Atsushi Akera

Exploring the architecture of an early machine: the historical relevance of the ENIAC machine architecture

After presenting the historiographical background to the ENIAC development, this paper examines the technical history of the machine. The technical section looks at the architecture of the accumulators and the master programmer unit in an attempt to illustrate both the advantages and the shortcomings of the design. In particular a description of a conditional branch mechanism and parallel operations are provided-together with a discussion of reasons why they were not used in any extensive way.

Edmund Berkeley and the origins of ACM

A fascination with computing machinery, and a desire to explore this emerging field with mathematicians, engineers, computer manufacturers, and others, inspired E.C. Berkeley to help create a hub for these common interests to connect.

IBM's Early Adaptation to Cold War Markets: Cuthbert Hurd and His Applied Science Field Men

The International Business Machines Corporation adapted early on to the opportunities created by the cold war economy in the United States. This account of IBMs adjustment to the circumstances of that time unveils the detailed process by which a firm situated outside the traditional defense industries forged new institutional allegiances between business and government and between science and industry. Beginning in 1949, IBMs Applied Science Department, under the leadership of Cuthbert Hurd, enabled the company to enter new technical markets that had been created by federal research and defense expenditures. But there were also broader consequences to IBMs decision to embrace scientific culture, among them the transformation of its traditional sales and product development strategies in ways that were not indisputably functional.

A Historical Survey of the Structural Changes in the American System of Engineering Education

This chapter provides a historical overview of the U.S. system of engineering education from its origins in the nineteenth Century until the present. It is organized chronologically, describing the early institutional formation of the U.S. system of engineering education; the post World War II ascent of engineering science ideology; late- and post Cold War changes in engineering education. As a broad brush stroke history, this text does not attempt to be comprehensive, nor does it touch on every major historical development. Instead, the chapter adopts a more analytic view of the structural features of the U.S. system of engineering education and it transformation over time. The primary intent of the chapter is to provide background historical knowledge for the other chapters in his volume, but it also closes with several observations of broader interest.

The Circulation of Knowledge, Institutional Ecologies, and the History of Computing

The circulation of knowledge is a notion that has been generating considerable interest in science studies circles. In this Think Piece, I suggest how both it and the related metaphor of an ecology of knowledge, might be highly relevant to the study of innovation in computing and information technologies. The notion of the circulation of knowledge clearly originates with well-established traditions in the history of ideas. Yet although intellectual historians might feel that this is something they have done all along, this work has benefitted from a conceptual detour through a generation of constructivist scholarship. This has brought greater attention to the knowledge embedded in material artifacts and skilled practices. The excitement currently generated by the concept is demonstrated, for instance, by its being chosen as the overall theme of the Fifth British-North American Joint Meeting of the History of Science Society, Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, and the British Society for the History of Science. However, to the extent to which this interest has been driven by Ian Hacking,1 Peter Galison,2 and others’ observations about the material culture of science, there is reason to believe that the concept might apply to the study of the history of technology and the history of computing, in particular. Amid this interest, it is also important to consider the renewed relevance of an explicitly ecological view toward knowledge. Charles Rosenberg3 first introduced the metaphor of an ecology of knowledge in an essay written during the early synthesis that established constructivism as the dominant mode of analysis in the history and sociology of science.4 The notion continues to generate interest in science studies, as the publication of Susan Leigh Star’s Ecologies of Knowledge5 demonstrates. As scholarly interest moves away from studies of a single laboratory, institution, or even network to the more loosely coordinated exchanges that are now central to scientific and technological innovation, an ecological view toward knowledge emerges as an even more powerful metaphor for our discipline. Specifically, an ecological metaphor, which alludes to the regionalization and geographic distribution of experience, helps us identify the different institutional contexts that promote new knowledge and technical innovation. Understanding how knowledge, artifacts, and skills circulate within and across different institutional contexts ought to advance our understanding of technological innovation.6,7

Synopsis of INES Affiliated Regional Workshop on Engineering Identities: Deepening Theoretical Perspectives July 22–24, 2009: Grafton, New York

