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Jason Scott

{{Short description|American historian and archivist (born 1970)}}

{{About|the archivist}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2011}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Jason Scott

| image = File:Jason Scott (2017 Portrait).jpg

| caption = Scott in 2017

| birth_name = Jason Scott Sadofsky

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|9|13}}

| birth_place = Hopewell Junction, New York, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| alma_mater = Emerson College

| occupation = Archivist

| known_for = Archivist and historian of technology, performer, internet personality

}}

Jason Scott Sadofsky (born September 13, 1970) is an American archivist, historian of technology, filmmaker, performer, and actor. Scott has been known by the online pseudonyms Sketch, SketchCow, Sketch The Cow, The Slipped Disk,{{Cite web|title=DEF CON 18 - Jason Scott - You're Stealing It Wrong! 30 Years of Inter-Pirate Battles|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCAL_YgYiP0 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324115458/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCAL_YgYiP0 |archive-date=2023-03-24 |url-status=live|last=Scott|first=Jason| website=YouTube |time=35:24|date=31 July 2010|quote="A long time ago, I was The Slipped Disk."}}{{cbignore}} and textfiles. He has been called "the figurehead of the digital archiving world".{{cite web |title=Jason Scott: Past (Digital) Lives |url=https://fm4v3.orf.at/stories/1719683/index.html |website=FM4 |publisher=ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Network) |access-date=18 March 2019}}

Scott is the creator, owner and maintainer of textfiles.com, a web site which archives files from historic bulletin board systems. He is the creator of a 2005 documentary film about BBSes,

BBS: The Documentary,{{cite web|url=http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/ |title=BBS: The Documentary |publisher=Bbsdocumentary.com |access-date=January 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120106004705/http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/ |archive-date=January 6, 2012 }} and a 2010 documentary film about interactive fiction, GET LAMP.{{cite magazine |last = Gagne |first = Ken |title = The Grill: Jason Scott |magazine = Computerworld | publisher = IDG |date = July 26, 2010 |url = https://www.computerworld.com/article/2550656/data-center/the-grill--jason-scott.html |access-date = August 8, 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171123071700/https://www.computerworld.com/article/2550656/data-center/the-grill--jason-scott.html |archive-date = November 23, 2017 |url-status=live}}[http://www.getlamp.com/ Get Lamp]

Scott lives in New York state. He was the co-owner of the late Twitter celebrity cat Sockington. He works for the Internet Archive and has given numerous presentations at technology related conferences on the topics of digital history, software, and website preservation.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Early life

Jason Scott Sadofsky{{r|MIT Technology Review}} graduated from Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York, and served on the staff of the school newspaper under the title "Humor Staff". While in high school he produced the humor magazine Esnesnon ("nonsense" backwards).{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/1987-esnesnon |title=Issue #1 of Esnesnon|year=1987|access-date=January 13, 2012}} He later graduated from Emerson College in 1992 with a film degree.{{Cite web|url=http://bbsdocumentary.com/longpitch.html|title = BBS: A Documentary: The Pitch}} While at Emerson, he worked for the school humor magazine, school newspaper, WERS 88.9 FM radio, and served as art director on several dramatic plays.{{Citation needed|date=November 2020}}

Career

After graduating from Emerson, Scott lived in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was employed as a temp worker while also drawing caricatures for pay on the streets of Cambridge.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113231228/http://www.cow.net/jason/person.htm |archive-date=November 13, 2013 |url=http://www.cow.net/jason/person.htm |title=The Life and Times of Jason Scott |publisher=Cow.net |date=September 13, 1970 |access-date=January 8, 2012 |url-status=dead }}

In 1990, Scott co-created TinyTIM, a popular MUSH that he ran for ten years.{{cite web|url=http://ascii.textfiles.com/about |title=ASCII by Jason Scott / About Jason Scott |date=December 11, 2008 |publisher=ascii.textfiles.com |access-date=January 18, 2012}} In 1995, Jason joined the video game company Psygnosis as a technical support worker, before being hired by a video game startup, Focus Studios, as an art director. After Focus Studios' closure, Jason moved into UNIX administration,{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120717041614/http://www.cow.net/jason/employ.htm |archive-date=July 17, 2012 |url=http://www.cow.net/jason/employ.htm |title=Jason Works for a Living |publisher=Cow.net |access-date=January 8, 2012 |url-status=dead }} where he remained until 2009.

