Author: Giuseppe Primiero

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First CfP HaPoC-4, Brno 4-7 October 2017

The DHST/DLMPS commission for the History and Philosophy of Computing invites all interested researchers to the

4th International Conference on History and Philosophy of Computing (HaPoC)

Brno, 4-7 October 2017

In their societal impact, computers have grown way beyond their roots in mathematics and logic. Their ubiquity since the late 20th century has increased the number and impact of several of the original questions raised by early computer scientists and practitioners: questions about their expected and intended behaviour, as Alan Turing did when asking whether machines can think; questions about their ontology, as John von Neumann did when asking what the computer and the human brain have in common; questions about their role in performing human tasks, as Norbert Wiener did when asking whether automatic translation is possible. With new technologies, the need for rethinking formal and technological issues is crucial.

The computerisation of our lives can hardly leave anyone without opinion. HaPoC’s appeal to historical and philosophical reflection is an invitation to all: designers and manufacturers, computer practitioners, users and artists, logicians and mathematicians, and with the increasing ubiquity of the machine every citizen, with her own experience of the computer.

HaPoC conferences aim to bring together researchers exploring the various aspects of the computer from historical or philosophical standpoint. With Nathan Ensmenger we may say that facts do not change, but our understanding of them does. The series aims at an interdisciplinary focus on computing, rooted in historical and philosophical viewpoints. The conference brings together researchers interested in the historical developments of computing, as well as those reflecting on the sociological and philosophical issues springing from the rise and ubiquity of computing machines in the contemporary landscape. Past editions of the conference have successfully presented a variety of voices, resulting in fruitful dialogue between researchers of different backgrounds and characteristics. Celebrating the revolutionary exhibition Computer Graphic held in Brno in the spring of 1968, HaPoC emphatically extends the invitation to its fourth international conference to reflections on computers and art.

For HaPoC 2017 we welcome contributions from logicians, philosophers and historians of computing as well as from philosophically aware computer scientists and mathematicians. We also invite contributions on the use of computers in art. As HaPoC conferences aim to provide a platform for interdisciplinary discussions among researchers, contributions stimulating such discussions are preferable. Topics include but are not limited to:

– History of computation (computational systems, machines, mechanized reasoning, algorithms and programs, communities of computing and their paradigms,…)
– Foundational issues in computer science and computability (models of computability, Church-Turing thesis, formal systems for distributed, cloud and secure computing, semantic theories of programming languages, …)
– Philosophy of computing (computer as brain / mind, epistemological issues, …)
– Computation in the sciences (computer experiments and simulations, computer-aided systems for teaching and research, …)
– Computer and the arts (temporality in digital art; narration in interactive art work, speculative software, programming as a deferred action, computing and affect, performativity of code, eristic of HCI, …)

We cordially invite researchers working in a field relevant to the main topics of the conference to submit a short abstract of approximately 200 words and an extended abstract of at most a 1000 words (references included) through EasyChair at
https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=hapoc2017

Accepted papers will be presented in 30 minute slots including discussion. Abstracts must be written in English. Please note that the format of uploaded files must be in .pdf. Submissions without extended abstract will not be considered.

Deadline for paper submission:
15 May 2017
Notification of acceptance:
15 July 2017
Conference fee:
EUR 150
A limited number of grants will be available.

The conference will be preceded by a special workshop on the reception of Hilbert’s axiomatic method in Eastern Europe on 3 October (Tuesday) – organized by Mate Szabó

Accompanying cultural programme will include the remake of the 1968 Brno exhibition Computer Graphic (featuring Frieder Nake and others), the first computer art exhibition in Eastern Europe, preceding Cybernetic Serendipity by several months, Live coding performance (inspired by the Exhibition Computer Graphic), the concert Exposition of New Music (contemporary music), and field recordings of Brno (student project).

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2nd CfP: Computability in Europe 2017, June 12-16, 2017, Turku, Finland

CALL FOR PAPERS:
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CiE 2017: Unveiling Dynamics and Complexity
Turku, Finland
June 12-16, 2017
http://math.utu.fi/cie2017

IMPORTANT DATES:
================

Deadline for article submission: January 5, 2017
Notification of acceptance: March 1, 2017
Final versions due: March 13, 2017
Early registration before: May 8, 2017

CiE 2017 is the thirteenth conference organized by CiE (Computability in Europe), a European association of mathematicians, logicians, computer scientists, philosophers, physicists and others interested in new developments in computability and their underlying significance for the real world.

Previous meetings have taken place in Amsterdam (2005), Swansea (2006), Siena (2007), Athens (2008), Heidelberg (2009), Ponte Dalgada (2010), Sofia (2011), Cambridge (2012), Milan (2013), Budapest (2014), Bucharest (2015) and Paris (2016).

