email." "
That sentence also, according to Archive.org, had previously appeared on the InventorOfEmail.com site: http://www.inventorofemail.com/claims_about_email.asp
I don't see either Prof. Nightingale or Robert Field credited on the InventorOfEmail.com site.
I presume there's a good reason why a Huffington Post guest blog published under the name of a well-known MIT engineering professor would be assembled in such a manner, but I confess I haven't yet been able to think of one.
-Declan
PS: I recall a CNET article written by some enterprising journalist who revealed the provenance of an anti-Net-neutrality op-ed published under the name of an MIT adjunct professor. The op-ed was actually written in part or in whole by a "secretive lobbying organization in Washington, D.C. called the LawMedia Group" that counted Comcast as a client. I would not dare to suggest, of course, that such a thing could be happening here. http://www.cnet.com/news/wanted-writers-for-d-c-tech-lobby-group-secrecy-man... Archives |
I just googled for “Ayyadurai” and came across an ABC News story: Fran Drescher Marries Email Inventor Shiva Ayyadurai Michael Rothman via Good Morning America http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/fran-drescher-marries-email-inventor-shi... The amazing thing is that while the writer falls hook-line-and-sinker for Ayyadurai’s propaganda (“Drescher married the scientist, who is widely credited with having invented email -- at their home and the bride wore Badgley Mischka, People magazine reported.”), the commenters are almost uniformly very savvy, pointing out that coining the name “EMAIL” is not the same as inventing email, mentioning Ray Tomlinson, and putting the Al Gore incident into proper perspective. Are we reaching the point that the average citizen is better informed, and more interested in truth, than the average mass media reporter? Paul McJones
Thanks Paul, As I noted in a comment earlier today on the latest techdirt article (https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140907/06302728447/huffington-post-fina lly-removes-most-articles-about-fake-email-inventor-meanwhile-ayyadurai-thre atens-to-sue-his-critics.shtml#comments): News of Ayyadurai's wedding seem to clear up the "why now" question raised by some commentators. Ayyadurai apparently wanted the Huffington Post and other recent stories to amplify his claims before the inevitable surge in press coverage he could count on as a participant in a celebrity wedding. Despite the Huffington Post retractions (made on his wedding day) this strategy seems to be working. The same pattern is taking place as with the 2012 wave of stories. Enough inaccurate material stays online to help dupe the next wave of bottom-feeding bloggers. For example, Time never retracted its credulous online interview with Ayyadurai from 2011 <http://techland.time.com/2011/11/15/the-man-who-invented-email/> and until this afternoon the Huffington Post still has the Chopra blog post from 2013 <https://web.archive.org/web/20130901004812/http:/www.huffingtonpost.com/dee pak-chopra/email-invention_b_3840956.html> that escaped the initial purge. Those both slipped under the radar when they appeared, as did a concerted effort to write Ayyadurai into various obscure Wikipedia pages. It's only when Ayyadurai gets high profile coverage (the 2012 print article in the Washington Post, the recent epic Huffington Post series) that anyone bothers to push back. Celebrity gossip bloggers are doing an even worse job than personal technology bloggers of evaluating his claims. Here are a few from today's coverage: Mail Online: <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2747398/Fran-Drescher-weds-sci entist-partner-Shiva-Ayyadurai.html#ixzz3Ck0gqH32> "The pair met early last year when Dr. Ayyadurai - who owns the patent to email and is often credited as the inventor of the electronic mail system amid some controversy - was giving a talk at an event hosted by Deepak Chopra." CBS News: <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fran-drescher-marries-dr-shiva-ayyadurai/> "Ayyadurai, who holds the patent for inventing email, met Drescher a year ago at an event hosted by Deepak Chopra." ABC News: <http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/fran-drescher-marries-email-inventor-sh