Andrew L. Russell - research interests and c.v.

My research focuses on technology as a lens for exploring the ways that humans act collectively to govern themselves. Communication technologies provide a rich body of evidence for exploring how Americans expressed their political and cultural values and embedded those values in the laws, technical standards, and governing institutions of communications networks.

Standardization is a particularly compelling topic because it forces us to confront some of the fundamental questions that concern historians of science, technology, and business. How do groups of individuals work together to create technical knowledge? How do scientists, corporations, and regulators coordinate the processes of research and innovation? How much cooperation is necessary to facilitate competition? These questions also speak to broader areas of inquiry for historians of politics and ideas, and have implications for scholars in a variety of disciplines, including law, economics, sociology, communication, and public policy.

Download my curriculum vitae (pdf, updated August 2010)

Dissertation (completed July 2007)
"Industrial Legislatures": Consensus Standardization in the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions.

title page, contents, and introduction
full copies available upon request - arussell at jhu dot edu
if you are interested but pressed for time you may wish to read the dissertation summary published in Enterprise and Society in 2009.

Publications

"'Industrial Legislatures': Consensus Standardization in the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions," Enterprise and Society (2009).

“Standardization Across the Boundaries of the Bell System, 1920-1938,” History of Technology Volume 28 (James Sumner and Graeme J N Gooday, eds. By Whose Standards? Standardization, stability and uniformity in the history of information and electrical technologies), 2008, 37-52.

“Dot-Org Entrepreneurship: Weaving a Web of Trust,” Enterprises et Histoire No. 51, June, 2008. (available upon request - arussell at jhu dot edu)

"Industrial Legislatures: The American System of Standardization," in International Standardization as a Strategic Tool (Geneva: International Electrotechnical Commission, 2006). [Commended Paper, IEC Centenary Challenge]

"Industrial Legislatures: The American System of Standardization," Standards Engineering: The Journal of the Standards Engineering Society Volume 58, Number 5, September/October 2006, 1-10. [First Prize, 2006 World Standards Day Paper Competition]

"'Rough Consensus and Running Code' and the Internet-OSI Standards War," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing Volume 28, Issue 3, July-September 2006, 48-61.

"Telecommunications Standards in the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions,"The Journal of the Communications Network Volume 5, Part 1, January-March 2006, 100-106.

"Standardization in History: A Review Essay with an Eye to the Future," in Sherrie Bolin, ed., The Standards Edge: Future Generations (Ann Arbor, MI: Sheridan Press, 2005), 247-260.

Recent and Upcoming Conference presentations (and links to papers, where available)

"Modularity Reformed: From Building Blocks to Business Schools," Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology, Pittsburgh, PA, October 15-19, 2009.

"The Bell System and the Significance of the Mundane,” Workshop on Instruments in Manufacturing, Rice University, June 17, 2009.

"'Industrial Legislatures': Consensus Standardization in the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions," Herman Krooss Dissertation Prize Session, Business History Conference/European Business History Association, Milan, Italy, June 12, 2009.

“Are Modular Systems Postmodern?," Humanities Forum, Stevens Institute of Technology, April 29, 2009.

“The Elsewhere Museum as a Modular System,” Recycle: Cultural Appropriation of Everyday Objects, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke University, April 16, 2008.

“The Evolution of Communication Networks: Technologies, Organizations, and Standards,” Humanities Forum, Stevens Institute of Technology, March 12, 2008.

“Modularity: The Modern Architecture of Postmodern Technologies,” John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke University, March 4, 2008.

"Standardization Across the Boundaries of the Bell System, 1920-1938," Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology, Washington, DC, October 18-21, 2007.

"Dot-org Entrepreneurship: Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the World Wide Web Consortium," Business History Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, June 1, 2007. (Abstract)

"Under the Hood: Standards and Standard-Setting," invited lecture, Department of International Affairs, Georgetown University, September 13, 2006.

"P. G. Agnew and the Consensus Principle for American Industrial Standards," Business History Conference, Toronto, June 9, 2006. (Abstract)

"Telecommunications Standards in the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions," Cross-Connexions: Communications, Society and Change, Science Museum, London, November 11-13, 2005.

"'Market incentives may already be sufficient': Coordination Mechanisms for Cellular Standards," Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology, Minneapolis, November 3-6, 2005.

"The Politics of Standards: Ideology and Innovation in Cellular Networks," Colloquium in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, The Johns Hopkins University, March 31, 2005.

