ETHW:About: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 20:45, 1 February 2024

What is the Engineering and Technology History Wiki (ETHW)?

The Engineering and Technology History Wiki (ETHW) is a website powered by MediaWiki with thousands of articles, first hand accounts, oral histories, milestones, archival documents and lesson plans pertaining to the history of technology. The ETHW is one of the world’s premier sites for the documentation, analysis, and explanation of the history of technology; the scientists, engineers and business people who made these technologies happen; and on the history of the organizations to which these men and women belonged.

The ETHW is developed by a partnership between the United Engineering Foundation, and the AIAA, AIChE, AIME, ASHRAE, ASCE, ASME, IEEE, SPE and SWE. It fosters the creation of narratives that not only document the history of engineering practices but also explain when, how, and why these technologies developed as they did. It uses a wiki-based web platform to foster a collaborative online environment that taps into the collective memories, experiences, and knowledge of engineering's worldwide membership – the men and women who provide the imagination, creativity, and know-how to sustain engineering progress and technological innovation. In time, this site will serve as a central historical repository of all the achievements, ideas, and first-hand knowledge of engineering association members, societies, councils and technical communities. The ETHW will also provide a central location for all materials related to engineering’s organizational history.

Although the contributions to this site are restricted to registered users, the ETHW is also dedicated to making the social, economic, political, and technical aspects of the history of technology accessible to all. The general public is invited to explore and learn about the history of the technologies that have shaped and will continue to shape their lives.

What the ETHW Is Not

The ETHW is not a “how-does-technology-work” site. The scope of the ETHW is historical; instead of focusing on the inner workings of technology, it aims to explain how the technology was developed, who were the major players involved, and what long term significance the technologies have. The ETHW is not only an encyclopedia of the history of technology, but it also contains a full range of materials that relate to the legacy of engineering, including personal accounts, documents, and multimedia objects. In that sense, it is a combination reference guide, blog, virtual archive, and on-line community.

Goal

This site is intended to be the premier global record for preserving and interpreting the history of technological innovation and making that history available to the public. The wiki-based ETHW enables the recording of first-hand experiences of people around the world who have developed technologies’ products and services into the globally accessible public record. The ETHW will raise the public visibility of the role and historical contributions of engineers, and related professionals in enhancing the quality of life and the global environment.

Unlike other on-line encyclopedias that may include technological topics, the ETHW will be solely focused on the history of technology. The ETHW’s content will also be unique. No other wiki site offers the personal accounts of the technical innovators themselves. In other words, this site serves as a living testament to all the important experiences and contributions made by members and others to technological progress from around the globe. As such, the site will never be complete — it will grow and expand continually. It is the mission of the ETHW to be a forum for the community of engineers and innovators, and those who study their work, a networked repository of their memories, knowledge and achievements, a place to share and explore the history of technological innovation.

The Importance of Shared Experiences

The ETHW enables its members to record their involvement in technological innovation. Through these First-hand Histories, the ETHW invites and encourages members to share their experiences in developing products and services -- from invention, R&D, design, testing, production and commercialization -- with the world. Ideally these recollections will also include the broader range of experiences that led to members' successes as professionals, including their inspirations, educations, and affiliations. Because of the wiki functionality, the ETHW also enables individuals to contribute their experiences as contributors to a collective First-hand History of a group, such as an R&D lab or design team within a university or corporation.

