Current and Recently Completed Research

My primary areas of research are the business, social, and cultural and intellectual history of information technology, with a particular focus on the post-World War II history of computing, software, and networking.

I am the incoming Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Annals of the History of Computing (starting in January 2008).

My current research projects include a book project on the history of the computer services industry from 1955 to the present, as well as collaborative projects on the history of Moore’s Law and the history of networking/software infrastructure.

My recently completed projects include a synthetic book on the history of the computer industry, a reference book on the history of scientific computing, and articles and book chapters on the history of medical informatics and privacy, the history of computer security standards, the history of IBM mid-range systems, the cultural history of computing and software, and IT historiography.

I served as the Principal Investigator/Project Director on a $488,000 four-year National Science Foundation-sponsored CBI project, “Building a Future for Software History,” a project to advance infrastructure and resources in this significant, but neglected, area of study.

Brief Curriculum Vitae

Education
Ph.D., History of Technology and Science, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 1998

M.A., History of Technology and Science, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 1993

B.A., Magna Cum Laude, History, Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1990

Professional Positions
Associate Director, Charles Babbage Institute for the History of Information Technology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1998 to present

Researcher, Center for Regional Economic Issues, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 1997-1998

Consulting Historian, Winthrop Group, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1994-1997

Selected Concurrent Positions/Professional Service
Editor-in-Chief, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing (starting in January 2008)

Editorial Board, IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 2004 to present

International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 9.7 History of Computers, 2003 to present

Principal Investigator, “Building a Future for Software History,” National Science Foundation sponsored project, 1999-2004

Committee Member, Da Vinci Medal Award Committee for Lifetime Achievement in the History of Technology. Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), 2002.

Chair, IEEE Life Members Prize Committee. Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), 2002.

Co-Principal Investigator, “The Computer as a Scientific Instrument,” National Science Foundation sponsored project, 1998-2001.

Editor, Charles Babbage Institute Newsletter, 1998 to present

Select Publications

Books and Articles:

IBM Rochester: A Half Century of Innovation (IBM 2007). [Co-written with Arthur L. Norberg].

“Maximization and Marginalization: A Brief Examination of the History and Historiography of the U.S. Computer Services Industry.” Entreprises et Histoire 40 (November 2005): 87-101.

“Computers and the Internet: Braiding Irony, Paradox, and Possibility.” in Carroll Pursell, ed. Companion to American Technology. (Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2005): 340-360.

The Computer Industry (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005).

“Reprogramming the Hippocratic Oath: The Early History of Medical Informatics and Privacy.” The History and Heritage of Scientific and Technological Information Systems (New Medford, New Jersey: Information Today for Chemical Heritage Foundation and American Society of Information Science, 2004): 46-55.

Bibliographic Guide to Resources in the History of Scientific Computing, 1945-1975 (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2002).

“Overcoming the Discipline Divide: Knowledge Networking and the Advancement of the History of Software.” Journal of the American Association for History and Computing 4:1 (April 2001).

Timken: From Missouri to Mars--A Century of Leadership in Manufacturing (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press, 1998) [Bettye H. Pruitt with the assistance of Jeffrey R. Yost].

Reference Articles:

“Computer Industry” Encyclopedia of Business History (New York: Facts on File, 2004).

“IBM” Encyclopedia of Business History (New York: Facts on File, 2004).

“Seymour Cray” American National Biography, Supplement (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002).

“CBI/Adelle and Erwin Tomash Fellowship: Sponsoring a Generation of Research in the History of Information Processing” IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 23:4 (October-December, 2001).

“NASDAQ” in Raul Rojas, ed. Encyclopedia of Computers and Computer History (Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2001).

“Edward A. Feigenbaum” in Raul Rojas, ed. Encyclopedia of Computers and Computer History (Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2001).

“Edgar Codd” in Raul Rojas, ed. Encyclopedia of Computers and Computer History (Chicago and London: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 2001).

“John P. Holland” American National Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).

Book Reviews:

Review of JoAnne Yates. Structuring the Information Age: Life Insurance and Technology in the Twentieth Century (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2005). In IEEE Annals of the History of Computing 29:1 (January - March 2007).

Review of Richard Coopey, ed. Information Technology Policy: An International History (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004). In Business History 47:4 (October 2005): 612-613.

Review of Leslie Berlin. The Man Behind the Microchip: Robert Noyce and the Invention of Silicon Valley (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). In Business History Review 79:4 (Winter 2005).

Review of Georgina Ferry. A Computer Called LEO: Lyons Teashops and the World's First Office Computer (London: Fourth Estate, 2003). In Business History 46:1 (January 2004): 127-128.

Review of M. Mitchell Waldrop. The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal (New York: Viking, 2001). In Isis 94:3 (September 2003): 563-564.

Select Presentations

"The Internet and the Transformation of American Industries: A Case Study of Travel Reservations." Society for the History of Technology (SHOT) Annual Meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada (October 13, 2006).

"Internet Challenges for Non-Media Industries, Firms, and Workers: Travel Agencies, Realtors, Mortgage Brokers, Personal Computer Manufacturers, and IT Services Professionals." Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany (July 24, 2006).

“A Brief Historical Examination of Business Strategy and Innovation in the Computer Services Industry.” Invited lecture, Computer Science and Engineering Colloquia (April 3, 2006).

“IT Business Archives, Interdisciplinary Research, and the Use and Abuse of History.” Invited lecture to faculty and graduate students, Strategic Management and Organization Department, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota (April 29, 2005).

“A Tale of Two Industries: An Examination of Strategy, Structure, and Technological Innovation in the Automobile and Computer Trades.” Invited lecture as part of the Colloquium Series in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Minnesota (November 14, 2003).

“Charles Babbage Institute Annual Report on Historical Research and Archival Development” Charles Babbage Foundation Annual Board of Trustees Meeting, Palo Alto, California (May 17, 2003).

“Reprogramming the Hippocratic Oath: The Early History of Medical Informatics and Privacy.” Conference on the History and Heritage of Scientific and Technological Information Systems, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (November 17, 2002).

“CBI: 25 Years of Leadership in Research and Preservation” Charles Babbage Foundation Symposium and Annual Board of Trustees Meeting, San Jose, California (May 10, 2002).

“Overcoming the Discipline Divide: Knowledge Networking and Advancing the History of Software” Annual Meeting of the American Association for History and Computing, Indianapolis, Indiana (February 2, 2001).

“Chasing IBM: Common Challenges in British and U.S. Computer R&D Management in the 1950s” International Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology, Munich, Germany (August 18, 2000).

“An Historiographical and Bibliographical Examination of Scientific Computing” [Session Chair and Presenter] History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (November 6, 1999).

“Designing Components and Composing Design: Supplier Relations and Application Engineering in the Early U. S. Automobile Industry.” Invited lecture as part of the Colloquium Series in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Minnesota (October 9, 1998).

Affiliations
Society for the History of Technology
American Historical Association
Business History Conference