iva-ayyadurai/story?id=25344611> "Drescher married the scientist, who is widely credited with having invented email -- at their home. Ayyadurai currently teaches at MIT and was profiled in 2011 in Time magazine for being the first person to hold a copyright for 'EMAIL'" People Magazine: <http://www.people.com/article/fran-drescher-marries-shiva-ayyadura> "Ayyadurai, 50, who holds the patent for creating email, met Drescher, 56, a little over a year ago when he gave a talk at an event hosted by Deepak Chopra, according to an interview he did with the Huffington Post." The HP news article it links to <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/29/shiva-ayyadurai-fran-drescher_n_57 35896.html> is still up, and claims that "In August 1982, the U.S. government accepted a patent for an electronic intra-office messaging system called "email" from then-teenager V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai." It is almost as if the whole thing is a post-modern performance art stunt designed to highlight the failings of online media. A few minutes with Google would reveal that he does not currently teach at MIT, that he was not granted a patent on email in 1982, and that he is credited as inventor of email primarily by his friends, family members, and business partners. I have updated my online evaluation of Ayyadurai <http://www.sigcis.org/ayyadurai> 's claims with a one paragraph summary at the beginning, but do not expect it to make much difference. Paul asked whether we are "reaching the point that the average citizen is better informed, and more interested in truth, than the average mass media reporter?" In a way, yes. However I don't think we were dealing with mass media's A team here. Whoever pulls together minor league celebrity surprise wedding coverage for People's blog on a Sunday night is not going to start second guessing the press release and Twitter boasts from the happy couple. For example, People's story is credited to Gabrielle Olya who according to Linked In <https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrielleolya> is currently employed as a freelance PR assistant with the USC School of Pharmacy as well as a "Staff Writer-Reporter" for People Magazine where her duties include "Fact-checking" and "Assist with research." She "Loves celebs, fashion, cupcakes & trashy TV." Nothing wrong with those things, but she's not necessarily a reporter attuned to the difference between copyright and patents. The errors are then syndicated and/or copied to a hundred other places. However, I do wonder if this might turn out to be another overreach by Ayyadurai. Over the next few days the story might attract actual journalists, who could find the "Guy inexplicably yet persistently pretends to have invented email, gets fake facts repeated by dozens of major media brands" angle more exciting than the "1990s sitcom star finds love" story. Best wishes, Tom From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Paul McJones Sent: Monday, September 08, 2014 8:47 PM To: sigcis Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Re Ayyadurai: Lay public more sophisticated than ABC News? I just googled for "Ayyadurai" and came across an ABC News story: Fran Drescher Marries Email Inventor Shiva Ayyadurai Michael Rothman via Good Morning America http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/fran-drescher-marries-email-inventor-shi va-ayyadurai/story?id=25344611 The amazing thing is that while the writer falls hook-line-and-sinker for Ayyadurai's propaganda ("Drescher married the scientist, who is widely credited with having invented email -- at their home and the bride wore Badgley Mischka, People magazine reported."), the commenters are almost uniformly very savvy, pointing out that coining the name "EMAIL" is not the same as inventing email, mentioning Ray Tomlinson, and putting the Al Gore incident into proper perspective. Are we reaching the point that the average citizen is better informed, and more interested in truth, than the average mass media reporter? Paul McJones
Paul asked whether we are “reaching the point that the average citizen is better informed, and more interested in truth, than the average mass media reporter?” In a way, yes. However I don’t think we were dealing with mass media’s A team here.
