The Friendly Orange Glow: PLATO and cyberculture

12/5/2017

PLATO was a University of Illinois staple for decades. Author Brian Dear talks about his book on PLATO and its role in cyberculture.

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On November 14, 2017, Brian Dear conducted a reading and signing for his book, which is the first popular text on PLATO, titled "The Friendly Orange Glow: The Untold Story of the PLATO System and the Dawn of Cyberculture." This video contains a few excerpts from his presentation at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center, which was sponsored by the University of Illinois Alumni Association's History and Traditions Program.

From the early 1960s through the early 1990s, generations of University of Illinois alumni, faculty, and staff used the PLATO computer system on a daily basis. If you are among them, you likely remember the friendly, orange glow of its plasma screen. But how much do you know about its impact on the development of computing and “the dawn of cyberculture?”

 


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This story was published December 5, 2017.