He has been a speaker at DEF CON, an annual hacker conference, the first time at the 7th conference in 1999, and has spoken there almost every year since then. Scott also spoke at PhreakNIC 6 and 9, Rubi Cons 4 and 5, the 5th H.O.P.E. conference in 2004, Notacons 1, 2 (as a backup), 3 and 4, Toorcon 7, and beta premiered his documentary at the 7th annual Vintage Computer Festival. Most of his talks focus on the capturing of digital history or consist of narratives of stories relevant to his experiences online.{{cite web|url=http://audio.textfiles.com/speeches/ |title=T E X T F I L E S |publisher=Audio.textfiles.com |access-date=January 8, 2012}}

In 2006, Scott announced that he was starting a documentary on video arcades, titled ARCADE.{{cite web|url=http://www.arcadedocumentary.com |title=Arcade: A Documentary |publisher=Arcadedocumentary.com |access-date=January 8, 2012}} Although he did not complete the project, all of the footage he shot for ARCADE has been made available on the Internet Archive.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/textfiles/the-jason-scott-documentary-three-pack/posts/2378294|title=Update 56: End. · The Jason Scott Documentary Three Pack|website=Kickstarter|language=en|access-date=2019-04-26}}{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/arcadedocumentaryfootage|title=ARCADE Documentary Footage and Interview Archives : Free Movies : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive|website=archive.org|language=en|access-date=2019-04-26}}

In 2007, he co-founded Blockparty, a North American demoparty.[http://www.demoparty.us/ Blockparty] For their inaugural year, they paired up with Notacon which takes place annually in Cleveland, Ohio. This collaborative effort allowed the fledgling party to utilize the existing support structure of an established conference.

In January 2009, he formed "Archive Team,"{{cite web|url=http://archiveteam.org/ |title=archiveteam.org |publisher=archiveteam.org |access-date=January 8, 2012}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/29/style/digital-photo-storage-purge.html|title=It's Almost 2019. Do You Know Where Your Photos Are?|last=Herrman|first=John|date=2018-11-29|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-04-26|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} a group dedicated to preserving the historical record of websites that close down.{{Cite web|url=https://www.technologyreview.com/s/426434/fire-in-the-library/|title=Fire in the Library|last=Schwartz|first=Matt|website=MIT Technology Review|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-26}} Responding{{cite web|url=http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/1617 |title=ASCII by Jason Scott / Eviction, or the Coming Datapocalypse |date=December 21, 2008 |publisher=Ascii.textfiles.com |access-date=January 8, 2012}} to the announcement by AOL of the closure of AOL Hometown, the team announced{{cite web|url=http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/1649 |title=ASCII by Jason Scott / Datapocalypso! |publisher=Ascii.textfiles.com |date=January 18, 2009 |access-date=January 8, 2012}} plans to save{{cite web|url=http://ascii.textfiles.com/archives/1977 |title=ASCII by Jason Scott / Geocities: Why Hello, Everybody |publisher=Ascii.textfiles.com |date=August 18, 2011 |access-date=January 8, 2012}} Podango and GeoCities.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

In October 2009, he started raising funds for a year-long sabbatical from his job as a computer systems administrator, to pursue technology history and archival projects full-time. By November 2009, he had reached his funding goals, with the support of over 300 patrons.{{cite web|url=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/textfiles/the-jason-scott-sabbatical |title=The Jason Scott Sabbatical |publisher=Kickstarter |access-date=January 8, 2012}}

In early 2011, he was involved in Yahoo! Video and Google Video archive projects.{{Cite web|url=https://laughingsquid.com/archive-team-trying-to-download-google-video-before-it-shuts-down/|title=Archive Team Is Trying To Download Google Video Before It Shuts Down|date=2011-04-18|website=Laughing Squid|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-26}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Yahoo!_Video|title=Yahoo! Video - Archiveteam|website=www.archiveteam.org|access-date=2019-04-26}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.archiveteam.org/index.php?title=Google_Video|title=Google Video - Archiveteam|website=www.archiveteam.org|access-date=2019-04-26}}

Scott announced the creation of Archive Corps, a volunteer effort to preserve physical archives, in 2015.{{Cite web|url=https://laughingsquid.com/archive-corps-a-volunteer-collective-to-help-quickly-save-physical-archives-before-they-are-lost/|title=Archive Corps, A Volunteer Collective To Help Quickly Save Physical Archives Before They Are Lost|date=2015-08-24|website=Laughing Squid|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-26}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.archivecorps.org/|title=Welcome to Archive Corps!|website=www.archivecorps.org|access-date=2019-04-26}}

Scott has been hosting his own podcast called Jason Scott Talks His Way Out of It since 2017.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/jasonscotttalks|title=Jason Scott Talks His Way Out of It : Free Audio : Free Download, Borrow and Streaming : Internet Archive|website=archive.org|language=en|access-date=2019-10-20}}

Scott is the software curator at the Internet Archive.{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/software&tab=about&tab=about|title=Download & Streaming : The Internet Archive Software Collection : Internet Archive|website=archive.org|language=en|access-date=2019-04-26}} In April 2019, he uploaded all of the source code for Infocom's text-based adventure games and interactive fiction, including Zork and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, to GitHub.{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/historicalsource|title=historicalsource - Overview|website=GitHub|language=en|access-date=2019-04-26}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/long-lost-zork-source-code-uploaded-to-github-but-few-people-understand-it/|title=Long Lost 'Zork' Source Code Uploaded to GitHub, But Few People Understand It|last1=Carpenter|first1=Nicole|last2=Maiberg|first2=Emanuel|date=2019-04-18|website=Motherboard|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-26}}