Tom, I totally agree these are not the mass media’s “A team”. (But you’ll have to admit it’s getting to be an interesting list of publishers who have allowed their publication name to be sullied.) In any case, if you haven’t already read the reader comments, I would suggest you take a look — the readers are catching on. Paul
Hi SIGCIS, One of the surprising accusations surrounding this email nonsense was that SIGCIS promoted racism, gender bias, and industrial domination. I was curious enough to visit our website and see where we address these topics in the history of informatics. It seems that on http://www.sigcis.org/resources we have not addressed issues like race, gender, sexuality, and working class history in informatics. Given the rich range of other resources we offer along these lines, I think a few subsections in these areas would be worthwhile. If the group approves of adding these resources, topics and authors that may be germane include 1) Gender and Computing (Hayles on the Turing Test in POSTHUMAN, Haraway misc., Stone on Lovelace, Light on "When Computers were Women") 2) A People's History of Computing (Robins & Webster on "Long History of the Information Revolution", Schaffer on "Babbage's Intelligence"?) If there is interest in putting something like this together and putting it up as resources, maybe we can bounce the email back and forth, quoting and amending the brief list above to quickly generate something better. Best, Bernard
Hello, This is a great suggestion, Bernard. Light¹s article is already listed. If it is okay, I will put the call out on the FemTechNet listserv and perhaps some students and faculty in our collective will also contribute. The volume edited by Lisa Nakamura and Peter Chow, Race after the Internet (Routledge 2011) includes four essays in part one on the history of race and information. George Dyson¹s Turing's Cathedral (2012) actually has a lot about the women involved in scientific computing. Sharon Irish Co-Facilitator, FemTechNet On 9/9/14, 5:42 AM, "geoghegb@cms.hu-berlin.de" <geoghegb@cms.hu-berlin.de> wrote:
Hi SIGCIS,
One of the surprising accusations surrounding this email nonsense was that SIGCIS promoted racism, gender bias, and industrial domination. I was curious enough to visit our website and see where we address these topics in the history of informatics. It seems that on http://www.sigcis.org/resources we have not addressed issues like race, gender, sexuality, and working class history in informatics. Given the rich range of other resources we offer along these lines, I think a few subsections in these areas would be worthwhile. If the group approves of adding these resources, topics and authors that may be germane include
1) Gender and Computing (Hayles on the Turing Test in POSTHUMAN, Haraway misc., Stone on Lovelace, Light on "When Computers were Women") 2) A People's History of Computing (Robins & Webster on "Long History of the Information Revolution", Schaffer on "Babbage's Intelligence"?)
If there is interest in putting something like this together and putting it up as resources, maybe we can bounce the email back and forth, quoting and amending the brief list above to quickly generate something better.
Best, Bernard
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
I think that's a very good idea. Unfortunately I don't have time to work anything up at the moment, but anyone who can do so is welcome to use or adapt the citations and annotations below, which I put together for a course syllabus (full version at <http://www.chstm.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/hstm20282/>). The syllabus is for undergrads -- I haven't attempted to be thorough or to focus on the newest work, but have tried to favour material that's accessible to non-specialists. Race and ethnicity are not well covered in my course as it stands. If anyone has put together a literature primer or teaching materials in this area, I'd be grateful to hear more. All best James Background reading on gender and IT ·Abbate, Janet, /Recoding Gender: women's changing participation in computing/. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press 2012. Best recent introduction to gender themes, running quite quickly and readably through the literature on quite a wide range of situations and problems. The oral history interviews listed as required reading above were conducted as part of the project which produced this book. ·Misa, Thomas, ed, /Gender Codes: why women are leaving computing/. Hoboken: Wiley, 2010. The proportion of women in the computing professions has fallen since the 1980s. It is falling /now/. This book asks why, focusing on cases from the beginnings of the field to the present, and finding answers in the public image of computing and the history of professionalisation. See in particular Marie Hicks, on the status of computer operators/coders in the British civil service, also available at [mariehicks.net/writing/GenderCodesIllus.pdf <http://mariehicks.net/writing/GenderCodesIllus.pdf>]. See also Tom Misa's concluding chapter; and Caroline Clarke Hayes on the practicalities of solving the problem. Social-science research on what deters women and girls from IT education and professions, mostly concentrating on American cases. ·Margolis, Jane, and Allan Fisher, /Unlocking the Clubhouse: women in computing/. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press 2003. In 1995, the percentage of women undergraduates entering the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University (one of the three famed centres of computer science innovation, alongside Stanford and MIT) was just 7%. In 2000, it was 42%, an international record. The reforms which caused this change were largely based on a collaboration between Allan Fisher, a member of the Computer Science faculty, and Jane Margolis, a social scientist who conducted hundreds of hours of interviews on the positive and negative experience of female students. ·Abbate, Janet, ed, special issue on "Women and Gender in the History of Computing." /IEEE Annals of the History of Computing/ 25:4 (2003). A range of approaches to diverse cases in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including some first-hand memoirs of women computer users. ·Light, Jennifer, "When computers were women," /Technology and Culture/ 40 (1999) 455-483. Why did women engineers and programmers disappear from the historical record of the ENIAC? ·Beyer, Kurt W, /Grace Hopper and the Invention of the Internet Age/. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2009. Biography of the most influential of early female coders. Hopper was able to command serious respect across a long career, but, unlike her male colleagues, had to sacrifice the opportunities of a typical family life to do so. Background on skills and automation Questions of skills overlap unavoidably with the questions raised in the gender section, as will become obvious from several of these texts... ·Ensmenger, Nathan, /The Computer Boys Take Over/. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press 2010. How industry hired and managed -- or mismanaged -- software specialists from the 1950s to the 1990s. Themes include professional identity, mistrust of subcultures, and reasons why the "computer boys" remain mostly "boys". ·Rochlin, Gene, /Trapped in the Net: the unanticipated consequences of computerization/. Princeton: Princeton University Press. See in particular Chapter 4, "Taylorism redux". "Taylorism", or "Scientific Management", was a theory applied to traditional industry in the early twentieth century: based on precise measurement, hierarchy and standardisation, its results were invariably a deskilled workforce and a powerful management. How far can the same approach be applied with information technology, and what are the dangers? ·David Noble, /Forces of Production: a social history of industrial automation/, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986. Classic critical account. Noble argues that managers use automation as a tool to remove the power that comes with shop-floor workers' skills and knowledge. (What, then, happens when it's time to automate management...?) ·Thomas Haigh, "The chromium-plated tabulator: institutionalizing an electronic revolution, 1954-1958", /IEEE Annals of the History of Computing/ 23:4 (2001), 75-104. Addresses the shift from punched-card information processing to electronics. Did computers simply automate existing processes? Or did they create something entirely new, in terms of labour roles and management structure? ·Taylor, Phil, and Peter Bain, "'An assembly line in the head': work and employee relations in the call centre", /Industrial Relations Journal/ 30:2 (1999), 101-117. Written not long after the call centre emerged as a major social phenomenon, and focuses on questions of routinisation, de-skilling and power relations. ·David Noble, "Technology and the commodification of higher education", /Monthly Review/ 53:10 (2002). Online at [www.monthlyreview.org/0302noble.htm <http://www.monthlyreview.org/0302noble.htm>]. Noble's expansion of his argument into a field in which you're directly involved: university-level teaching. Published at the height of the "distance learning" boom in the US. Background reading on information processing before computers ·Campbell-Kelly, Martin, "The Railway Clearing House and Victorian Data Processing" in Lisa Bud-Frierman, ed, /Information Acumen/, London: Routledge 1994, 51-74. A useful companion-piece by the same author, looking at another classic nineteenth-century activity which needed heavy and centralised information processing. ·Perry, Charles, /The Victorian Post Office/, Woodbridge: Royal Historical Society, 1992. Background on the institution which made the Savings Bank system possible. ·Marsden, Ben, and Crosbie Smith, /Engineering Empires: a cultural history of technology in nineteenth-century Britain/, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2005, chapter 5: "The most gigantic electrical experiment", 178-225. Global communication technologies in the nineteenth century. ·Cortada, James, /Before the Computer: IBM, Burroughs and Remington Rand and the Industry they Created, 1865-1956/, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993. Broader study of the general area of data-processing automation technologies Campbell-Kelly discusses towards the end of the paper. ·Yates, JoAnne, /Control through Communication: the rise of system in American management/. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press 1989. More on data-processing systems, showing particularly how they related to US white-collar work. See particularly Chapter 2 on the main pre-digital technologies: letterpress, ledgers, vertical filing etc. ·Agar, Jon, /The Government Machine/, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2003. Moving into the twentieth century, argues that information technology is shaped by the existing needs of systematic activities, using the case of the British Civil Service. Background reading on Babbage and Lovelace ·Babbage, Charles, /Passages from the Life of a Philosopher/. London: Pickering, 1994 reprint (first published 1864.) Babbage's autobiography. Very readable, and the best possible way of getting an insight into this eccentric and sometimes tragic character. ·Hyman, Anthony, /Charles Babbage: pioneer of the computer/. Princeton University Press 1982. Best book-length biography of Babbage. ·Swade, Doron, "The Shocking Truth about Babbage and his Calculating Engines." /Resurrection/, New Year 2004, 18-27; online at [www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res32.htm#d <http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/CCS/res/res32.htm#d>] More recent research on the role of the nineteenth-century science writer and populariser, Dionysius Lardner. ·Menabrea, Luigi, translated with additional notes by Ada Lovelace, "Sketch of the Analytical Engine invented by Charles Babbage." Originally published in the /Bibliothèque Universelle de Genève/, 1842; online transcript at [www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/sketch.html <http://www.fourmilab.ch/babbage/sketch.html>]. The single most influential account of the unbuilt Engine's nature and possibilities. Read the "Notes by the Translator" and assess Lovelace's contribution for yourself. ·Schaffer, Simon, "Babbage's Intelligence: calculating engines and the factory system." /Critical Inquiry/ 21 (1994) 203-227. The importance of social and geographical place, setting Babbage in the wider context of Victorian industrialism. ·Swade, Doron, "'It will not slice a pineapple': Babbage, miracles and machines", in Francis Spufford and Jenny Uglow, eds, /Cultural Babbage: technology, time and invention/. London: Faber and Faber 1996. Babbage's historical reputation, and the role of miracles in his demonstrations with the model Difference Engine. ·Stein, Dorothy, /Ada: a life and a legacy./ Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press 1985. Biography aiming to de-mythologise Ada Lovelace. Generally good on the peculiar position of a mathematically-inclined, socially privileged woman in nineteenth-century society, but beware the occasional attempt to apply twentieth-century psychological insights. ·Toole, Betty A, /Ada: the enchantress of numbers/. Mill Valley, Calif: Strawberry Press 1992. Toole is an opponent of those (like Stein) who downplay Lovelace's abilities. This volume consists mostly of excerpts from Lovelace's letters to Babbage and others. On 09/09/2014 11:42, geoghegb@cms.hu-berlin.de wrote:
Hi SIGCIS,
One of the surprising accusations surrounding this email nonsense was that SIGCIS promoted racism, gender bias, and industrial domination. I was curious enough to visit our website and see where we address these topics in the history of informatics. It seems that on http://www.sigcis.org/resources we have not addressed issues like race, gender, sexuality, and working class history in informatics. Given the rich range of other resources we offer along these lines, I think a few subsections in these areas would be worthwhile. If the group approves of adding these resources, topics and authors that may be germane include
1) Gender and Computing (Hayles on the Turing Test in POSTHUMAN, Haraway misc., Stone on Lovelace, Light on "When Computers were Women") 2) A People's History of Computing (Robins & Webster on "Long History of the Information Revolution", Schaffer on "Babbage's Intelligence"?)
If there is interest in putting something like this together and putting it up as resources, maybe we can bounce the email back and forth, quoting and amending the brief list above to quickly generate something better.
