Les Earnest, talk, gold medal for FINGER, an early social networking program
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
Les Earnest for helping to start ARPAnet and creating the social networking program FINGER. During 1967-68 Les Earnest was a member of the ten person startup committee for the first packet switching network, which came to be called ARPAnet and later turned into the Internet. Their initial performance specifications were not too foresighted in that only two functions were specified: file transfer and remote computing, which came to be called Telnet. However the file transfer capability was adequate to support email when it came into use a short time later and the tight round trip communication requirement needed for Telnet made possible the much later interactive web services.
In the 1970s Les created the FINGER program, which could show who was currently logged in and, if not, when they last logged out. This was to help keep track of SAIL people who worked at all hours of the day and night. Given that nearly all SAIL software was made publicly accessible, a number of other laboratories with similar computer systems took copies of FINGER for their own use and soon requested that a network versioij be developed that could check on people at other sites, which Mark Crispin developed. FINGER also allowed each person to create a Plan file, tied to their email address, to describe such things as their planned work schedule or vacation plans. However in short order FINGER became a de facto social networking system, given that it facilitated finding which of one's friends were online and allowed people to post what amounted to personal blogs some 30 years before the term "blog" came into use. For more see http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/pcperipherals/0,39051168,61998604,00.htm . A Unix version was created by a UC Berkeley group that unfortunately had a security loophole that was exploited by the first Internet Worm, resulting in FINGER being suppressed on security grounds. Google is now developing a modem version called WEBFINGER.
Description
Type of resource | moving image |
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Extent | 1 video file |
Place | Stanford (Calif.) |
Date created | November 22, 2009 |
Language | English |
Digital origin | born digital |
Broadcast standard | NTSC |
Sound content | sound |
Creators/Contributors
Sponsor | Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory | |
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Speaker | Earnest, Lester |
Subjects
Subject | Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory |
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Subject | Artificial intelligence |
Genre | Lectures |
Bibliographic information
Series 4 |
|
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Finding Aid | |
Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/hg950nz1220 |
Location | SC1041 |
Repository | Stanford University. Libraries. Department of Special Collections and University Archives |
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- The materials are open for research use and may be used freely for non-commercial purposes with an attribution. For commercial permission requests, please contact the Stanford University Archives (universityarchives@stanford.edu).
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Collection
Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory records, 1963-2009
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