NEWSLETTER - Society for the History of Technology

SHOT NEWSLETTER
the Making of the Internet” (Business History Review, 2001);
“The Hidden Lives of Standards” (with Amy Slaton, in
Gabrielle Hecht and Michael Allen, eds., Technologies of
Power, MIT Press, 2001); and “Cold War and White Heat:
The Origins and Meanings of Packet Switching” (in Donald
MacKenzie and Judy Wajcman, eds., The Social Shaping of
Technology, Open University Press, 1999). Abbate was a
Research Associate with the Information Infrastructure Project
at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, where she
co-edited (with Brian Kahin) the volume Standards Policy for
Information Infrastructure (MIT Press, 1995). She held a
postdoctoral fellowship at the IEEE History Center at Rutgers
University before joining the history department at Maryland.
In 2000 she was awarded a grant from the National Research
Council’s Program on Governance in Post-Communist Societies
to study the introduction of the Internet to the Baltic republic
of Estonia. Abbate is currently working on a history of women
in computing, sponsored by a grant from the National Science
Foundation, which will compare the experiences of female
computer scientists and programmers in the United States and
Great Britain from WWII to the 1980s.During the 2002-2003
academic year she will be a Senior Fellow at the Smithsonian
Institution, where she will conduct archival research for this
project, and in 2003 she will guest edit a special issue of the
Annals of the History of Computing devoted to the history of
women in computing. Abbate is currently serving on the
editorial board for Technology and Culture and the SHOT
Robinson Prize Committee, which she chaired in 2001.
“What I would like to do for SHOT: One of the biggest
challenges facing SHOT is the continuing dearth of academic
jobs, which has forced many scholars of my generation to find
work outside academia. Much more can be done to prepare all
of our students for the realities of the job market and to prevent
scholars working in nonacademic settings from being
marginalized. For example, graduate curricula could be revised
to include internships in nonacademic settings, giving students
valuable experience and connections that would expand their
job options. Scholars working outside the university could be
encouraged to continue their research and teaching through
mid-career fellowships and visiting professorships. Fully funding
the Technology and Culture editorship should make it
possible for the first time for independent scholars to be
considered for that position, and we should make it our goal to
fill all such positions based on merit rather than institutional
affiliation.While there are no easy answers, the executive
committee can show its commitment to the future of the
discipline and its diverse membership by initiating discussions
of possible solutions and by encouraging experiments that
broaden students’ preparation or strengthen links with researchers
outside academia.”
p. 27
January 1996
Nominating Committee
There are two openings on the Nominating Committee. This
is a three-year term.
David L. Morton, Ph.D., is a Research Historian with the
IEEE History Center at Rutgers University. He is the author
of Off the Record: The Technology and Culture of Sound
Recording in America (Rutgers Press, 2000) and numerous
articles in scholarly and non-scholarly journals. His current
research interest is technology and systems of belief. Morton
is active as a public historian, and is currently co-producing a
children’s web site on the history of electrical and computing
technologies. Platform: SHOT historians are uniquely distinguished
as scholars, but need to assume a more prominent role
in society. News reports and policy decisions emerging from
the past year’s events have reinforced my belief that SHOT
members are an underutilized resource. We should actively
engage public discussions of issues and provide perspective
and expertise to a broader range of policy makers, journalists,
and members of the public. I will work to ensure that
candidates nominated for the Executive Council, the Advisory
Council, and other offices are committed both to academic
pursuits and public history.
Deborah G. Douglas is the Curator of Science and Technology
at the MIT Museum. She has also held positions at the
National Air and Space Museum, the NASA Langley Research
Center, the Chemical Heritage Foundation and taught
as an adjunct assistant professor at Old Dominion University.
She received the PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in
1996. Her most recent project has been Mind and Hand: The
Making of MIT Scientists and Engineers, an exhibition on
the history of science and engineering education. She is the
author of United States Women in Aviation, 1940-1985 and
is working on two book-length projects on aeronautical engineering
and airports. For SHOT, she is a member of the Dibner
Prize Committee, the deputy chair of the Albatrosses and has
served on the WITH Executive Board and edited the WITH
newsletter. She is also a member of the history committees of
the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and
the Transportation Research Board of the National Research
Council. “SHOT is in a period of significant transition.The
discipline is changing; the membership is changing. We are
growing and with this growth comes many challenges. The
Nominating Committee must seek candidates accordingly: We
need the experience and wisdom of those who can address the
political and economic complexities of mid-sized professional
society. We need the insights of those who want to strengthen
the professional identity and maintain standards of scholarly
rigor. We need to include individuals skilled at stimulating