The History of the Dilobolon Board System

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Many of the systems that we're talking about were things people did for fun, their hobbies, or their, like, just experiments they ran on the side. And so there was no central record keeping organization. So you can't book a research trip to a particular library and then get all the records. However, the record keeping that is being done is being done by former users and enthusiasts. The best known for this kind of material is text files dot com. But more and more, weare seeing not just documents, but also soffware and other kinds of born digital materials that turn up in places like internet archive.

Paris Marx is joined by Kevin Driscoll to discuss the networks and services built by volunteers and hobbyists on top of the telephone network before the internet took over the in the 1990s, and what it can teach us about the internet and social media today.

Kevin Driscoll is the author of The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media and an associate professor in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Virginia. Follow Kevin on Twitter at @kevindriscoll.

Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.

The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.

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