"Technology and Hierarchy in Europe and the United States: Standardization in Digital Mobile Networks," The Fifth Annual Harvard Graduate Student Conference on International History, March 18-19, 2005. (Abstract)

"The W3C and its Patent Policy Controversy: A Case Study of Authority and Legitimacy in Internet Governance," TPRC 2003 - 31st Research Conference on Communication, Information, and Internet Policy, September 19-21, 2003. (Abstract) (Full Paper - pdf)

“The ARPANET as an Artifact of Cold War Consensus: 1957-1969,” Society for the History of American Foreign Relations, June 6-8, 2003. (Abstract)

“Ethical and Political Dimensions of the World Wide Web Consortium,” Science and Technology Studies Workshop on Technology and Ethics, Virginia Tech, March 28, 2003.

"From 'Kitchen Cabinet' to "Constitutional Crisis': the Politics of Internet Standards, 1973-1992," ICOHTEC, June 28, 2002. (Abstract)

"Ideological and Policy Origins of the Internet, 1957-1965," TPRC 2001 - 29th Research Conference on Communication, Information, and Internet Policy, October 28, 2001. (Abstract) (Full paper - pdf)

"Is the Internet Different?: Some Reflections on History and the Governance of Technology", Rocky Mountain Interdisciplinary History Conference, September 23, 2000. (Abstract)

Teaching:

Assistant Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology

US History to 1865 (Fall 2009 and Fall 2010)
Computers & Society (Fall 2009 and Fall 2010)
US History since 1865 (Spring 2010)
Studies in the History of Technology (Spring 2010)
History of Science and Technology (Fall 2008 and Spring 2009)
Technology & Society in America (Spring 2009)

Teaching Assistant, The Johns Hopkins University

The Rise of Modern Science (Spring 2006, with Dr. Sharon Kingsland)
The City: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (Fall 2005, with Dr. Robert Kargon and Dr. Matthew Crenson)
Science and Utopia (Spring 2005, with Dr. Robert Kargon)
The Natural and the Artificial (Fall 2004, with Dr. Robert Kargon)

Instructor, University of Colorado at Boulder

Images of Culture: Technology, Media, and American Memory (Summer 2003)
The Meaning of Information Technology (Fall 2002, with Dr. Diane Sieber and Spring 2003, with Dr. Mark Winokur)

Teaching Assistant, University of Colorado at Boulder

Economic and Policy Aspects of Telecommunications (Fall 2002, with Phil Weiser and Dale Hatfield)
The Future of Technology, Arts, and Media (Spring 2002)
United States History until 1865 (Fall 2001, with Dr. Ralph Mann)
United States, 1865-present (Fall 1999, with Dr. Susan Jones)

