About

 
Grady Booch is Chief Scientist for Software Engineering at IBM where he leads IBM’s research and development for embodied cognition. Having originated the term and the practice of object-oriented design, he is best known for his work in advancing the fields of software engineering and software architecture. A co-author of the Unified Modeling Language, a founding member of the Agile Alliance, and a founding member of the Hillside Group, Grady has published six books and several hundred technical articles, including an ongoing column for IEEE Software. Grady is also a trustee for the Computer History Museum. He is an IBM Fellow, an ACM Fellow and an IEEE Fellow, has been awarded the Lovelace Medal and has given the Turing Lecture for the BCS, and was recently named an IEEE Computer Pioneer.

Jan Booch is a psychologist, social worker, theologian, and artist. As a social worker, she attends to issues of multiculturalism, inclusivism, and the impact computing has had on society. As a psychotherapist, her focus is on how human desires and needs have shaped and continue to shape the development of computing technology. As a theologian, her focus is on the moral and ethical issues found in the story of computing. As a non-technical person, she helps make the stories of Computing approachable, understandable, and interesting to the general public.

 
In the early stages of our project, we assembled a set of advisors to help us shape our stories. In our current stage of development, this group is no longer active, but we want to thank them for their help in launching Computing.

We also give special thanks to John Hollar, former President and CEO for the Computer History Museum.The idea for Computing began in 2008 in a conversation with John. John had just landed a significant amount of funding for the Museum and - knowing of his previous work at PBS - I remarked "when you are going to do a series like Sagan's Cosmos?" He replied "why don't you be our Sagan?" I assured him that I was no Carl, but that I'd take on the idea, and thus Computing was born.

 
Computing's publisher is O'Reilly Media; our editor is Mary Tressler.

 
In late 2012, having captured the interest of KQED, Silicon Valley's public broadcasting station, we embarked on a project to develop a pitch. Working in collaboration with KiKim Media, we produced a teaser which we then presented to the programming executives of PBS in Washington DC. Their reaction was quite positive, telling us that this was very much the kind of series to which they aspired. Since then, we've been on the search for a production team to develop the 12 one-hour episodes and short-form videos that comprise the visual deliverables of Computing; we are currently in discussion with several potential teams. Given the changing nature of contemporary broadcasting, we're also exploring distribution via any of a number of streaming services.

 
In the early stages of our project, we assembled a small team of volunteers to help us shape our stories, start our social media presence, and launch a Kickstarter project. Thank you!

We give thanks also to the volunteers who helped us curate the thousands of web and print articles that informed our storytelling.

 
In 2011, we conducted a Kickstarter project that raised over $30,000. Thanks to the kind contributions of 348 backers from around the world, we used those funds to launch our lecture series and to advance our research.