CHM Prize for 2018: Ben Peters, How Not to Network a Nation
Dear colleagues - It’s a pleasure to announce that the Computer History Museum Prize for 2018 has been awarded to Ben Peters for How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet (MIT Press, 2016). Please visit https://www.sigcis.org/2018chmprize for details, including the prize citation, which I reproduce below. Benjamin Peters’s history of the Soviet Internet represents a pathbreaking contribution to the understanding of the history of computing and networking. Based on detailed empirical research in Russian archives, it extends the reach of these histories into new, non-Anglo-American domains. In describing the complex institutional and political reasons for the ultimate failure of the All-State Automated Systems (OGAS), How Not to Network a Nation challenges common assumptions about the relationships between decentralization, free markets, and electronic networking. Peters’s treatment of Soviet networking brings into sharper view the infrastructures, power relations, successes, and shortcomings of our own electronic networks. Best regards, Andy
Dear SIGCIS Crew, Thank you, Andy! I’m flattered, humbled, and over the moon with this kind announcement. The book owes much to many in this community and its longstanding interests in comparative and critical computing history. If interested, here is the 3000-word version: https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-soviets-invented-the-internet-and-why-it-didn... Best, Ben Benjaminpeters.org @bjpeters Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 22, 2018, at 12:04 PM, Andrew Russell <arussell@arussell.org> wrote:
Dear colleagues -
It’s a pleasure to announce that the Computer History Museum Prize for 2018 has been awarded to Ben Peters for How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet (MIT Press, 2016).
Please visit https://www.sigcis.org/2018chmprize for details, including the prize citation, which I reproduce below.
Benjamin Peters’s history of the Soviet Internet represents a pathbreaking contribution to the understanding of the history of computing and networking. Based on detailed empirical research in Russian archives, it extends the reach of these histories into new, non-Anglo-American domains. In describing the complex institutional and political reasons for the ultimate failure of the All-State Automated Systems (OGAS), How Not to Network a Nation challenges common assumptions about the relationships between decentralization, free markets, and electronic networking. Peters’s treatment of Soviet networking brings into sharper view the infrastructures, power relations, successes, and shortcomings of our own electronic networks.
Best regards,
Andy _______________________________________________ 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
I'm looking forward to reading this to compare and contrast with Janet Abbate's 'Inventing the Internet'. There's as much (if not more) to learn from failure as from success. -- Ian On Mon, Oct 22, 2018 at 10:36 AM, Ben Peters <bjpeters@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear SIGCIS Crew,
Thank you, Andy! I’m flattered, humbled, and over the moon with this kind announcement. The book owes much to many in this community and its longstanding interests in comparative and critical computing history.
If interested, here is the 3000-word version:
https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-soviets-invented-the- internet-and-why-it-didn-t-work
Best,
Ben
Benjaminpeters.org @bjpeters
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 22, 2018, at 12:04 PM, Andrew Russell <arussell@arussell.org> wrote:
Dear colleagues -
It’s a pleasure to announce that the Computer History Museum Prize for 2018 has been awarded to Ben Peters for *How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet* (MIT Press, 2016).
Please visit https://www.sigcis.org/2018chmprize for details, including the prize citation, which I reproduce below.
Benjamin Peters’s history of the Soviet Internet represents a pathbreaking contribution to the understanding of the history of computing and networking. Based on detailed empirical research in Russian archives, it extends the reach of these histories into new, non-Anglo-American domains. In describing the complex institutional and political reasons for the ultimate failure of the All-State Automated Systems (OGAS), How Not to Network a Nation challenges common assumptions about the relationships between decentralization, free markets, and electronic networking. Peters’s treatment of Soviet networking brings into sharper view the infrastructures, power relations, successes, and shortcomings of our own electronic networks.
Best regards,
Andy
_______________________________________________ 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
-- Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu> Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens Principal Investigator, "Reflections on Early Computing and Social Change", UW IRB #42619 Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org> University of Washington There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China."
Agreed! See my book review in New Media & Society. Janet Dr. Janet Abbate Professor, Science, Technology and Society Virginia Tech Co-director, VT National Capital Region STS program liberalarts.vt.edu/sts www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS
On Oct 22, 2018, at 1:42 PM, Ian S. King <isking@uw.edu> wrote:
I'm looking forward to reading this to compare and contrast with Janet Abbate's 'Inventing the Internet'. There's as much (if not more) to learn from failure as from success. -- Ian
On Mon, Oct 22, 2018 at 10:36 AM, Ben Peters <bjpeters@gmail.com <mailto:bjpeters@gmail.com>> wrote: Dear SIGCIS Crew,
Thank you, Andy! I’m flattered, humbled, and over the moon with this kind announcement. The book owes much to many in this community and its longstanding interests in comparative and critical computing history.
If interested, here is the 3000-word version:
https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-soviets-invented-the-internet-and-why-it-didn... <https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-soviets-invented-the-internet-and-why-it-didn-t-work>
Best,
Ben
Benjaminpeters.org <http://benjaminpeters.org/> @bjpeters
Sent from my iPhone
On Oct 22, 2018, at 12:04 PM, Andrew Russell <arussell@arussell.org <mailto:arussell@arussell.org>> wrote:
Dear colleagues -
It’s a pleasure to announce that the Computer History Museum Prize for 2018 has been awarded to Ben Peters for How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet (MIT Press, 2016).
