IEEE Annals of the History of Computing
Department Information
The Annals has had a variety of different departments over the life of the journal. In recent years the departments in use have been
Think Piece, Anecdotes, Reviews, Events & Sightings, Biographies, and Interviews.
Pieces for the departments are typically less than half the length of peer-reviewed feature articles (except as noted). Writing for the departments also does not go through the Annals peer-review process and instead is reviewed and edited by the relevant department editor, who also works with the author to choose an appropriate length for what's written.
Some notes on the typical contents of the various departments follow. If you are thinking about a contribution to one of the departments, make contact with the department editor.
Department editors
Thank Piece: Bradley Fidler, bradley.reuben.fidler@gmail.com
Anecdotes: David Walden, dave.walden.family@gamil.com
Reviews: Gerardo Con Diaz, condiaz@gmail.com
Events and Sightings: editor position currently open, annals-es@computer.org
Biographies: Irina Nikivincze, annals-biographies@computer.org
Interviews: Dag Spicer, annals-interviews@computer.org
Think Piece department
- New or challenging ways of thinking about history and historiography of computing
- Assessing or challenging established ways of thinking about specific topics, events, lessons, etc.
- Application of historical methods or findings to the present-day — given what we know about history, where are we going, etc.
Anecdotes department
- Personal stories of participation in computing history
- Non-academic histories
- Stories of researching and writing computing history
- List of prior anecdotes
Reviews department
- Reviews of books, films, exhibitions, and any other medium for which a scholarly review of content is warranted
- Focus on recently published work&emdash;ideally within 1 year of publication
- Focus on scholarly books dealing with history of computing
- Can include books on history more generally where there is significant history of computing content
- Biographies and autobiographies of computing pioneers
- Typically about 750 words
Events and Sightings department
- Reports of a broad range of recent (within the past six months, generally) events relating to the history of computing from around the world
- Includes "news" reports on conferences, exhibitions, meetings, special events, deaths etc.
- Generally 750 words or less
- Does not include announcements of meetings and calls for papers
Biographies department
- Biographies of significant computer practitioners (alive or dead)
- Pieces should give an insight into a career as a whole. Pieces which describe just one aspect of a life may be better placed in Anecdotes.
- List of prior biographies
Interviews department
- Interviews (or oral histories that can be edited into interview format) of participants in computing history
- List of prior interviews