The first general INES meeting occurred in Blackburg, Virginia, in 2006, and the second in Lisbon, Portugal, in October of 2008. Both meetings were large, wellpublicized gatherings; but as is consistent with INES’ principle of being a ‘network’ of scholars, it seemed appropriate to plan for a smaller regional meeting on a more focused topic. Based on the interest of those present in Blacksburg, ‘engineering identities’ quickly emerged as our chosen theme for the first of these smaller meetings. Our engineering identities meeting occurred at a rural retreat in Grafton, located in upstate New York, in July of 2009. The workshop called for pre-circulated papers and précis. Everything from works in progress to recently published papers was welcomed. Participants also read Rogers Brubaker and Frederick Cooper’s ‘Beyond ‘‘Identity’’’ (Theory and Society 29/1 2000): 1–47) for general background, to help deepen our theoretical understanding of how identity may operate within engineering. The participants, along with their affiliations and paper titles, were as follows:

Bringing radical behaviorism to revolutionary Brazil and back: Fred Keller's Personalized System of Instruction and Cold War engineering education

This article traces the shifting epistemic commitments of Fred S. Keller and his behaviorist colleagues during their application of Skinnerian radical behaviorism to higher education pedagogy. Building on prior work by Alexandra Rutherford and her focus on the successive adaptation of Skinnerian behaviorism during its successive applications, this study utilizes sociologist of science Karin Knorr Cetinas concept of epistemic cultures to more precisely trace the changes in the epistemic commitments of a group of radical behaviorists as they shifted their focus to applied behavioral analysis. The story revolves around a self-paced system of instruction known as the Personalized System of Instruction, or PSI, which utilized behaviorist principles to accelerate learning within the classroom. Unlike Skinners entry into education, and his focus on educational technologies, Keller developed a mastery-based approach to instruction that utilized generalized reinforcers to cultivate higher-order learning behaviors. As it happens, the story also unfolds across a rather fantastic political terrain: PSI originated in the context of Brazilian revolutionary history, but circulated widely in the U.S. amidst Cold War concerns about an engineering manpower(sic) crisis. This study also presents us with an opportunity to test Knorr Cetinas conjecture about the possible use of a focus on epistemic cultures in addressing a classic problem in the sociology of science, namely unpacking the relationship between knowledge and its social context. Ultimately, however, this study complements another historical case study in applied behavioral analysis, where a difference in outcome helps to lay out the range of possible shifts in the epistemic commitments of radical behaviorists who entered different domains of application. The case study also has some practical implications for those creating distance learning environments today, which are briefly explored in the conclusion.

Understanding EU and Danish Higher Education Governance through a Comparison With US Reforms

In this contribution, we describe the changing landscape for higher education in Europe and Denmark under the Bologna Process, as viewed through the eyes of two historical case studies in US higher education reform. Our focus will be on governance. As a quintessential public good, higher education has always been within the province of the state.

Institutional Responses to the Bologna Process in Danish Engineering Education

The aim in this chapter is to present and discuss our detailed, empirical findings with regards to the institutional-level responses to the Bologna Process among Danish engineering schools and universities. It also documents their responses to new Danish national policies as they relate, both directly and indirectly, to the Bologna Process.

Finding a place for engineering studies in disaster STS? Creating the STS Forum on the 2011 East Japan Disaster

During the opening panel at the recent Society for the Social Studies ofScience/Estudios Sociales de la Ciencia y la Tecnologia (4S/ESOCITE) meeting in Buenos Aires, the 4S president (and editor of this journal), Gary Downey, challenged us to move beyond the traditional linear model of knowledge creation and utilization by reflecting on how many Science and Technology Studies scholars pursue novel ways of acting upon the world through scaling up their scholarship. This critical participation piece describes our attempt to forge an international research forum in the wake of the 2011 East Japan Disaster that constitutes one such attempt to produce scalable scholarship. Inspired by the deep reflexivity of autoethnography, this account examines the tensions inherent to such an endeavor, including the tensions between scholarship and engagement; personal and professional goals; research ethics and different international standards for scholarship; and the desire to make engineering visible versus the dominant STS (science and technology studies) framing of disasters research. This account should serve as a useful guide for others seeking to build international collaborations involving engineering studies, and other similar efforts to produce scalable scholarship.