Hi everyone, I've been an archive lurker for a couple of months so I thought it was time to introduce myself. I'm an academic writing a book commissioned by MIT called 'Email and the Everyday: Homes, Institutions, Markets'. Despite its 45 year history, surprisingly there have been no monographs dedicated to email. Of course there are many journal articles, conference presentations and research projects that examine email communication. And the leading internet histories all discuss email but there is not the sustained analysis we've seen with other technologies and media forms. So I'm getting in touch with a few questions. Keen to hear your views! Currently, I'm writing about mailing list culture and moderation. What would you say are the key mailing lists for IT/email/computer history? And do you think mailing lists still have a role to play despite the popularity of alternatives offered by social media? The other topic I'm researching at the moment is the email provider sector. So, both commercial and open source email client programmers or providers. If anyone is working in this area I'd be keen to talk. Thanks for listening - email me off list if that's easier. Like I say, I would love to hear from you! cheers, Esther Associate Professor Esther Milne Department of Media and Communication Swinburne University, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA emilne@swin.edu.au ||| @esthermilne ||| https://swin.academia.edu/EstherMilne
Hi Esther, Great topic! One of the significant early email lists was created by Anita Borg in 1987. This was right around the time Listserv was being created (ca 1986), but it wasn't widespread, so Borg wrote her own program called Mecca. The list was for women in operating systems research and was called "Systers." As Borg told it: "I collected their email addresses (for those who had it—not everybody had email at that point, or some had email, but it was just inside their companies) and set up a mailing list and came up with this funny little name. We didn’t really have a sense of how to use it, so I would try to keep it going. I’d ask some question, or encourage a question to be asked. Then a few friends of mine who weren’t in operating systems—Barbara Simons and I don’t remember who else; other women in research—said, “Why operating systems? You don’t just talk about operating systems, do you?” So I said, “No. OK, we’ll open it.” It grew step by step as women asked to join. They needed it; they needed the connection. It is now limited to "technical women in computing." I think the most extraordinary time for us, in a way, was probably when it was about a few hundred people. It was more of a little community. On the other hand, it was clear that opening it up wider has done something incredible for women in the field. Before Systers existed, there was no community of women in computing. It didn’t exist. We all existed as individuals: we had a few women that we knew, but there was no community. There was no notion of how many women were out there, doing what." Systers is moderated and has rules designed to create a non-hostile space for women in the tech arena, which was felt to be the exception rather than the rule. You can read the full interview at http://ethw.org/Oral-History:Anita_Borg best, Janet On Dec 11, 2016, at 10:55 27PM, Esther Milne wrote:
Hi everyone,
I've been an archive lurker for a couple of months so I thought it was time to introduce myself.
I'm an academic writing a book commissioned by MIT called 'Email and the Everyday: Homes, Institutions, Markets'. Despite its 45 year history, surprisingly there have been no monographs dedicated to email.
Of course there are many journal articles, conference presentations and research projects that examine email communication. And the leading internet histories all discuss email but there is not the sustained analysis we've seen with other technologies and media forms.
So I'm getting in touch with a few questions. Keen to hear your views! Currently, I'm writing about mailing list culture and moderation. What would you say are the key mailing lists for IT/email/computer history? And do you think mailing lists still have a role to play despite the popularity of alternatives offered by social media?
The other topic I'm researching at the moment is the email provider sector. So, both commercial and open source email client programmers or providers. If anyone is working in this area I'd be keen to talk.
Thanks for listening - email me off list if that's easier. Like I say, I would love to hear from you!
cheers, Esther
Associate Professor Esther Milne Department of Media and Communication Swinburne University, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA emilne@swin.edu.au ||| @esthermilne ||| https://swin.academia.edu/EstherMilne
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are athttp://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options athttp://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
Dr. Janet Abbate Associate Professor, Science & Technology in Society Co-director, National Capital Region STS program Virginia Tech www.sts.vt.edu/ncr www.linkedin.com/groups/STS-Virginia-Tech-4565055 www.facebook.com/VirginiaTechSTS
hi esther, guess you know already donnalyn frey and rick adams, !%&:: a directory of electronic mail addressing and networks, unix communications, o'reilly, 1989. all the best, mariann ps: did some stuff over here in austria, but didn't dig too deep to be of help, i fear. On 12 Dec 2016, at 04:55, Esther Milne <emilne@swin.edu.au> wrote:
Hi everyone,
I've been an archive lurker for a couple of months so I thought it was time to introduce myself.
I'm an academic writing a book commissioned by MIT called 'Email and the Everyday: Homes, Institutions, Markets'. Despite its 45 year history, surprisingly there have been no monographs dedicated to email.
Of course there are many journal articles, conference presentations and research projects that examine email communication. And the leading internet histories all discuss email but there is not the sustained analysis we've seen with other technologies and media forms.
