Founded in the mid-1980s, SIGCIS is the leading international group for historians with an interest in the history of information technology and its applications. Our primary activities include meetings held in connection with our parent society, the Society for the History of Technology; and a range of online resources hosted from this website.
Recent News
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Learning about Infrastructure, and Infrastructures for Learning: Insights on Pedagogy from the SIGCIS
As I mentioned recently on the listserve, this year there will be a panel on the main SHOT program discussing how SIG concerns are integrated into teaching. As part of SHOT’s new website launch, comments from this panel (and several other roundtables) are being made available in advance. I’ll be representing the SIGCIS at this…
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Pictures from 2012 Workshop
A selection of charming and beautiful pictures from the 2012 SIGCIS Workshop in Copenhagen are now available in a Facebook album hosted on our Facebook page. Access it directly here with no facebook login required. Don’t forget to Like us on Facebook while you are there.
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The Betrayal of the Internet Imaginaire
In a recent blog post, The Betrayel of the Internet Imaginaire, SIGCIS Chair Elect Andy Russell offers a fresh perspective on Snowden, the NSA, and Internet politics. Drawing insight from historical and social studies of technology, he especially focuses on whether the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) might serve as a mechanism for enabling a…
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SIGCIS 2013 Workshop
Old Ideas: Recomputing the History of Information Technology SIGCIS Workshop 2013October 13, 2013, Portland, Maine Pictures from this event are now available on Facebook (no account required). The Society for the History of Technology’s Special Interest Group for Computers, Information and Society (SIGCIS – http://www.sigcis.org) is holding its annual scholarly workshop on Sunday, October 13,…
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Inventor Ted Hoff’s Keynote @ World IP Day- April 26, 2013 in San Jose, CA
The World IP Day program was to promote and celebrate the many benefits of intellectual property in San Jose and the SF Bay Area. San Jose and Silicon Valley lead the nation in patent generation and the City cohosted this West Coast event to celebrate the contributions of innovators and creators worldwide. Marcian E. “Ted”…
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CHM lecture: IBM Fellow Grady Booch on Computing: The Human Experience
Introduction: In this interesting and informative lecture at the Computer History Museum (CHM) on March 11, 2013, Grady Booch asked and tried to answer this question: ”What does it take to make “sentient” devices (that can feel, sense, think and reason) out of silicon and software?” But before we can address that question, there are many…
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The Book-Writing Machine: What was the first novel ever written on a word processor?
This week in The Slate Book Review, writer Matthew Kirschenbaum tells the story of what was probably the first novel ever written using a word processor – IBM’s MTST (Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter). This brief but insightful article, titled The Book-Writing Machine, gives us a glimpse of the author, the machine, and the novel at…
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The Race for Microprocessor Leadership in Silicon Valley: Jan 7, 2012 IEEE Life Member Meeting in Mt View, CA
Abstract: The microprocessor changed what is now known as Silicon Valley from a mostly agricultural and defense electronics region into a center of innovation for many new technologies. How did that happen and what challenges were faced along the way? The Jan 7, 2013 IEEE Life Member panel discussed the development of microprocessor technologies in the…
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2012 Computer History Museum Prize
Eden Medina, Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende’s Chile (MIT Press, 2011). Prize Citation Cybernetic Revolutionaries is a well-researched, insightful historical analysis of utopian computer technology and politics in Chile before, during, and after the brief presidency of Slavador Allende. Eden Medina situates the history of technology in a national framework to integrate topics and…
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Oct 25, 2012 was a Banner Day at Computer History Museum!
This Thursday, Oct 25th was a huge event day at the CHM in Mt View, CA. The week included a number of important events and milestones: 1. There were 5 different venue rental events on Oct 25th, including Day One of the Rusnano Conference; Day Two of the Internet Identify Conference; a Symantec theme party;…