Home	Research and c.v.
My research focuses on technology as a lens for exploring the ways that humans act collectively to govern themselves. Communication technologies provide a rich body of evidence for exploring how Americans expressed their political and cultural values and embedded those values in the laws, technical standards, and governing institutions of communications networks. Standardization is a particularly compelling topic because it forces us to confront some of the fundamental questions that concern historians of science, technology, and business. How do groups of individuals work together to create technical knowledge? How do scientists, corporations, and regulators coordinate the processes of research and innovation? How much cooperation is necessary to facilitate competition? These questions also speak to broader areas of inquiry for historians of politics and ideas, and have implications for scholars in a variety of disciplines, including law, economics, sociology, communication, and public policy. Download my curriculum vitae (pdf, updated August 2010) Dissertation (completed July 2007) "Industrial Legislatures": Consensus Standardization in the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions. title page, contents, and introduction full copies available upon request - arussell at jhu dot edu if you are interested but pressed for time you may wish to read the dissertation summary published in Enterprise and Society in 2009. Publications "'Industrial Legislatures': Consensus Standardization in the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions," Enterprise and Society (2009). “Standardization Across the Boundaries of the Bell System, 1920-1938,” History of Technology Volume 28 (James Sumner and Graeme J N Gooday, eds. By Whose Standards? Standardization, stability and uniformity in the history of information and electrical technologies), 2008, 37-52. “Dot-Org Entrepreneurship: Weaving a Web of Trust,” Enterprises et Histoire No. 51, June, 2008. (available upon request - arussell at jhu dot edu) "Industrial Legislatures: The American System of Standardization," in International Standardization as a Strategic Tool (Geneva: International Electrotechnical Commission, 2006). [Commended Paper, IEC Centenary Challenge] "Industrial Legislatures: The American System of Standardization," Standards Engineering: The Journal of the Standards Engineering Society Volume 58, Number 5, September/October 2006, 1-10. [First Prize, 2006 World Standards Day Paper Competition] "'Rough Consensus and Running Code' and the Internet-OSI Standards War," IEEE Annals of the History of Computing Volume 28, Issue 3, July-September 2006, 48-61. "Telecommunications Standards in the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions,"The Journal of the Communications Network Volume 5, Part 1, January-March 2006, 100-106. "Standardization in History: A Review Essay with an Eye to the Future," in Sherrie Bolin, ed., The Standards Edge: Future Generations (Ann Arbor, MI: Sheridan Press, 2005), 247-260. Recent and Upcoming Conference presentations (and links to papers, where available) "Modularity Reformed: From Building Blocks to Business Schools," Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology, Pittsburgh, PA, October 15-19, 2009. "The Bell System and the Significance of the Mundane,” Workshop on Instruments in Manufacturing, Rice University, June 17, 2009. "'Industrial Legislatures': Consensus Standardization in the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions," Herman Krooss Dissertation Prize Session, Business History Conference/European Business History Association, Milan, Italy, June 12, 2009. “Are Modular Systems Postmodern?," Humanities Forum, Stevens Institute of Technology, April 29, 2009. “The Elsewhere Museum as a Modular System,” Recycle: Cultural Appropriation of Everyday Objects, John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke University, April 16, 2008. “The Evolution of Communication Networks: Technologies, Organizations, and Standards,” Humanities Forum, Stevens Institute of Technology, March 12, 2008. “Modularity: The Modern Architecture of Postmodern Technologies,” John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke University, March 4, 2008. "Standardization Across the Boundaries of the Bell System, 1920-1938," Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology, Washington, DC, October 18-21, 2007. "Dot-org Entrepreneurship: Sir Tim Berners-Lee and the World Wide Web Consortium," Business History Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, June 1, 2007. (Abstract) "Under the Hood: Standards and Standard-Setting," invited lecture, Department of International Affairs, Georgetown University, September 13, 2006. "P. G. Agnew and the Consensus Principle for American Industrial Standards," Business History Conference, Toronto, June 9, 2006. (Abstract) "Telecommunications Standards in the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions," Cross-Connexions: Communications, Society and Change, Science Museum, London, November 11-13, 2005. "'Market incentives may already be sufficient': Coordination Mechanisms for Cellular Standards," Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology, Minneapolis, November 3-6, 2005. "The Politics of Standards: Ideology and Innovation in Cellular Networks," Colloquium in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, The Johns Hopkins University, March 31, 2005. "Technology and Hierarchy in Europe and the United States: Standardization in Digital Mobile Networks," The Fifth Annual Harvard Graduate Student Conference on International History, March 18-19, 2005. (Abstract) "The W3C and its Patent Policy Controversy: A Case Study of Authority and Legitimacy in Internet Governance," TPRC 2003 - 31st Research Conference on Communication, Information, and Internet Policy, September 19-21, 2003. (Abstract) (Full Paper - pdf) “The ARPANET as an Artifact of Cold War Consensus: 1957-1969,” Society for the History of American Foreign Relations, June 6-8, 2003. (Abstract) “Ethical and Political Dimensions of the World Wide Web Consortium,” Science and Technology Studies Workshop on Technology and Ethics, Virginia Tech, March 28, 2003. "From 'Kitchen Cabinet' to "Constitutional Crisis': the Politics of Internet Standards, 1973-1992," ICOHTEC, June 28, 2002. (Abstract) "Ideological and Policy Origins of the Internet, 1957-1965," TPRC 2001 - 29th Research Conference on Communication, Information, and Internet Policy, October 28, 2001. (Abstract) (Full paper - pdf) "Is the Internet Different?: Some Reflections on History and the Governance of Technology", Rocky Mountain Interdisciplinary History Conference, September 23, 2000. (Abstract) Teaching: Assistant Professor, Stevens Institute of Technology US History to 1865 (Fall 2009 and Fall 2010) Computers & Society (Fall 2009 and Fall 2010) US History since 1865 (Spring 2010) Studies in the History of Technology (Spring 2010) History of Science and Technology (Fall 2008 and Spring 2009) Technology & Society in America (Spring 2009) Teaching Assistant, The Johns Hopkins University The Rise of Modern Science (Spring 2006, with Dr. Sharon Kingsland) The City: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (Fall 2005, with Dr. Robert Kargon and Dr. Matthew Crenson) Science and Utopia (Spring 2005, with Dr. Robert Kargon) The Natural and the Artificial (Fall 2004, with Dr. Robert Kargon) Instructor, University of Colorado at Boulder Images of Culture: Technology, Media, and American Memory (Summer 2003) The Meaning of Information Technology (Fall 2002, with Dr. Diane Sieber and Spring 2003, with Dr. Mark Winokur) Teaching Assistant, University of Colorado at Boulder Economic and Policy Aspects of Telecommunications (Fall 2002, with Phil Weiser and Dale Hatfield) The Future of Technology, Arts, and Media (Spring 2002) United States History until 1865 (Fall 2001, with Dr. Ralph Mann) United States, 1865-present (Fall 1999, with Dr. Susan Jones)
Andrew L. Russell, Ph.D.