The Internet and the 19 Eighties

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

The last book looked at minatel, this network in france that was kind of an alternative state approach to net working. So why did you decide to turn your attention to this more desentialized, on line set of communities for this book? Both projects are about expanding our sense of what's possible and what kinds of internets we might exist in now, and what might be possible for the future. And it turns out there s actually a lot of nuance and complexity to that story that's missing also.

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.

Also mentioned in this episode: