[ih] Internet History Project (was XEROX/PUP and Commercialization (was Re: FYI - Gordon Crovitz/WSJ on "Who Really Invented the Internet?")

[Jack Haverty]

Yes, of course; I keep forgetting that diligent and accurate aren't
very popular any more.

The idea of projects to proactively capture recollections is a good
one.  You would think that an entity such as The Internet, which has
now touched a significant fraction of the population of the planet,
has altered governments, industries, and individuals lives, and is on
the tongues of everyone including heads of states, would attract the
attention of not only technical museums, but also archives and
organizations capturing general human history.  I think it's bigger
than just online panels and discussions.

Some of my relatives were interviewed years ago, to capture their
recollections of the events surrounding past wars they personally
experienced.  The US Library of Congress ran (and still runs) a
"Veterans History Project" to capture thoughts and experiences of
"people who were there" for use of future historians.  See
http://www.loc.gov/vets/

Perhaps the Library of Congress (and other similar institutions) could
be motivated to launch an analogous "Internet History Project"?    I'd
love to hear that announced in some campaign speech.  Wars aren't the
only thing worth remembering.

/Jack Haverty


On Wed, Jul 25, 2012 at 4:42 PM, Dave Crocker <dhc2 at dcrocker.net> wrote:
>
>
> On 7/25/2012 4:21 PM, Jack Haverty wrote:
>>
>> I can understand why historians have such a difficult job sorting
>> stuff out from the distant past.  We who were there all (think we)
>> know from firsthand experience, but someone looking back a century or
>> two might have real trouble.
>
>
>
> You are referring to folk who are diligent and concerned with accuracy.
>
> The real problem seems to have more to do with folk who lack one or both of
> these necessary attributes.
>
> A couple of months ago, it was the invention of email.  Today it's invention
> of the Internet.
>
> What's most significant to me is how easily the inaccuracies are
> promulgated.
>
> I've suggested to John Markoff that this interplay between actual Internet
> history and media mis-history of the Internet is probably worth a story.
>
> I have also wondered about an effort to conduct a series of targeted, online
> discussions among principals, to divulge and reflect on the history of
> specific lines of capability.  This would create a record of first-person
> recollections.  It might be worth synthesizing these into some live panel
> discussions, as are often done at the Computer History Museum.
>
> A spontaneous version of the online part happened about email recently.  It
> was pretty interesting.
>
> For example, I had never realized that Ray Tomlinson's innovation was in
> direct response to Dick Watson's, very different and less integrated
> proposal of RFC 196.
>
>
> d/
>
> --
>  Dave Crocker
>  Brandenburg InternetWorking
>  bbiw.net