THE PROGRAMME COMMITTEE cordially invites all researchers (European and non-European) to submit their papers in all areas related to computability for presentation at the conference and inclusion in the proceedings at https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cie2017.

Papers must be submitted in PDF format, using the LNCS style (available at ftp://ftp.springer.de/pub/tex/latex/llncs/latex2e/llncs2e.zip) and should have a maximum of 10 pages, including references but excluding a possible appendix in which one can include proofs and other additional material. Papers that build bridges between different parts of the research community are particularly welcome.

The CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS will be published by LNCS, Springer Verlag.

ORGANIZED BY:
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Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Turku
Computer Science, Åbo Akademi University

email: cie2017@utu.fi

WOMEN IN COMPUTABILITY PROGRAM AND GRANTS:
==========================================

We are happy to announce that the CiE Women in Computability program, coordinated by the Special Interest Group Women in Computability
http://sat.mdx.ac.uk/cie-wp/index.php/cie-conference-series/cie-cs-women-in-computability/
offers four grants of up to 250 EUR for junior female researchers who want to participate in CiE 2017. Applications for this grant should be send to Liesbeth De Mol (liesbeth.demol@univ-lille3.fr) before 1 May 2017 and include a short cv (at most 2 pages) and contact information for an academic reference. Preference will be given to junior female researchers who are presenting a paper (including informal presentations) at CiE 2017.

TUTORIAL SPEAKERS:
==================

Denis R. Hirschfeldt (University of Chicago)
Daniel M. Gusfield (University of California, Davis)

INVITED SPEAKERS:
=================

Scott Aaronson (University of Texas at Austin)
Karen Lange (Wellesley College)
Ludovic Patey (Université Paris Diderot)
Nicole Schweikardt (Humboldt-Universit ät zu Berlin)
Alexander Shen (Université de Montpellier)
Moshe Vardi (Rice University)

SPECIAL SESSIONS:
=================

Algorithmics for biology:
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Organized by Paola Bonizzoni (Milano, Italy) and Veli Mäkinen (Helsinki, Finland). Speakers:

Tobias Marschall (Max-Planck-Institut für Informatik)
Fabio Vandin (University of Padova)
Gregory Kucherov (University Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée)
Gianluca Della Vedova (University of Milano-Bicocca)

Combinatorics and algorithmics on words:
—————————————-

Organized by Tero Harju (Turku, Finland) and Dirk Nowotka (Kiel, Germany). Speakers:

Stepan Holub (Charles University in Prague)
Pascal Ochem (Université de Montpellier)
Svetlana Puzynina (Sobolev Institute of Mathematics and École Normale Supérieure de Lyon)
Narad Rampersad (University of Winnipeg)

Computability in analysis, algebra, and geometry:
————————————————-

Organized by Julia Knight (Notre Dame, USA) and Andrey Morozov (Novosibirsk, Russia). Speakers:

Saugata Basu (Purdue University)
Margarita Korovina (University of Aarhus)
Alexander Melnikov (University of California, Berkeley)
Russell Miller (Queens College, City University of New York)

Cryptography and information theory:
————————————

Organized by Delaram Kahrobaei (New York, USA) and Helger Lipmaa (Tartu, Estonia). Speakers:

Jean-Charles Faugère (Université Pierre et Marie Curie)
Elham Kashefi (University of Edinburgh-Scotland, Université Pierre et Marie Curie)
Aggelos Kiayias (University of Edinburgh)
Ivan Visconti (Università degli Studi di Salerno)

Formal languages and automata theory:
————————————-

Organized by Juhani Karhumäki (Turku, Finland) and Alexander Okhotin (St. Petersburg, Russia). Speakers: TBA

History and philosophy of computing:
————————————

Organized by Liesbeth De Mol (Lille, France) and Giuseppe Primiero (London, United Kingdom). Speakers: TBA

Contributed papers will be selected from submissions received by the PROGRAM COMMITTEE consisting of:

Andrew Arana (Urbana-Champaign, US)
Arnold Beckmann (Swansea, UK)
Paola Bonizzoni (Milan, IT)
Olivier Bournez (Palaiseau, FR)
Vasco Brattka (Munich, DE)
Cristian S. Calude (Auckland, NZ)
Ann Copestake (Cambridge, UK)
Liesbeth De Mol (Lille, FR)
Helena Durnová (Brno, CZ)
Ekaterina Fokina (Vienna, AT)
Tero Harju (Turku, FI)
Emmanuel Jeandel (Nancy, FR)
Emil Jeřábek (Prague, CZ)
Natašha Jonoska (Tampa, US)
Jarkko Kari (Turku, FI, co-chair)
Viv Kendon (Durham, UK)
Takayuki Kihara (Berkley, US)
Florin Manea (Kiel, DE)
Klaus Meer (Cottbus, DE)
Russell Miller (New York City, US)
Bernard Moret (Lausanne, CH)
Rolf Niedermeier (Berlin, DE)
Dag Normann (Oslo, NO)
Dirk Nowotka (Kiel, DE)
Isabel Oitavem (Lisbon, PT)
Ion Petre (Turku, FI, co-chair)
Kai Salomaa (Kingston, CA)
Reed Solomon (Storrs, US)
Mariya Soskova (Sofia, BG)
Susan Stepney (York, UK)
Peter Van Emde Boas (Amsterdam, NL)
Philip Welch (Bristol, UK)
Damien Woods (Pasadena, US)