So I'm getting in touch with a few questions. Keen to hear your views! Currently, I'm writing about mailing list culture and moderation. What would you say are the key mailing lists for IT/email/computer history? And do you think mailing lists still have a role to play despite the popularity of alternatives offered by social media?
The other topic I'm researching at the moment is the email provider sector. So, both commercial and open source email client programmers or providers. If anyone is working in this area I'd be keen to talk.
Thanks for listening - email me off list if that's easier. Like I say, I would love to hear from you!
cheers, Esther
Associate Professor Esther Milne Department of Media and Communication Swinburne University, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA emilne@swin.edu.au ||| @esthermilne ||| https://swin.academia.edu/EstherMilne
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
On 12/11/16 7:55 PM, Esther Milne wrote:
Of course there are many journal articles, conference presentations and research projects that examine email communication. And the leading internet histories all discuss email but there is not the sustained analysis we've seen with other technologies and media forms.
Hopefully, you will be covering Englebart and the SRI ARC Journal, and the subsequent spinoff from SRI to Tymshare of the commercialized mailing list product that was part of Augment? The Computer History Museum has a pretty deep archive of material on this subject. http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102706170
For the Engelbart aspect, you will also want to check the Engelbart papers at Stanford, which includes the Journal and much of the SRI/ARC and Tymshare materials. http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/ft3n39n626/ Henry Henry Lowood, PhD Curator for History of Science & Technology; Film & Media Collections HSSG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall Stanford University Libraries Stanford, California 94305-6066 Phone: + 650-723-4602 Web: https://people.stanford.edu/lowood/ -----Original Message----- From: Members [mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Al Kossow Sent: Monday, December 12, 2016 6:46 AM To: members@lists.sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Email Book On 12/11/16 7:55 PM, Esther Milne wrote:
Of course there are many journal articles, conference presentations and research projects that examine email communication. And the leading internet histories all discuss email but there is not the sustained analysis we've seen with other technologies and media forms.
Hopefully, you will be covering Englebart and the SRI ARC Journal, and the subsequent spinoff from SRI to Tymshare of the commercialized mailing list product that was part of Augment? The Computer History Museum has a pretty deep archive of material on this subject. http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102706170 _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
Hi all, I just wanted to say thanks for the suggestions about the history of email and mailing list culture. A number of people have referenced Douglas Engelbart. I know that mail functionality was included in the NLS/Augment system but I can't find explanations about the commercialised aspect that’s mentioned below. In Abbate and Partridge his email contribution is acknowledged but, as I say, not pursued in detail. Thierry Bardini does have some great material in Bootstrapping which I'm interested in supplementing. The Computer History Museum catalogue entry is very useful, thanks. Tho it is 200 plus boxes so that's why I'm after any detail. By way of context my first book (Letters, Postcards, Email: Technologies of Presence - Routledge 2010) also dealt with email history and in fact draws from the work of many on this list. What I’m now attempting is to bring into dialogue the historical focus with other social, cultural and political lines of inquiry. So I look at early email development, in particular the RFC series and the memo template. Then I consider contemporary issues such as research ethics in relation to the Enron data set. As you’d know, this enduring email corpus is accessed by a wide range of scholars. What goes less remarked is the impact on the people whose emails suddenly become public domain. Thanks again and if anything occurs about email generally or Engelbart in particular please do get in touch. Cheers, Esther ________________________________ From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Henry E Lowood <lowood@stanford.edu> Sent: Tuesday, 13 December 2016 4:36 AM To: Al Kossow; members@lists.sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Email Book For the Engelbart aspect, you will also want to check the Engelbart papers at Stanford, which includes the Journal and much of the SRI/ARC and Tymshare materials. http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/ft3n39n626/ Henry Henry Lowood, PhD Curator for History of Science & Technology; Film & Media Collections HSSG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall Stanford University Libraries Stanford, California 94305-6066 Phone: + 650-723-4602 Web: https://people.stanford.edu/lowood/ -----Original Message----- From: Members [mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Al Kossow Sent: Monday, December 12, 2016 6:46 AM To: members@lists.sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Email Book On 12/11/16 7:55 PM, Esther Milne wrote:
Of course there are many journal articles, conference presentations and research projects that examine email communication. And the leading internet histories all discuss email but there is not the sustained analysis we've seen with other technologies and media forms.
Hopefully, you will be covering Englebart and the SRI ARC Journal, and the subsequent spinoff from SRI to Tymshare of the commercialized mailing list product that was part of Augment? The Computer History Museum has a pretty deep archive of material on this subject. http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102706170
Hi everyone,
I've been an archive lurker for a couple of months so I thought it was time to introduce myself.
I'm an academic writing a book commissioned by MIT called 'Email and the Everyday: Homes, Institutions, Markets'. Despite its 45 year history, surprisingly there have been no monographs dedicated to email.
