About

Kevin Driscoll is an Assistant Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Media Studies. He specializes in technology, culture, and communication. His recent research concerns alternative histories of the internet, the politics of amateur telecommunications, and the moral economy of consumer software. In collaboration with Julien Mailland from Indiana University, he published "Minitel: Welcome to the Internet," a cultural and technological history of the French videotex network. His next book, "The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media," traces the origins of social media through the dial-up bulletin board systems of the 1980s and 1990s.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Social Science
• Computer Science
• Computer Security
• Business
• Advertising
• Engineering

Selected publications

• 3 Building an Internet for Everyone

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2022-04-06

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• 7 Imagining a Better Future for the Internet

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2022-04-06

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• 6 Becoming the Net

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2022-04-06

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Formalizing Informal Logic and Natural Language Deductivism.

  International Conference on Lightning Protection · 2021-01-01 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author
  Publisher

• White privilege: what it is, what it means and why understanding it matters

  2021-09-13

  article

  A transnational movement for racial justice requires a sensitivity to the specific, local conditions in which race and racism touch the everyday lives of people.

  PublisherDOI

• Modelling and Verification of Timed Systems with the Event Calculus and s(CASP).

  International Conference on Lightning Protection · 2021-01-01

  article
  Publisher

• From Programming to Products: <i>Softalk</i> Magazine and the Rise of the Personal Computer User

  Information & Culture · 2020 · 4 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Sociology
  • Advertising

  Abstract In the 1980s, the user emerged as a distinct class of personal computer owner motivated by instrumental goals rather than the exploratory pleasures of hackers and hobbyists. To understand the changing values and concerns of microcomputer owners, we analyzed 1,285 reader letters published in Softalk magazine between 1980 and 1984. During this period, a preoccupation with programming was displaced by discussions of software applications, products, and services. This transition illustrates the separation of users from hobbyists, reflecting changes in the software industry and attitudes toward amateurism, professionalization, gender, and expertise.

  PublisherDOI

• Cooperative Mode for Amateur and Academic Game Histories

  2019-07-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  Publisher

• Resources: Minitel research lab, USA

  IEEE Spectrum · 2019-02-25

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  If you're in North America, or anywhere else that uses 110-volt AC power, you'll need a step-up transformer to feed your terminal with 220-V AC power (unless you've managed to obtain a native U.S. version, of course!). If all goes well, you'll be able to turn it on, and be able to type on the keyboard and see characters echoed to the screen.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• From trash to treasure: Turn a Minitel terminal into a Linux terminal or videotex display - [Resources_Hands On]

  IEEE Spectrum · 2019-02-25

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  One of US (Mailland) Grew up in Paris in the 1980s, Surrounded by Advertisements for Racy "pink" chat rooms, accessible through terminals connected to France's Minitel network. They were a lucrative part of the wider Minitel economy, which also let you send messages, check bank balances, and read news. By 2000, as the Internet displaced the Minitel network, the billboards started being replaced by piles of terminals abandoned by trash cans. In 2010, while researching Minitel law and policy for a project that became the first English-language academic book on Minitel, I'd collected over 15 terminals of various models, when I met an American home brewer (Driscoll) who wanted to play with them. We quickly completed our first project: turning a terminal into a Twitter client. Then we turned it into a webcam client; then, into a videotex slideshow display. We found a lot of help along the way because we weren't the only people unwilling to let these stylish terminals end up as e-waste. Indeed, there's now a vibrant Minitel hacking scene. You don't need to be in France to try any of these upcyling projects either. Minitel was an open platform, and a number of failed attempts to replicate Minitel's success means there are localized terminals to be found, with ones for Ireland, South Africa, and the United States, among others. However, a lot of the guidance we relied upon is in French, so here we'd like to offer an English-language introduction to Minitel hacking. The first thing you'll need is a terminal. French terminals are plentiful on eBay, and despite their age, very sturdy. A reasonable offer shouldn't top US $23 (shipping is the issue, thanks to relatively heavy cathode ray tubes. Expect that to cost at least $90 to North America). We recommend getting the "1B" model, the sturdiest and most versatile. Steer away from Magis, M2, or M12, each of which present problems for the home brewer. Your terminal must have a five-pin DIN connector in the back.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Brendan Hall

  18 shared

• François Bar

  12 shared

• Michael Paulitsch

  8 shared

• Kjerstin Thorson

  Michigan State University

  7 shared

• Jieun Shin

  6 shared

• Julien Mailland

  Indiana University

  6 shared

• J. Ekman

  University of Delaware

  6 shared

• B. Vanvoorst

  Honeywell (United States)

  6 shared

Education

• PhD, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

  University of Southern California

  2014

• MS, Comparative Media Studies

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  2009