Association CiE:
http://computability.org.uk
CiE Conference Series:
http://illc.uva.nl/CiE
CiE 2017 on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/CIE.Conference2017
CiE 2017 on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/2017Cie
CiE 2017 on Instagram:
https://instagram.com/cie.2017

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TURRIANO ICOHTEC PRIZE

The Turriano ICOHTEC Prize (formerly ICOHTEC Prize for Young Scholars) is sponsored by the Juanelo Turriano Foundation and consists of 2,500 Euro. The prize winning book will be presented and discussed at a special session of the next ICOHTEC symposium, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 23-29 July 2017 (http://www.icohtec.org/annual-meeting-2017.html [1]). An additional 500 Euro is available to the winner in support of travelling to the conference to receive the prize.

ICOHTEC, the International Committee for the History of Technology, is interested in the history of technology, focusing on technological development as well as its relationship to science, society, economy, culture and the environment. The history of technology covers all periods of human history and all populated areas. There is no limitation as to theoretical or methodological approaches.

Eligible for the prize are original book-length works in any of the official ICOHTEC languages (English, French, German, Russian or Spanish) in the history of technology: published or unpublished Ph.D. dissertations or other monographs written by scholars who, when applying for the prize, are not older than 37 years. Articles and edited anthologies are not eligible.

For the 2017 Turriano ICOHTEC Prize (http://www.icohtec.org/resources-prizes-turriano-icohtec.html [2]) please send an electronic copy (Pdf or Word) of the work you wish to be considered for the prize to each of the three Prize Committee members. (Note: Hard copies are only accepted for published works not available electronically.) YOUR SUBMISSIONS MUST BE EMAILED NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, 3 FEBRUARY 2017. If your book is in Spanish or Russian, please also supply a summary in English, French or German of about 4,500 words. In that case, the prize committee will find additional members, who are familiar with the language in which your book is written. Please also include an abstract of no more than a half-page in length.

If the work is a Ph.D. thesis, it should have been accepted by your university in 2015 or 2016; if it is a published work, the year of publication should be 2015 or 2016. The submission should be accompanied by a CV (indicating also the date of birth) and, if applicable, a list of publications. Applicants are free to add references or reviews on the work submitted.

Any materials sent to the prize committee will not be returned.

Send a complete application by email to each of the following Prize Committee members:

Dr. Jeremy Kinney, Prize Committee Chair
Curator, Aeronautics Department Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum P.O. 37012, MRC 312 Washington, DC 20013-7012 USA E-mail: kinneyj@si.edu

Dr. Yoel Bergman Associate Researcher Cohen Institute, Tel-Aviv University 20 Hatzmaut st. Herzliya 46789 Israel E-mail: yoelb@protalix.com, bergm@post.tau.ac.il

Dr. Irina Gouzevitch Centre Maurice Halbwachs École Normale Supérieure 48, boulevard Jourdan 75014 PARIS E-mail: igouzevitch@ens.fr

Dr. Klaus Staubermann Principal Curator of Technology National Museums of Scotland Chambers Street Edinburgh EH1 1JF UK E-mail: K.Staubermann@nms.ac.uk

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HaPoC related website at Middlesex University

Visit our new website at

http://ta.mdx.ac.uk/leo/

This site collects information and references related to the History and Philosophy of Computing as part of the teaching and research activities of the Foundations of Computing Group at the Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University London. Our research focuses extensively on the LEO Computers, through a Master Studentship in Business Computing and currently a PhD Studentship funded by the Association for Information Technology Trust and supported by the Caminer Family. Teaching activities include an optional module for the BSc Computer Science Programme in History and Philosophy of Computing (Module Leader: Giuseppe Primiero).

Follow us on twitter: @leomiddlesex

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What Makes a Program Elegant?

R. K. Hill, “What Makes a Program Elegant?”, Blog@CACM, 2016. [Online]. Available: http://cacm.acm.org/blogs/blog-cacm/208547-what-makes-a-program-elegant/fulltext.