@kdriscoll.aoir.social.ap.brid.gy
Learning about moral economies, researching media histories, imagining post-platform futures. Also, helping with moderation on aoir.social and professoring in Media [โฆ] ๐ bridged from โ https://aoir.social/@kdriscoll, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact
This pair of alluring ANSI eyes was included in ProMatch 3.0, an online dating program from 1995. I had to cut them from *The Modem World *but just stumbled across them again in a collection of AOL files indexed by Discmaster [โฆ]
[Original post on aoir.social]
Love the little details in this illustration by Lisa Adams. It ran in the NYT in 1988 above Kinky Friedman's review of *After Dolores *by Sarah Shulman and evokes memorable events from the novel (that cursed answering machine!) [โฆ]
[Original post on aoir.social]
I wish the TBPN designers went even harder on this vision for the chyrons:
*"Day Job cofounder Rion Harmon described the vision: a "cacophony of logos" slapped all over the screen (a nod to Formula 1 racecars), a "country club" forest green, and a VHS visual effect."* [โฆ]
RE: https://aoir.social/@sakhavi/116053009895910277
The answer to this quiz is that these words were written in 2000 by Paulina Borsook in her book * Cyberselfish: a critical romp through the terribly libertarian culture of high tech*. I personally canโt believe how stagnant and repetitive my [โฆ]
Pro tip: Netscape Navigator Gold has a WYSIWYG editor built into it, so you can check your HTML in real time.
"Phreaking Politics in Modern America", a new paper by Jacob Bruggeman covers "telephone hacking, AT&T's status as an icon of American technology, and the New Left-to-libertarian pipeline in modern American political order."
#openaccess PDF from *Modern American History:* [โฆ]
Some really good news.
A new university will be built in Arviat, Nunavut, on the western shores of Hudsonโs Bay, by 2030. It will be by and for Inuit peoples and all to learn the culture and language of the North and for people in the North to obtain post-secondary education in their language [โฆ]
Manifesting a John McWhorter column on the post-PUA bro slanguage of clavicular et al
I wrote up the talk I gave at CESTA a couple weeks ago, on how we're overdue on changing the narrative about what digital humanities prepares students for. It's not fallback jobs in tech, it's getting involved in your community in moments of crisis. And craft helps build those skills. #DHmakes
Byte magazine cover from September 1981 by Robert Tinney. The theme is Artificial Intelligence. In the foreground, an open copy of War and Peace. Facing it, a video camera. In the corner, a computer terminal showing the text along with an illustration of a sunset.
RIP ROBERT TINNEY // DIGITAL PSYCHEDELIA FORVER // "THE FUTURE THAT DIGITAL HUMANISTS WANT" #DH #ART #RETROCOMPUTING #AI
https://tinney.net/in-memoriam
Lana talking SCAMS on Marketplace today!
*"The more that AI becomes infrastructural and part of our everyday lives, the more likely we are to encounter scams and fraud,โ said Swartz.*
*Whether itโs deepfake videos, job scams, or imposter websites, AI is scrambling the signals we use to make [โฆ]
I was interviewed here on Mastodon by @Doomscroll ... here's the full interview assembled on a web page.
https://plutopia.io/jon-lebkowsky-interviewed-by-doomscroll/
@tomjennings But, for real, thanks for laying all that out. It's almost like no one could see the big picture so everyone was coming up with their own idea of what the network was for, who was out there, and where it was all going. Plus, some folks are comfortable dealing with lawyers and others [โฆ]
a furry dog curled into a ball in the corner of a couch staring out the window, waiting for a stranger to walk by so she can do her job, protect the pack, and bark bark bark
@tomjennings ahhh the dogs really want us to get off these computers!!
@rickf are we sure that the wallet holder isn't haeju.eth? what a fun mystery /s
"In these overproductive times, we must be aggressively, deliberately, obnoxiously unproductive." -- Casey Johnston on the urgency of true leisure https://www.shesabeast.co/i-like-this-warm-up-that-everyone-hates/
๐ฎ๐ When Cardi comes out of VIP on Sunday to run a verse from "I Like It"
Yay, our glorious @mediaarchaeologylab and her fearless leader @loriemerson appear in @FastCompany this week! Come visit us sometime.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91483774/these-historic-computing-labs-teach-kids-what-technology-was-like-before-phones-social-media-and-the-cloud
@tomjennings I also came across this early FidoNews editorial suggesting that a sysop organization (a la IFNA) could work like the ARRL for hams: "Just barely formal enough to keep everyone in touch, but not stiflingly so."
Re: people not talking class. Seems like there was something about [โฆ]
@tomjennings totally! the eternal hunt for "cool" computer people ๐
!["Last year Fidonet acquired a board of directors, which established dues, protocols, and other organizational guidelines In August they held a major conference, in part to discuss these matters and to announce the newly elected board . Perhaps not surprisingly, by this time Jennings had stepped aside-two years of nonstop work had taken its toll . He needed a rest an,d escaped to his skateboard. In honor of his accomplishments. which they had inherited, the board of directors voted to give "T.J ." a special award at the conference.
