From petpaju at utu.fi Fri Nov 6 07:53:14 2009 From: petpaju at utu.fi (Petri Paju) Date: Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:53:14 +0200 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] ICOHTEC proposal Message-ID: Hello all, We, that is I and Jaakko Suominen are organizing a panel proposal for ICOHTEC 2010 in Tampere, Finland in 10th -15th of August 2010. It's a panel on (re)uses of history in the field of information and communication technology and especially in corporate environment. We have three papers (on IBM, Nokia etc.), and are especially looking for a chair, (perhaps someone who is coming to ICOHTEC anyway), but are also open to other suggestions. Please email us during next week. Best wishes, Petri Here's the call again, http://www.tampere.fi/industrialpast2010/callfor.html From plundin at kth.se Tue Nov 10 15:54:30 2009 From: plundin at kth.se (Per Lundin) Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:54:30 +0100 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Call for papers, HiNC3 Message-ID: <1C865FBB9C7B4F518D704475055814CC@infra.kth.se> Hi all, The Third IFIP WG 9.7 Working Conference on the History of Nordic Computing (HiNC3) will take place in Stockholm, Sweden, October 18-20, 2010. The deadline for abstracts is February 28, 2010. See the web page http://dsv.su.se/en/hinc3/ for call for contributions and further information. ????????????????????????????????????????? Per Lundin Div. of History of Science and Technology Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) SE-100 44 Stockholm Sweden Phone: +46 8 790 87 41 Fax: +46 8 24 62 63 http://www.teknikhistoria.se ????????????????????????????????????????? From neil.barton at uclmail.net Thu Nov 12 10:18:28 2009 From: neil.barton at uclmail.net (Roger Neil Barton) Date: Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:18:28 -0000 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Fw: Veterans Rebuild IBM 1401, Patent Case of the Century, and more Message-ID: <94CE6A6875B343FB8D80F7479C6D58E8@GreyBox> IEEE Spectrum Tech Alert - 11/12/2009FYI kind regards neil Dr Roger Neil Barton http://www.uclmail.net/~neil.barton/ ----- Original Message ----- From: IEEE Spectrum Tech Alert To: neil.barton at uclmail.net Sent: Thursday, November 12, 2009 1:29 PM Subject: Veterans Rebuild IBM 1401, Patent Case of the Century, and more To view this e-mail as a web page, go here. ADVERTISEMENT Forward to a Friend Print this Issue Search Back Issues November 12, 2009 Rebuilding the IBM 1401 More than 30 retired computer engineers worked together to resurrect an antique IBM 1401 for the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif. Unlike today's computers, this 1960s-era model actually lets you see all the moving parts that make it work. This photo essay documents the team's work with the machine, which was donated to the museum by computer enthusiasts who bought it for US $21 000 from the German eBay site. Read more. The Future of Robotics Nov 12, 2009 Reducing Physical Verification Cycle Times with Debug Innovation ADVERTISEMENT Podcast: Business Patents Up for Grabs Oral arguments started in Bilski v. Kappos this week, in what some have called "the patent case of the century." Could Isaac Newton have patented calculus under U.S. patent law and created an insurance-industry monopoly? Patent attorney Kirk Teska describes the barrage of such questions from U.S. Supreme Court justices and considers what it bodes for the future of business-method patents. Listen now. New MEMS for Monitoring Bridges HP boosted the sensitivity of MEMS acceleration sensors 1000-fold without increasing the cost. The secret was borrowing technology from inkjet printers to make chunkier MEMS. Read more. Push-Button Books Google's deal to digitize books may be in legal limbo this week, but a New York City-based start-up has pressed ahead. On Demand Books' one-off bookmaking technology is pressing pages in bookstores and libraries around the world. Read more. Video: Capturing Sound with Smoke and Lasers A father-and-son team thinks they've discovered the next stage of microphone evolution: replacing the vibrating mechanical diaphragm with a stream of smoke. They measure changes in the stream's shape with a laser and a photodetector. Watch and listen as the inventors give a demonstration of their latest prototype. View now. The Air Piano Omer Yosha's home-brew musical interface is like an invisible multilevel keyboard that floats in the air in front of you. It goes on sale early next year. We've included video of the instrument in action. Read more. IEEE Spectrum Emerging Technology Forum Learn about Enabling Electronics for Smart Grid Technologies & Beyond. What are the opportunities, and what engineering challenges must be met to seize the day successfully? The forum scheduled on Nov 30th in Santa Clara, CA is free for all local members. The video recording of the event will also be available later for all IEEE members. Seats