I've found the material in the archive valuable to use and
the form it is in is a treat since it is already there as data
and I don't have to type it in myself to get it into a data form.
Also, it was helpful to read through previous info from mailing
lists that you have stored in the archives.
Is there a way to have some of the history gathering done publicly?
I wonder if there are people who were involved who might not
be on the list but would respond to some kind of post on various
newsgroups?
>
> The comment above about information being gradually forgotten
> anecdotes, is, I hope, being addressed by No.s 2 & 3 above.
>
And I found that having an ftp archive for the history documents
and a mailing list was an interesting use of new media.
Has anyone ever utilized a newsgroup to document any of the history?
I offer the alt.amateur-comp towards such as I have tried to post
some of the articles we have been working on for the upcoming supplement
on usenet and also some of the articles I had found valuable in researching
for the supplement. There have been some helpful comments based
on the postings though the fact it's an alt group (and new and its
definition is still in process and lots of sites never see it) means
that it doesn't get that large a circulation. But there have been
several articles posted about usenet in just the few months it has
been in existence. Once the upcoming supplement is finished and
has distributed, I plan to try to gather the articles that have
been posted to the newsgroup - and perhaps we will see about using
them in a future supplement or else at least contribute them
to the archives. .
>If you have material about the history of Usenet - netnews articles
> that pre-date February of 1981, mail traffic from lists like the
> backbone mailing list, copies of papers and journal/magazine
> articles that pertain to the net, please send copies this way.
>
> (Note that the archive includes many things that were available only
> in hardcopy - things like the original invitation to join the net -
> which I will someday catalog and perhaps add to the electronic
> storehouse as GIFs or something).
>
Also, I did do one interview and it was a treat. I'm still working
on editing it but it was a very helpful introduction to the history.
Once its done hopefully it will appear in an upcoming issue of
the Amateur Computerist.
> If you are one of the folks that were instrumental in the progress
> of the net and I haven't talked to you, I will be (assuming you're
> willing to be interviewed). To date I've done about 20 FTF interviews
> and plan on at least an additional 20. If I haven't contacted you
> and you would like to contribute, please send mail and let's see if
> we can't find a time and place to talk. Fortunately, Usenix is
> coming to SD this Winter -- it always brings me a few folk.
>
Bruce will you ever make the interviews public?
> Finally, I'd like to thank all you folks who participate here, and
> encourage you to continue. I agree with the sentiment that the
> history of Usenet is an important part of the history of the global
> computer network. And it's a lot of fun gathering that history.
>
And it's sort of neat to utilize forefronts technology to help do the
history - so it would be good if people propose ways that that can
happen.
Bruce, could you scan in the 5 page original leaflet?
I would really like to see a copy. Brian Reid twice promised to send me
a copy, but somehow it never arrived.
Also, I was wondering if there were any publications of the 1980
usenix meetings that might be worth looking at (either the boulder
meeting or the denver one )I have looked in the library for them
but all I have found is references to the 1986 usenix meetings.
> bj
>
>
ronda
This page last updated on: Jul 1 09:16