The Friendly Orange Glow

by Brian Dear

  Thanks to the staff of the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, who in 2010 co-produced with me a two-day conference celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the PLATO system. Five hundred people attended what turned out to be the largest event ever held at the museum up until that time. Thanks to Ray Ozzie and Microsoft Corporation for funding the recording of the full conference in HD video, which remains available online at http://youtube.com/​platohistory thanks to the generous support of Google, Inc.

  Thanks to Mike Cochran, Bill Galcher, Paul Koning, Steve Peltz, Paul Resch, Joe Stanton, Steve Williams, and Steve Zoppi for their incredible work creating and maintaining Cyber1, a publicly available, fully functioning PLATO system on the Internet, complete with much of CERL’s and CDC’s published catalog of lessons and games, available at http://cyber1.org. It has been an invaluable research tool.

  Finally, I would like to express eternal love and gratitude to my wife, Patricia, whom I met via a TERM-talk on PLATO. She happily read and reread countless drafts and willingly shared—and endured—every moment of an eventful thirty-two-year journey that was the creation of this book.

  Thanks to you, dear reader, as well.

  Brian Dear

  Santa Fe, New Mexico

  January 30, 2017

  Interview and Oral History Sources

  The story of PLATO as a technological and cultural history is unusual. Unlike most such histories, there are no existing major books, magazine articles, documentaries, or other common sources to which historians may turn. So pervasive has the decades-long dearth of PLATO’s exposure been to popular culture and the media that published sources are few and far between. The academic literature has considerable relevant material, to be sure, but PLATO’s human story largely eludes the refereed journals. For an author seeking out the PLATO story this meant conducting hundreds of personal interviews and corresponding with an even larger set of people over more than twenty years. But whom to contact? Where to turn? An untenable situation was avoided by setting up a website, running since 1996, announcing the book project, describing its scope, listing questions for which the author was seeking answers, and—breaking no doubt some journalistic rules—listing out names of all who had been interviewed or had corresponded through the mail or online. That ever-growing list prompted ever more people to contact me: a virtuous cycle that has never stopped—it continues right up to the present day. The result is a book largely based on oral history, capturing, before they are forever lost, the stories of the people who participated in the late, great online community known as PLATO.

  Abbreviations

  BYU, Brigham Young University

  CBI-UM, Charles Babbage Institute—University of Minnesota

  CERL, Computer-Based Education Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  CHM, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California

  CSL, Control Systems Laboratory (1952–1957), Coordinated Science Laboratory (1958–)

  DI, The Daily Illini, the official newspaper of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  ECE, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  NG, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, News-Gazette

  PCP, PLATO Corrections Project

  UIC, University of Illinois at Chicago (formerly University of Illinois Chicago Circle)

  UIUC, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  Interviews

  Author’s Interviews

  If no location specified, interview was conducted via telephone.

  Alesandrini, Kathryn. 2002-04-24.

  Allen, Brock. 2010-08-03 (San Diego, CA).

  Allen, Michael. 1997-02-14.

  Allen, Michael. 2016-07-11 (St. Paul, MN).

  Alpert, Daniel. 1986-05-01 (Urbana, IL).

  Alpert, Daniel. (2003a) 2003-06-14 (Snowmass Village, CO).

  Alpert, Daniel. (2003b) 2003-06-20.

  Altenbernd, Nick. 2014-11-29.

  Anastasio, Ernest. 1997-02-06.

  Andersen, David. 2003-11-20.

  Anderson, John. 2003-08-23.

  Anderson, Richard C. 2002-11-25.

  Anderson, Thomas H. 2002-11-19.

  Anonymous, 1997-03-01.

  Appleman, Don. 2002-07-10.

  Aspnes, Chip. 1997-02-21.

  Atkinson, Richard. 1987-08-04 (La Jolla, CA).

  Avner, Allen. 1986-05-02 (Urbana, IL).

  Avner, Allen. 2013-08-01 (Champaign, IL).

  Banks, Fred. 2002-12-21.

  Beddini, Ann. (2014a) 2014-07-21.

  Beddini, Ann. (2014b) 2014-07-23.

  Benford, Gregory. 1987-09-02.

  Berdahl, Robert. 1997-05-20.

  Bereiter, Marilyn (Beckman). 1997-01-28.

