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
-
SIGCIS 2011 Workshop
SIGCIS Workshop 2011: Cultures and Communities in the History of ComputingNovember 6, 2011. Marriot Cleveland Hotel Latest Updates: 0) The workshop is over, but you can see pictures of all the fun. Also of the less fun parts — we don’t discriminate.1) The program is now complete.2) Thomas J. Misa, director of the Charles Babbage…
-
Computerized Education: Déjà Vu?
A recent Wired article on Khan Academy gave me a distinct sense of déjà vu. A pre-programmed set of lessons that are written once, and then can be used by kids anywhere in the country? They allow students to proceed at their own pace, simulating the advantages of one-on-one tutorial instruction? They ensure that a student…
-
Historical Computer Science
Like any well-trained Ph.D. student, I have come to see my own discipline as the master discipline, upon which all other forms of knowledge are based. For instance, I have repeatedly pestered my fianceé, who works in math education, with the idea of teaching mathematics historically. What better way (I enthuse) to teach, say, imaginary…
-
Summer reading for historians of computing — suggestions needed.
Please consider helping the community sharpen its engagement with new ideas. Back in graduate school I read feverishly in labor history, business history, history of technology social history, organizational sociology, etc in preparation for my oral examinations. My classes covered still more eclectic topics, ranging from a “greatest hits” of literary theory to nonparametric methods.…
-
The Shock of the Old
A couple weeks back I discussed Matthew Lasar’s article on Ars Technica about the invention of the PC. Lasar has done it again this week with an excellent piece on the surprising persistence of old technologies. Tech pundits, Lasar notes, are very quick to declare technology dead or obsolescent, when the latest, hot thing comes…
-
Sherry Turkle on Furbies
WNYC’s Radiolab is a show dedicated to making difficult scientific issues accessible and interesting for a popular audience. I sometimes assign segments of episodes to my history of technology students to reward them after particularly dry or difficult readings, so the recent episode on AI, called “Talking to Machines” caught my eye. Not only does…
-
Living technological change
There was an article in the New York Times recently that summarized findings of scientists studying the effects of light on sleep/wake cycles. One of the most interesting findings, for historians of computing, was the fact that the bright, bluish light put out by modern computer screens very effectively suppresses the body’s ability to generate…
-
Science Fiction and the History of Computing
David Ferro recently posted on the SIGCIS mailing list about the release of his and Eric Swedin’s new edited volume, Science Fiction and Computing. This is a sequel, of sorts, to a workshop at the Society for the History of Technology meeting in Tacoma last fall. I thought it would be appropriate to re-post this…
-
IBM Turns 100, and Creates a Stir
Journalists across the Web (mostly) celebrated the 100th birthday of IBM last week, on June 16th. See for instance, coverage at The New York Times, Wired, and Forbes. My history of computing colleagues at the IT History blog also covered the story, with a business history perspective from Joel West. As a former IBMer, I…
-
Preserving individuals’ on-line efforts at capturing bits of computer history
There are many excellent individually maintained websites that give bits of computer history, for instance, I know nothing about what provisions these (and other such websites that I admire) have for life after their current maintainers cease to have the capability to maintain them. I fear that such websites will cease to exist. What might…