are limited. Learn more. Blogs Risk Factor: British Government: We Want Access to Your Every Phone Call, E-mail and Web Search In England, your home may be your castle, but the government will soon be able to get a rather good idea of what is happening inside it. The British government has decided to go ahead with its Intercept Modernisation Programme, which would force every telecommunication company and Internet service provider to keep a record of all of its customers' personal communications, showing whom they have contacted, when and where, as well as the Web sites they have visited. Read more and comment. Nanoclast: Has China Surpassed the U.S. in Nanotech? At his Metamodern blog, Eric Drexler has been examining the position of China in nanotechnology development. The data seems to suggest that the most prolific authors are based in China. But there is a giant chasm between research projects and commercial products and that probably remains the single biggest obstacle to nanotechnology having a greater impact on our economies. Read more and comment. Automaton: How To Make a Humanoid Robot Open a Door As it turns out, opening a door-in this case, a swinging door-is actually pretty hard, though we humans don't even have to think about it. Hitoshi Arisumi's experiments with an HRP-2 humanoid have shown that the best approach is for a robot to use its whole body, just as you use your hip and shoulder to open a door while carrying groceries. Read more and comment. ADVERTISEMENT Aerospace BioMedical Computing Consumer Electronics Energy GreenTech Robotics Semiconductors Telecom At Work Geek Life Nov 2009 Issue ADVERTISEMENT To ensure delivery of the IEEE Spectrum Tech Alert, please add techalert at ieee.org to your e-mail address book or Safe Sender List. If you are still having problems receiving our communications, see our white-listing page for more details. Interested in other IEEE Newsletters? Sign up here. To unsubscribe from future e-mails, click here. Copyright 2009 IEEE Inc. 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor New York, NY 10016-5997 Tel +1 212 419 7760 Fax +1 212 419 7589 www.spectrum.ieee.org IEEE Media, 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10016 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20091112/2d7f6919/attachment-0001.html From heide at cbs.dk Fri Nov 13 08:37:57 2009 From: heide at cbs.dk (Lars Heide) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:37:57 +0100 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Material and cases on actual management accounting systems Message-ID: <5C265E69B914434EBD9CEAAB2DD9804E29E0DDB6E7@EXCHANGE01.hhk.dk> Dear list member, I am working to develop a course on management economy and have been looking for material and cases on actual management accounting systems, particularly cases with problems that can facilitate discussions in a class. I would be pleased with your suggestions. Thanks for your help, Lars Heide Associate Professor, Dr. merc. Centre for Business History Copenhagen Business School Porcelanshaven 18A DK-2000 Frederiksberg DENMARK Tel: +45 3815 3027 Mob: +45 2383 4840 Fax: +45 3815 3635 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20091113/a7d89a12/attachment.htm From CeruzziP at si.edu Fri Nov 13 10:41:50 2009 From: CeruzziP at si.edu (Ceruzzi, Paul) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:41:50 -0500 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] World Computer Congress, 2010, second notice Message-ID: The 2010 World Computer Congress will be held next September in Brisbane, Australia. Included in the program will be a history track celebrating the 50th anniversary of IFIP. Here is the web site for further information, and a link to the Call for Papers for the history track. http://www.wcc2010.com/HC/ Paul E. Ceruzzi National Air & Space Museum From cbi at umn.edu Fri Nov 13 13:02:38 2009 From: cbi at umn.edu (Charles Babbage Institute) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:02:38 -0600 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] New CBI Newsletter (Fall 2009, Vol. 31:2) Message-ID: <4AFD9F3E.2020505@umn.edu> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20091113/b475b8bc/attachment.htm From evan at snarc.net Sun Nov 15 07:04:50 2009 From: evan at snarc.net (Evan Koblentz) Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:04:50 -0500 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] question about DIY computing in the 1940s/1950s Message-ID: <4AFFEE62.2030302@snarc.net> While writing about the National Bureau of Standards' SEAC tonight, I began to wonder: what are some other examples of computers in the late 1940s and early 1950s that were developed by customers because it was easier than buying one commercially? I'm specifically interested in machines that were completed and put into real-world use, not those which were experiments. From kevin.murrell at tnmoc.org Sun Nov 15 07:43:31 2009 From: kevin.murrell at tnmoc.org (Kevin Murrell) Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:43:31 +0000 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] question about DIY computing in the 1940s/1950s In-Reply-To: <4AFFEE62.2030302@snarc.net> References: <4AFFEE62.2030302@snarc.net> Message-ID: <6f86790d0911150443t2151e122o1700486d652f3c84@mail.gmail.com> I would suggest you might like to look at the following pages about a machine that was built at Harwell in the UK in the late 1940s / early 1950s. http://www.computerconservationsociety.org/witch.htm Kevin Murrell Computer Conservation Society 07939 471765 2009/11/15 Evan Koblentz : > While writing about the National Bureau of Standards' SEAC tonight, I > began to wonder: what are some other examples of computers in the late > 1940s and early 1950s that were developed by customers because it was > easier than buying one commercially? ?I'm specifically interested in > machines that were completed and put into real-world use, not those > which were experiments. > > > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members at 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 > From Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk Sun Nov 15 07:15:53 2009 From: Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk (Brian Randell) Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:15:53 +0000 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] question about DIY computing in the 1940s/1950s In-Reply-To: <4AFFEE62.2030302@snarc.net> References: <4AFFEE62.2030302@snarc.net> Message-ID: Hi Evan: At 07:04 -0500 15/11/09, Evan Koblentz wrote: >While writing about the National Bureau of Standards' SEAC tonight, I >began to wonder: what are some other examples of computers in the late >1940s and early 1950s that were developed by customers because it was >easier than buying one commercially? I'm specifically interested in >machines that were completed and put into real-world use, not those >which were experiments. The example that immediately springs to (my) mind is LEO, Lyons Electronic Office, based on EDSAC. Cheers Brian Randell -- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell at ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell From pne at umich.edu Mon Nov 16 12:02:37 2009 From: pne at umich.edu (Paul Edwards) Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:02:37 -0500 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] DEADLINE EXTENDED: faculty position in Information and Communication Technology for Development Message-ID: <4D58533E-AE97-4BCF-A6F5-A406C1D51F9A@umich.edu> Dear colleagues: DEADLINE EXTENDED until Nov. 25 for this position. We are particularly hoping to attract candidates who work in Africa. Please forward widely, and publish in newsletters or journals. Feel free to contact me for more information. ? Paul N. Edwards Faculty Position Postings Information and Communication Technology for Development Rank: Assistant Professor The School of Information (SI) seeks a faculty member at the Assistant Professor level who will establish a vigorous research and teaching program in information and communication technology for development (ICT4D), emphasizing applications relevant to environmental sustainability and developing nations. The successful candidate will have demonstrated expertise in information system design; computer-supported cooperative work; environmental informatics; communication studies; development policy, sociology, or anthropology; and/or a related field applicable to the design and study of information systems for developing-world contexts. The ideal applicant will combine a proven ability to design effective and innovative information systems with an informed, critical perspective on development issues. A portfolio that includes fieldwork (for example, an implemented ICT4D project, or a study of ICT uses in one or more nations) will receive most favorable consideration. The School's mission is to connect people, information, and technology in more valuable ways. The School currently has 37 FTE faculty; 50 doctoral students, and 372 students in its professional program, the Master of Science in Information. In partnership with other units, we recently launched a new undergraduate informatics concentration (major). We encourage you to learn more about the School, its mission, and its activities at the SI Web site. This position is part of a "cluster hire" in Environment, Information, and Development. The cluster consists of SI and three partner units < the Department of History, the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Center for Afroamerican & African Studies (which will also be hiring new faculty in related areas). The candidate for the SI position will be expected to engage with these new faculty, as well as others across the university, through such venues as a speaker series, reading groups, research projects, and teaching initiatives. We ask applicants for the SI position to review the Environment, Information and Development cluster description. Letters of application should mention the candidate's ideas for interacting with the cluster group. Qualifications: A Ph.D. (or nearing completion) in the areas of information science, computer science, environmental informatics, communication studies, sociology, anthropology, public policy, or another relevant field; demonstrated potential for successful teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level; demonstrated potential for high scholarly impact; and a strong commitment to teaching, interdisciplinary research, and creative activity. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled; however, candidates are strongly encouraged to submit their applications by November 15, 2009. For more information or to apply, please visit the UM School of Information Faculty Position Postings. ????????????????? Paul N. Edwards, Assoc. Professor of Information School of Information 3078 West Hall University of Michigan 1085 South University Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107 (734) 764-2617 (office) (206) 337-1523 (fax) http://www.si.umich.edu/~pne/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20091116/01f245a3/attachment-0001.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: SI_logo_web.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 20289 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20091116/01f245a3/attachment-0001.jpg From pne at umich.edu Mon Nov 16 11:57:21 2009 From: pne at umich.edu (Paul Edwards) Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:57:21 -0500 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] DEADLINE EXTENDED: faculty position in Information and Communication Technology for Development Message-ID: Dear colleagues: DEADLINE EXTENDED until Nov. 25 for this position. We are particularly hoping to attract candidates who work in Africa. Please forward widely, and publish in newsletters or journals. Feel free to contact me for more information. ? Paul N. Edwards Faculty Position Postings Information and Communication Technology for Development Rank: Assistant Professor The School of Information (SI) seeks a faculty member at the Assistant Professor level who will establish a vigorous research and teaching program in information and communication technology for development (ICT4D), emphasizing applications relevant to environmental sustainability and developing nations. The successful candidate will have demonstrated expertise in information system design; computer-supported cooperative work; environmental informatics; communication studies; development policy, sociology, or anthropology; and/or a related field applicable to the design and study of information systems for developing-world contexts. The ideal applicant will combine a proven ability to design effective and innovative information systems with an informed, critical perspective on development issues. A portfolio that includes fieldwork (for example, an implemented ICT4D project, or a study of ICT uses in one or more nations) will receive most favorable consideration. The School's mission is to connect people, information, and technology in more valuable ways. The School currently has 37 FTE faculty; 50 doctoral students, and 372 students in its professional program, the Master of Science in Information. In partnership with other units, we recently launched a new undergraduate informatics concentration (major). We encourage you to learn more about the School, its mission, and its activities at the SI Web site. This position is part of a "cluster hire" in Environment, Information, and Development. The cluster consists of SI and three partner units < the Department of History, the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Center for Afroamerican & African Studies (which will also be hiring new faculty in related areas). The candidate for the SI position will be expected to engage with these new faculty, as well as others across the university, through such venues as a speaker series, reading groups, research projects, and teaching initiatives. We ask applicants for the SI position to review the Environment, Information and Development cluster description. Letters of application should mention the candidate's ideas for interacting with the cluster group. Qualifications: A Ph.D. (or nearing completion) in the areas of information science, computer science, environmental informatics, communication studies, sociology, anthropology, public policy, or another relevant field; demonstrated potential for successful teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level; demonstrated potential for high scholarly impact; and a strong commitment to teaching, interdisciplinary research, and creative activity. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the position is filled; however, candidates are strongly encouraged to submit their applications by November 15, 2009. For more information or to apply, please visit the UM School of Information Faculty Position Postings. ????????????????? Paul N. Edwards, Assoc. Professor of Information School of Information 3078 West Hall University of Michigan 1085 South University Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107 (734) 764-2617 (office) (206) 337-1523 (fax) http://www.si.umich.edu/~pne/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20091116/e5378062/attachment-0001.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: SI_logo_web.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 20289 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20091116/e5378062/attachment-0001.jpg From evan at snarc.net Tue Nov 17 13:57:53 2009 From: evan at snarc.net (Evan Koblentz) Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:57:53 -0500 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Barkley Fritz Message-ID: <4B02F231.3060806@snarc.net> Does anyone know how to reach W. Barkley Fritz, who was a supervisor of the female "computers" for ENIAC during its Aberdeen days? I was given a phone number by Paul Deitz @ Aberdeen, but it's incorrect. This is part of my ongoing quest to learn * how * the ENIAC was moved from Moore to Aberdeen, beyond just "they took down a wall and used trucks." I contacted Harry (Joshua) Gray, who did his master's project on the re-installation, but even he only saw the computer before and after its physical move. Earlier this year I found a folder in the Aberdeen archives, with the title "ENIAC move to Aberdeen" (I forget the exact wording); that folder itemized every nut and bolt but contained virtually nothing about the move itself. All it said was, "U. Pennsylvania truck." Then I tried contacting the Penn facilities department to ask for 1946 records and they pretty much laughed at me ...... From mounier at msh-paris.fr Wed Nov 18 09:32:04 2009 From: mounier at msh-paris.fr (Pierre Mounier) Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:32:04 +0100 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Cybernetics & early computing history In-Reply-To: <4B02F231.3060806@snarc.net> References: <4B02F231.3060806@snarc.net> Message-ID: <37E0E22A-7E5D-41A8-9F62-7FB937DDF709@msh-paris.fr> Hello, I am doing a limited study on Cybernetics & early computing history, within the French context.? In brief, there was a cybernetics craze in the late 1940s-early 1950s, then a decided separation beginning in the mid-1950s, obvious in the first international conference on Automatic Control (CNAM, 1956) and in several books on information processing, which clearly excluded "Cybernetics" from the field. The remaining interface between them, artificial intelligence, was not well considered itself by many computer scientists, particularly within the Sch?tzenberger group of theoretical computer science. The interest for cybernetics culminated with the CNRS international conference on "Les Machines ? Calculer & la Pens?e humaine" in 1951, which was organized in three sessions : - Calculating machines - Calculating methods - Analogies with human thought. Does anyone know if other computing conferences included a similar session on typically "cybernetic" topics? To my knowledge, it was not the case of the conference organized at Cambridge by M. W. Wilkes, for example. Next question, did anyone of you study the separation process between computing and "cybernetics"? Thanks in advance. Pierre-E. Mounier-Kuhn CNRS & Universit? Paris-Sorbonne 28 rue Serpente, 75006 Paris From pne at umich.edu Wed Nov 18 14:37:10 2009 From: pne at umich.edu (Paul Edwards) Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:37:10 -0500 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Cybernetics & early computing history In-Reply-To: <37E0E22A-7E5D-41A8-9F62-7FB937DDF709@msh-paris.fr> References: <4B02F231.3060806@snarc.net> <37E0E22A-7E5D-41A8-9F62-7FB937DDF709@msh-paris.fr> Message-ID: <1114266F-9237-4267-9759-9094B02EF882@umich.edu> Pierre, you probably already know Slava Gerovitch's book From Newspeak to Cyberspeak, which partly covers the split between computer science and cybernetics in the USSR in the period you're working on. Paul On Nov 18, 2009, at 9:32 AM, Pierre Mounier wrote: > Hello, > > I am doing a limited study on Cybernetics & early computing history, > within the French context.? In brief, there was a cybernetics craze in > the late 1940s-early 1950s, then a decided separation beginning in the > mid-1950s, obvious in the first international conference on Automatic > Control (CNAM, 1956) and in several books on information processing, > which clearly excluded "Cybernetics" from the field. The remaining > interface between them, artificial intelligence, was not well > considered itself by many computer scientists, particularly within the > Sch?tzenberger group of theoretical computer science. > > The interest for cybernetics culminated with the CNRS international > conference on "Les Machines ? Calculer & la Pens?e humaine" in 