PLATO History tag:www.platohistory.org,2009-11-15:/blog//13 2010-08-12T22:22:28Z Movable Type Pro 5.01 PLATO Talk at 2011 SXSW -- Please Vote! tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.145 2010-08-12T21:45:00Z 2010-08-12T22:22:28Z I've submitted a proposal to the SXSW 2011 Interactive Conference in Austin, TX. SXSW wrote back and said they loved the idea, but it seems like it's up to the world to vote for the session to make sure it... brian I've submitted a proposal to the SXSW 2011 Interactive Conference in Austin, TX. SXSW wrote back and said they loved the idea, but it seems like it's up to the world to vote for the session to make sure it gets added to the agenda.

The session is on NewsReport, which I argue is the world's first online newspaper (and perhaps blog). Certainly the earliest precursor to what we see commonplace today on the web, as far as I can tell. Should be a great session.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: You can help make this session come about by going to the link below and clicking on the thumbs up icon, indicating you're voting in favor of this session. Please vote, and spread the word via Twitter and Facebook and elsewhere! Thanks!

Please Vote http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/5977

]]> Robots in School: Same Wine, Different Bottle? tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.135 2010-07-12T00:32:06Z 2010-07-12T00:36:51Z Today the New York Times ran two articles, plus a video, about efforts around the world to use robots as teaching machines, er, teachers. Somehow, this all rings a bell. Be sure to watch the video, entitled "Robotic Teaching" in... brian Today the New York Times ran two articles, plus a video, about efforts around the world to use robots as teaching machines, er, teachers. Somehow, this all rings a bell.

Be sure to watch the video, entitled "Robotic Teaching" in the first one:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/science/11robotside.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/science/11robots.html

What's your take on this? I'm deeply conflicted.

]]> The Appropriations of PLATO Names Continue... tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.134 2010-07-10T02:56:10Z 2010-07-10T06:25:26Z Is nothing sacred? Apparently not, when it comes to names of people, places, and things from the PLATO era. Last year was the year that "Avatar" was wrenched from the clutches of PLATO gaming legend to become the biggest movie... brian Is nothing sacred? Apparently not, when it comes to names of people, places, and things from the PLATO era. Last year was the year that "Avatar" was wrenched from the clutches of PLATO gaming legend to become the biggest movie in history. And now, I find that not even Bruce Parrello's famous screen name, Red Sweater, is safe. No, there's a software company with that name:

Red Sweater

I contacted the folks at Red Sweater, and they say they've never heard of PLATO let alone poor Mr. Parrello. And so it goes, another PLATO name gobbled up by the present day...

]]> Who Went to the Sullivan Theatre? tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.128 2010-07-03T15:50:12Z 2010-07-03T15:53:41Z One mystery I've never been able to solve is: who went, in May 1974, to the Little Theatre in Sullivan, Illinois, where Leonard Nimoy -- Spock himself -- was starring in a regional stage performance of One Flew Over The... brian One mystery I've never been able to solve is: who went, in May 1974, to the Little Theatre in Sullivan, Illinois, where Leonard Nimoy -- Spock himself -- was starring in a regional stage performance of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest? I ask, because whoever it was who went down there, apparently went backstage, met Nimoy, and invited him up to the University of Illinois for a visit. And, what do you know, Nimoy agreed. And next thing you know, he is touring CERL.

Were you the person who invited Nimoy? Or, were you there the day he visited CERL? If I've not already interviewed you about this, please get in touch. I'd really like to get this story straight. Thanks!

]]> Help Me Find a Video: Donahue Show #2, 1981 tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.124 2010-06-24T22:19:07Z 2010-06-24T22:22:27Z Donald Bitzer was invited on The Phil Donahue Show twice to demonstrate PLATO. The first time was around 1978. I have a copy of that video. But I am still looking for a copy of the 1981 second show, for... brian Donald Bitzer was invited on The Phil Donahue Show twice to demonstrate PLATO. The first time was around 1978. I have a copy of that video. But I am still looking for a copy of the 1981 second show, for which I believe he was sole guest, and had the entire hour to demo PLATO. (The first show he had to share with an annoying fake robot named AROK that trivialized much of the rest of the show.)

If anyone has a VHS, Beta, DVD, or other recording of the second Donahue show, please let me know (email brian at platohistory dot org). Thanks!