  Bereiter, Marilyn (Beckman). 2013-08-01 (Urbana, IL).

  Bitzer, David. 1997-01-17.

  Bitzer, Donald. 1986-05-01 (Urbana, IL).

  Bitzer, Donald. 1987-09-21.

  Bitzer, Donald. 1996-12-20 (Raleigh, NC).

  Bitzer, Donald. 1997-01-20.

  Bitzer, Donald. (2003a) 2003-07-31.

  Bitzer, Donald. (2003b) 2003-09-29.

  Bitzer, Donald. 2012-10-17.

  Bitzer, Donald and Maryann. 2002-07-10 (Vandalia, IL).

  Bitzer, Donald and Maryann. 2016-07-06 (Vandalia, IL).

  Bitzer, Earle, Sandy Bitzer, Carol Lampe, and John Lampe. 2003-09-17 (Collinsville, IL).

  Bitzer, Maryann. 1997-01-27.

  Bitzer, Maryann. 2003-09-29.

  Bitzer, Ruth. 2003-08-29.

  Blackmore, Brian. 1997-02-19.

  Blahut, Richard. 2003-09-25.

  Blair, Lane. 2003-08-19.

  Blomme, Rick. 1986-05-01 (Urbana, IL).

  Blomme, Rick. 2013-08-01 (Urbana, IL).

  Bloomfield, Louis. 2010-04-17.

  Bork, Alfred. 1987-02-26 (Irvine, CA).

  Borton, Lyle, and Ted Martz. 1997-01-31.

  Bowery, Jim. 1987-10-16 (La Jolla, CA).

  Braunfeld, Peter. 1997-03-12 (Urbana, IL).

  Brown, Doug. 2010-06-08.

  Brown, John Seely. 1987-09-16 (Palo Alto, CA).

  Brown, Richard M. 2003-09-23.

  Bruce, Chip. 2002-12-15.

  Bunderson, Victor. 1986-08-25 (Princeton, NJ).

  Burr, Garrie. 2002-11-10.

  Burson, Craig. 1997-03-07 (Oklahoma City, OK).

  Campbell, Lynn. 2015-01-26.

  Chapple, Cully. 1997-01-24.

  Charp, Sylvia. 2002-12-06.

  Chung, Jeff. 2013-12-12.

  Cohen, Barry. 2013-10-14.

  Cole, Bill. 2002-11-16.

  Compton, Dale. 2003-09-11.

  Corielle, Priscilla. 2015-10-13.

  Cuban, Larry. 2012-08-15 (Palo Alto, CA).

  Cundiff, John. 2003-01-29.

  Daleske, John. 2002-03-07.

  Daleske, John. 2010-05-27.

  Daniel, David. 2003-09-23.

  Denenberg, Stuart. 1997-02-12.

  Desmond, Jack. 2003-09-17.

  Deutsch, William. 1987-03-18 (San Antonio, TX).

  DiSessa, Andrew. 1987-08-11.

  Dugdale, Sharon. 2003-04-30 (Davis, CA).

  Duncombe, Kevet. 1997-01-15.

  Dutcher, Jim. 2002-12-17.

  Eades, David. 2013-08-01.

  Eisenberg, John David. 2004-01-22.

  Eliot, Mary. 2013-06-02.

  Evans, Rupert. 2009-12-29.

  Faust, Gerry. 1987-02-27 (San Diego, CA).

  Fillman, Lezlie. (1997a) 1997-01-27.

  Fillman, Lezlie. (1997b) 1997-01-30.

  Fleming, Declan. 2009-12-18.

  Fletcher, Dexter. 1987-02-07.

  Forsyth, Bill. 2003-09-29.

  Fortner, Brand. 2009-10-28.

  Fortner, Brand and Monica. 1997-01-12.

  Frampton, George. 2013-07-29 (Washington, DC).

  Frankel, David. 1997-01-22.

  Frankel, Marvin and Matilda. 2002-01-30.

  Freyder, Steve
. 1997-07-02.

  Friedman, H. George. 2003-08-21 (Champaign, IL).

  Frishberg, Mort and Sue. (1997a) 1997-02-08.

  Frishberg, Mort and Sue. (1997b) 1997-04-09 (West Hollywood, CA).

  Fritz, Gary. 1997-01-10.

  Frye, G. David. 1997-01-09.