1951, > which was organized in three sessions : > - Calculating machines > - Calculating methods > - Analogies with human thought. > > Does anyone know if other computing conferences included a similar > session on typically "cybernetic" topics? To my knowledge, it was not > the case of the conference organized at Cambridge by M. W. Wilkes, for > example. > > Next question, did anyone of you study the separation process between > computing and "cybernetics"? > > Thanks in advance. > > Pierre-E. Mounier-Kuhn > CNRS & Universit? Paris-Sorbonne > 28 rue Serpente, 75006 Paris > > > > _______________________________________________ > This email is relayed from members at 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 > > ????????????????? Paul N. Edwards, Assoc. Professor of Information School of Information 3078 West Hall University of Michigan 1085 South University Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1107 (734) 764-2617 (office) (206) 337-1523 (fax) http://pne.people.si.umich.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20091118/177883bb/attachment.html From thaigh at computer.org Fri Nov 20 16:35:42 2009 From: thaigh at computer.org (Thomas Haigh) Date: Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:35:42 -0600 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] SIGCIS Mahoney Fund -- Annual Appeal Message-ID: <004501ca6a29$6a1fc1f0$3e5f45d0$@org> Hello everyone, I am writing to draw your attention to the SIGCIS Mahoney Fund. The Mahoney fund named in honor of the late Michael S. Mahoney of Princeton University, a major scholarly influence on the development of the history of computing and keen participant in SIGCIS activities. Income from the fund is anticipated to support the SIG's activities, particularly our program of travel grants for graduate students. We launched this initiative about a year ago, with an informal message to this list. We were very pleased with the response - at present we have at least $3,000 in hand from that appeal and another $3,000 or so in pledges for future years. (This does not include our operating account which has a surplus of around $1,600 or the money pledged to support the Computer History Museum prize). Given the economic situation last autumn, and the low key nature of our appeal, this was really an excellent result and we hope to build on it as the world inches back towards prosperity. In recent years the SIG's activities have expanded dramatically to include an annual full day workshop held in conjunction with the SHOT conference, a program of travel grants for graduate students, an annual prize for an outstanding book in the history of computing (the Computer History Museum Prize) and a variety of online initiatives including a resource guide, syllabus repository, and member directory. This year we organized two paper sessions for the main SHOT meeting and seven sessions, including a plenary session devoted to discussion of Mahoney's work, at our inaugural workshop "Mike Mahoney and the Histories of Computing(s)." While we did not ultimately have to draw on the fund to support our costs for the workshop, knowing we had a financial reserve available was important in giving us the confidence to begin planning this event. Donations can be made online. Please visit http://www.sigcis.org/?q=mahoney to learn more about Michael Mahoney and the Mahoney fund, including recognition of existing contributors. SIGCIS is particular grateful to Ann Johnson, whose pledge of $500 a year for five years triggered the establishment of the fund, and to Len Shustek who made a donation of $1,000 last year. We hope to reach a balance of at least $10,000 within two years time, which will provide a meaningful reserve and generate an appreciable amount of annual income. In turn this will give the SIG the capability to undertake larger projects. If you are able to make a donation online, please follow the online instruction carefully, including a separate notification of your intention to secretary at sigcis.org. SHOT is relying on a rather convoluted mechanism to process the transactions, and this will allow us to follow up and make sure that your donation finds its way to the appropriate SIGCIS account rather than being absorbed into SHOT's general revenues. Donations may also be made by check - contact us for details. Have a good weekend, and happy thanksgiving next week to those of you in the US. Tom -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20091120/f16aff42/attachment.htm From sandramols at yahoo.co.uk Mon Nov 23 04:57:35 2009 From: sandramols at yahoo.co.uk (Sandra Mols) Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:57:35 +0000 (GMT) Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Fw: CfP: FROM PRACTICE TO RESULTS IN LOGIC AND MATHEMATICS, Nancy, France, 21-23 June 2010 Message-ID: <626567.35093.qm@web25305.mail.ukl.yahoo.com> Dear colleagues Please find enclosed the CfP for a conference on practices in logic and mathematics that may include some possibilities for papers on computing. Best regards Sandra Mols ************** "I do not like experts [...] They are our goalers. [...] Experts are addicts. They solve nothing! They serve whatever system hires them. They perpetuate it. When we are tortured, we shall be tortured by experts. When we are hanged, experts will hang us. Did you not read what I wrote? When the world is destroyed, it will be destroyed not by its madmen but by the sanity of its experts and the superior ignorance of its bureaucrats." Yakov Saveleyev, The Russia House by John le Carr?, 1990 ----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Sandra MOLS To: "sandra.mols at univ-nancy2.fr" Sent: Mon, 23 November, 2009 10:52:10 Subject: CfP: FROM PRACTICE TO RESULTS IN LOGIC AND MATHEMATICS, Nancy, France, 21-23 June 2010 Apologies for crossposting Please reply to the relevant persons below. CALL FOR PAPERS: FROM PRACTICE TO RESULTS IN LOGIC AND MATHEMATICS UNIVERSITY OF NANCY, FRANCE, 21-23 JUNE, 2010 The PratiScienS group invites the submission of research papers for a conference on the role of practices in the establishment of results in logic and mathematics. This conference is aimed at discussing and exploring the practice of mathematics and logic from an epistemological standpoint. That is, we look for papers on how the concrete practices of mathematicians and logicians may influence the results of their enquiries and, more broadly, the notion of what counts as proof. Through this conference, the PratiScienS group also aims at promoting a methodological reflection on the difficulties that a critical analysis of such practices in logic and mathematics implies and on issues related to the development of the appropriate exploratory conceptual tools. Invited Speakers include Jean-Paul Van Bendegem, Jessica Carter, Karine Chemla, Jeremy Gray, Brendan Larvor, Danielle Macbeth, Catarina Novaes and Dirk Schlimm. The Scientific Committee includes Gerhard Heinzmann, Paolo Mancosu, Philippe Nabonnand, Andrew Warwick and the PratiSciens group. This conference is part of a series of conferences organised by the PratiScienS research group at the Archives Henri Poincar?, Nancy University, France (http://poincare.univ-nancy2.fr/Activites/?contentId=6163&languageId=1). The group explores the issue of practices in their relations with the construction and validation of scientific knowledge. Consequently, this conference is also aimed at generating discussions tackling with the issue of practices in logic and mathematics, in the ways suggested and framed by the project. Thus, the Scientific Committee will particularly appreciate proposals that explore the epistemological impact of practices upon mathematics and logic research in relation to PratiScienS' main research topics, which include the possibility of a "Wimsatt-like" concept of robustness for mathematics and logic (http://poincare.univ-nancy2.fr/Activites/?contentId=4366&languageId=1), the role of tacit aspects in practices in logic and mathematics and, lastly, the contingency vs. inevitability issue with scientific results in the case of mathematics and logic (http://poincare.univ-nancy2.fr/Activites/?contentId=6172). Details on the conference theme can be found at http://poincare.univ-nancy2.fr/digitalAssets/66770_Argumentaire_FPTP2010.pdf. Submissions of proposals should include a long abstract (approximately 1000 words-long) of the paper. Deadline for submission by e-mail is January 15th, 2010, with acceptance notified by March 15th, 2010. Abstracts should be sent to: sandra.mols @ univ-nancy2.fr (remove spaces) Some financial support is available, and it may be possible to apply for a travel grant. The PratiScienS group is supported by: The Archives Henri Poincar? (Universit? de Nancy 2, CNRS UMR 7117), the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), the R?gion Lorraine, the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Lorraine (USR CNRS 3261), and Nancy-Universit?. ------------ Sandra MOLS Universit? Nancy 2 Courriel : Sandra.Mols at univ-nancy2.fr -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20091123/f3b05944/attachment.htm From S.Hochheiser at ieee.org Mon Nov 23 15:59:45 2009 From: S.Hochheiser at ieee.org (S.Hochheiser at ieee.org) Date: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:59:45 -0500 Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] New list member: Sheldon Hochheiser Message-ID: I probably should have joined this list a long time ago. I'm Sheldon Hochheiser, And I'm Archivist and Institutional Historian IEEE History Center, Rutgers University 39 Union Street New Brunswick, NJ 08901 s.hochheiser at ieee.org My interests in the history of computing center on the intersection of computing and communications, especially telecommunications. Before coming to IEEE, I spent many years as corporate historian at AT&T. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/attachments/20091123/dc75f541/attachment.htm