[LINK] Australian online news history

[Fiona Martin]

Thanks Stephen and yes it's challenging in the best Yes Minister
tradition. 

I know that there'll be a lot of initiatives like this that I won't be
able to cover, and which are more niche media (e.g. educational, corporate
) than the generalist news/entertainment focus of the book. But not will
be useful to have diverse examples of networked media - especially when
they show the longevity of 'old' new media solutions.
 
So I'll contact you off list for more about the 'K-12' channel.

I haven't come across much Australian media history research on BBSs or
other discussion forums.  Are other linkers aware of research in this area?



regards,
Fiona



DR FIONA MARTIN | Senior Lecturer in Convergent and Online Media
Department of Media and Communications |  School of Letters Arts and Media
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
 
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On 10/01/14 1:17 PM, "stephen at melbpc.org.au" <stephen at melbpc.org.au> wrote:

>Fiona writes,
>
>> Dear Linkers,
>> 
>> For the forthcoming Companion to Australian Media ..
>> http://www.scholarly.info/media/ Bridget Griffin Foley's asked me to
>> write an entry about online news media, covering key historical events
>>
>> My question is - apart from Chips n' Bits magazine and this list, did
>> anyone host or use any significant pre-1994 Australian based BBS news
>> services, news groups, listservs or email newsletters? I'm looking for
>> titles/services that were groundbreaking ..
>
>
>Good on you Fiona for undertaking such a challenging task. And Link does
>appear a fine place / resource for some initial research into this topic.
>
>Briefly, I'd want to draw your attention to FidoNet. Eg, Wikipedia notes:
>
>"The rapid improvement in modem speeds during the early 1990s, combined
>with the rapid decrease in price of computer systems and storage, made
>BBSes increasingly popular, and FidoNet along with it. By the mid-1990s
>it 
>was possible to communicate with millions of users on tens of thousands
>of 
>FidoNet systems around the world. Only UUCP came close in terms of
>breadth 
>or numbers, FidoNet's user base far surpassed other networks like BITNET."
>
>Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet
>
>In Australia through the 1990's decade in the FidoNet Channel 'K-12' was
>quite widely disseminated/utilized in secondary schools. There was/is 12
>or so K-12 discussion areas. I believe this comms system is still widely
>used in Africa, due to its simple (modem) technical requirements for use.
>
>I was (and still are) the World Moderator for the "Teacher Chat" channel.
>
>Please get in touch if you want names and dates regarding Australian use.
>
>Cheers,
>Stephen
>
>
>Message sent using MelbPC WebMail Server
>
>
>