Exploring Early Online Communities with Jon Lebkowsky

文摘科技 2024-08-28 00:00 辽宁

As people ventured into cyberspace, they began building communities and connecting with others from distant lands, fostering various cultures that flourished in the online world. These communities, built on shared interests, goals, and visions, attracted sci-fi writers, technologists, journalists, hackers, artists, and poets from around the globe to discuss the future they envisioned.

Jon Lebkowsky's online journey was sparked by his deep passion for the Whole Earth Catalog and its publications. Eager to access The WELL, the online community associated with these publications, he purchased his first computer and modem. However, the high cost of long-distance connections initially held him back from joining The WELL. Instead, he turned to local BBS systems, particularly SMOF-BBS, a BBS for science fiction fans, where he met Bruce Sterling, Mike Godwin, Lewis Shiner, and Earl Cooley.

Jon Lebkowsky

In 1990, he eventually started dialing into The WELL. During this period, The WELL connected to the Internet, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) was forming, with early organization taking place on The WELL. Jon Lebkowsky engaged with a diverse network of like-minded individuals and actively contributed to the formation of the EFF. His efforts helped establish EFF-Austin, the first chapter of the organization.

On The WELL, he also met Mark Frauenfelder of the zine bOING-bOING, who introduced him to Paco Xander Nathan. Together, they founded FringeWare, a company aimed at helping individuals and small businesses market their products on the Internet. This venture soon led to the creation of FringeWare Review, a zine that became a notable cultural artifact of the early Internet era.

Today, we are delighted to welcome Mr. Jon Lebkowsky to our interview. In this interview, he reflects on his early experiences with computers, the online communities he joined, the profound influence The WELL had on him, and his exploration of various early online subcultures. Mr. Lebkowsky also shares the process and motivations behind founding Plutopia News Network, along with his views on the future development of online communities.

Entering the Digital Frontier

▮ The Nexus: How did you come to own your very first computer, and what were your earliest online explorations?

Jon Lebkowsky: As a devoted reader and follower of the Whole Earth Catalog¹ and its publications, especially CoEvolution Quarterly² , I was quickly aware when they set up a bulletin board system (BBS) called The WELL³ (Whole Earth' Lectronic Link). I had long wanted to meet the Whole Earth folks and hoped to write for them, so I decided I wanted a computer and a modem. I had discovered at work that I had an affinity for computers, and had done some work on emerging systems there, so I understood how to operate a PC, though I hadn't gone deep with technology before. I bought an early 8086 PC clone from PC's Limited⁴ , which was an alias for what became Dell Computers. Along with the computer, I bought a 300 baud internal modem so that I could dial into other systems, like The WELL. I started teaching myself more about computers - I had a stack of manuals to read, so I did a deep dive into MS-DOS and software like WordStar⁵, an early word processor.

Dialing into The WELL was going to require an expensive long distance telephone connection via the modem. I had limited funds, so I didn't attempt that right away. Instead I joined local BBS systems, especially SMOF-BBS. SMOF⁶ stood for "Secret Masters of Fandom," a BBS for science fiction fans where I met Bruce Sterling⁷ , Mike Godwin⁸ , Lewis Shiner⁹ , and Earl Cooley, aka Shiva, the system operator (sysop). I also joined Steve Jackson's¹⁰ "Illuminati Online," though spent less time there because it was dedicated to role-playing games, and that wasn't one of my fascinations.

Eventually I did start dialing into The WELL, in 1990. I looked for ways to do it more cheaply, and found a Sprint service called PC Pursuit, which allowed me to log in at a flat rate of $30 per month. (The WELL also charged $2 per hour at the time.) By then I was also into the BBS world, and had joined some others that were local, including Pair-O-Dice, operated by an art instructor from the University of Texas, Bob Anderson. Bob and I became good friends. I don't recall much about other systems I joined - much of my focus was on The WELL.

