The HaPoC conferences started in 2011 in Ghent, from the observation that given the significance of computing for modern society, the relevance of its history and philosophy can hardly be overestimated. Both the history and philosophy of computing have only started to develop as real disciplines in the 1980s and 1990s of the previous century, with the foundation of journals (e.g. the IEEE Annals on the History of Computing, Minds and Machines and the like) and special insterest groups such as the SIGCIS, the Special Interest Group of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) on Computers Information and Society), and the organization of conferences and workshops on a regular basis.
The aim of the HaPoC conference series is to bring together these two streams: we are strongly convinced that an interplay between the researchers with an interest in the history and philosophy of computing can crucially add to the maturity of the field.