Workshop on ACM SIG Heritage

Workshop on ACM SIG Heritage
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
May 20-21, 2019

The Association for Computing Machinery, founded in 1947, is the oldest and largest educational and scientific society dedicated to the computing profession, and today has more than 100,000 members around the world. The ACM History Committee is sponsoring a SIG Heritage workshop to help diffuse knowledge of professional archival practices into ACM’s membership and to others with an active interest in preserving our computer heritage/history.

Applications are invited to a one-and-a-half day workshop to be held 20-21 May 2019 at the Charles Babbage Institute (CBI) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For each successful application, one person’s expenses for workshop travel, lodging, and meals will be paid by the ACM History Committee.

This is a hands-on workshop with detailed examples. The workshop will be kept small to maximize hands-on aspects and personal interaction. At most 20 attendees.

Who should attend?
ACM members and others who are planning or actually doing SIG history/heritage (archiving/documentation/oral history/publishing) projects. The workshop should be of special interest to ACM officers and staff, SIG leaders, historically minded ACM members, and others working on SIG history projects. Priority will be given to ACM members and members of other national computer societies affiliated to the ACM, but others who are actively engaged in preserving ACM SIG-related history are also encouraged to apply.

Workshop activities include:
a) presentations on basic SIG history preservation, including identification, ACM support, priorities, assessment, and example projects; privacy and legal issues; preparing for public deposit
b) hands-on individual exploration of CBI holdings, including ACM records
c) short presentations on each attendee’s SIG heritage project/plans, with group discussion
d) CBI archival cavern tour
e) ample networking time, including lunches and workshop dinner

Participants will leave with a “tool kit” of practical, useful procedures as well as insight into other SIG heritage techniques, projects, and practices.

Applicants should send a 2-page CV as well as a 250-word project description that
– explains the significance of the existing or planned archiving/history project and its importance;
– describes the archiving/history project’s raw materials including types of images, documents, reports, publications, oral histories (including format of digital materials)
– affirms the applicant’s willingness to make a short presentation to the workshop and participate fully in its day and a half agenda

The ACM History Committee will fund accepted invitees (travel, hotel, meals).

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:
Applications are due by February 1, 2019.
Applications should be submitted as a single pdf-format document to history-webmaster@acm.org. Notification of project acceptance will be made within six weeks.

Questions about the workshop or requests for clarification may be directed, at any time, to history-webmaster@acm.org.