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  • From the Editor's Desk
  • Gerardo Con Diaz (bio)

I am delighted to present the final issue of 2019, containing a rich group of studies that span phenomena ranging from software copyright in the U.S. to the development of artificial intelligence in South Korea.

We open with the final three articles for the special issue on computing and governance with which we opened this year. Continuing with the theme we introduced in 41:1 (January–March 2019), these articles demonstrate that a focus on governance allows us to rely on an eclectic range of methods to inquire into the history of information and communications technologies. First, Jasper Tran examines the history of a very unusual battle in the history of telecommunications law, Hush-a-Phone v. United States. Drawing on doctrinal and regulatory history, Tran challenges a series of historical misconceptions that pervade legal scholarship and political thought on U.S. telecommunications. Next, James Hodges applies digital forensics to recover digital traces left behind by developers and users who tried to bypass technical protections against software piracy 1980s. A careful, almost archaeological analysis, his article invites the study of hacked media artifacts to investigate the legal history of software. Finally, Meg Jones offers a comparative analysis of the rise of the concept of "consent to computing" in Western countries. Comparative legal history, as Jones deploys it, becomes a valuable tool to make sense of the sociopolitical forces that have shaped the globalization of telecommunications.

In our feature, two-part essay, James Cortada offers a historiographical reflection on how scholars account for the diffusion of information technologies. Part 1 presents a birds-eye view of familiar explanations for how and why people adopt new technologies and identifies the analytical limits that these explanations carry. Part 2 invites us to consider how we could draw on a wide range of subjects—from labor and gender studies, to law and economics and information studies—to craft a more holistic view of the history of computing.

We then move on to three unusual and fascinating articles from our general queue. Youjung Shin demonstrates how from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, South Korean language researchers led an important program of artificial intelligence research. This shows that South Korean artificial intelligence was experiencing a period of rapid growth at a time when global research output seemed to be slowing down. Elisabetta Mori then turns our attention to European efforts, in the early 1960s, to create a consortium of hardware manufacturers able to compete with IBM. Mori's analysis shows that the global spread of hardware at the time involved the development of transnational associations intended to control the spread of U.S. technology. The issue's final article, by Daniel Southwick, turns our attention to the history of computer-aided design and numerical control. It offers a blend of media studies and history of computing to inquire into the social politics of digital design and manufacturing.

Our department editors have been hard at work, as well. We include two anecdotes: one on software recovery by Zbigniew Stachniak, and one on the so-called Lighthill Affair by Maarten van Emden.

Thank you for reading the IEEE ANNALS. We look forward to sharing more fascinating work with you in the new year. [End Page 5]

Gerardo Con Diaz
University of California, Davis
Gerardo Con Diaz

Gerardo Con Diaz is an Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies with the University of California, Davis. He is the Editor in Chief of IEEE ANNALS OF THE HISTORY OF COMPUTING. Contact him at condiaz@ucdavis.edu.

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