Recent searches
Search options
Administered by:
I am so happy to see @driscoll here. Kevin is the author of two fantastic books: "#Minitel: Welcome to the #Internet" and "#Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media". I've talked about Modem World several times, including in two blog posts: https://changelog.complete.org/archives/10393-lessons-of-social-media-from-bbss and https://changelog.complete.org/archives/10417-the-pc-internet-revolution-in-rural-america .
Although I lived through the #BBS era, I credit Kevin with getting me to more clearly see the #BBS story as part of the broader Internet and #SocialMedia history as well. 1/
@driscoll Many of you reading this will have never experienced the #BBS era. To use #Fediverse lingo, the high cost of long-distance phone calls caused BBS instances to be geographically-oriented and mostly small, despite global federation networks like #FidoNet. Kevin wove those stories in with what has happened with social media since. I've seen several people here note the similarities between BBS and Mastodon - Kevin's book makes those comparisons deep. 2/
@driscoll The companion to that is, of course, the BBS Documentary by @textfiles . Together, these two works give you a sense of the people behind the #BBS scene, and its legacy today.
I don't believe "Modem World" mentioned #Mastodon directly, but the thoughts in there are remarkably prescient for this moment.
So, welcome Kevin! /end
FKA kevin @jgoerzen 
Hi! I'm so glad the book resonated with you. I loved your post about growing up in rural KS and getting online.