Around the time I joined The WELL, it connected to the Internet. And in the very early 1990s, the Electronic Frontier Foundation¹¹ launched - some or most of the initial organization of EFF had been on The WELL, and I was in those conversations. The Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games in Austin in March 1990, about a month after I joined The WELL. I heard about the raid via SMOF-BBS, where Steve showed up to talk about it - at the time he was unclear exactly why his business was raided and computers confiscated. The EFF was still coming together - it formally launched in July 1990. The Steve Jackson Games case was the perfect case for EFF, which was formed according to John Barlow¹² to "raise and disburse funds for education, lobbying, and litigation in the areas relating to digital speech and the extension of the Constitution into Cyberspace." This gets into a longer story than I can tell in this context, but suffice to say that the Steve Jackson Games raid and resulting lawsuit¹³(Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service) was a perfect early focus for EFF.

EFF originally intended to be a chapters-based organization with a strong community aspect, and Steve convinced them that Austin, where he and I live, should have the first EFF chapter. We started EFF-Austin, and through that, I met John Quarterman¹⁴ and Smoot Carl-Mitchell of Texas Internet Consulting. They gave me an account on their server - my first opportunity to connect directly to the Internet via modem. This gave me a cheaper/easier way to access The WELL. Quarterman tutored me quite a bit on the Internet and the UNIX operating system.

The cover of FringeWare Review #5 (This was Jon Lebkowsky’s favorite issue; he was both the editor and publisher on this one.)

Also via The WELL, I connected with Mark Frauenfelder of the zine bOING-bOING¹⁵, and he introduced me to Paco Xander Nathan¹⁶, who also lived in Austin. Paco and I became friends and formed a company called FringeWare, originally intended to help individuals and small companies to bring products to market via the Internet. We started an email list, originally to find products, but the list became a digital cultural phenomenon. We found that banks wouldn't let us accept credit cards online, because we couldn't secure the transaction (there was no SSL that early in the development of the Internet). We decided to create a catalog, and then we decided we should start our own zine and put the catalog in the back pages. We started publishing FringeWare Review¹⁷ , which was an interesting cultural artifact of that time.

▮ The Nexus: For people who weren't very tech-savvy, was it difficult to access the online world at that time? What were the most common technical frustrations for them, and how were these typically resolved?

Jon Lebkowsky: Part of the issue was finding systems to access, but I was picking up on that via word of mouth, starting with the local science fiction community that I was somewhat acquainted with. Another issue I've already mentioned was dialing into remote systems. I had no Internet access, in fact, I didn't know what the Internet was, when I started. And the computers were primitive, command line systems, not particularly user-friendly. There was no such thing as a graphical user interface.

Computer modems were relatively slow and clunky, and at first there were no commercial mainstream Internet service providers. Those started to appear in the early 90s, though. Computers themselves were not exactly built for the masses - you had to have a comfort with the technology to use them effectively, and be okay spending time staring at text on a monochromatic visual display, usually green or amber. When I bought my first computer, I was a novice but I did have an affinity, and a strong desire to figure it out and make it work. I recall arriving home with the computer, monitor, and a stack of manuals about three feet high. The manuals were somewhat difficult to get into; it took a lot of time and effort just to grasp the technology and mind-set behind it, even given that I had some computer experience by then. It was definitely not mainstream.

The resolution came along with the mainstreaming of the Internet and the computer experience, which took years. The graphical interface, as with Microsoft Windows, was a big step, along with the creation of things like haptics (the computer mouse) and touch screens. And eventually a discipline of user experience evolved for technology systems, an increasing focus on usability.

▮ The Nexus: You've been deeply involved with The WELL. Could you elaborate on your role within this platform and discuss some unique aspects of its culture and its broader impact?

Jon Lebkowsky: Of course, I was just one of the users at first, but I embraced the technology - a text-based command-line UNIX system running a conferencing system called Picospan, very much like the BBS systems I'd joined locally. I'm a pretty good writer and communicator, and after reading what people were posting for a time, I started responding more and more. Eventually I made friends on The WELL, became a conference host, and took on various volunteer roles besides that - like being part of the team that published tips, pointers to discussions on The WELL that users might otherwise miss.

