Another interesting workshop was held in the beginning of this month, organised by the Media of Cooperation initiative.
The event gathered scholars from media studies, the history of science and mathematics, and science and technology studies (STS) to ask what a grand narrative of the history of computing would look like if told from other perspectives. I attended the event online. The program was interest to anyone with a keen eye to digital media infrastructures and their histories: July 4 13:30-13:45 Introduction by Erhard Schüttpelz (Siegen University) 13:45-14:00 Remarks by Paul Ceruzzi 14:00-15:30 Could we structure a big story around the materialities of data, computation and networks? Roundtable discussion featuring Cyrus Mody (Maastricht University), Moritz Feichtinger (University of Bern), Axel Volmar (Siegen University) & Valérie Schafer (C2DH, University of Luxembourg). 16:00-17:30 What if we don’t center the United States? Roundtable discussion featuring Ksenia Tatarchenko (Singapore Management University). Pierre Mounier-Kuhn (CNRS & Université Paris-Sorbonne), Petri Paju (University of Turku), Elisabetta Mori (Middlesex University) & Gerard Alberts (University of Amsterdam). 18:00-19:00 Chances Seized and Opportunities Squandered: Writing A New History of Modern Computing , Thomas Haigh (University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee & Siegen University). July 5 12:00-13:30 What can we gain by reconnecting the history of computing with the histories of computer science and mathematics? Roundtable discussion featuring Ulf Hashagen (Deutsches Museum), Helena Durnova (Masaryk University, Brno), Mark Priestley (National Museum of Computing, UK) & Liesbeth de Mol (Université de Lille). 14:00-15:30 How could media theory and STS underpin new historical ways of understanding the story of the computer? Roundtable discussion, convened by Sebastian Giessmann and Tatjana Seitz. Featuring Ben Peters (Tulsa University), Till Heilmann (Bochum), Elisa Linseisen (Vienna/Paderborn), Sebastian Giessmann (University of Siegen) & Tatjana Seitz (University of Siegen, moderator) 16:00-17:30 Can we integrate issues of gender, justice and embodiment into the story of the computer itself or must these narratives remain separate and particular? Roundtable discussion featuring Elizabeth Petrick (Rice University), Valérie Schafer (C2DH, University of Luxembourg), Jeffrey Yost (Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota). 18:00-19:30 Where did the dominant scholarly narratives in the history of computing come from, and how well have they held up? Roundtable discussion with William Aspray & Martin Campbell-Kelly (authors of Computer: A History of the Information Machine) and Paul Ceruzzi (author of A History of Modern Computing) moderated by JoAnne Yates (author of Structuring the Information Age). -- The discussions dealt with updating the master narrative of computing history by drawing on new generations of studies. The panels approached subjects as diverse as digital media devices, videogames, home computing, computer networking, smartphones, cloud computing, and the evolution of the IBM PC standard. As an important aspect of contemporary historiographic approaches, the panellists asked what the grand narrative of computing tells as much as what it silences, inquiring the potential to tell other stories on a similar scale about computers and their relationship with contemporary societies.
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AuthorThis blog is meant to provide a space for discussing the geophysical as well as the the imaginary entanglements between media infrastructures and organic environments. In the coming months, it will be dedicated to my current project, Cloud Gaming Atlas, which is particularly interested in observing and interrogating the infrastructures developed for cloud gaming initiatives in regard to their environmental implications. Additionally, it should also gather information about events and publications related to my project at the Zukunftskolleg and the Department of Literature, Art and Media of the University of Konstanz. Archives
January 2024
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