Jeffrey Yost

Unseen Signals exhibit photo

Tremendous Twin Cities Pavek Museum of Electronic Communication opening gala/event this evening for the visiting IEEE exhibit "Unseen Signals" on E. Howard Armstrong, the inventor of FM radio!! #histtech

Now: Bruce Springsteen sings “Streets of Minneapolis” in Minneapolis

College approached and paid student to write op-ed in The Dartmouth The Dartmouth ran the article on Nov. 17 without knowledge that the College had been involved. 

The college at which I'm employed, which has signed a contract with the AI firm that stole books from 131 colleagues & me, paid a student to write an op-ed for the student paper promoting AI, guided the writing of it, and did not disclose this to the paper. www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026...

Cover of the book The Making and Meanings of a Computing Reference Work, teal with white lettering

New Interfaces article by CBI Senior Research Fellow William Aspray & Union College Prof. Emeritus David Hemmendinger "Using Reference Works to Study the Intellectual and Cultural History of Computing." It reflects on their new book pictured below #histsci

Interfaces:
cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces

I haven't had words to capture what i've been feeling, so i've just been reading others' words. The Boss reminds: just say the names and describe the acts of the people who are evil. that's enough for now. Get Noem and Miller and anyone who was even close to this out of power. ICE out now.

Police Told to Be ‘as Vague as Permissible’ About Why They Use Flock The documents show law enforcement sees themselves as being consistently and universally under threat from the people it is supposed to protect.

Very important insights contained within. Please read in its entirety.

www.404media.co/police-told-...

Portrait photo of Indiana U. Prof. Rachel Plotnick in front of blurred background setting of grass and trees.

Thrilled to announce an online lecture by Indiana U. Prof. & CBI Research Fellow @rachelplotnick.bsky.social entitled, "Computers are a Mess: What Hygiene Can Bring to the History of Computing." Wed., Feb. 11, '26, 1 pm Central.

Via Zoom #histsci #histtech

Register:

umn.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

👇👇!!

ICE detains 5-year-old Minnesota boy; school leader says agents used him as ‘bait’ The Columbia Heights school district says federal agents have detained four children in their district. School officials say agents used 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos as “bait” to try and draw family m...

Yet another atrocious act by ICE locally in the Twin Cities' metro.
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...

Book cover with watercolor or watercolor like red, blue, green and yellow design of two spheres on a surface but oriented horizontally.

New Interfaces essay! Toni Weller et al.'s rich & insightful historiographical essay on information history...

cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces

"Reflections on The Routledge Handbook on Information History." Framing the Field: Reflections on The Routledge Handbook of Information History" #HistSci

Now published in print: "The Legality of Logistics: On Techno-Orientalism and Geopolitics in Semiconductor Production" in IEEE Annals of the History of Computing as a part of this special issue 'Automation by Design' co-edited by @cperold.bsky.social , Gerardo Con Diaz, and @justcode.bsky.social .

Cover of Automation by Design special issue of IEEE Annals. The image is the US Census' FOSDIC installation with three professionals at a desk and two behind by the mainframe computer in the background. B&W image.

Our special issue is out! "Automation by Design: Politics, Culture & Landscape in an Age of Machines That Learn"! Eds. Colette Perold, me, Gerardo Con Diaz. Authors: David Dunning, Christos Karampatsos, Polyxeni Malisova, Eliza Pertigkiozoglou, Jason Ludwig, Megan Wiessner, & Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal

Deadline 1/15/2026 The Tomash Fellowship in History of IT
CBI for Computing, Information & Culture

No residency requirement. Beyond the stipend...access to our vast archives, knoweledgeable staff, talented
& diverse research fellows, mentoring resources.... #histsci
cse.umn.edu/cbi/adelle-a...

Blockchain 2026: If History is a Guide… Introduction- If history is a guide for blockchain (and its instantiations in cryptocurrency, tokenization, and “smart” contracts), it will likely be a meaningful, but imperfect guide. In this essay, ...

In this just published article "Blockchain 2026..." in Blockchain & Society, I draw on history to inform on technology, hype, & inequalities, as well as underlying politics, power, & corruption. #histsci

blockchainandsociety.com/home-%2Fessa...

He concentrated on a very different type of history than my focus on the social history of 20th and 21st information technology... He was a Renaissance and Reformation historian.

Congrats on the Award and on this super important topic in DH!! (BTW-My first UNL connection on here I think. My father was a historian and later a central administrator there. I grew up in Lincoln before moving to Minnesota).