The WELL developed an interesting culture, growing organically and initially attracting members of the Deadhead community (followers of the Grateful Dead) and readers of Whole Earth publications, especially CoEvolution Quarterly (which was later renamed Whole Earth Review). Because of its physical proximity to the Bay Area in Northern California, it picked up a lot from the counterculture that was so prevalent in the area - former hippies and political activists, musicians, writers, hackers, artists and poets. Before social media appeared, The WELL was a place where authors and journalists could find stimulating discussions and potential sources. In general, it had a creative combination of counterculture, political culture, digital culture, and journalists who were covering all the emerging cultures throughout the 90s and 2000s. There were also futurists and forward-looking business people - the Global Business Network used The WELL as a platform for ongoing discussion.

Many of the folks who were using The WELL in the 90s and early 2000s are no longer active, having shifted their attention to social media platforms. Currently The WELL includes many of its original adherents, though, and they're aging together. Many of the people I know there are, like me, over 70 years old... but, like me, they're very young old people.

Because The WELL had so many authors, journalists and eventual bloggers, it influenced the perception and form of digital culture. When blogs first appeared, they were somewhat influenced by the way people had been posting on The WELL and other community systems, and I believe they were influenced by the format of reviews and articles in the Whole Earth Catalog and related publications. Many of the people I knew in the zine world and the early world-wide web had followed and been influenced by Whole Earth's publications.

▮ The Nexus: What were some of the local online communities you were involved with? How did they complement or differ from broader online spaces? In addition, how important do you think these local communities were in fostering connections and engagement compared to the larger, more global platforms?

Jon Lebkowsky: When you're local you have the advantage of physical proximity, so communities that formed of early Internet adopters here in Austin had both online and offline components. I already mentioned BBSes, but another form of online community interaction was via email lists. Community formed around several endeavors I was involved with: EFF-Austin, FringeWare, the Robot Group, the Interactive Media Lab (ACTLab) at the University of Texas, etc. The main difference from non-local online spaces was that we met and interacted with each other in physical space.

I would say that local communities had a different character from larger global platforms because of physical proximity - easier for people to meet in physical space and hang out, getting to know each other on a different level. In addition to the communities around EFF-Austin et al. mentioned above, I became part of local business networks (e.g. Bootstrap Austin) in the 2000s, and networks around clean energy and sustainability (Austin Clean Energy Initiative, Solar Austin, Bright Green Austin). All of these had both virtual and physical presence. I was also involved with Worldchanging, a blog about environmental issues, sustainability, climate change, etc. One of my roles at Worldchanging was creating a network of local/regional Worldchanging blogs, and communities formed around each of those.

There's an old saying from the 60s, "think globally, act locally." My version of that saying became "think and act globally and locally." Worldchanging was a good example once we had both global and local presences. I think the global platforms are most powerful as facilitators of local clusters, networks, and communities. And there are platforms that are built specifically for smaller clusters - thinking of Discord.

One thing we've seen in the last decade or more is a downside to online communities. The same tools that can be powerful in facilitating community for the good can be manipulated to create communities fueled by misinformation, conspiracy theories, grifting and scams, etc. We've seen some of the worst kinds of political movements - e.g. fascism - build large followings using the same online tools that we've used to build sane and healthy online communities. This is a wicked problem that we're still learning how to address.

▮ The Nexus: What factors do you believe are essential for the sustainability and long-term success of online communities? Are there any common mistakes that new community builders should be aware of and avoid?

Jon Lebkowsky: Communities form where people have affinity and start to build a history with each other. To hold the communities together, it helps to have formal or informal leadership, people who take responsibility for managing conversations or interactions. Not controlling, but managing. On The WELL, conversations are organized as "conferences," which are broad subject areas, and "topics," which are ongoing conversations relevant to the subject. Each conference has hosts who are responsible for supporting conversations and managing conflicts. They provide that support with a light touch and few rules, mostly a rule against ad hominem attacks. Social guidance vs strong direction.

Early Online Culture Unveiled

▮ The Nexus: Could you describe some of the most prominent subcultures that emerged in these early online communities? Do any of these early subcultures still exist today, or have they evolved into something else?

Jon Lebkowsky: Early on part of The WELL's evolution depended on Bay Area Deadheads (fans of the Grateful Dead¹⁸ ) joining and contributing. There were also writers and journalists, zine publishers, artists, hackers, poets... so it was a diverse community representing many existing cultures.

