Hi Theodore, Melanie Swalwell has carried out research into computer hobbyists in New Zealand see refs below Swalwell, Melanie. (2003) Multi-Player Computer Gaming: 'Better than playing (PC Games) with yourself'. Reconstruction, an interdisciplinary cultural studies community, 3(4). Retrieved from http://reconstruction.eserver.org/034/swalwell.htm Swalwell, Melanie. (2008). 1980s Home Coding: the art of amateur programming. In Stella Brennan and Su Ballard (Eds.) Aotearoa Digital Arts Reader (pp. 193-201). Auckland: Clouds/ADA. Swalwell, Melanie. (2009). Lan Gaming Groups: Snapshots from an Australasian case study, 1999-2008. In Larissa Hjorth & Dean Chan (Eds.), Gaming Cultures and Place in the Asia-Pacific Region (pp. 117-140). New York, Oxon: Routledge. Plus she has written a chapter for a book I am editing on the History of Computing in New Zealand due to be published in September! Good luck with your research Janet From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Alberts, Gerard Sent: Thursday, 10 June 2010 8:06 a.m. To: Theodore Lekkas; members@sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] References on computer hobbyists, user periodicals etc. Dear Theodore, Beautiful topic. Of course you want to get to know the work of Frank Veraart, in particular his 2008 dissertation on precisely this topic in The Nederlands. Best, Gerard Alberts ________________________________ Van: members-bounces@sigcis.org namens Theodore Lekkas Verzonden: wo 9-6-2010 16:16 Aan: members@sigcis.org Onderwerp: [SIGCIS-Members] References on computer hobbyists,user periodicals etc. Hello, I am looking for references on the history of computer hobbyists, home computer user groups, home computer publications. Any suggestions from the members of the list would be most welcomed. Theodore Lekkas Ph.D. Candidate University of Athens Greece _______________________________________________ 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 Theodore and other SIGIS members, Thanks for starting this topic. As Gerard Alberts already mentioned my dissertation is about the introduction of small scale computers (including PCs) in the Netherlands. The dissertation itself is in Dutch, but contains a summary in English (attached to this e-mail) Below you find my articles in English relating to this. Articles relating to the computer research: Frank Veraart, 'Basicode: co-producing a microcomputer Esperanto', History of Technology vol. 28, 2008, Continuum International Publishing Group, London, 2009, p. 129-147. Veraart, Frank (forthcoming) 'Decreasing meanings of computer games in the Dutch hobbyist scene, 1975-1995.' in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing (accepted for future publication 2009). Rooij, J.W. van, Berkers, E.A.M., Davids, M., Veraart, F.C.A. 'National innovation systems and international knowledge flows: an exploratory investigation with the case of the Netherlands' Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, 20(2), 149-168 (2008) PhD- dissertation: Frank Veraart, Vormgevers van Persoonlijk Computergebruik (Designers of Personal Computing, the development of computers for small-scale users in the Netherlands, 1970-1990) (PhD thesis) Stichting Historie der Techniek, Eindhoven, 2008 All these publications - including the PhD dissertation are available through the Eindhoven University of Technology library (http://library.tue.nl/catalog/Vubis.csp?OpacLanguage=eng) Publications of others that also might be of interest to you: Haddon, Leslie G., The roots and early history of the British home computer market: origins of the masculine micro, University of London, Management School Imperial College, 1988, http://www.mot.chalmers.se/dept/tso/haddon/leshaddon.htm. Haddon, Leslie G., "The home computer, the making of a consumer electronic", in: Science as Culture, 2, 1988, 7-51. Haddon, Leslie, Paul Gerd, "Design in the IT industry: the role of users", in: Rod Coombs, Ken Green, Albert Richards & Vivien Walsh, Technology and the market, Cheltenham: 2001. Oudshoorn, Nelly & Trevor Pinch, How Users Matter, the co-construction of users and technologies, Inside Technology, Cambridge MA London: MIT Press, 2003. Furthermore, I know James Sumner and others at the University of Manchester have looked into the development of Sinclair computers. I hope this helps in your investigations. Best regards, Dr. ir. F.C.A. (Frank) Veraart Eindhoven University of Technology Industrial Engineering & Innovation Studies dept. Technology Innovation & Society building IPO 2.24 PO box 513 5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands tel. + 31 40 247 5070 From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Alberts, Gerard Sent: woensdag 9 juni 2010 22:06 To: Theodore Lekkas; members@sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] References on computer hobbyists, user periodicals etc. Dear Theodore, Beautiful topic. Of course you want to get to know the work of Frank Veraart, in particular his 2008 dissertation on precisely this topic in The Nederlands. Best, Gerard Alberts ________________________________ Van: members-bounces@sigcis.org namens Theodore Lekkas Verzonden: wo 9-6-2010 16:16 Aan: members@sigcis.org Onderwerp: [SIGCIS-Members] References on computer hobbyists,user periodicals etc. Hello, I am looking for references on the history of computer hobbyists, home computer user groups, home computer publications. Any suggestions from the members of the list would be most welcomed. Theodore Lekkas Ph.D. Candidate University of Athens Greece _______________________________________________ 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

A belated follow-up to Jim's message about access to Masters and PhD dissertations: The British Library's Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) is shaping up to be very effective both as a clearing-house for information about dissertations available digitally, and as a direct-access repository. I'm surprised it's not better publicised. See: <http://ethos.bl.uk> The database attempts to list every research thesis/dissertation completed at a higher education institution in the UK. If a copy has been deposited with the British Library (which is usually the case) and has no access restrictions, it can be scanned and prepared for electronic download. The beauty of this provision is that, once any user has ordered a thesis to be digitised, it becomes available to later users at *no charge*. (Users requesting theses have to register, but there are no restrictions on registration. Users outside the UK are welcome.) A quick search on obvious keywords showed the following as currently available for direct free download: --- The growth of the Indian software industry : a social history Author: Warrier, Meera. Awarding Institution: University of East Anglia Awarded: 2003 The roots and early history of the British home computer market : origins of the masculine micro. Author: Haddon, Leslie G. Awarding Institution: Imperial College London (University of London) Awarded: 1988 Technology, consumption and the future : the experience of home computing. Author: Skinner, David Ian. Awarding Institution: Brunel University Awarded: 1992 A history of the theory of recursive functions and computability with special reference to the developments initiated by Godels incompleteness theorems. Author: Adams, R.G. Awarding Institution: Hatfield Polytechnic Awarded: 1983 Learning languages with computers : a history of computer assisted language learning from 1960 to 1990 in relation to education, linguistics and applied linguistics. Author: Fox, Jeremy. Awarding Institution: University of East Anglia Awarded: 1991 The impact of e-Government in the UK Author: Organ, Joseph John Awarding Institution: University of Leeds Awarded: 2006 --- Theses which have not been digitised usually attract a one-off fee of £40 for digitisation. Depending on the awarding institution's access policy, however, digitisation is sometimes free (though there may be a wait of up to 30 days before access is available). The system will also try to link to full-text versions held in local repositories such as <etheses.whiterose.ac.uk> where it can. Hope you find this useful! Best James On 12/06/2010 17:01, James Cortada wrote:

Thanks to those of you who were able to respond to this request for information. Some of my favorite sigcis e-mail is of this sort as I then go and look at many of the citations mentioned.

I particularly like it when colleagues mention their Masters and Ph.D. dissertations and provide a link to where we can obtain a copy. This is of extraordinary importance because it is incredibly easy not to be aware of important research. Therefore, I would like to suggest that if you have not shared with everyone your dissertations, that you do so electronically, if you can. I for one have kept a copy of each dissertation that has been made available through this sigcis so that there is at least one copy that gets preserved outside of the normal places, and for European and Asian dissertations, a copy in the USA. I hope others do the same, particularly at such institutions as CBI and universities.

Regards,

Dr. Jim (James) W. Cortada IBM Institute for Business Value 2917 Irvington Way Madison, WI 53713 USA jwcorta@us.ibm.com 608-270-4462

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