Workshop: Becoming Digital, Computer History Museum, May 11-13 2018

Organizer: Thomas Haigh. Thomas.haigh@gmail.com. Cell: 414 287 0062

Venue: Computer History Museum, 1401 N Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View, CA 94043. Hosted by David Brock. We will be meeting in the “Hopper” conference room.

Sponsors: DFG on Media of Cooperation at Siegen University, led by Professor Dr. Erhard Schüttpelz. Organized with the Institute for Social Studies of Information at the Siegen University School of Media and Information.

Confirmed Participants:

David Brock, Center for Software History – Computer History Museum (discussant & host)
Stephanie Dick, University of Pennsylvania (via Skype)
Lori Emerson, University of Colorado Boulder
Jacob Gaboury, University of California at Berkeley
Bernard Geoghegan, King’s College London
Sebastian Giessmann, Siegen University
Thomas Haigh, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee & Siegen University
Hansen Hsu, Center for Software History – Computer History Museum (discussant)
Elizabeth Petrick, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Len Shustek, Computer History Museum (discussant)
Rebecca Slayton, Cornell University
Axel Volmar, Siegen University (via Skype)

Hotel: Accommodation is booked at the Hampton Inn & Suites Mountain View (390 Moffett Blvd, Mountain View, CA 94043, (650) 988-0300). It’s decent but not luxurious and very well located. Breakfast is included. It will be edible but unspectacular and include some hot items. Parking is free. The rooms all have my name (Thomas Haigh) as the primary guest and are held with my credit card. You each have your own king bed room, and I included each of you as the second guest name on one of the rooms so you can check in without me. When you check in you may be asked to give a credit card, but I’ll make sure they all get changed back to my card before you leave so you aren’t stuck with actually paying.

Our dinners on Friday and Saturday are easily walkable from the hotel, which is just 5 minutes walk north of the Central Expressway. Downtown Mountain View and the Caltrain station are the other side of the expressway (Moffet Boulevard turns into Castro when it gets to downtown). So if you arrive on Caltrain you will also be very handy for the hotel.

Pack for a short hike: On the Sunday we will be making a short (90 minutes or so) hike in Sam McDonald County Park before dinner. This will be fairly gentle, but bring comfortable shoes that would be OK if the ground is a little muddy. (If it’s raining heavily we’ll figure out something else fun to do). Also clothes that cover up to protect from tics – apparently Lyme disease is a problem, though not as much as some other parts of the country. I’ll bring insect spray and water bottles.

Getting to the hotel: To get there on public transport you would take the Caltrain. The schedule is at http://www.caltrain.com/schedules/weekdaytimetable.html and Google Maps should understand the transit options. The trains are slow, but then so is the traffic. Caltrain does not quite go to SFO. Getting the mile to Caltrain from the SFO airport terminals requires the Airtrain and two BARTS for $5.05. If you want to do Caltrain but would prefer to take a taxi from the terminal to the Milbrae Caltrain then keep your receipt and I will reimburse (should be about $12 according to the Internet).

By road, the hotel is 25 miles straight down the 101 from SFO. There are shared van services such as Super Shuttle (https://www.supershuttle.com/) which you can reserve ahead of time, for about $30. A taxi would probably cost over $100 and not all taxis at the airport serve that area. Uber or Lyft would usually be significantly cheaper – I’m currently seeing an estimate of around $50 for standard UberX service but that can fluctuate hugely at busy times.

From San Jose airport (SJC) the distance much smaller so just take a taxi or app based equivalent.

Friday May 11, 2018:

Meet around 6pm in the hotel lobby, to arrive for a 6:15 reservation at Xanh restaurant in downtown Mountain View (110 Castro Street, 650 964 1888). Booked for 9 people. This is apparently a lively and modern Vietnamese restaurant with a strong cocktail list. http://www.xanhrestaurant.com/. I can cover the cost of all the scheduled meals for participants.

Saturday May 12:

8:45	Meet in hotel lobby to carpool to the Computer History Museum (Tom and Sebastian drive). If you want to walk instead let me know, and give yourself half an hour to get there.
9:00 to 10:20	Welcome, opening discussion of book theme, and discussion of Haigh draft.	Haigh draft “Becoming Digital” Giessmann discussant.
10:30 to 12:30	Discussion of proposals 1	Gaboury proposal (untitled) Slayton discussant.
		Geoghegan proposal “From the Global Village to Molecular Screenscapes” Emerson discussant.
12:30-1:30	Lunch break (catered – arrive by 12:00?)
1:30-3:30	Discussion of proposals 2	Giessmann proposal “What’s in a Packet” Petrick discussant.
		Emerson proposal “The Net is Neutral…” Geoghegan discussant.
3:45-5:45	Discussion of proposals 3	Slayton proposal “Digital Flexibility, Physical Obduracy, and the Challenge of a “Smart” Grid” Haigh discussant
		Petrick proposal “Making Digital Citizens.” Gaboury discussant.
(5:45-6:45)	(Carpool to hotel, freshen, walk to restaurant)
6:45-8:30	Dinner, La Fontaine in downtown Mountain View (rsvn made for 10 people). French or Italian choices on an extensive, upscale menu. http://www.lafontainerestaurant.com/

Sunday, May 13:

8:45	Meet in hotel lobby to carpool to the Computer History Museum (Tom and Sebastian drive). If you want to walk instead let me know, and give yourself half an hour to get there.
9:00 to 11:00	Discussion of proposals 4 (via Skype)	Volmar proposal “The Hybrid Internet”
		Dick proposal “Economies of Implementation”
11:15-12:15	Next steps and wrap up (can continue over lunch if needed)
12:15 to 1:15	Lunch
1:15 to 2:30	Discussion of the new History of Modern Computing (Ceruzzi & Haigh)	“Finding a Story for the History of Computing” plus chapter by chapter plan
2:30-7:00	Scenic drive (45 mins) from CHM up into the hills for a short hike among redwoods in Sam McDonald County Park. More scenic drive from the park down to Pescadero Beach (30 mins) then up the coast on Route 1 to dinner in Half Moon Bay (15 mins).
7:00-8:45	Dinner at Pasta Moon in downtown Half Moon Bay (rsvn. made for 7 people). I’ve been to this one before – it’s peaceful, airy, and has excellent pasta. http://www.pastamoon.com/ Although it’s Mothers’ day, the regular menu is available after 5:30.
9:15	Arrive back at the hotel