=Sockington=

{{main|Sockington}}

File:Sockington from above.jpg

Sockington was a domestic cat who lived in Waltham, Massachusetts. He gained large-scale fame via the social networking site Twitter. Scott regularly posted from Sockington's Twitter account from late 2007.{{cite web|url=http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/30868712/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/|title=Twitter followers paw over feline|work=TODAY|access-date=2009-08-18|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090709003107/http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/30868712/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/|archive-date=July 9, 2009|df=mdy-all}} {{As of|January 2018}}, Sockington's account has over 1.4 million followers, many of which are pet accounts themselves.{{cite news|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun-social-media-aug16,0,3140196.story |title=Twitter forcing a strategy switch for businesses|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=2009-08-18}} Sockington died on July 18, 2022.{{Cite tweet|number=1549175841082511361|user=textfiles|title=I'm sorry to report that @sockington had a downturn in health and is no longer with us. He was cared for every day of his dumb little life to the top standards of a celebrity cat and after 18 long years, he saw something really shiny in the clouds and decided to chase after it.|author=Jason Scott|date=July 18, 2022}}

= Acting =

Scott is a frequent collaborator of Johannes Grenzfurthner and appeared as an actor in Soviet Unterzoegersdorf: Sector 2 (2009), Glossary of Broken Dreams (2018), and the science fiction comedy Je Suis Auto (2019).{{Citation needed|date=February 2024}}

Personal life

Divorced,{{Cite web |last1=Schwartz |first1=Matt |last2=Talmadge |first2=Eva |title=Fire in the Library |work=MIT Technology Review |date=2011-12-20 |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2011/12/20/188752/fire-in-the-library/ |language=en |access-date=2020-11-15 |df=mdy-all }} Scott was engaged as of 2017.{{Cite web |last1=Koebler |first1=Jason |title=Jason Scott Is Archiving CD-ROMs and Floppy Discs From Closets Around the World |work=Vice Motherboard |date=2017-05-03 |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/jason-scott-is-archiving-cd-roms-and-floppy-discs-from-closets-around-the-world/ |language=en |access-date=2020-11-15 |df=mdy-all }}

Filmography

  • BBS: The Documentary (2005) (director)
  • GET LAMP (2010) (director)
  • Going Cardboard (2012) (editor)
  • DEFCON: The Documentary (2013) (director){{cite web|last1=Chan|first1=Casey|title=DEFCON: A Documentary About the World's Largest Hacking Conference|url=https://gizmodo.com/defcon-a-documentary-about-the-worlds-largest-hacking-1073052701|website=Gizmodo|date=August 9, 2013 |access-date=12 May 2018}}
  • Traceroute (2016) (interviewee)
  • Glossary of Broken Dreams (2018) (actor)
  • Class Action Park (2020) (interviewee)
  • Musings of a Mechatronic Mistress (2023) (interviewee)
  • Hacking at Leaves (2024) (interviewee)

Citations

{{Reflist|30em}}

General references

{{Refbegin}}

  • Jason Scott, The Defendant (July 2001). [https://web.archive.org/web/20050116075653/http://audio.textfiles.com/cons/dc08/disc_2_of_2/AUDIO/037/037.MP3 So You Got Your Lame Ass Sued: A Legal Narrative]. DEF CON speaker. Retrieved 2004-11-19.
  • Jason Sadofsky, [http://www.textfiles.com/humor/jason.fun The Tribune Articles, 1987–88]
  • Jason Scott, [https://web.archive.org/web/20131113231228/http://www.cow.net/jason/person.htm The Life and Times of Jason Scott]
  • [http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-13/dc13-speakers.html#top DEF CON 13 (2005) speakers] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050630023220/http://www.defcon.org/html/defcon-13/dc13-speakers.html#top |date=June 30, 2005 }}, including Jason Scott's "Why Tech Documentaries Are Impossible"

{{Refend}}

External links

{{Wikiquote}}

{{Commons category}}

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20131215081356/http://www.cow.net/jason/ Jason Scott] – Personal homepage (Archived)
  • {{twitter|textfiles}}
  • {{IMDb name|id=1926421|name=Jason Scott Sadofsky}}
  • [http://archive.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2005/06/67689 Collector's Trove of Podcasts], an interview with Jason Scott in Wired magazine online
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20040402030207/http://www.harvardnetsucked.com/legal.html The Whole Lawsuit Thing] – HarvardNetSucks account of the lawsuit.
  • https://web.archive.org/web/20170911133405/http://sadofsky.com/
  • [http://leahpeah.com/blog/interviews/jason-scott/ leahpeah interview with Jason Scott]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20150918212433/http://wybc.com/shows-current/fsck/2011/12/fsck-29/ fsck interview with Jason Scott]
  • {{Vimeo|10741713|Jason Scott critiquing Wikipedia, 2006}}
  • [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTqKCBqL0cs Jason Scott talking about acting]

{{Jason Scott}}

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Category:1970 births

Category:American bloggers

Category:American documentary filmmakers

Category:Creative Commons-licensed authors

Category:Cultural historians

Category:Emerson College alumni

Category:Hacker culture

Category:Historians of technology

Category:Horace Greeley High School alumni

Category:Living people

Category:MUD developers

Category:People from Chappaqua, New York

Category:People from Hopewell Junction, New York

Category:Writers from Cambridge, Massachusetts

Category:Digital archivists