[SIGCIS-Members] sf-lovers

[Christopher S. Leslie]

Dear Colleagues:

I am more and more intrigued by a connection between science fiction  
and the early days of the ARPAnet. As you may know, one of the first  
group distribution lists that was not directly related to defense  
research was the mailing list SF-lovers, which was created in Sept.  
1979 at MIT by Richard Brodie. When Usenet became available, a  
connection was established, and the travails of the list after that  
point are fairly well documented by Saul Jaffe and others.

Before the Usenet list, however, there is not so much information.  
I've been in contact with some researchers about this, but I am hoping  
that someone on the list might also remember the days of the sf-lovers  
list before Usenet. I've also heard that there were mailing groups on  
local computers and BBSs (bulletin board systems) before there were  
widely dispersed e-mail list, which if they were discussing science  
fiction, I would love to learn about.

If anyone has information to share, or can direct me to someone who  
does, I would greatly appreciate it. I am writing a book on science  
fiction and I think this list demonstrates an interesting synergy  
between science fiction and engineering.

Sincerely,

Chris Leslie

Christopher S. Leslie, Ph.D.
Instructor of Media and Technology Studies
Department of Technology, Culture and Society
Polytechnic Institute of New York University
6 MetroTech Center, RH 213h
Brooklyn, NY 11201
(718) 260-3130

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