Sat, 13 Sep 2003 12:49:22 GMT

24 Hour PLATO People. It does not get any more 'L33+ or 0LD SK00L than the PLATO system, the O.G. of social software. It looks like PLATO may get some of the recognition it deserves, from a book-in-progress called PLATO People:

The PLATO system, started way back in 1960, was developed as a technological solution to delivering individualized instruction … As the system grew and evolved, it became, pretty much by accident, the first major online community, in the current sense of the term. In the early 1970s, people lucky enough to be exposed to the system discovered it offered a radically new way of understanding what computers could be used for: computers weren't just about number-crunching (and delivering individualized instruction), they were about people connecting with people. For many PLATO people who came across PLATO in the 1970s, this was a mind-blowing concept.

Yep.

The Research Questions page is asking for help

Then, there's the personal and social aspects: I'm interested in learning about how people made friends (or enemies) via PLATO; about their experiences in PLATO notesfiles and P-Notes and TERM-talk; how PLATO affected their lives and careers; those kinds of things. Who out there (besides me!) met their spouse through PLATO?

with these questions and more. If you're interested in PLATO, watch this space, and if you used it or worked on it, get in touch with Brian Dear, the author. [Corante: Social Software]

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there were only a few things more old school…. but yeah this is a great project. i've hear stee jones from uic talk about plato before, interesting system it is.