Please visit https://www.sigcis.org/2018chmprize <https://www.sigcis.org/2018chmprize> for details, including the prize citation, which I reproduce below.
Benjamin Peters’s history of the Soviet Internet represents a pathbreaking contribution to the understanding of the history of computing and networking. Based on detailed empirical research in Russian archives, it extends the reach of these histories into new, non-Anglo-American domains. In describing the complex institutional and political reasons for the ultimate failure of the All-State Automated Systems (OGAS), How Not to Network a Nation challenges common assumptions about the relationships between decentralization, free markets, and electronic networking. Peters’s treatment of Soviet networking brings into sharper view the infrastructures, power relations, successes, and shortcomings of our own electronic networks.
Best regards,
Andy _______________________________________________ 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/ <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 <http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org>
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/ <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 <http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org>
-- Ian S. King, MSIS, MSCS, Ph.D. Candidate The Information School <http://ischool.uw.edu/> Dissertation: "Why the Conversation Mattered: Constructing a Sociotechnical Narrative Through a Design Lens
Principal Investigator, "Reflections on Early Computing and Social Change", UW IRB #42619
Archivist, Voices From the Rwanda Tribunal <http://tribunalvoices.org/> Value Sensitive Design Research Lab <http://vsdesign.org/>
University of Washington
There is an old Vulcan saying: "Only Nixon could go to China." _______________________________________________ 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
Hurrah!!! Chalk one up for Soviet history, which has so much to give us all, and its specialists!!! Congratulations on your wonderful book, Ben!!!!! Barbara Walker Associate Professor Department of History/308 University of Nevada, Reno Reno NV 89557 Office phone: 775-784-4303 Website: https://www.unr.edu/history/history-people/barbara-walker From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Ben Peters <bjpeters@gmail.com> Date: Monday, October 22, 2018 at 10:36 AM To: Andrew Russell <arussell@arussell.org> Cc: "members@lists.sigcis.org" <members@lists.sigcis.org> Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] CHM Prize for 2018: Ben Peters, How Not to Network a Nation Dear SIGCIS Crew, Thank you, Andy! I’m flattered, humbled, and over the moon with this kind announcement. The book owes much to many in this community and its longstanding interests in comparative and critical computing history. If interested, here is the 3000-word version: https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-soviets-invented-the-internet-and-why-it-didn-t-work<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Faeon.co%2Fessays%2Fhow-the-soviets-invented-the-internet-and-why-it-didn-t-work&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7C54ba8394ea8b40441c1008d63844f539%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=IyBLkilR2SNzMXJvBj68ctAvQdx3rP6zNLvZecTlamY%3D&reserved=0> Best, Ben Benjaminpeters.org<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2FBenjaminpeters.org&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7C54ba8394ea8b40441c1008d63844f539%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=vPYijPCWl7TBMFePkJOTyMfXSpkNOP1Vhoz7PUwQ7ws%3D&reserved=0> @bjpeters Sent from my iPhone On Oct 22, 2018, at 12:04 PM, Andrew Russell <arussell@arussell.org<mailto:arussell@arussell.org>> wrote: Dear colleagues - It’s a pleasure to announce that the Computer History Museum Prize for 2018 has been awarded to Ben Peters for How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet (MIT Press, 2016). Please visit https://www.sigcis.org/2018chmprize<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sigcis.org%2F2018chmprize&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7C54ba8394ea8b40441c1008d63844f539%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=L%2F4zizGD1wsywyBNEkhwpUmPIh14bY2B1KAIReEBOzQ%3D&reserved=0> for details, including the prize citation, which I reproduce below. Benjamin Peters’s history of the Soviet Internet represents a pathbreaking contribution to the understanding of the history of computing and networking. Based on detailed empirical research in Russian archives, it extends the reach of these histories into new, non-Anglo-American domains. In describing the complex institutional and political reasons for the ultimate failure of the All-State Automated Systems (OGAS), How Not to Network a Nation challenges common assumptions about the relationships between decentralization, free markets, and electronic networking. Peters’s treatment of Soviet networking brings into sharper view the infrastructures, power relations, successes, and shortcomings of our own electronic networks. Best regards, Andy _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsigcis.org&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7C54ba8394ea8b40441c1008d63844f539%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=OxJIUrBzNDgSz4VXMPEOfbXhQVVDakZIqyT6w7mlhyU%3D&reserved=0>, 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/<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.sigcis.org%2Fpipermail%2Fmembers-sigcis.org%2F&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7C54ba8394ea8b40441c1008d63844f539%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=slLj4pCYzpWthr4Y3K1fHWslCHMwVNWLlz2CICo17G8%3D&reserved=0> and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Flists.sigcis.org%2Flistinfo.cgi%2Fmembers-sigcis.org&data=01%7C01%7Cbbwalker%40unr.edu%7C54ba8394ea8b40441c1008d63844f539%7C523b4bfc0ebd4c03b2b96f6a17fd31d8%7C1&sdata=R3wACA87Dl%2BIhfMizgUeVnbEHR6UQQOClBhf8qUwyZI%3D&reserved=0>
participants (5)
-
Andrew Russell -
Barbara B Walker -
Ben Peters -
Ian S. King -
Janet Abbate