Class 7 - Infrastructure // Timesharing, networking, and people
Apéritif
- Robert Adrian, The World in 24 Hours (1982)
RFC as koan
- C. Finseth, RFC 1439: The Uniqueness of Unique Identifiers (March 1993)
Emulator as koan
Themes
- timesharing and network sharing
- network infrastructure and data transmission
- infrastructure + people
- maintenance
Prompts
- How does a system become a legacy?
- What’s the relationship between business and the internet?
- Who has control over your data?
Description
Episodes: - S2E6 “10Broad36”, S2E7 “Working for the Clampdown”, S2E8 “Limbo”
This story arc prominently features to concept of time-sharing and network-sharing, and the infrastructure that allows these pieces to all come together. The larger question looming for the characters is around infrastructure and control. Owning a mainframe means having full control of one’s data; leasing it means risking losing that control.
Readings
- Mar Hicks, Built to Last (August 2020), Logic Mag Issue 11
- Lori Emerson, What’s Wrong With the Internet and How We Can Fix It: Interview With Internet Pioneer John Day (July 2015)
- Anne Helmond, Michael Stevenson, Legacy systems: internet histories of the abandoned, discontinued and forgotten (May 2017)
- Walt Mankowski, A Punch Card ate my Program!, !!Con (May 2017)
- Gabe Goldberg, The mainframe mindset, Increment Mag (August 2019)