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Aires (aires@tiggi.es)'s status on Wednesday, 07-Feb-2024 13:43:00 UTC Aires

Do you, or have you ever, used a graphical user interface? If you use #Windows, #macOS, or any version of #Linux with a window manager or desktop environment, you can thank Dr. Clarence "Skip" Ellis.
Dr. Ellis worked at Xerox PARC, the research organization that developed the modern GUI. Icons, windows, the mouse, Ethernet-based networking, laser printing - all of these (and more) came out of PARC. Dr. Ellis led the team that created Officetalk, the first program to use icons and the Internet. He got his start at 15 years old showing a local tech company how to reuse punch cards, which was a game-changer back in 1958.
Oh, and he was also the first black man to earn a PhD in Computer Science.
#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistory #BlackMastodon #ComputerScience @blackmastodon
https://elective.collegeboard.org/clarence-skip-ellis-computer-science-pioneer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Ellis_(computer_scientist)
https://www.redhat.com/en/command-line-heroes/season-6/clarence-ellis
In conversation Wednesday, 07-Feb-2024 13:43:00 UTC from tiggi.es permalink
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1. Photo of a black man standing in a classroom, smiling, and holding a box containing a mug
  https://tiggi.es/system/media_attachments/files/111/874/331/724/081/198/original/360afc36a01e8886.png
2. Clarence "Skip" Ellis: From Icons to Icon
  
  from @CBelective
  
  How we work and play in the digital world would be very different without the innovations of the first Black person to earn a PhD in CS
3. No result found on File_thumbnail lookup.
  
  Clarence Ellis (computer scientist)
  
  Clarence "Skip" Ellis (May 11, 1943 – May 17, 2014) was an American computer scientist, and Emeritus Professor of Computer Science and Cognitive Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder. While at the CU-Boulder, he was the director of the Collaboration Technology Research Group and a member of the Institute of Cognitive Science. Ellis was the first Black Person to earn a Ph.D. in Computer Science (1969), and the first Black Person to be elected a Fellow of the ACM (1997). Ellis was a pioneer in Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and Groupware. He and his team at Xerox PARC created OfficeTalk, one of the first groupware systems. Ellis also pioneered operational transformation, which is a set of techniques that enables real-time collaborative editing of documents. Childhood In 1958, at age 15, Ellis applied for a job as a graveyard shift computer operator at the manufacturing firm Dover to earn money to help his family. He was offered the job because he was the only applicant. Although his job title was computer operator, his main duties were to walk around all night and be visible to prevent break-ins, and to watch...
4. Command Line Heroes: Season 6: Dr. Clarence Ellis: The Developer Who Helped Us Collaborate
  
  It’s not easy to learn how to use computers when you can’t actually touch them. But that’s how Dr. Clarence Ellis started his career of invention—which would ultimately lead to reimagining how we all worked with computers and each other.

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