Chad Kohalyk

Joy Lisi Rankin focuses on computing in the schools of the Northeastern USA in the 1960s and 1970s, arguing that PLATO has an important place in US computing history, especially as an alternative narrative to the standard ARPANET → Silicon Valley → Apple and Microsoft history. The PLATO story shows technological advancement and community building before even the ARPANET. Since it was shared infra run by schools and state agencies, PLATO network participants were "citizens" and not "consumers". The book is tightly focused on a specific geographic area, but there are some good gems including the “users’ bill of rights” which was developed my the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium to guarantee governance and service standards to reassure stakeholders. But it isn't all positive: Rankin also highlights the high degree of sexism in the community. This book isn't quite on the level of The Dream Machine, but if you are interested in early computing history, and branches that could have lead to a different present, it is a pretty quick and worthwhile read.

(Don't forget to check my Reading Journal for chapter notes)

Even though I struggled a bit (I always seem to struggle with Ian McDonald books), I really like what this book does. The multiculturalism (no Americans on the Moon!), the tech, the politics and belief systems... there is a ton stuffed in this complex narrative. I would really like to see this turned into a TV show.

The documentary fiction style is masterful. His writing is very tight, easy to understand, despite some very long sentences. Each chapter captures the “voice” of the author. Early on in the book I was listening to the physicists’ comments and my head was full of AI. Of course, that comes later. I wish I knew more about each of the characters, I am sure there are a lot of jokes I missed.

Definitely going to pick up his other book. Man this must have taken forever to research and write. Respect the craft of it!

Absolute masterpiece.

Challenging. Moody. Fascinating. An admirable work of craft that inspires me to write!