kdriscoll

kdriscoll, 27 days ago to random

Something very cool happening in my corner of the fedi: The WELL opened an official, members-only Mastodon server!

Creating a public-facing server is a major change for The WELL which is principally a private conferencing system. And it did not happen over night. The new server builds on more than a year of work by one volunteer running an unofficial server for members.

Read more:
https://www.well.com/mastodon/

Find me there too: @driscoll

kdriscoll, 1 month ago to random

Fantastic piece recalling BlackPlanet:

>> "Despite skepticism within the tech industry that a social-networking site geared toward African Americans could be successful, about 1 million users joined BlackPlanet within a year of its launch. By 2008, it had about 15 million members."

Hannah Giorgis, “The Homepage of the Black Internet.” The Atlantic, April 12, 2024
🔗 https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/05/blackplanet-social-media-history/677839/.

kdriscoll, 1 month ago to random

Listening to venture capitalists from a16z spinning a truly bizarro revisionist history of the internet in which "no one cared...except for computer scientists" until we got broadband??? Bros, you worked at NETSCAPE and AOL and EBAY!! 😂😵‍💫

kdriscoll, 2 months ago to academia

Call for papers about "AI and Resilience" for a special issue of Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence. This is an interdisciplinary call for a range of perspectives. Critical, humanistic, cultural, historical perspectives are all welcome =>
https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/62761/ai-and-resilience

#academia #cfp #AI #dh #commodon #sts

kdriscoll, 2 months ago to usenet

In July 1999, someone stole a trailer jammed with Sonic Youth gear out of a Ramada Inn parking lot. Lee Ranaldo immediately sent an email that was reposted to alt.music.sonic-youth:

> Please no pranks, all, this is really serious--
> all the gear we've used to write our last few LPs
> worth of stuff, instruments used for songs old
> and new which if truly lost will mean those songs
> will be lost forever.

https://usenetarchives.com/view.php?id=alt.music.sonic-youth&mid=PDM3ODIyOTJhLjU3OTY3MDhAbmV3cy5kbGMuZmk%2B

#usenet #sonicyouth #rock #guitar #crime

kdriscoll, 2 months ago to bbs

💾⚡☎⚡📠⚡🥳

**>> DIALED IN **
>> THE PREHISTORY OF SOCIAL MEDIA

📅 April 25, 2024
🕖 7:00 PM PT (10 PM ET)
🎤 @kdriscoll, @zephoria, Marc Weber

🏛 Computer History Museum, Mountain View, CA

📹 Live and streaming online!

🎟 https://computerhistory.org/events/dialed-in/

#bbs #fidonet #history #internethistory #dh #socialmedia

kdriscoll, 2 months ago to random

The persistence of news (and politics) on Threads is a nice example of the stubborn power of users within these platforms. The platform owners can discourage political talk but they still need people to post. So, the news and politics remain.

As with so many aspects of a control society, infrastructural power is real power but it's not limitless.

via @caseynewton
https://www.platformer.news/threads-news-politics-gas-leak-network/

kdriscoll, 2 months ago to academia

The East Asia Center and Miller Center at U of Virginia are hiring a Global China Post-doctoral Research Associate.

This position is open to applicants from a range of backgrounds including global studies, history, media studies, politics, science and technology studies, and sociology. Language proficiency in Chinese is preferred.

The salary is 50K USD per year plus benefits.

https://uva.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UVAJobs/job/Charlottesville-VA/East-Asia-Center-and-Miller-Center-Global-China-Post-doctoral-Research-Associate_R0057781

#academia #job #commodon

kdriscoll, 2 months ago to ai

Proof that Google Gemini 1.5 Pro is actually Gen X

#AI #genx #genai #c64 #retrocomputing

inquiline, 3 months ago (edited 3 months ago) to mastodon

Friends, strangers, haters: I have... made hay. Let no one say I haven't committed to the bit.

(Wrote a paper about Asstodon, everyone be kind)

https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/13367/11436

#STS #Mastodon #Commodon #autoethnography #DareIUseTheHashtag #Donkeygate #FirstMonday

kdriscoll, 3 months ago to history

🎺 Nominations are now open for the 2024 Mahoney Prize!

📃 Send your outstanding articles in the #history of computing and information technology.

💰📅 The prize consists of $500 and a certificate. Articles published in 2021, 2022, and 2023 are eligible. Self-nominations are encouraged and do not require a cover letter.

📧 Send your submission to the committee by April 15, 2024.

🔗 For committee email addresses and a list of prior winners, see:
https://www.sigcis.org/mahoneyprize

#histodons #academia #dh

kdriscoll, 3 months ago to Emulation

The original WWW proposal is a Word for Macintosh 4.0 file from 1990. Recovering the text, diagrams, and formatting was not impossible but it was hard. A great example of the use of #emulation for historical research and digital preservation.

https://blog.jgc.org/2024/02/the-original-www-proposal-is-word-for.html

kdriscoll, 3 months ago to fediverse

This comment by @Gargron reflects a tension I see often see in my research: Most people have no memory of the pre-platform era!