Cover of Automation by Design special issue of IEEE Annals. The image is the US Census' FOSDIC installation with three professionals at a desk and two behind by the mainframe computer in the background. B&W image.

Our special issue is out! "Automation by Design: Politics, Culture & Landscape in an Age of Machines That Learn"! Eds. Colette Perold, me, Gerardo Con Diaz. Authors: David Dunning, Christos Karampatsos, Polyxeni Malisova, Eliza Pertigkiozoglou, Jason Ludwig, Megan Wiessner, & Ranjodh Singh Dhaliwal

Book cover with watercolor or watercolor like red, blue, green and yellow design of two spheres on a surface but oriented horizontally.

New Interfaces essay! Toni Weller et al.'s rich & insightful historiographical essay on information history...

cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces

"Reflections on The Routledge Handbook on Information History." Framing the Field: Reflections on The Routledge Handbook of Information History" #HistSci

UC Davis STS conf room and title slide

So grateful to be a guest at UC Davis' STS today & to share my "Of MYCIN Men: Medicine, Mottos, & Meanings in Symbolic & Generative AI". Such a wonderful, helpful,& generative conversation!!! #histsci

At UMN we were treated to a fantastic talk from this and I greatly look forward to reading it!!

Call for Applications: ACM History and Archiving Fellowship program, due 28th February 2026
The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) History Committee plans to support up to 5 research projects with awards of up to $4,000 each. Call is at link below. #histsci

history.acm.org/wp-content/u...

Sad to hear Jimmy Cliff has died. Feel fortunate I was able to see his concerts at Minneapolis' First Avenue & other venues over the years.

Prof. Lisa Messeri at podium giving a talk at UMN.

Very grateful to Yale's (& CBI Research Fellow) @lmesseri.bsky.social for her brilliant talk today (a CBI & UMN Anthro event) on the history & ethnography of VR in LA & more broadly, social imagineries for good in tech! Also, I am grateful for the terrific audience, Qs & coversation. #histsci

Flyer with elements from her book design and portrait photo of Lisa Messeri.

CBI & UMN Anthro are delighted to host Nov. 14th lecture (noon to 1pm, Andersen Lib. 120) by Yale U. Prof. of Anthropology & CBI Research Fellow @lmesseri.bsky.social Lisa Messeri!!

"IN THE LAND OF THE UNREAL"

Free talk & lunch, reg. req.

Registration:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

#HISTSCI

For the Minnesotans out there, see post below for upcoming book talk! My host, @justcode.bsky.social, wrote a lovely review of my book right when it came out. Also it's the final days of the @dukepress.bsky.social Fall book sale (thru Nov 9). Use FALL25 code on the press website to get 50% off!

Cover of Notes Toward a Digital Workers’ Inquiry by the Capacitor Collective

Our new book, Notes Toward a Digital Workers’ Inquiry, is out today!

Use the code DIGI-WORKERS-HOMIE on the @commonnotions.bsky.social site for a 25% discount

Flyer with elements from her book design and portrait photo of Lisa Messeri.

CBI & UMN Anthro are delighted to host Nov. 14th lecture (noon to 1pm, Andersen Lib. 120) by Yale U. Prof. of Anthropology & CBI Research Fellow @lmesseri.bsky.social Lisa Messeri!!

"IN THE LAND OF THE UNREAL"

Free talk & lunch, reg. req.

Registration:

docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

#HISTSCI

Guests (including the author, left) at the black-tie cocktail reception following the European OS Awards Ceremony. Photo courtesy of the European Open Source Academy, https://europeanopensource.academy/.

Latest Interfaces... Dr. Lea Beiermann's "From the Backroom to the Ballroom: (Re)framing Open Source for the Public Sector" offers a fascinating & insightful essay looking back & looking forward with Open Source Software (OSS) in Europe. #histsci

Essay article:

cse.umn.edu/cbi/interfaces

Rice U.'s Liz Petrick delivering a lecture holding a tablet.

So enjoyed Rice U.'s. Liz Petrick's engaging, insightful lecture at UMN HSTM yesterday!! "Embodiment and Mobility in Online Technologies: From Computerized Conferencing to Tablets." #histsci

Woman at EIES terminal (circa 1979), b & w photo, she is seated with her right hand on the keyboard looking at the screen. EIES was a pioneering bulletin board and conferencing networked system.

Delighted that Rice University's Elizabeth Petrick will be joining us at University of Minnesota for the HSTM Colloquium Talk: "Embodiment and Mobility in Online Technologies: From Computerized Conferencing to Tablets" October 24th
216 Pillsbury Drive, Room 125 (3:35 pm), Minneapolis, MN #histsci