  Fugitt, Chris. 2013-02-03.

  Fuller, Dave. 2004-01-28.

  Galcher, Bill. 1997-01-25.

  Gardner, Chester. 2015-07-09 (Santa Fe, NM).

  Gardner, Kirt. 2002-12-05.

  Gardner, Kirt. 2015-09-25.

  Geiger, Andy. 2015-06-23.

  Ghesquiere, Jim. 1997-01-08.

  Gibbons, Andrew. 1986-11-17 (Orem, UT).

  Gilpin, John. 1997-02-02.

  Gjerde, Craig. 2013-11-04.

  Glish, Jim. 1997-02-03.

  Goldberg, Adele. 1987-09-15 (Palo Alto, CA).

  Goldberg, Adele. 2003-07-28.

  Golden, William. 2003-09-19 (Champaign, IL).

  Goldman, Jack. 2003-07-31.

  Goldwasser, Ned. 2002-11-19.

  Gooch, Sherwin. 1997-01-04.

  Green, Douglas. 2013-08-04.

  Green, Jay. 1997-02-06.

  Grimes, George. 2003-09-06.

  Gunsalus, Tina. (1997a) 1997-02-03.

  Gunsalus, Tina. (1997b) 1997-05-13.

  Hagstrom, Eric. 1997-02-20 (San Diego, CA).

  Haken, Lippold. (1997a) 1997-01-27.

  Haken, Lippold. (1997b) 1997-03-10 (Champaign, IL).

  Haltiwanger, John. 2003-09-24.

  Halvorsen, Tim. 1997-01-20.

  Hannan, Cecil. 1987-09-09 (San Diego, CA).

  Hansen, Barbara. 2016-07-11 (Minneapolis, MN).

  Hanson, Andrew. 2013-08-28.

  Hanson, Andrew, and Gary Gladding. 2016-07-08 (Urbana, IL).

  Harkrader, Al. 1997-01-26.

  Hart, Michael. 1997-02-05.

  Hendricks, Harold. 1986-11-17 (Provo, UT).

  Hill, Jock. 1997-07-07.

  Hiltzik, Michael. 2003-09-15.

  Hofstetter, Fred. 1986-08-26 (Newark, DE).

  Hofstetter, Laura. 1997-03-03.

  Hoover, Lenny. 2003-09-23 (Show Low, AZ).

  Horne, Jim. 2016-10-22.

  House, Ernest. 2012-05-18.

  Hunter, Beverly. 1986-01-12 (Amissville, VA).

  Hunter, John. 2014-06-25.

  Janusz, Greg. (1997a) 1997-02-24.

  Janusz, Greg. (1997b) 1997-03-10 (Champaign, IL).

  Jarecki, Eugene. 2003-01-12.

  Jarecki, Harry and Gloria. 2002-11-17.

  Jeffers, Chris. 1997-02-21.

  Johansen, Bob. 1997-02-19.

  Johnson, Jeff. 2002-08-04.

  Johnson, Mark. 2014-10-04.

  Johnson, Mike. 2003-03-14.

  Johnson, Roger. 2003-04-05 (Encinitas, CA).

  Johnson, Roger. (2009a) 2009-11-18 (Del Mar, CA).

  Johnson, Roger. (2009b) 2009-12-19.

  Johnson, Roger. 2010-06-22.

  Johnson, Roger. 2014-06-23 (Encinitas, CA).

  Kapor, Mitch. 2003-01-23.

  Karsh, Aaron. 2012-12-11.

  Kaven, Luke. 2003-10-08.

  Kay, Alan. 1987-10-20 (Los Angeles, CA).

  Kay, Alan. 1988-02-05.

  Kearsley, Greg. 1987-11-28 (Pacific Beach, CA).

  Kibbey, David. 2013-03-03.

  Kirkpatrick, Greg. 1986-06-17.

  Knoke, Jim. 2002-12-08.

  Koller, Daphne. 2014-04-18 (Monterey, CA).

  Kolstad, Rob. 1997-01-29.

  Kraatz, Jim and Celia. 1997-03-11 (Champaign, IL).

  Krueger, Scott. 2010-05-02.

  Lacey, John. 2015-05-10.

  Lamont, Valarie. 1997-02-18.

  Layman, Tom. 1997-01-28.