]]> PLATO@50: Culture of Innovation panel video tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.123 2010-06-24T16:00:19Z 2010-06-24T16:39:37Z The PLATO: A Culture of Innovation panel from the PLATO@50 conference, June 3, 2010. Featuring Don Bitzer, David Frankel, Tina Gunsalus, and Bob Price. Moderated by Bob Sutton. About 80 minutes long.... brian The PLATO: A Culture of Innovation panel from the PLATO@50 conference, June 3, 2010. Featuring Don Bitzer, David Frankel, Tina Gunsalus, and Bob Price. Moderated by Bob Sutton. About 80 minutes long.

]]> PLATO@50: Software panel video tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.122 2010-06-24T15:58:27Z 2010-06-24T16:40:09Z The Software Panel at the PLATO@50 conference featured Dr. Bob Rader, Dr. Bruce Sherwood, Mike Walker, and moderator Steve Gillmor. It's about 68 minutes long.... brian The Software Panel at the PLATO@50 conference featured Dr. Bob Rader, Dr. Bruce Sherwood, Mike Walker, and moderator Steve Gillmor. It's about 68 minutes long.

]]> PLATO@50: Hardware panel video tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.121 2010-06-24T15:56:06Z 2010-06-24T16:41:00Z The PLATO@50 conference panel on Hardware Innovations featured Dr. Donald Bitzer, Dr. Roger Johnson, and Dr. Larry Weber. The Moderator was Philip McKinney. It's about 86 minutes long.... brian The PLATO@50 conference panel on Hardware Innovations featured Dr. Donald Bitzer, Dr. Roger Johnson, and Dr. Larry Weber. The Moderator was Philip McKinney. It's about 86 minutes long.

]]> PLATO@50: Games Panel video tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.120 2010-06-24T15:53:47Z 2010-06-24T20:35:23Z The Games Panel at the PLATO@50 conference featured John Markoff (Moderator), Bruce Artwick, John Daleske, Dr. Brand Fortner, Dr. Andrew Shapira, and Rich Hilleman. It's about 71 minutes long -- enjoy!... brian The Games Panel at the PLATO@50 conference featured John Markoff (Moderator), Bruce Artwick, John Daleske, Dr. Brand Fortner, Dr. Andrew Shapira, and Rich Hilleman. It's about 71 minutes long -- enjoy!

]]> PLATO@50: Online Community panel video tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.119 2010-06-24T01:19:59Z 2010-06-24T20:36:40Z The Computer History Museum has uploaded another video from the PLATO@50 conference, late this afternoon -- the panel on Online Community. Featured are Charlene Li (Moderator), Dave Woolley, and Kim Mast, and Lili Cheng of Microsoft. Enjoy!... brian The Computer History Museum has uploaded another video from the PLATO@50 conference, late this afternoon -- the panel on Online Community. Featured are Charlene Li (Moderator), Dave Woolley, and Kim Mast, and Lili Cheng of Microsoft.

Enjoy!

]]> PLATO@50: Online Education panel video tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.118 2010-06-23T00:38:14Z 2010-06-24T20:37:53Z The Computer History Museum uploaded another high-definition video of a PLATO@50 panel session to YouTube today. This is the 1hr 9min video of the Online Education panel from June 3rd. It features an introduction by CHM CEO John Hollar, and... brian The Computer History Museum uploaded another high-definition video of a PLATO@50 panel session to YouTube today. This is the 1hr 9min video of the Online Education panel from June 3rd. It features an introduction by CHM CEO John Hollar, and a panel including Dr. Ruth Chabay, Dr. Sharon Dugdale, Bonnie Anderson Seiler, and Dr. Bruce Sherwood. The Moderator is Dr. Roy D. Pea:

Enjoy!

]]> Got Tapes? tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.117 2010-06-18T14:13:41Z 2010-06-24T20:38:16Z You know that pile of computer tapes you have in the basement, or was it the attic? You know, the ones in those dusty old boxes that you stuffed away twenty or thirty or maybe even thirty-five years ago? The... brian You know that pile of computer tapes you have in the basement, or was it the attic? You know, the ones in those dusty old boxes that you stuffed away twenty or thirty or maybe even thirty-five years ago? The ones that contain backups of everything on the PLATO mainframe you worked on? Yeah, those tapes.

Could I borrow them?