When Paco Nathan and I started FringeWare, we were both members of The WELL, had a presence there, and drew from that community. But we had international circulation and found followers all over, people who tended to be fringe thinkers, which was the point. Pretty much anywhere in the world that someone was thinking outside the box and feeling isolated because of their differences, with access to the Internet they had the opportunity to find others like them.

There were a lot of libertarians online early on. Since academics had Internet access early, there were many of them, and many researchers, online. There were communities of hackers, including the cypherpunks¹⁹, who were specifically focused on modes of encryption.

Obviously BBSes started connecting to the Internet early on, if only to swap email with other BBSes via UUCP. And there was of course Usenet with its many decentralized newsgroups, where much of early digital culture was evolving. Anyone with access to the Internet could read and contribute to the newsgroups. FringeWare had its own newsgroup, alt.fringeware, back in the day.

Various other systems for online interaction appeared, including Echo and MindVox²⁰ on the east coast of the US, and commercial services like Prodigy, CompuServe, America Online, and GEnie²¹. (GEnie was a platform where science fiction writers hung out, among others.)

Jon Lebkowsky at the Wired offices in 1994 or so (Photo by Monte McCarter)

▮ The Nexus: Unlike traditional zines with printing costs and limited reach, online platforms made publishing accessible to anyone. This led to a surge in diverse voices and perspectives represented in online zine culture. What were some of the popular zines early on? What topics did these zines mainly cover? Did you participate in any of them?

Jon Lebkowsky: The zines and early websites I knew about were mostly covering digital (or cyber) and fringe culture. bOING bOING started as a paper zine but moved online as a blog when blog software first appeared, and FringeWare Review had an online presence, including a kind of online zine I edited called TAZMedia. Donald Melanson had a site called Mindjack where I contributed a few pieces.

Blogs started taking the place of zines in the late 90s. I was involved in a multi-contributor blog called Worldchanging²² in the early 2000s, and had my own blog, originally on The WELL, later at weblogsky.com.

▮ The Nexus: Was the technology good enough to allow online zines to keep the rich mixture of text in many different fonts, images, and other graphical elements that were present in print zines at the time? What software was typically used?

Jon Lebkowsky: Not really - the websites and particularly blogs that emerged online were limited to layouts we could make with simple HTML. Web publishing sites in the mid-1990s started using content management systems that depended quite a bit on templates, and with templated content you were working within a somewhat invariable framework. The original CMS systems were for larger publishing projects, but small/personal content management systems appeared toward the end of the 1990s - the first I encountered was Blogger²³. Mark Frauenfelder started using it for the bOING bOING website - bOING bOING became a very popular blog site. Mark sent an email around, letting people know about Blogger, and I immediately signed up and figured out how to use it for the content I was writing. Other platforms appeared, specifically Moveable Type²⁴, which I started using in the 2000s, and WordPress²⁵ , where I eventually migrated. WordPress became the platform of choice for a huge number of blogs - and is still very popular, though now we also have hosted services like Medium and Substack.

▮ The Nexus: How do you think these early online zines have shaped today's Internet culture?

Jon Lebkowsky: The organization of information as posts of variable content started with early BBSes and Usenet, and was represented in blogs, social media sites, and "microblogs" like Twitter. So there was that structural influence.

We were early on creating fairly accessible technologies for anybody and everybody to post any and all kinds of information, evolving from a top-down mass media structure to a many-to-many social media structure. At the time we thought that this was a democratic movement and very powerful, not realizing how the information ecosystem could be manipulated by bad actors.

▮ The Nexus: What role did online communities play in the development of the Sci-fi subculture? Could you share some of your personal experiences or notable moments within the online Sci-fi subculture?

Jon Lebkowsky: Sci-fi authors who were members of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association) had accounts on GEnie and hung out together there. I wasn't really writing science fiction. I tried, and helped co-found a sci-fi writers' group called Slugtribe, but I leaned more into nonfiction and journalism.

One impact, though, was via the cyberpunk²⁶ subgenre of science fiction. Cyberpunk influenced how people experienced the Internet - e.g. the concept of cyberspace, which came from William Gibson's²⁷ imagination as he was writing the cyberpunk novel "Neuromancer." At the time Gibson was influenced by arcade games and hadn't really "jacked into the matrix" himself. But cyberspace was a compelling metaphor for the online experience, and caught on. In early Internet culture there was much about aesthetic and cultural extraction from sci-fi, in fact I knew people who referred to themselves as cyberpunks. I'm pretty clear that the experience of being online started influencing science fiction writers, and online networks gave them a way to form community, connect and collaborate.

