[SIGCIS-Members] Humbul 1988

[Roger Johnson]

Dear Colleagues

Christine Finn's listing provokes me to make a suggestion.

As a retired academic I am conscious of what terrible horders of old trivia many of us are - I still have my first program listings from 1967/8 etc. I have listings from around the same time of card decks for long vanished computers. A couple of years ago I met an early pioneer with a box of old files and papers and a 1953 program listing lining the bottom of the box!

How about running a competition for the earliest surviving email message? The results could then be published (with captions but without comment) on a website which participants in discussions on the development of email might point to. There might be accusations of forgery etc but that would move the discussion along. Also the public media might also look at the dates and draw appropriate conclusions.

Worth giving it a go? I am sure we could try it in the UK.

Happy New Year

Roger


From: Members [mailto:members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Christine Finn
Sent: 07 January 2017 03:36
To: Sigcis <members at sigcis.org>
Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Humbul 1988

Dear all,

When I was researching Artifacts at Oxford in 2000, I asked Computer Services what archive there was of the university's own computer history. I was given a cardboard box of random stuff, and told I could take what was useful. The attached image is what I grabbed. It dates from 1988, and relates to Humbul. I got no joy from Leicester at that time, but have since been hoping to piece together the story of this "first reply from a foreign user; hooray". It always gives my students a laugh when I show them this aimge: me - so recent! them: so ancient!

I expect many of you will decipher a lot from this scant data. Anyway, am adding it as part of the early email story...
best, Christine

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