  Leeb, Carolyn. 2014-11-23 (San Diego, CA).

  Leichner, Gene and Jeannine. 2012-08-15 (Saratoga, CA).

  Leonard, George. 1987-09-14 (Big Sur, CA).

  LePage, David. 2003-09-25.

  Leskera, John. 2002-12-23.

  Liddle, Dave. 2003-04-29 (Palo Alto, CA).

  Lipsitz, Lawrence and Howard. 1987-04-23 (Englewood Cliffs, NJ).

  Lockard, Brodie. 1997-01-23.

  Lockard, Brodie. 2013-12-06 (Kailua, HI).

  Long, Harvey. 1986-03-25 (Rockville, MD).

  Lyman, Tebby. 1986-05-02 (Urbana, IL).

  Lynch, Bill. 1997-05-08.

  Maggs, Bruce. 1997-01-14.

  Maggs, Peter. 1997-03-12 (Urbana, IL).

  Manzi, Jim. 2003-01-24.

  Mapother, Dillon. 1997-01-26.

  Mast, Kim, 2003-11-24.

  Mast, Phil. 2003-11-25.

  Matheny, John. 1997-04-19.

  McGinty, Brendan. 1997-01-14.

  McWilliams, Erik. 1987-05-25 (Rockville, MD).

  Melmed, Arthur. 1986-10-24 (Washington, DC).

  Merrill, David. (1986a) 1986-02-04 (New Orleans, LA).

  Merrill, David. (1986b) 1986-11-13 (Crystal City, VA).

  Merrill, David. 1987-07-31.

  Miller, Chuck. 1997-01-21.

  Miller, Harold. 1987-06-04 (Orem, UT).

  Molnar, Andrew. 1987-02-18 (Washington, DC).

  Morgan, Catherine. 1986-11-04 (Wheaton, MD).

  Morris, Bob. 1997-05-19.

  Morris, Bob. 2007-10-11.

  Mudrick, David. 1986-07-02 (Reston, VA).

  Munitz, Barry. 2003-06-06 (Los Angeles, CA).

  Nelson, Ted. 1987-02-01.

  Noble, Douglas. 2012-05-04.

  Nordberg, Steve. 1997-01-28.

  Norris, William C. 1986-06-25 (Washington, DC).

  Norris, William C. 1997-03-07 (Bloomington, MN).

  North, Bob. 2013-03-25 (San Diego, CA).

  Nuzzo, Sal. 1986-07-10 (Reston, VA).

  Oettinger, Anthony. 1987-04-24 (Cambridge, MA).

  Ozzie, Ray, and Len Kawell. 1997-02-27.

  Pake, George. 2003-08-01.

  Paley, Josh. 2003-01-04.

  Papert, Seymour. 1987-04-23.

  Parrello, Bruce. 2004-01-21.

  Payne, Jim. 2003-02-23.

  Peltason, Jack. 2002-01-15.

  Peltz, Steve. 1997-03-1 (Champaign, IL).

  Peters, G. David. 2017-01-26.

  Pondy, Dorothy. 2002-12-06.

  Poulos, Cindy. 1997-06-09.

  Powers, Richard. 2002-12-07.

  Powers, Richard. 2003-08-18 (Urbana, IL).

  Price, Robert. 1997-02-21.

  Propst, Frank. (1997a) 1997-01-21.

  Propst, Frank. (1997b) 1997-01-24.

  Propst, Frank. 2013-03-02.

  Rader, Bob. 2001-11-24 (Sunnyvale, CA).

  Rankaitis, Susan. 2015-03-13 (Claremont, CA).

  Risken, John. 2013-10-10.

  Risser, Nancy. 2003-06-29.

  Rodby, Mike. 2002-08-29.

  Roper, Bill. 1997-01-18.

  Ross, Clarence J. 1987-02-27 (Scripps Ranch, CA).

  Russell, George. 2003-09-12.

  Rutherford, Reginald III. 2014-05-10.

  Saar, Donna. 2002-12-21.

  Safier, David. 2010-08-02.

  Scarpelli, Nate. (2014a) 2014-06-03 (San Diego, CA).

  Scarpelli, Nate. (2014b) 2014-06-07.

  Schaeffer, Bill. 1997-04-09 (Santa Monica, CA).

  Schampel, Grant. 1997-01-20.

  Schermerhorn, Jerry. 2013-02-19.

  Schoch, John. 1997-02-20.

  Schultz, Jan. 2012-12-05.

  Seidel, Robert. 2015-05-20.

  Seiler, Bonnie. 1998-07-18 (Redmond, WA).

  Shapira, Andrew. 1997-02-11.

  Shapira, Andrew. 1998-08-29 (Bellevue, WA).

  Sherwin, Chalmers. 1987-02-07.

  Sherwood, Bruce. 1997-01-10.

  Sherwood, Bruce, and Ruth Chabay. 1997-01-12.

  Sherwood, Bruce, and Ruth Chabay. 2002-06-30 (Raleigh, NC).

  Sherwood, Judy. 2003-01-02.

  Sides, David. 1997-02-10.

  Siegel, Marty. (1997a) 1997-01-15.

  Siegel, Marty. (1997b) 1997-01-22.

  Skaperdas, Dominic. 2002-11-11.
>
  Skinner, B. F. 1987-04-24 (Cambridge, MA).

  Slottow, Irene. 2003-08-20 (Urbana, IL).

  Smarr, Larry. 2011-10-24 (La Jolla, CA).

  Smith, Kenneth. 2013-05-30.

  Smith, Stan. 1997-03-11. (Urbana, IL).

  Stake, Bernadine. 2013-10-14.

  Steinberg, Esther. 1997-01-30.

  Stetten, Ken. 1997-02-13.

  Stifle, Jack. 1997-02-06.

  Stolurow, Larry. 1997-02-17.

  Stolurow, Mara. 2013-09-19.

  Stone, Maureen. 2003-12-01.

  Stubbs, Patrick. 2002-10-19.

  Suhre, Maurice. 2002-10-27.

  Suppes, Patrick. 1987-11-08.

  Taub, Jack. 1987-08-09.

  Taylor, Bob. 2010-05-13 (Mountain View, CA).

  Tenczar, Paul. 1986-05-01 (Urbana, IL).

  Tenczar, Paul. 1988-02-08.

  Tenczar, Paul. 1997-03-11.

  Tenczar, Paul. 2003-08-20.

  Thompson, Charlene. (2013a) 2013-07-16.

  Thompson, Charlene. (2013b) 2013-08-04 (Boulder, CO).

  Thrun, Sebastian. 2013-04-18 (Monterey, CA).

  Trick, Timothy. 2003-09-25.

  Tripp, Dan. 1997-01-21.

  Trollip, Stanley. 2009-06-14 (San Diego, CA).

  Tucker, Paul. 2002-11-25.

  Umpleby, Stuart. 1997-01-03.

  Unger, James. 2002-11-21.

  Vernon, Nancy. 2016-10-22.

  Volpp, Louis. 2003-08-31.

  Walker, Mike. 2003-10-21.

  Warner, Silas. 1997-01-09.

  Watanabe, Nan. 2003-03-23.

  Weber, Larry. 2013-01-28.

  Weber, Larry. 2014-06-03.

  White, Larry. 1997-01-07.

  Williams, Mike. 2003-03-13.

  Willson, Robert. 2002-11-09.

  Woolley, David. 1987-08-25.

  Woolley, David. 1997-01-24.

  Woolley, David. 2013-07-22.

  Worley, James. 2010-07-05.

  Wright, Pam. 1988-04-11.

  Yeager, Bob. (2013a) 2013-10-10.

  Yeager, Bob. (2013b) 2013-10-11.

  Zaffron, Andrew. 1997-07-14.

  Zelchenko, Peter. 2003-08-23 (Chicago, IL).

  Zinn, Karl. 2003-09-26.

  Other Interviews and Oral Histories

  Alfille, Paul. 2000-05-04. Interview by Denny Cronin on Freecell website. Retrieved 2016-11-04 from http://www.freecell.net/​f/​c/​alfille.html.

  Alpert, Daniel. 2002-12-04. Interview by James Hutchinson, UIUC ECE. Unpublished.

  Arora, Brij. April 2003. Email interview by James Hutchinson, UIUC ECE. Unpublished.

  Bitzer, Donald. 1982-08-17. CBI-UM Oral History Interview OH 283 by Mollie Price.

  ———. 1984. Unpublished interview by William Taylor for Nader and Taylor, Big Boys.