Of course there are many journal articles, conference presentations and research projects that examine email communication. And the leading internet histories all discuss email but there is not the sustained analysis we've seen with other technologies and media forms.
So I'm getting in touch with a few questions. Keen to hear your views! Currently, I'm writing about mailing list culture and moderation. What would you say are the key mailing lists for IT/email/computer history? And do you think mailing lists still have a role to play despite the popularity of alternatives offered by social media?
The other topic I'm researching at the moment is the email provider sector. So, both commercial and open source email client programmers or providers. If anyone is working in this area I'd be keen to talk.
Thanks for listening - email me off list if that's easier. Like I say, I would love to hear from you!
cheers, Esther
Associate Professor Esther Milne Department of Media and Communication Swinburne University, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA emilne@swin.edu.au ||| @esthermilne ||| <https://swin.academia.edu/EstherMilne>
Jake feinler might have a pointer to the NLS stuff or to someone who helped develop the system. Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 6, 2017, at 7:12 PM, Esther Milne <emilne@swin.edu.au> wrote:
Hi all,
I just wanted to say thanks for the suggestions about the history of email and mailing list culture.
A number of people have referenced Douglas Engelbart. I know that mail functionality was included in the NLS/Augment system but I can't find explanations about the commercialised aspect that’s mentioned below.
In Abbate and Partridge his email contribution is acknowledged but, as I say, not pursued in detail. Thierry Bardini does have some great material in Bootstrapping which I'm interested in supplementing.
The Computer History Museum catalogue entry is very useful, thanks. Tho it is 200 plus boxes so that's why I'm after any detail.
By way of context my first book (Letters, Postcards, Email: Technologies of Presence - Routledge 2010) also dealt with email history and in fact draws from the work of many on this list. What I’m now attempting is to bring into dialogue the historical focus with other social, cultural and political lines of inquiry.
So I look at early email development, in particular the RFC series and the memo template. Then I consider contemporary issues such as research ethics in relation to the Enron data set. As you’d know, this enduring email corpus is accessed by a wide range of scholars. What goes less remarked is the impact on the people whose emails suddenly become public domain.
Thanks again and if anything occurs about email generally or Engelbart in particular please do get in touch.
Cheers,
Esther
From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Henry E Lowood <lowood@stanford.edu> Sent: Tuesday, 13 December 2016 4:36 AM To: Al Kossow; members@lists.sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Email Book
For the Engelbart aspect, you will also want to check the Engelbart papers at Stanford, which includes the Journal and much of the SRI/ARC and Tymshare materials. http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/ft3n39n626/ Henry
Henry Lowood, PhD Curator for History of Science & Technology; Film & Media Collections HSSG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall Stanford University Libraries Stanford, California 94305-6066 Phone: + 650-723-4602 Web: https://people.stanford.edu/lowood/
-----Original Message----- From: Members [mailto:members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Al Kossow Sent: Monday, December 12, 2016 6:46 AM To: members@lists.sigcis.org Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Email Book
On 12/11/16 7:55 PM, Esther Milne wrote:
Of course there are many journal articles, conference presentations and research projects that examine email communication. And the leading internet histories all discuss email but there is not the sustained analysis we've seen with other technologies and media forms.
Hopefully, you will be covering Englebart and the SRI ARC Journal, and the subsequent spinoff from SRI to Tymshare of the commercialized mailing list product that was part of Augment? The Computer History Museum has a pretty deep archive of material on this subject.
http://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102706170
Hi everyone,
I've been an archive lurker for a couple of months so I thought it was time to introduce myself.
I'm an academic writing a book commissioned by MIT called 'Email and the Everyday: Homes, Institutions, Markets'. Despite its 45 year history, surprisingly there have been no monographs dedicated to email.
Of course there are many journal articles, conference presentations and research projects that examine email communication. And the leading internet histories all discuss email but there is not the sustained analysis we've seen with other technologies and media forms.
So I'm getting in touch with a few questions. Keen to hear your views! Currently, I'm writing about mailing list culture and moderation. What would you say are the key mailing lists for IT/email/computer history? And do you think mailing lists still have a role to play despite the popularity of alternatives offered by social media?
The other topic I'm researching at the moment is the email provider sector. So, both commercial and open source email client programmers or providers. If anyone is working in this area I'd be keen to talk.
Thanks for listening - email me off list if that's easier. Like I say, I would love to hear from you!
cheers, Esther
Associate Professor Esther Milne Department of Media and Communication Swinburne University, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA emilne@swin.edu.au ||| @esthermilne |||
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://lists.sigcis.org/pipermail/members-sigcis.org/ and you can change your subscription options at http://lists.sigcis.org/listinfo.cgi/members-sigcis.org
participants (6)
-
Al Kossow -
Dave -
Esther Milne -
Henry E Lowood -
Janet Abbate -
mariann unterluggauer