CALL FOR PAPERS
International Conference on the History and Philosophy of Computing
7―10 November 2011
Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
http://www.computing-conference.ugent.be

Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the famous 1936 Papers by A. Church, E.L. Post and A.M. Turing.

From 7-10 November 2011 the Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science, Ghent University organizes an International Conference on the History and Philosophy of computing.

The number of researchers working in fields related to computing is growing rapidly in many different directions. As Mahoney once stated, “the computer is not one thing but many different things, and the same holds true of computing”. As a consequence, the computing sciences collect the most diverse complex of experts: philosophers, logicians, historians, mathematicians, computer scientists, programmers, engineers. The number of involved subjects grows accordingly: from the foundational issues to their applications; from the philosophical questions to problems of realizability and design of specifications; from the theoretical studies of computational barriers to the relevance of machines for educational purposes. Given the significance of computing for modern society, the relevance of its history and philosophy can hardly be overestimated. The aim of this conference is to bring together these two streams: we are strongly convinced that an interplay between researchers with an interest in the history and philosophy of computing can crucially add to the maturity of the field.

Topics of the conference include but are not restricted to:
• The history of computing
• Philosophical, foundational and practical issues of computability in logic, mathematics and computer science
• Computation in the sciences
For a more detailed list of possible topics see http://www.computing-conference.ugent.be/cfp

SUBMISSION DETAILS:
We cordially invite researchers working in a field relevant to the main topics of the conference to submit a short abstract of approximately 200 words and an extended abstract of at most a 1000 words (references included) to https://www.easychair.org/account/signin.cgi?conf=hapoc11
Abstracts must be written in English. Please note that the format of uploaded files must be .pdf or .doc. 

In order to access the submission page, the creation of an EasyChair account will be required. Please notice that what is called “abstract” in the EasyChair “Title, Abstract and Other Information” section corresponds to the short abstract of this call, and what is called “paper” in the EasyChair “Upload Paper” section corresponds to the extended abstract of this call. A visual guide to submission can be downloaded at: http://www.esap.info/ECAP-easyguide.pdf

IMPORTANT DATES:
Submission deadline: April 15, 2011
Notification of acceptance: July 20, 2011

INVITED SPEAKERS:
Bill Aspray (University of Texas)
Martin Davis (New York University, UC Berkeley)
Fairouz Kamareddine (Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh)
Sybille Krämer (Freie Universität Berlin)
Giovanni Sambin (Universita' di Padova)
Raymond Turner (University of Essex)
Stephen Wolfram (Wolfram Research)

CONFERENCE CHAIRS:
Liesbeth De Mol and Giuseppe Primiero

PROGRAMME COMMITTEE:
G. Alberts (Amsterdam); S. Artemov (New York); M. Campbell-Kelly (Warwick); L. Corry (Tel Aviv) M. Denecker (Leuven); A. Eden (Essex); L. Floridi (Oxford & Hertfordshire); R. Kahle (Lisbon); B. Loewe (Amsterdam); J. Meheus (Ghent); E. Myin (Antwerp); S. Negri (Helsinki) V. de Paiva (Palo Alto); S. Smets (Groningen); G. Sundholm (Leiden); C. Toffalori (Camerino); J.-.P. van Bendegem (Brussels); M. van Dyck (Ghent); B. van Kerkhove (Brussels & Hasselt); E. Weber (Ghent)

GRANTS
The International Association for Computing and Philosophy http://www.computing-conference.ugent.be/index.php?id=4&type=weblink will fund a $500 travel grant for an IACAP graduate student to attend. IACAP graduate students who would like to apply for this grant need to send a copy of their submission to Tony Beavers (executivedirector@ia-cap.org), executive director of IACAP. The Association also offers a 10% discount on the conference fee for IACAP members.

Student members of the Association for Symbolic Logic http://www.aslonline.org/index.htm also may apply for ASL travel support. Applications have to be addressed directly to the ASL. For more information and application details on ASL student travel awards see http://www.aslonline.org/studenttravelawards.html.
Note that the deadline for application is AUGUST 7, 2011.

SPECIAL ISSUES
A selection of papers will be published in two venues.
a Special Issue of the Journal Philosophy & Technology (Springer)
http://www.springer.com/philosophy/epistemology+and+philosophy+of+science/journal/13347
a Special Issue of the Journal History and Philosophy of Logic (Taylor & Francis)
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/thplauth.asp
More details will follow later.

CONTACT AND INFORMATION:
For further information please contact us at:
computing.conference@ugent.be
or have a look at our website:
http://www.computing-conference.ugent.be