"As he walked to the podium, wearing a black sweatshirt, worn blue Jeans, anklehigh red sneakers, and three twists of phone wire gracing one ear, Jennings got a terrific hand, which made his speech even more shocking . "There's no pleasant way to say it," he began. "You can view this from the point of view [that] there's a severe interest in anarchy here. This [Fidonet] was an implemented anarchist scheme of sorts. It was run by the members of the net. and now we have a top-down structure. So for what it's worth, my two cents."
"Somewhat elliptical, but everyone got the point. The man who had created the first truly decentralized and affordable computer network didn't like what was happening. And single-handedly, once again, he was out to shake it up."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:dxhis4k3ql3p43wpq3usdk3i/bafkreignnk2srinv53xlxxqnyxxqveydx433pmueegvauvy4p66qxfdrwi@jpeg)
"Last year Fidonet acquired a board of directors, which established dues, protocols, and other organizational guidelines In August they held a major conference, in part to discuss these matters and to announce the newly elected board . Perhaps not surprisingly, by this time Jennings had stepped aside-two years of nonstop work had taken its toll . He needed a rest an,d escaped to his skateboard. In honor of his accomplishments. which they had inherited, the board of directors voted to give "T.J ." a special award at the conference. "As he walked to the podium, wearing a black sweatshirt, worn blue Jeans, anklehigh red sneakers, and three twists of phone wire gracing one ear, Jennings got a terrific hand, which made his speech even more shocking . "There's no pleasant way to say it," he began. "You can view this from the point of view [that] there's a severe interest in anarchy here. This [Fidonet] was an implemented anarchist scheme of sorts. It was run by the members of the net. and now we have a top-down structure. So for what it's worth, my two cents." "Somewhat elliptical, but everyone got the point. The man who had created the first truly decentralized and affordable computer network didn't like what was happening. And single-handedly, once again, he was out to shake it up."
@tomjennings OK, you know I can't resist that kind of bait. Tracked down the OMNI article!
Hapgood, Fred. โArtificial Intelligence.โ *Omni*, March 1988, pp 106.
"Last year Fidonet acquired a board of directors, which established dues, protocols, and other organizational guidelines In August they held a major conference, in part to discuss these matters and to announce the newly elected board . Perhaps not surprisingly, by this time Jennings had stepped aside-two years of nonstop work had taken its toll . He needed a rest an,d escaped to his skateboard. In honor of his accomplishments. which they had inherited, the board of directors voted to give "T.J ." a special award at the conference. "As he walked to the podium, wearing a black sweatshirt, worn blue Jeans, anklehigh red sneakers, and three twists of phone wire gracing one ear, Jennings got a terrific hand, which made his speech even more shocking . "There's no pleasant way to say it," he began. "You can view this from the point of view [that] there's a severe interest in anarchy here. This [Fidonet] was an implemented anarchist scheme of sorts. It was run by the members of the net. and now we have a top-down structure. So for what it's worth, my two cents." "Somewhat elliptical, but everyone got the point. The man who had created the first truly decentralized and affordable computer network didn't like what was happening. And single-handedly, once again, he was out to shake it up."
@tomjennings OK, you know I can't resist that kind of bait. Tracked down the OMNI article!
Hapgood, Fred. โArtificial Intelligence.โ *Omni*, March 1988, pp 106.
@tomjennings I've come across tape recordings from later FidoCons and photos in Boardwatch but nothing from the late 80s (yet?)
@tomjennings Maybe this isn't exactly what you're looking for but Jason pulled together a bunch of notes on IFNA from FidoNews during that 1988-1989 stretch for his BBS timeline: http://timeline.textfiles.com/1989/
Also, this interview with (ummm...) *you *from 93 includes some details that [โฆ]
Fantastic tribute to Sly & Robbie hosted by Laura Groves on NTS >>> https://www.nts.live/shows/desire-paths/episodes/desire-paths-29th-january-2026
Inexcusable that consumer chat services are citing the fraudulent "Grokipedia." The worst offender, OpenAI, refuses any responsibility for the output of their products. Reprehensible. #AI https://www.theverge.com/report/870910/ai-chatbots-citing-grokipedia
Normalize anna's archive on the syllabus
Ashleigh Wade and Timeka Tounsel just announced their new #podcast โจLOST CREDITS โจ, a series that asks: *"What happened to all of the Black girls that used to occupy our screens?"*
Episode 1 follows the careers of Maia Campbell and Lark Voorhies as examples of how Hollywood treats famous Black [โฆ]
Lita Ford backed by Turnstile singing "Golden" from K-Pop Demon Hunters with a Rocky George guitar solo