▮ The Nexus: What were some of the earliest examples of online businesses you encountered? Back then, did you foresee that business would play such a significant role in the development of the Internet?

Jon Lebkowsky: When we created FringeWare, our idea was to sell products online. We were aware that there were people with products, or ideas for products, that they couldn't get distributed because the costs of bringing them to market were so high. Software, for instance, had to be packaged and delivered to bricks and mortar stores. Selling online and shipping could be much cheaper - we could start the ball rolling on an online marketplace. We started an email list to find potential sellers and source products, but that email list also turned into a gathering place for people who were into fringe cultures, so we were doing that, too.

When we formed a company and asked a bank to authorize us to accept credit cards, they initially refused. They told us in no uncertain terms that we couldn't accept credit cards online because credit card numbers could be compromised - you couldn't secure them. SSL had not yet been developed. We had to create a bricks and mortar presence, which is why we started the FringeWare store. Meanwhile we realized we could have a mail order business, so we developed a catalog. We decided to create a zine, and put the catalog in the back pages, which worked pretty well.

Eventually I left FringeWare. Whole Food Market hired me around 1997 to help them establish more of an Internet presence and create an online store. Things had changed - you could encrypt credit card numbers with SSL²⁸ at point of sale, so e-commerce was becoming a thing. We built an online store and added a community platform using the same software that had been developed for The WELL. We also hired editors to add significant content.

Ecommerce became a significant part of the Internet in the years we were developing WholeFoods.com - at the same time, Amazon.com had launched and was growing. There were interesting problems unrelated to the technology (fulfillment logistics and potentially high costs of last mile delivery), and I also worked on those sorts of things.

With the "dotcom crash" in 2000, Whole Foods lost confidence in the online operation and sold it. Some thought that the Internet was over as a platform to support publishing and larger scale business. Of course, they were wrong.

A Personal Journey

▮ The Nexus: What inspired you to start Plutopia News Network, and what goals were you hoping to achieve with it?

Jon Lebkowsky: From our website: "The word 'Plutopia' is a portmanteau combining two terms: 'pluralist utopia,' a concept that envisions an ideal society where diverse beliefs and identities coexist in harmony, actively promoting mutual respect and minimizing conflict. While idealistic, the term represents a vision of a more inclusive and harmonious world, acknowledging the complexities of achieving such a perfect society."

In 2005, I was working with the South Texas Digital Convergence Initiative on an idea for a large installation at the South by Southwest conference²⁹ that was going to demonstrate a future in which all media has become digital, and much of our lives are data-driven. We were right about that possible future, but as we worked on putting the event together, we realized that we didn't have time to make it happen as we envisioned it - we threw a big party instead.

However, that gave me an idea: I realized you could create a think tank that, instead of publishing white papers and research, could stage events of the kind we'd been considering. I joined forces with Derek Woodgate, a strategic foresight professional working from Austin at the time, and we started a business development process to create a smart events production company. Our first project was an installation called "The DIY House of the Future" at the first Austin Maker Faire. It went well, and in debriefing with some of our volunteers, including neuroscientist and designer David DeMaris, we came up with the name Plutopia. We called the company "Plutopia Productions," and we produced a series of large events during the SXSW conference, from 2008 through 2011. Today's Plutopia podcast was created by Scoop Sweeney and I as an adjunct to that event. Eventually I left Plutopia Productions, and before long after that the company went away. We stopped doing the podcast, but revived it a few years ago as the Plutopia News Network.

So my original goal was to create a unique, futuristic think tank engaged in event production, and that ultimately didn't work out. When we restarted the podcast, our goal was just to create a series of interesting and compelling interviews, and I think we've succeeded at that.

▮ The Nexus: What were other early online communities that influenced your personal and professional life? Were there any significant turning points or realizations that came from these experiences?

