As part of my research into the history of Humanities Computing in Canada, I’ve come across the following discussion of Swift Current, Frank Davey and Fred Wah’s online magazine hosted out of York University. Swift Current was (one of?) the first online literary magazines and used the ancient networking system, Datapac, for connections. To connect to Swift Current you just had to follow these very simple steps:
Easy enough, right?
Surprisingly, Davey & co. found that their magazine, buried in an arcane packet switching network, was only attracting a particular group of writers. Like many conceptual poets before (and after) him, Davey wondered why so few women were participating in the journal. His speculations are… interesting:
Davey wonders whether women “remain culturally conditioned to be uneasy with technology” but doesn’t wonder if possibly, just maybe, Swift Current might be a bit of a bro-fest? Maybe?
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