NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY
25-29 May 2016
Analog and digital computers were developed by individuals aware of an international scientific community. Likewise, although sometimes thought of as solely national projects, the first computer networks were built in an age of growing interconnectivity among nations. This meeting of IFIP Working Group 9.7 in New York City gathers historians and other professionals to reflect on histories that foreground the international community. Participants with an interest in this historical context for computers and computer networks may present academic papers or join in roundtable discussions.
In accordance with this theme, we hope to blur the dichotomy between core and periphery and complicate simplistic notions of linear technological progress. Far from a deterministic view that computers and computer networks were developed in isolation and according to their own technical imperatives, we will show the history of pre-existing relationships and communities that led to the triumphs (and dead ends) in the history of computing. This broad perspective will help us to tell a more accurate story of important developments like the Internet, to be sure, but also it will provide us with a better understanding of how to sponsor future invention and innovation.
At the conference, we seek to foster a conversation about internationalism in the history of computers and computer networks along four broad themes:
1. Invention:
communities where analog computers were developed
communication about and competition for early devices
innovations brought in from the supposed periphery
failed, forgotten, or thwarted efforts to develop networks or industries
2. Policy:
trade and treaties supporting computers and networks
organizations like IFIP with a mission to promote collaboration
long trajectories of digital divides
case studies revealing ethical considerations
cross-national comparisons of gender or ethnic diversity in industry and education
3. Infrastructure:
communication and data networks before the Internet
development and diffusion of TCP/IP
connectivity efforts before NSFNET, NSFNET, and beyond
resistance to and success of the WorldWideWeb
4. Social History:
differences and similarities in international impacts on general society
antecedents (Wells’s World Brain) and visions (Human-Nets’s WorldNet)
individuals who championed connections between nations
historiography of internationalism in computing
representations of international computing communities in film or literature
It is hoped that the conference will be of interest to a broad range of people who study computing and computer networks, including academic scholars and graduate students, but also those who have a professional or technical interest in computing. Accordingly, there are two ways to participate:
1. Academic Papers
For consideration, please submit your draft paper before January 8 via the conference website (http://wp.nyu.edu/ifip_wg97/). Enquires are welcome in advance of your submission (wg9.7conference@nyu.edu). Draft papers will be circulated before the conference in order to encourage a meaningful discussion. At the conference, each selected participant will be allotted time to present an overview of his or her paper. It is our intention to publish selected conference papers in an anthology by Springer, and hopefully the conference feedback will be useful as presenters complete their final drafts.
2. Roundtable Discussions
In order to welcome technical professionals and others who may not desire to prepare a full paper, the conference will also feature roundtables of 10–15 minute, relatively informal presentations related to the conference theme. These presentations could focus on key figures, historical anecdotes, or observations on particular projects. We hope that these roundtables will spark lively conversation and, perhaps, generate research partnerships between historians and technical professionals. For consideration, send a 250-word summary of the topic and your interest in it before January 8 via the conference website (http://wp.nyu.edu/ifip_wg97/). Enquires are welcome in advance of your submission (wg9.7conference@nyu.edu).
Further details will be made available at http://wp.nyu.edu/ifip_wg97/
About IFIP WG 9.7: IFIP, the International Federation for Information Processing, was founded in 1960. It is a nongovernmental organization dedicated to information and communication technologies and sciences. It sponsors fourteen committees primarily of a technical nature. Technical Committee 9, however, is dedicated to ICT and Society. The organizer of this conference is TC9’s Working Group 7, which focuses on the history of computing.
Important Dates
Deadline for consideration: January 8, 2016
Acceptances announced: February 5
Early deadline for payment of registration fee: March 1
Revised papers and abstracts due: April 1
Last day to reserve a room in the dormitory: April 10
Papers and abstracts made available to participants: May 1
Revised papers due for consideration in proceedings: July 1
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Valérie Schafer (3 septembre 2015). Cfp International Communities of Invention and Innovation (IFIP Working Group 9.7 Conference). Web90 - Patrimoine, Mémoires et Histoire du Web dans les années 1990. Consulté le 24 mars 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/v9up