<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=Windows-1252">
</head>
<body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 14px; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">
<div>Hello, and thanks Tom!</div>
<div>To add a bit to the PLATO discussion, this 2010 conference held at the University of Illinois is archived and includes Don Bitzer and others talking about PLATO:</div>
<div><a href="http://50years.lis.illinois.edu">http://50years.lis.illinois.edu</a>/</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Sharon </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="rgb(0, 0, 0)"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Calibri">Sharon Irish</font></font></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><font class="Apple-style-span" color="rgb(0, 0, 0)"></font>Graduate School of Library and Information Science</div>
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Calibri,sans-serif">University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign</font><br>
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Calibri,sans-serif">501 E. Daniel St. MC-493</font><br>
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Calibri,sans-serif">Champaign, IL 61820</font><br>
<font class="Apple-style-span" face="Calibri,sans-serif">slirish@illinois.edu</font>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">(mobile) 217.766-2411</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">www.sharonirish.org</div>
</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<span id="OLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION">
<div style="font-family:Calibri; font-size:11pt; text-align:left; color:black; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; PADDING-LEFT: 0in; PADDING-RIGHT: 0in; BORDER-TOP: #b5c4df 1pt solid; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; PADDING-TOP: 3pt">
<span style="font-weight:bold">From: </span>Thomas Haigh <<a href="mailto:thaigh@computer.org">thaigh@computer.org</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Reply-To: </span>"<a href="mailto:thaigh@computer.org">thaigh@computer.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:thaigh@computer.org">thaigh@computer.org</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Date: </span>Thursday, February 21, 2013 2:18 PM<br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">To: </span>"<a href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a>><br>
<span style="font-weight:bold">Subject: </span>[SIGCIS-Members] PLATO History<br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)">
<style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
p.MsoPlainText, li.MsoPlainText, div.MsoPlainText
{mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Plain Text Char";
margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
span.PlainTextChar
{mso-style-name:"Plain Text Char";
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-link:"Plain Text";
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
<div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple">
<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal">Hello everyone,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I recently came across mention of an interesting project on the history of the Plato system.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoPlainText">The historical importance of Plato is, I think, reasonably well understood among expert historians of computing as a crucial contribution to the development of large-scale timesharing, computer mediated communication, online communities,
and educational computing. We're also aware of the direct line of influence on Lotus Notes from Plato. It does have a full chapter in Chris McDonald's 2011 Princeton Ph.D. Thesis, and pops up in work on the history of CDC and William Norris, but has not received
a thorough history or been featured in many overview histories of computer technology.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So I'm glad to learn that Brian Dear has taken up the challenge of preserving and disseminating information on Plato. His main site is
<a href="http://platohistory.org/">http://platohistory.org/</a>. There was a big event at the Computer History Museum back in 2010,
<a href="http://platohistory.org/conference/50th-anniversary/">http://platohistory.org/conference/50th-anniversary/</a> and videos of the panel sessions are available online if you scroll way down on his main page. So the project hadn’t exactly been in stealth
mode, but I thought that if I hadn’t known about it then you might not either.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dear has apparently conducted lots of interviews and gathered masses of material for a book in progress,
<a href="http://friendlyorangeglow.com/">http://friendlyorangeglow.com/</a>. I’m looking forward to the book, but also hope that he will be making sure that this material is properly archived so that future researchers will be able to tell their own stories
about Plato.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Tom<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</span>
</body>
</html>