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-== What is IEEE? ==
+== What is the Engineering and Technology History Wiki (ETHW)? ==
-Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) roots go back 125 years to the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) and the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE). A non-profit organization, IEEE is the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology, with over 375,000 members in more than 160 countries. Comprised of 38 Societies, IEEE’s membership spans every technical facet of electrical, electronic, and computer engineering.&nbsp;
+The Engineering and Technology History Wiki (ETHW) is a website powered by [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki MediaWiki] with thousands of articles, first hand accounts, oral histories, milestones, archival documents and lesson plans pertaining to the history of technology. The ETHW is one of the world’s premier sites for the documentation, analysis, and explanation of the history of technology; the scientists, engineers and business people who made these technologies happen; and on the history of the organizations to which these men and women belonged.
-The IEEE name was originally an acronym for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., which described its scope. However, over time the organization's scope of interest has expanded into so many related fields, that it is simply referred to by the letters I-E-E-E (pronounced Eye-triple-E). IEEE today is a leading authority on cutting- edge sciences and technologies ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics among others
+The ETHW is developed by a partnership between the [http://www.uefoundation.org/ United Engineering Foundation], and the AIAA, AIChE, AIME, ASHRAE, ASCE, ASME, IEEE, SPE and SWE. It fosters the creation of narratives that not only document the history of engineering practices but also explain when, how, and why these technologies developed as they did. It uses a wiki-based web platform to foster a collaborative online environment that taps into the collective memories, experiences, and knowledge of engineering's worldwide membership – the men and women who provide the imagination, creativity, and know-how to sustain engineering progress and technological innovation. In time, this site will serve as a central historical repository of all the achievements, ideas, and first-hand knowledge of engineering association members, societies, councils and technical communities. The ETHW will also provide a central location for all materials related to engineering’s organizational history.
-== <br>What is the IEEE Global History Network (GHN): <br> ==
+Although the contributions to this site are restricted to registered users, the ETHW is also dedicated to making the social, economic, political, and technical aspects of the history of technology accessible to all. The general public is invited to explore and learn about the history of the technologies that have shaped and will continue to shape their lives.
-Electrical, electronic, and computer technologies have dramatically transformed the world during the 19th and 20th centuries. Today they are the cornerstones of humanity’s material existence, and these technologies will continue to be powerful forces shaping life in the 21st century.
+== What the ETHW Is Not  ==
-The IEEE Global History Network (GHN) strives to be the world’s premier site for the documentation, analysis and explanation of the history of electrical, electronic, and computer technologies, the scientists, engineers and business people who made these technologies happen, and on the history of the organizations to which these men and women belonged.
+The ETHW is not a “how-does-technology-work” site. The scope of the ETHW is historical; instead of focusing on the inner workings of technology, it aims to explain how the technology was developed, who were the major players involved, and what long term significance the technologies have. The ETHW is not only an encyclopedia of the history of technology, but it also contains a full range of materials that relate to the legacy of engineering, including personal accounts, documents, and multimedia objects. In that sense, it is a combination reference guide, blog, virtual archive, and on-line community.
-Objectives: <br>Put simply, the IEEE Global History Network’s objective is to offer the broadest, most in-depth, and accurate information on the histories of electrical, electronic and computer technologies. To meet this objective, the IEEE GHN uses a wiki-based web platform to foster truly collaborative online environment that taps into the collective memories, experiences, and knowledge of IEEE’s worldwide membership – the men and women who provide the imagination, creativity, and know-how to sustain the progress in electrical, electronic, and computer innovations. <br>Through this global collaboration, the IEEE GHN fosters the creation of narratives that not only document the history engineering practice but also explain when, how and why these myriad of technologies developed as they did. In time, this site will serve as a central historical repository of all the achievements, ideas, and first-hand knowledge of IEEE members, societies, councils and technical communities. In addition to being a platform for sharing experiences and discussing ideas related to the history of technology, the IEEE GHN will also provide a central location for all materials related to IEEE’s organizational history.<br>The IEEE GHN invites all professional historians to share their expertise and to collaborate with others on this site in constructing the histories of electrical, electronics, and computer technologies.<br>Although the contributions to this site are restricted to registered users, the IEEE GHN is also dedicated to making the social, economic, political, and technical aspects of the history of technology accessible to all. The general public is invited to come, explore and learn about the history of the technologies that have shaped, and will continue to shape their lives.
+== Goal  ==
-== What the IEEE GHN is not<br> ==
+This site is intended to be the premier global record for preserving and interpreting the history of technological innovation and making that history available to the public. The wiki-based ETHW enables the recording of first-hand experiences of people around the world who have developed technologies’ products and services into the globally accessible public record. The ETHW will raise the public visibility of the role and historical contributions of engineers, and related professionals in enhancing the quality of life and the global environment.
-The IEEE GHN is not a “how-does-technology-work” site. The IEEE GHN is not an encyclopedia of the history of technology. Although it does contain Wikipedia-like “topic articles” that cover general subjects within the broader context of technological history, it also contains the full range of materials that relate to the legacy of science and technology, including personal accounts, documents, and multimedia objects. In that sense, it is a combination reference guide, blog, virtual archive, and on-line community. <br>The historical and technological scope of the IEEE GHN<br>The registered users of the IEEE GHN, who are IEEE members and historians, will ultimately determine the historical breadths and depth of the site by their writing and editing. The admissible range of technologies for historical presentation within the IEEE GHN is very wide – anything that involves electricity, electronics, and information processing. Examples, to mention just a few, range from microelectronics, giant electric power stations, bio-medical applications, the internet, space travel, ocean engineering, geosciences, video games, to music and movies.
+Unlike other on-line encyclopedias that may include technological topics, the ETHW will be solely focused on the history of technology. The ETHW’s content will also be unique. No other wiki site offers the personal accounts of the technical innovators themselves. In other words, this site serves as a living testament to all the important experiences and contributions made by members and others to technological progress from around the globe. As such, the site will never be complete — it will grow and expand continually. It is the mission of the ETHW to be a forum for the community of engineers and innovators, and those who study their work, a networked repository of their memories, knowledge and achievements, a place to share and explore the history of technological innovation.
-As far as how old event have to be to be considered suitable for the IEEE GHN, historians have developed various guidelines for how far in the past an event must have occurred for the passage of time to allow. The IEEE Milestones program, for example, requires 25 years to have lapsed, and that will be reflected on the Milestone portion of the IEEE GHN. Other archival functions may be similarly restricted. However, because of the preservation function of the IEEE GHN and the fact that it is a repository of data for future historians, general articles and first-person accounts are allowed to cover right up until today.<br>Nature of the IEEE GHN Content<br>
+== The Importance of Shared Experiences  ==
+The ETHW enables its members to record their involvement in technological innovation. Through these First-hand Histories, [[Help:For First Time Contributors|the ETHW invites and encourages members to share their experiences in developing products and services]] -- from invention, R&D, design, testing, production and commercialization -- with the world. Ideally these recollections will also include the broader range of experiences that led to members' successes as professionals, including their inspirations, educations, and affiliations. Because of the wiki functionality, the ETHW also enables individuals to contribute their experiences as contributors to a collective First-hand History of a group, such as an R&D lab or design team within a university or corporation.