Best, Bernard
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
Hello Bernard, That is a great idea. The resources list is in need of an update anyway. I wrote the current version, but have not updated it for several years and there are dozens of important new resources to add, as well as the old ones that I overlooked. Some time ago I discussed with the then-SIGCIS officers the idea that it would be best for it to become more of an institutional project than a personal one, with new short entries in the current format added by multiple contributors at tagged with the initials of contributors from the SIGCIS leadership. There would then be a list at the bottom mapping initials to names. That retains the slightly informal, personal quality of the current entries but doesn't require me to write them all. They liked the idea, but did not in the end write any new entries and I did not follow up with reminders. So this reminds me that we need to revive the project. We also have a number of more specialized resource guides -- for example on British history of computing. So one might imagine some specialized guides on topical areas, for example sexuality, aside from the main resource list. That would allow lists that go more in-depth or encompass areas less directly related to the history of computing (for example crossing over into work that is primarily situated within STS or digital humanities but likely to be of crossover interest to many SIGCIS members). On the other hand, we should not ghettoize all coverage of these issues on a separate list, or even under separate headings within the main list. For example, Light is grouped under "Scientific Computing" rather than placed in a separate section for gender. One of the problems here, of course, is the idea that the main list is a kind of canon for the "history of computing" as that can be approached from so many different perspectives. The current list is personal, and out of date, but I tried to imagine a kind of consensus SIGCIS view of the world that would cover areas of significant intersection in our different visions of what is important. Of course that will itself change over time along with the interests and composition of our members. I would be happy for you to pull together material to address these areas, perhaps by coordinating the drafting one or more specialized guides and by nominating entries and or categories to include in the updating of the main guide. As you know Andy Russell is taking over as chair soon, but I will try to make sure that we have a plan in place with our new volunteers for updating the main guide and that you are in the loop on this and able to contribute. Best wishes, Tom -----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of geoghegb@cms.hu-berlin.de Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2014 5:43 AM To: sigcis Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] SIGCIS: gender, race, working class history, imperialism.... Hi SIGCIS, One of the surprising accusations surrounding this email nonsense was that SIGCIS promoted racism, gender bias, and industrial domination. I was curious enough to visit our website and see where we address these topics in the history of informatics. It seems that on http://www.sigcis.org/resources we have not addressed issues like race, gender, sexuality, and working class history in informatics. Given the rich range of other resources we offer along these lines, I think a few subsections in these areas would be worthwhile. If the group approves of adding these resources, topics and authors that may be germane include 1) Gender and Computing (Hayles on the Turing Test in POSTHUMAN, Haraway misc., Stone on Lovelace, Light on "When Computers were Women") 2) A People's History of Computing (Robins & Webster on "Long History of the Information Revolution", Schaffer on "Babbage's Intelligence"?) If there is interest in putting something like this together and putting it up as resources, maybe we can bounce the email back and forth, quoting and amending the brief list above to quickly generate something better. Best, Bernard _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
Dear colleagues, I want to take this opportunity to give a big thank you to Tom for his leadership. Since I don’t often get to SHOT meetings, I cannot deliver this appreciation in person. I got one reply to my query about gender and computing, not comprehensive, but thanks to Melissa Chalmers at U Mich. I think Abbate is already on the old list. Abbate, J. (2012). Recoding Gender: Women's Changing Participation in Computing: MIT Press. Chun, W. H. K. (2011). Programmed Visions: Software and Memory: The MIT Press. Misa, T. J. (2011). Gender Codes: Why Women Are Leaving Computing: Wiley. * Includes historical essays from Ensmenger, Downey, Hicks, Abbate, Haigh, ETC. * Edwards, P. N. (1990). The Army and the Microworld: Computers and the Politics of Gender Identity. Signs, 16(1), 102-127. Ensmenger, N. (2010). The Computer Boys Take Over: Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Fritz, W. B. (1996). The Women of ENIAC. Annals of the History of Computing, IEEE, 18(3), 13-28. A huge challenge is sustaining an effort like this, as Tom notes. In the Society of Architectural Historians there used to be one or two librarians who would add to the resources list on a regular basis. Just dreaming… Sharon Irish On 9/12/14, 5:49 PM, "Thomas Haigh" <thaigh@computer.org> wrote:
Hello Bernard,
That is a great idea. The resources list is in need of an update anyway. I wrote the current version, but have not updated it for several years and there are dozens of important new resources to add, as well as the old ones that I overlooked. Some time ago I discussed with the then-SIGCIS officers the idea that it would be best for it to become more of an institutional project than a personal one, with new short entries in the current format added by multiple contributors at tagged with the initials of contributors from the SIGCIS leadership. There would then be a list at the bottom mapping initials to names. That retains the slightly informal, personal quality of the current entries but doesn't require me to write them all. They liked the idea, but did not in the end write any new entries and I did not follow up with reminders. So this reminds me that we need to revive the project.
