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Ars Technica: An Ars Technica history of the Internet, part 1. “In a very real sense, the Internet, this marvelous worldwide digital communications network that you’re using right now, was created because one man was annoyed at having too many computer terminals in his office.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/04/16/ars-technica-an-ars-technica-history-of-the-internet-part-1/

ResearchBuzz: Firehose | Individual posts from ResearchBuzz · Ars Technica: An Ars Technica history of the Internet, part 1 | ResearchBuzz: Firehose
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We must build the EUPANET - a pan-European network of federated IT systems. Just like the ARPANET in its original design, but instead of connecting mainframes and surviving atomic bombs, it will connect people and survive the #AI information warfare and #bigtech.

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@Em0nM4stodon As a user from well back in the day, pre-1990...this space reminds me a great deal of the original EFNet/NSFNet/ARPANet I used to inhabit when I was in college, prior to The September That Never Ended (if anyone picks up on that reference).

The users came from a mostly academic or research-forward corporate background; the powers that be in the corporate world mostly had no conception of what the Internet was, and once they discovered it, still didn't have a real idea how it worked, as it was antithetical to the ethos of capitalism. Thus, the user base exhibited traits associated with enthusiastic engineers and academics: braininess, neophilia, curiosity, imagination. Being geeky and different was celebrated and encouraged. The same mentality you might find at an SF convention, art gallery, museum, or junior/local theater project. Communities were intentional, and there was a sense of reciprocal rights and recognition...a celebration of our global diversity.

Of course, flamewars there were...but overall, there was a nurturing of positive growth within the space.

Ancient history, of course. I am wondering if there is a self-regulation that's involved. When I describe the Fediverse to others, even friends whom I consider intelligent, there seems to be a lack of exact comprehension about what it is I'm talking about. (And among my age cohort, there's also a fatigue with social media in general, which I think is partly a function of age, and partly an accrual of bad experiences on Facebook and other corporatized media.)

When I started my phpBB forum as a general online space, I found the "culture" of such forums to be *radically* different. I described it as the "what's your favorite donut" mentality - everything was facile and superficial, like the scene in the kitchen at an awkward party. It just never took off and I don't have any idea why. (Several people close to me have encouraged me not to delete the forums; if you wish to go there, see my profile and pinned post for the address and registration code.)

#Fediverse #EFNet #ARPANet #NSFNet #phpBB #Forum #SFCon #diversity

"[T]o mark Professor Kirsten’s contributions we are delighted to be able to publish his reflections on the challenges he faced connecting the UK in the early 1970s to the forerunner of what would become the modern internet. The article was edited by Michael with oversight kindly provided by Professor Jon Crowcroft, a colleague of Professor Kirstein’s."

theconversation.com/how-britai

The ConversationHow Britain got its first internet connection – by the late pioneer who created the first password on the internetPeter Kirstein had to overcome various hurdles to connect the UK to the internet, including intransigent governments, dismissive industry and the taxman.

Finally got around to adding an avatar to my Mastodon account. This is one of the terminals connected to an IBM System/360 used for the Culler-Fried On Line System at UCSB in 1966. The Culler-Fried system was an interactive graphical mathematics system and was used there for computer-aided instruction. Culler's work at UCSB led to them being selected as one of the initial four nodes forming the ARPANET in 1969.