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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Obituaries in the History of Computing, 2011
Last year, around this time, I submitted a blog post summarizing the obituaries of a number of major figures in the history of computing who died in 2010. Given the worldwide headlines in response to the death of Steve Jobs two months ago, I think it makes sense to turn that post into a yearly…
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Thanks to all for another successful SIGCIS workshop
This year’s workshop has now come and gone successfully and thanks are in order for all of the speakers and attendees who made it a success. Tom Misa has offered slides from his keynote talk to be posted here. This year, we had (fittingly, I think) more content from the SHOT conference as a whole…
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SHOT 2011 Syllabi Session
After today’s syllabus session at SHOT it seems like an ideal time to remind folks that we have a great repository of syllabi in the history of computing, information, and technology here on the site. Go to www.sigcis.org/syllabi or navigate down to “syllabi” in the bar on the left hand side. It is also an…
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Backstage at the Creation of the iPod
Apropos of my post a while back on the hidden engineers behind Steve Jobs’ recent triumph, video-game historian Benj Edwards has posted an article on MacWorld that provides a nice synthetic account of the origins of the iPod. Edwards covers a number of the major figures responsible for the design and development of the iPod. Tony…
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Travel Awards for SIGCIS Meetings
SIGCIS offers an integrated program of travel awards to broaden the base of participants in its annual workshops. Maximizing our support here is the top financial priority for the SIG, and a highly cost effective investment in the future of our field. SIGCIS Travel Award Programs Our awards are named in recognition of their various…
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Another Great Online Resource
Apologies for my recent radio silence, and thanks to Marie for picking up the slack. I still don’t have anything terribly profound to say, but I wanted to point out a wonderful on-line historical resource that went up a couple of months ago: MIT’s 150th anniversary interviews, dubbed Infinite History. The dozens of interviews at the…
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Steve Jobs, whose vision domesticated the computer, is dead at 56
In a sad but expected follow-up to Chris’s post from a little over a month ago, this entry marks the passing of Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple, who has died at the age of 56. While many renowned leaders of industry are remembered for one big thing, or can have their accomplishments summarized in a…
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Babbage’s Notes to be Digitized in Order to Build Working Analytical Engine
Recently, the BBC reported that the London Science Museum plans to add to its collection in the history of computing by digitizing Charles Babbage’s huge store of design notes on the Analytical Engine. Though the 19th c. Analytical Engine is often pointed to as a machine that presaged the modern computer, a working version was…
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Computer (Art) World
Those of you in or around NYC might be interested in the exhibit series called the Silent Series at the New Museum, which aims to present interactions between contemporary art and technology.Past exhibits in the series, like Craft Hackers have raised questions about the relationship between art and craft in the technical realm and the…
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The End of the Jobs Era
The Internet has been inundated with stories about Steve Jobs’ resignation as CEO of Apple. Harry McCracken at The Technologizer looked back at the press coverage from the first time Jobs left Apple, in 1985, and found that much of the coverage suggested that Jobs’ (unwilling) departure would not be too serious, and might even…