Contest for Information Technology (IT) History Preservation

ENIAC computer

Manually programming the
ENIAC computer

The IT History Society and its Board of Directors welcome your input and participation in the creation of an International Database of the Many Historical and Archival Sites that are located around the world. To our knowledge, there is no one point of information for the location of each IT historical site. The Society believes this database can become an important focal point for both information and research.

We are reaching out to our membership to assist in the creation of this database. The IT History Society does not have a dues structure, we are asking for your contribution by participating in the creation of this database. The site’s maintenance and upkeep will be ongoing, but first we must begin. We only ask you to submit basic information, the Society will contact each site and get the rest of the information for the database.

To incentivize everyone to join in the creation of this database, we are launching a contest that is open to all IT History Society members and anyone else in the international IT community.

The prizes for the MOST SUBMISSIONS are:


First Prize – A Kindle 2.0

Second Prize – An Apple iTouch

Third Prize - An Apple iPhone

Fourth Prize – An Autographed Copy of "The Digital Hand",  which is comprised of three volumes by Dr. James Cortada, an ITHS Director and IT History Guru.

Fifth Prize – Your choice of an autographed copy of either "The Digital Hand: How Computers Changed the Work of American Manufacturing, Transportation and Retail Industries", or "How Societies Embrace Information Technology", both by Dr. James Cortada

 

The Contest Rules

  • Start date: October 1, 2009.
  • Contest end date: January 31, 2010.
  • Submitters: Anyone (whether a member of the Society or not) can submit an entry.
  • Duplicate entries: All entries may be submitted even if other submitters put in the same entry
  • Submission of entries: All entries are to be submitted via the following URL http://www.ithistory.org/resource_sites/resource-form.php with the following required fields: Institution, Country, Institution URL, Sector site services (Public, Private, Academia, Research, or Other), and your (the submitter) email address.  Any additional information would be appreciated. Participants may have aides submit entries under one email address.
  • Minimum total submissions: If there are fewer than 75 submissions, the contest can be terminated and no prizes will be awarded. If we expect fewer than 75 submissions, we may extend the contest with an announcement before the January 31 deadline.)
  • Winners: The winners will be those entrants with the most legitimate entries.
  • Award announcement: Contest winners and their awards will be notified by email after the tallies are completed.
  • Rights: The IT History Society reserves the right to reject any entries and/or participants based solely on its own judgment that the entries are not within the spirit of the contest.

We are optimistic that the contest will be a success and valuable to our fellow professionals. Please spread the word and point colleagues to this contest URL:

http://www.ithistory.org/resource_sites/resource-form.php