🗣️ "What we’re doing is not new in the sense that it's returning to the roots of the internet [...] but also most people haven't experienced that early version of the internet. So it's new to them."

From this thoughtful interview with @zoeschiffer >>
https://www.platformer.news/mastodon-interview-eugen-rochko-meta-bluesky-threads-federation/

#fediverse #internet #socialmedia #history

kdriscoll, 4 months ago to mastodon

Has anyone implemented local trends on #mastodon? Is this a #hometown feature? I'd love to see local-only trends or at least some mechanism for positively weighting the contributions of local #AoIR users.

kdriscoll, 4 months ago to random

Oh no, the Anatomy of AI domain (anatomyof dot ai) got snagged and squatted (don't click). I've used this on syllabi in the past and I'm sure some of you have as well.

Wayback has a snapshot from earlier this month so hopefully they will find a new home. Unfortunately, I doubt they'll recover the original domain.

http://web.archive.org/web/20240103124839/https://anatomyof.ai/

kdriscoll, 4 months ago to random

💾 🤗 Call for Participation for the Critical Code Studies Working Group (CCSWG 24) #critcode #dh

(The deadline is today but the application requirements are minimal!)

Topics for this year include:
☑ Queering Code
☑ CCS and AI
☑ The DHQ Special issues
☑ Teaching Code and Code Studies

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1TVYqLOIbYYs6qsMd5ah-DQEaQCEhe5GEQCk7ITdDvoI/mobilebasic

kdriscoll, 5 months ago to Ohio

📰 Today, a state historical marker will be unveiled at the site of #CompuServe world headquarters in Upper Arlington, #Ohio.

The event marks the 50 year anniversary of the founding of this legendary online service.

🛰 The ceremony will be streaming at 11 AM EST: https://fb.me/e/1xjlBMXVy

#internet #history

kdriscoll, 5 months ago to academia

The Diversity Institute at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is seeking applications for postdocs and junior faculty working on #race and ethnicity for an interdisciplinary summer program. The fellowship covers tuition, lodging, travel, and food. Deadline January 8. Pass it along!

https://casbs.stanford.edu/programs/diversity-institute-why-and-how-difference-makes-difference

#commodon #academia #cfp #socialscience

kdriscoll, 6 months ago to random

Reposting a question that @miriamkp asked the other day. It's a tricky one! Maybe others have suggestions?

> Can't believe I'm wading into this morass, but can any #histcomp or #sts people point me to the best academic history of the database?

kdriscoll, 6 months ago to c64

Gemini will peer over the precipice but it refuses to jump #c64 #googlegemini #llm #AI #basic

kdriscoll, 6 months ago to disability

🪧 #CFP for the Inaugural Disability Communications and Media Preconference at #ICA2024 in a hybrid and accessible format.

The twin goals of this preconference will be (1) to spotlight emerging research at the intersections of disability and media/communications and (2) provide an avenue for mentorship.

🗓️Submissions due on February 9. Read on for details:
https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ICA24-DisabilityComm

#communication #disability #commodon #mediastudies #ica

kdriscoll, 7 months ago to random

📢 The University of Virginia is launching a fully-funded PhD in Media Studies. Applications for Fall 2024 are now open!

🔭 This interdisciplinary research degree investigates texts, audiences, industries, and tech in relation to economic, political, and social systems of power.

💸 Funding covers tuition, fees, health insurance, and an annual stipend of $30K for up to 5 years.

📅 Deadline:
December 15

📝 Details:
https://mediastudies.as.virginia.edu/about-phd-media-studies

#mediastudies #commodon #communication #academicchatter

kdriscoll, 9 months ago to random

Revisiting my notes about (mis)remembering "Eternal September":

1️⃣ AOL's gateway didn't open in Sept 1993 (it was Feb 1994)
2️⃣ AOL was not the only service to frustrate USENET (people grumbled about FidoNet, CompuServe, etc)
3️⃣ USENET of 1994 was hardly a utopia (the hostility to AOL users far outweighed the disruption they caused)

I'm especially curious about #3. Are long-time fedi users still annoyed by ex-Twitter users? (A common sentiment just a few months ago!)

🔗 https://www.flowjournal.org/2023/04/eternal-september/

kdriscoll, 9 months ago to random

Rutgers is searching for a tenure-track Asst Prof in Media Studies with a focus on "Digital/Online Platforms and Marginalized Communities." Sounds fantastic. Spread the word! https://jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/209379

kdriscoll, 10 months ago to random

Key passage from the @labortech open letter to #APSA about interdependence and academia:

"Our families, friends, neighbors, and students work these jobs in hotels and restaurants. Many of us have done these jobs ourselves. Academic workers make similar demands of our employers. Whereas APSA suggests it is in their members’ interests to continue holding the conference, we believe that members’ interests are not mutually exclusive from those of organized labor."

https://medium.com/@labortechresearchnetwork/an-open-letter-to-the-american-political-science-association-6e94ca43057f