Jon Lebkowsky: The biggest influence was definitely The WELL, where I've been a member now for almost 35 years. I made a substantial number of professional connections there, and engaged with various publications and projects including Factsheet Five, bOING bOING, the Whole Earth Review, Wired Magazine, Mondo 2000, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, etc. It completely changed my life. One friendship I formed there was with Howard Rheingold³⁰, who was the editor of Whole Earth Review and later started a for-profit online community called Electric Minds. I worked for Electric Minds, which had a relatively short life before funding lapsed and it had to be sold. Durand Communications bought it, and we moved the whole community onto their servers, continuing to operate on a platform similar to the one used by The WELL. The experience of moving Electric Minds and trying to set up governance for that community was another major influence on my life and my thinking about community platforms. Among other things, I realized how difficult governance could be. Through The WELL and Electric Minds both, I've learned that online communities of any scale will inevitably have smaller clusters of communities within them, and that the best way to run those is with hosts who manage conversations with a light touch and few hard and fast rules (the main rule being "no personal attacks").

▮ The Nexus: What do you see as the future of online communities, based on your extensive experience and observations?

Jon Lebkowsky: From observation and not from participation, I've come to believe that online games have become some of the best platforms for online communities - along with associated platforms for conversation like Discord³¹ and Twitch.

I should mention here that social media platforms like Facebook, X, Mastodon, Bluesky, etc. are not great for community formation. Real community forms when people gather daily in the same online environments and have ongoing discussions, building history together - something that doesn't happen very well on social media platforms, where conversations when they occur are discontinuous. One of the most promising platforms I've seen for community development is Discord, where anyone can set up an instance that can support ongoing conversations among a reasonably limited set of participants.

Community doesn't scale to large size without breaking into clusters, as I mentioned, and if you want to have any kind of scale, you should look for a way to network those clusters.

Right now I think we're in a transitional phase - people are still learning to live together in virtual space as well as physical space. I think we'll see both social and political evolution that are driven by how we live our lives online as well as offline, with more emphasis on online social connection as we've seen over the last three decades. I hope we'll learn to live and work together peacefully.

The Nexus

Notes:

The Whole Earth Catalog (WEC) is an American counterculture magazine and product catalog first published in 1968 by Stewart Brand. The catalog emphasized themes like self-sufficiency, ecological awareness, alternative education, and "do-it-yourself" (DIY) culture, with the slogan "access to tools." While the magazine included essays and articles, its primary focus was on product reviews, covering a wide range of items such as clothing, books, tools, machines, and seeds. The Whole Earth Catalog did not sell products directly but provided contact information for vendors, allowing readers to purchase items themselves. The magazine had a significant impact on the counterculture movement of the 1960s and 70s, as well as on modern environmentalism.
CoEvolution Quarterly (1974–1985) was a journal founded by Stewart Brand, evolving from the original Whole Earth Catalog. It focused on themes related to ecology, alternative education, sustainability, and counterculture, much like its predecessor. The publication was intended to explore the evolving relationship between humans and the environment, and it featured a wide range of articles, essays, and discussions on innovative ideas and practices.
The WELL (Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link) is a virtual community that was started by Stewart Brand and Larry Brilliant in 1985, making it one of the oldest continuously operating online communities in the world. Known for its in-depth and diverse discussions, The WELL allows users to engage in conversations on a wide range of topics, from technology and art to social issues. A distinctive feature of The WELL is its real-name policy, which prohibits anonymity and fosters a sense of trust and responsibility among users. It was once called "the world's most influential online community" by Wired magazine in 1997.
Dell was originally founded as "PC's Limited" in 1984 by Michael Dell while he was a student at the University of Texas at Austin. The company began by selling customized personal computers directly to consumers. In 1988, PC's Limited was renamed Dell Computer Corporation, reflecting the company's growing presence in the PC market.
WordStar was a word processing software application that became highly popular in the early 1980s. It was originally developed for the CP/M-80 operating system by Rob Barnaby and published by MicroPro International. As one of the first word processors available for microcomputers, WordStar quickly gained a large user base due to its powerful features and flexibility.
SMOF stands for "Secret Master of Fandom." It refers to influential fans in science fiction and fantasy communities who play key roles in organizing and managing fan conventions. Although the term originally had a negative connotation related to the hidden control of fan activities, it has evolved to describe experienced and dedicated fans who handle behind-the-scenes tasks essential for running conventions. SMOFs are known for their significant contributions to the fandom, including event planning and coordination.
Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author and futurist known for his influential work in the genre of cyberpunk. Born on April 14, 1954, Sterling is recognized for his novels such as Schismatrix, Islands in the Net, and The Difference Engine (co-written with William Gibson). Sterling is also a prominent speaker on futurism and design, and he has played a key role in shaping the discourse around technology and society.
Michael Wayne Godwin (born October 26, 1956) is an American attorney and author known for his contributions to Internet law and culture. He was the first staff counsel of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Godwin also served as general counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation and has been a contributing editor to Reason magazine. He has also worked with the Open Source Initiative and the Internet Society. He created the Internet adage Godwin's law and the notion of an Internet meme.
Lewis Shiner is an American science fiction author known for his works that often blend elements of cyberpunk, magical realism, and fantasy. He began his writing career with a focus on science fiction but later expanded into more mainstream fiction while retaining speculative elements. Shiner's works include Glimpses and Outside the Gates of Eden.
Steve Jackson (born January 22, 1952) is an American game designer. He is the founder of Steve Jackson Games, a company renowned for its popular games such as Munchkin, GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System), and Car Wars. Jackson is also known for his contributions to the development of game design and for his role in fostering the gaming community.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is a leading nonprofit organization founded in 1990 to defend civil liberties in the digital world. EFF advocates for privacy, free expression, and innovation through litigation, policy analysis, grassroots activism, and technology development. The organization was established in response to concerns about government overreach and the potential erosion of individual rights in the rapidly evolving digital landscape. EFF has been involved in numerous high-profile legal cases and initiatives aimed at protecting user rights on the Internet, including issues related to encryption, surveillance, and copyright law.
John Perry Barlow was an American poet, essayist, cattle rancher, and cyberlibertarian political activist. He was best known as a lyricist for the Grateful Dead and as a founding member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Barlow was a vocal advocate for Internet freedom and privacy rights, significantly influencing discussions on digital rights and the open Internet.
The Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service case was a landmark lawsuit that dealt with issues of privacy, freedom of speech, and government surveillance of the Internet. In 1990, the United States Secret Service raided Steve Jackson Games, Inc. and seized the company's computer equipment, alleging that one of its employees had illegally accessed sensitive information. The raid sparked public concern about government overreach into personal privacy and ignited a broader debate about Internet freedom. The court ultimately ruled that the Secret Service had acted unlawfully, and the lawsuit had a profound impact on protecting the privacy rights of Internet users.
John Quarterman is an American computer scientist known for his pioneering work in the development of the Internet. He first used the ARPANET in 1974 while attending Harvard University and later worked at BBN, where he contributed to UNIX ARPANET software development. Quarterman co-founded the first Internet consulting firm in Texas (TIC) in 1986. He is also recognized for his work in Internet mapping and demographics, publishing the first maps of the entire Internet and conducting the first Internet Demographic Survey. In 1998, he was named one of the "25 Unsung Heroes of the Internet" by Inter@ctive Week.