I'm getting a lot of requests for tapes lately. I stopped asking for 'em long ago, but I guess the conference triggered interest in backup tapes again. If there's one thing I've learned over the years -- someone somewhere has tapes. Someone somewhere always has the pile of stuff you're looking for, be it tapes, brochures, articles, Kodachrome color slides, snapshots, movies, videos. It's out there somewhere.

I recently had dinner with some of the Cyber1.org folks and they were very interested in tapes too. They'd like to restore stuff on those tapes and get the lessons, notesfiles, whatever, onto cyber1.org. I'd love to see that too.

Got tapes? Lemme know. Thanks.

]]> Twas the week before finals tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.115 2010-06-16T05:01:13Z 2010-06-24T20:38:33Z Stumbled on this oldie from the early 1970s. Written by Mike Carroll ("Hob"), Mike Folk ("Starry"), and Tom Stieglitz ("Condor"): Twas the week before finals, And on every term The gamers were playing, making everyone squirm The Cyber was clicking,... brian Stumbled on this oldie from the early 1970s. Written by Mike Carroll ("Hob"), Mike Folk ("Starry"), and Tom Stieglitz ("Condor"):

Twas the week before finals,
And on every term
The gamers were playing, making everyone squirm
The Cyber was clicking, the disks were a-spin
And the people in moonwar were trying to win
S-3's on remotes were blinking and flashing
(Every 5 minutes the system was crashing)
A new version here, and a new version there
Was enough to make even John Eisenberg swear
The Baron was BLEEPING at the raunched Comptech2
And Fuller was missing his space: fr2
Pad was in shambles, thanks to aero of glass
And everyone's heading for talko, en masse.
Poor John Daleske (as empire dies)
Is tearing his hair: tears in his eyes.
Meanwhile Pete Rowell and his friend Al McNeil
Are busily trying to make Nova look real
With cookies we authors, try Frankel to please
And Rick Blomme's beard is down to his knees.
He's being attacked, he's getting quite mad
But he's still the best friend the games ever had.
Then what to my wondering eyes should appear
But a sorrowful Sweater and a can of ROOT BEER.
"I'm hooked on my Fanta, I've given up hope...
The withdrawal is bad, like being on dope."
The author of pad, gandy, et al.
Will hopefully be back on the system next fall
(PLUG PLUG PLUG PLUG)
For those that we've missed (we know quite a few)
Check back in a month, when we write version 2.
Hob, Condor, Starry: We all need a rest.
We know this is poor, but we did do our best.

]]> PLATO article on Italian tech website tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.112 2010-06-11T18:08:45Z 2010-06-11T18:11:51Z The technology website Punto Informatico has a writeup about PLATO's 50th anniversary. It's in italian. Here's a link to a rather bumpy machine translation to English via Google Translate.... brian Punto Informatico has a writeup about PLATO's 50th anniversary. It's in italian. Here's a link to a rather bumpy machine translation to English via Google Translate. ]]> PLATO@50 Commemorative Booklet available tag:www.platohistory.org,2010:/blog//13.111 2010-06-11T01:44:50Z 2010-06-24T20:39:15Z For those unable to attend the conference, I thought you might be interested in this. One of the things we put together for attendees was a 24-page illustrated booklet summarizing the history and significance of PLATO. The Computer History... brian PLATO@50 Commemorative Booklet For those unable to attend the conference, I thought you might be interested in this. One of the things we put together for attendees was a 24-page illustrated booklet summarizing the history and significance of PLATO.

The Computer History Museum has a relationship with the MagCloud service which lets anyone print their own magazines, and they've begun a series of computer history booklets at the MagCloud site. The PLATO@50 booklet is the second in this new series.

Click on either the above or below image to go to the MagCloud page to get details on the booklet and to find out how you can get a copy.

PLATO@50 Commemorative Booklet sample pages

The booklet has a nice foreword by Donald Bitzer, has lots of great photos and PLATO screen shots in all their glorious orange pixels, and text written by yours truly. CHM did a really nice job on the design and layout too. Enjoy it!

One technical note: I was particularly pleased at how well some of the PLATO screen shots came out. I often hear print people and layout folks shudder at the notion of rendering 72-dots-per-inch screen grabs direct into print, as they usually want 150-dpi or even 300-dpi for print use, and 72-dpi seems to set PhotoShop gurus right off. But happily, the plain ol' 72-dpi TIFF screen grabs came out fine. Whatever magic they did to get them in the booklet worked.

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