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?
 Where did early and middle leaders see
the field going? In what ways were they
prescient and in what ways were they
mistaken?

September 19, 2003
ACM Council
2
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?

September 19, 2003
ACM Council
3
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.
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
4
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.
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
5
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.
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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Topics

What

Why

How
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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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
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
11
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.

September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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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
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
13
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
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
14
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
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
15
Historical DVD-ROM

Includes the Turing Award web site

Includes the ACM Historical Archive

Bundled with the books
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
16
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

September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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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.
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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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
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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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
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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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
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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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.
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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Tasks, cont.
Staff could help locate historical
documents.
 The DVD would be a natural adjunct to
the Historical Archive and Turing Award
Archive.

September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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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
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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A History of ACM
Scholarly book
 Written from same materials
 Probably also by the consultant
 Of interest more to volunteers, staff,
and other historians

September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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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.
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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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.
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
27
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.

September 19, 2003
ACM Council
28
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.
September 19, 2003
ACM Council
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