Boing Boing is a popular blog known for sharing interesting, quirky, and avant-garde content. It started as a print zine called bOING bOING in 1988, primarily covering science fiction, futurism, and technology. With the rise of the Internet, Boing Boing transitioned into an online blog and gradually became a highly influential platform for Internet culture.
Paco Nathan is an American computer scientist and early engineer of the World Wide Web. He has also established himself as an author and a producer of performance art shows. Much of his career was built in Austin, Texas, where he contributed to both the tech and creative communities.
FringeWare Review was a magazine established in 1994. It served as a platform for exploring the intersections of technology, counterculture, and the arts. The publication covered a wide range of topics, including cyberpunk literature, hacking, virtual reality, and other cutting-edge subjects. FringeWare Review was part of a broader effort by the FringeWare community to create a marketplace and a space for alternative ideas and products, particularly in the context of the early Internet.
Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. They were known for their unique and eclectic musical style, which blended elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, and psychedelia. The band became famous for their improvisational live performances. They developed a devoted fan base known as "Deadheads." The Grateful Dead is celebrated for their innovative approach to live music and is often regarded as a pioneering force in the jam band genre.
Cypherpunks are advocates for the use of strong cryptography and privacy-enhancing technologies as a means to achieve social and political change. Emerging in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the cypherpunk movement promotes the idea that privacy is essential for personal freedom and that cryptographic tools can protect individual rights in an increasingly digital world. Key figures in the movement include Timothy C. May, Eric Hughes, and John Gilmore. The cypherpunks have been instrumental in advancing technologies like encryption and secure communication.
MindVox was an early Internet service provider based in New York City, founded in 1991 by Bruce Fancher and Patrick Kroupa. Known for its reputation as "the Hells Angels of Cyberspace," MindVox was one of the first ISPs in NYC and gained notoriety for its association with hacking and underground culture. It launched in March 1992 as an invite-only service and became publicly available later that year. MindVox was notable for hosting influential figures in the early online community and for its role in the early days of Usenet.
GEnie (General Electric Network for Information Exchange) was an early online service platform launched in 1985 by General Electric. It initially offered various online features such as email, chat rooms, file sharing, and online discussion areas. GEnie was one of the significant online communities in the late 1980s and early 1990s, particularly popular among technology enthusiasts and science fiction fans.
Worldchanging was a weblog launched in 2003 that focused on innovative solutions for building a sustainable future. It covered topics such as environmental sustainability, green technology, social entrepreneurship, and social change. The blog aimed to highlight and discuss new ideas and projects that could contribute to a more sustainable and equitable world. Worldchanging gained recognition for its forward-thinking approach and influence in the environmental and social justice communities.
Blogger is an American online content management system (CMS) that was founded in 1999 by Pyra Labs. It allows users to create and manage blogs with time-stamped entries, making it one of the earliest blogging platforms. In 2003, Google acquired Blogger, which significantly expanded its reach and integration with other Google services.
Movable Type is a weblog publishing system developed by Six Apart, first released in 2001. It became one of the early popular blogging platforms, known for its flexibility and ability to manage multiple blogs from a single installation.
WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS) that was first released in 2003 by Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little. It is one of the most popular platforms for building websites and blogs，which is highly flexible and can be used to create a wide range of websites, from simple blogs to complex e-commerce sites and portfolios.
Cyberpunk is a science fiction genre that emerged in the 1980s, characterized by the juxtaposition of high technology and low life. Set in dystopian futures, cyberpunk worlds often feature advanced technology, artificial intelligence, cyberspace, and social inequality or corruption. Classic works like Blade Runner and Neuromancer explore the conflicts between individuals and powerful corporations or governments, as well as the profound impact of technology on human existence. The cyberpunk aesthetic and themes have influenced various media, including film, music, and video games.
William Gibson is a Canadian-American author, widely regarded as one of the founding figures of the cyberpunk genre. His novel Neuromancer is a seminal work that introduced the concept of cyberspace and helped define the cyberpunk genre. Gibson's writing is known for its insightful exploration of the relationship between technology and society, and his work has had a significant impact on modern science fiction and popular culture.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol is an encryption protocol designed to ensure the security of network communications. It works by establishing an encrypted connection between the client (such as a web browser) and the server, ensuring that the data transmitted between them cannot be intercepted or tampered with by third parties. Although SSL has been largely replaced by the more secure Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol, it remains one of the foundational technologies in modern network security.
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences held in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It started in 1987 and has grown significantly in scope and size over the years. SXSW features a range of activities including film screenings, interactive media exhibits, and music performances, usually spanning 10 days. The event draws a global audience of creative professionals and industry leaders.
Howard Rheingold is a renowned American writer and critic. He is known for his in-depth studies on digital culture, online communities, and social media, and has authored books such as The Virtual Community and Smart Mobs. Rheingold's work extensively explores the social impact of digital media and the Internet era.
Discord is a popular communication and social platform founded in 2015 by Jason Citron and Stanislav Vishnevskiy. Originally designed for gamers, it offers voice and text chat services and has since expanded to various interest groups. Users can create or join servers to discuss shared interests or collaborate with teams, supporting text, voice, and video communication.

The interview questions are reviewed by Ron Frederick; the interview article is edited by Alex Li.

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