It is interesting that specifically note communications view computers. When I was writing my compsci master's thesis back in 1995, I incorporated a whole field of study called Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) into my lit review:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-mediated_communication with the basic premise that whole new (and otherwise solely as a result of) social communities are created as a result of the new medium computer communications becoming available and that was otherwise not be possible (at the scale the results in some level of critical mass) in the absense of. NLUG list here is certainly one such form. It is so universal now that who knows what percentage of human communication would be abruptly suspended if it suddenly went away. When you stop and think about it, the level to which it has manifest itself since the dawn of the computer networking age is unprecedented in human history. While printed word, telephone,etc., has been around longer than computer networking, I don't think those earlier techologies had the same impact as CMC (though they certainly began the process - radio+TV probably the closest - but they had *gatekeepers* such as the network, media, broadcasters, telcos (with high $ expense), etc). CMC represented a major shift in the paradyne where suddenly, en-masse, and with much lower barriers to entry, a MUCH greater mass of humans experienced relatively instantaneous communication and the exchange of ideas and, at the same time, geolocation became almost a non-issue. Makes you wonder what impact on human evolution going forward?!?? I have heard that some schools of evolutionary thought believe that speech+language gave rise to the collection of knowledge and wisdom that would benefit later generations and thereby impacted human evolutionary development from that point on. Maybe it will someday be like the Weirding Way and just like Muad'Dub got to where he did not need the Weirding Module, we won't need computers any more! :-) For any of you that started back in the early to mid 80's, could you have ever imagined that it would be what it is today AND vast majority of participants don't even think twice about it!?!? :-) From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Sky Dog Sent: Friday, May 29, 2009 10:11 To: [email protected] Subject: [nlug] Re: 1964 Accoustic Modem I had the TRS-80 Model 4. All of my friends had commodores and such, but I went for the business machine. I dunno why. I got in just as 300 baud started to be the standard. I had a direct connect modem, with a flip switch to turn it on/off and originate/receive. I do remember at the time, being able to read faster than the data came across. I remember when Xmodem-CRC came out and was available for use on my system. I also remember going to the local phone booth, calling MCI's long distance service, and hacking out long distance access codes to use to get to remote modems. At the time, we didn't have the cash to get to the far away places we wanted to go. Friends got hit for wire fraud, and had to pony up big cash, or their parents did, rather. I made my way thru the Hayes modems, the 1200, 2400, etc. I can't imagine not being able to communicate via computer now. What started as a way to speak to a few people, because the way to speak to the world. Now if we could only give people a brain to use sometimes, it would be a wonderful place. :) Thanks for the trip down memory lane. Often I forget about the guys that made it happen, and others that were there with me when I made my journey here. -Sky On Fri, May 29, 2009 at 8:22 AM, Chris Faulkner <[email protected]> wrote: Anyone have the manpower and tools needed to start a CitadelBBS for NLUG use... :) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NLUG" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nlug-talk?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
