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Telling Our Story

Telling Our Story. David Wise Richard Snodgrass. We don’t know our history. What was the impetus for the 18 transactions and 8 journals? What was the genesis of the 24 SIGs? What was the arc of those that no longer exist?

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Telling Our Story

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  1. Telling Our Story David Wise Richard Snodgrass

  2. We don’t know our history. • What was the impetus for the 18 transactions and 8 journals? • What was the genesis of the 24 SIGs? What was the arc of those that no longer exist? • Where did early and middle leaders see the field going? In what ways were they prescient and in what ways were they mistaken? ACM Council

  3. The history of ACM is important. • ACM, as the first society of computing, should not only contribute to the future of information technology, but should document its past. • What does the last fifty years of ACM tell us about the next ten years, the next fifty years, both of ACM and of computing in general? ACM Council

  4. We are losing our past. • There are ACM conferences for which no printed proceedings can be located. • In the past year, four Turing Award winners have died. • Few of those present at the founding of ACM are still with us. ACM Council

  5. Context • Much written on the general topic of the History of Computing. • Several short articles on the history of ACM have been published. • Most other societies have published books on their institutional histories. ACM Council

  6. Proposal ACM should undertake a comprehensive, coordinated effort to document ACM’s history, culminating in the announcement at the 2005 ACM Awards Dinner, of a number of significant collections that utilize information technology to celebrate the emergence and growth of this First Society of Computing. ACM Council

  7. Topics • What • Why • How ACM Council

  8. ACM: The First Fifty Years • A coffee-table-style book • Offering for the first time the origins and evolution of ACM from 1945 • Containing pictures, history, and interviews ACM Council

  9. A Scholarly History of ACM • Drawn from the same sources, but for a different audience: historians of science, volunteer and staff leaders • How has ACM addressed the challenges that have confronted it? • What can be learned about what has worked and what hasn’t worked? • Perhaps published on-demand. ACM Council

  10. The ACM Historical Archive • A multi-media web site, containing • Digitized source documents • Statistics • Interviews • Photographs and videos • Integrated with an extension of the ACM Timeline of Computing (www1.acm.org/top/tl) • Covering the full scope of ACM, including boards, publications, SIGs ACM Council

  11. Turing Award Archive • A web site celebrating the “Nobel Prize of Computing” • Interviews, biographies, remembrances of every Turing Award winner • A digital version of every single document written by these illustrious pioneers ACM Council

  12. Turing Award Lectures: The Second Twenty Years 1986-2005 • A successor to “Turing Award Lectures: The First Twenty Years 1966-1985” • A supplement to the web site ACM Council

  13. Historical DVD-ROM • Includes the Turing Award web site • Includes the ACM Historical Archive • Bundled with the books ACM Council

  14. Collections, in review • ACM: The First Fifty Years • A History of the ACM, 1945-1995 • Turing Award Lectures: The Second Twenty Years • ACM Historical Archives web site • ACM Turing Award web site • ACM Historical DVD ACM Council

  15. Why? • We need to tell our story, of how the ACM originated, grew, and prospered. • We are losing our past, and thus the story itself. • The collections will celebrate the trials and accomplishments of this First Society of Computing. ACM Council

  16. How: Realizing this Vision As with other efforts within ACM, if we are going to do this, we need to do it well. • Solid scholarship • Comprehensive coverage, involving all components and constituencies of ACM • Quality execution • Marshalling our extensive and varied resources ACM Council

  17. ACM EC and Council • Decide whether or not to embark on this vision • Appoint a blue-ribbon Advisory Board • Senior historians of science and technology • EC/Council representative • Staff representative (John or Pat?) • SGB representative (Someone from SGB EC?) • Possibly a Board representative ACM Council

  18. ACM EC and Council, cont. • Coordinate efforts across the Association to collect and interpret historical artifacts • Staff • Prior Council activity • Boards • SGB • Budget/locate sufficient financial resources ACM Council

  19. Tasks • Each Board could research its history, contributing to the Historical Archive. • The SGB could assemble the history of each SIG and be responsible for the Turing Award Archive. • The Publications Board could be responsible for overseeing the “Turing Award next 20 years” book and working with EiCs to document the history of each publication. ACM Council

  20. Tasks, cont. • Staff could help locate historical documents. • The DVD would be a natural adjunct to the Historical Archive and Turing Award Archive. ACM Council

  21. First 50 Years Book • Written by a professional historian, probably under commission • This consultant would • Interview core people (e.g., past Presidents and CEOs) • Coordinate other interviews • Direct the collection of information • Design the overall structure of the Historical Archive ACM Council

  22. A History of ACM • Scholarly book • Written from same materials • Probably also by the consultant • Of interest more to volunteers, staff, and other historians ACM Council

  23. Budget • Depends on the scope of the project • Board, journal, and SIG histories could be written and edited by those involved. • Propose that Turing Award Archive be handled by SGB. ACM Council

  24. Budget, cont. • Big cost is hiring a qualified historian to oversee the project, do the primary interviews, and write the books. • For a 2-3 year effort, based on past efforts of a similar magnitude, a maximum generous estimate is $200K plus $40K in expenses. ACM Council

  25. Summary • We need to tell our story. • We are losing our history. • Some tasks require substantial volunteer effort. • Involving a professional historian is expensive but helps ensure quality. • Resulting collections celebrate ACM and its accomplishments. ACM Council

  26. ACM, as the First Society of Computing, should not only contribute to the future of information technology, but should document its past, using that technology. Let’s tell the story of ACM. ACM Council

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