We also have a number of more specialized resource guides -- for example on British history of computing. So one might imagine some specialized guides on topical areas, for example sexuality, aside from the main resource list. That would allow lists that go more in-depth or encompass areas less directly related to the history of computing (for example crossing over into work that is primarily situated within STS or digital humanities but likely to be of crossover interest to many SIGCIS members). On the other hand, we should not ghettoize all coverage of these issues on a separate list, or even under separate headings within the main list. For example, Light is grouped under "Scientific Computing" rather than placed in a separate section for gender.
One of the problems here, of course, is the idea that the main list is a kind of canon for the "history of computing" as that can be approached from so many different perspectives. The current list is personal, and out of date, but I tried to imagine a kind of consensus SIGCIS view of the world that would cover areas of significant intersection in our different visions of what is important. Of course that will itself change over time along with the interests and composition of our members.
I would be happy for you to pull together material to address these areas, perhaps by coordinating the drafting one or more specialized guides and by nominating entries and or categories to include in the updating of the main guide. As you know Andy Russell is taking over as chair soon, but I will try to make sure that we have a plan in place with our new volunteers for updating the main guide and that you are in the loop on this and able to contribute.
Best wishes,
Tom
-----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of geoghegb@cms.hu-berlin.de Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2014 5:43 AM To: sigcis Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] SIGCIS: gender, race, working class history, imperialism....
Hi SIGCIS,
One of the surprising accusations surrounding this email nonsense was that SIGCIS promoted racism, gender bias, and industrial domination. I was curious enough to visit our website and see where we address these topics in the history of informatics. It seems that on http://www.sigcis.org/resources we have not addressed issues like race, gender, sexuality, and working class history in informatics. Given the rich range of other resources we offer along these lines, I think a few subsections in these areas would be worthwhile. If the group approves of adding these resources, topics and authors that may be germane include
1) Gender and Computing (Hayles on the Turing Test in POSTHUMAN, Haraway misc., Stone on Lovelace, Light on "When Computers were Women") 2) A People's History of Computing (Robins & Webster on "Long History of the Information Revolution", Schaffer on "Babbage's Intelligence"?)
If there is interest in putting something like this together and putting it up as resources, maybe we can bounce the email back and forth, quoting and amending the brief list above to quickly generate something better.
Best, Bernard
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
I agree with the previous posters that SIGCIS should indeed include a strong statement on Gender, Race, Working Class History, Imperialism, etc. Regards, -Ramesh ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ramesh Subramanian, Ph.D. Gabriel Ferrucci Professor of Computer Information Systems Quinnipiac University Hamden, CT 06518. Phone: 203-582-5276 Email: ramesh.subramanian@quinnipiac.edu Web: Ramesh Subramanian’s web page & Visiting Fellow, Information Society Project Yale Law School New Haven, CT 06511 Email: ramesh.subramanian@yale.edu Web: http://www.law.yale.edu/intellectuallife/9841.htm Recent books: Access to Knowledge in India: New Research on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Development (Bloomsbury Academic, 2011) The Global Flow of Information: Legal, Social and Cultural Perspectives (NYU Press, 2011) "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated" Mahatma Gandhi -----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Irish, Sharon Lee Sent: Saturday, September 13, 2014 10:04 AM To: thaigh@computer.org; geoghegb@cms.hu-berlin.de; 'sigcis' Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] SIGCIS: gender, race, working class history, imperialism.... Dear colleagues, I want to take this opportunity to give a big thank you to Tom for his leadership. Since I don’t often get to SHOT meetings, I cannot deliver this appreciation in person. I got one reply to my query about gender and computing, not comprehensive, but thanks to Melissa Chalmers at U Mich. I think Abbate is already on the old list. Abbate, J. (2012). Recoding Gender: Women's Changing Participation in Computing: MIT Press. Chun, W. H. K. (2011). Programmed Visions: Software and Memory: The MIT Press. Misa, T. J. (2011). Gender Codes: Why Women Are Leaving Computing: Wiley. * Includes historical essays from Ensmenger, Downey, Hicks, Abbate, Haigh, ETC. * Edwards, P. N. (1990). The Army and the Microworld: Computers and the Politics of Gender Identity. Signs, 16(1), 102-127. Ensmenger, N. (2010). The Computer Boys Take Over: Computers, Programmers, and the Politics of Technical Expertise. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Fritz, W. B. (1996). The Women of ENIAC. Annals of the History of Computing, IEEE, 18(3), 13-28. A huge challenge is sustaining an effort like this, as Tom notes. In the Society of Architectural Historians there used to be one or two librarians who would add to the resources list on a regular basis. Just dreaming… Sharon Irish On 9/12/14, 5:49 PM, "Thomas Haigh" <thaigh@computer.org> wrote:
Hello Bernard,
That is a great idea. The resources list is in need of an update anyway. I wrote the current version, but have not updated it for several years and there are dozens of important new resources to add, as well as the old ones that I overlooked. Some time ago I discussed with the then-SIGCIS officers the idea that it would be best for it to become more of an institutional project than a personal one, with new short entries in the current format added by multiple contributors at tagged with the initials of contributors from the SIGCIS leadership. There would then be a list at the bottom mapping initials to names. That retains the slightly informal, personal quality of the current entries but doesn't require me to write them all. They liked the idea, but did not in the end write any new entries and I did not follow up with reminders. So this reminds me that we need to revive the project.
We also have a number of more specialized resource guides -- for example on British history of computing. So one might imagine some specialized guides on topical areas, for example sexuality, aside from the main resource list. That would allow lists that go more in-depth or encompass areas less directly related to the history of computing (for example crossing over into work that is primarily situated within STS or digital humanities but likely to be of crossover interest to many SIGCIS members). On the other hand, we should not ghettoize all coverage of these issues on a separate list, or even under separate headings within the main list. For example, Light is grouped under "Scientific Computing" rather than placed in a separate section for gender.
One of the problems here, of course, is the idea that the main list is a kind of canon for the "history of computing" as that can be approached from so many different perspectives. The current list is personal, and out of date, but I tried to imagine a kind of consensus SIGCIS view of the world that would cover areas of significant intersection in our different visions of what is important. Of course that will itself change over time along with the interests and composition of our members.
I would be happy for you to pull together material to address these areas, perhaps by coordinating the drafting one or more specialized guides and by nominating entries and or categories to include in the updating of the main guide. As you know Andy Russell is taking over as chair soon, but I will try to make sure that we have a plan in place with our new volunteers for updating the main guide and that you are in the loop on this and able to contribute.
Best wishes,
Tom
-----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of geoghegb@cms.hu-berlin.de Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2014 5:43 AM To: sigcis Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] SIGCIS: gender, race, working class history, imperialism....
Hi SIGCIS,
One of the surprising accusations surrounding this email nonsense was that SIGCIS promoted racism, gender bias, and industrial domination. I was curious enough to visit our website and see where we address these topics in the history of informatics. It seems that on http://www.sigcis.org/resources we have not addressed issues like race, gender, sexuality, and working class history in informatics. Given the rich range of other resources we offer along these lines, I think a few subsections in these areas would be worthwhile. If the group approves of adding these resources, topics and authors that may be germane include
1) Gender and Computing (Hayles on the Turing Test in POSTHUMAN, Haraway misc., Stone on Lovelace, Light on "When Computers were Women") 2) A People's History of Computing (Robins & Webster on "Long History of the Information Revolution", Schaffer on "Babbage's Intelligence"?)
If there is interest in putting something like this together and putting it up as resources, maybe we can bounce the email back and forth, quoting and amending the brief list above to quickly generate something better.
Best, Bernard
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
participants (7)
-
Andrew Russell -
geoghegb＠cms.hu-berlin.de -
Irish, Sharon Lee -
James Sumner -
Paul McJones -
Subramanian, Ramesh Prof. -
Thomas Haigh