Jorn Barger facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jorn Barger
Jorn Barger in 2008
Born	1953 (age 71–72) Yellow Springs, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Blogger
Known for	Editing Robot Wisdom

Jorn Barger (born 1953) is an American blogger. He is best known for creating and editing Robot Wisdom, which was one of the very first weblogs. He has also written a lot about famous author James Joyce and artificial intelligence. Most of his writing is published by himself.

Jorn Barger's Life Story

Jorn Barger was born in 1953 in Yellow Springs, Ohio. When he was 11, he got to use an early computer called the Minivac 601. His family moved to Bemus Point, New York in 1966.

He finished high school early and went to several colleges, but he didn't get a degree. In the early 1980s, he programmed games and educational software for computers like the Apple II and Commodore 64. From 1989 to 1992, Barger worked as a programmer at Northwestern University. He worked with a researcher named Roger Schank, who studied artificial intelligence. Since then, he has mostly done short-term contract work.

Barger used to live in Chicago. Later, he moved to Socorro, New Mexico. He has a daughter named Elizabeth.

Usenet and Early Internet

Barger was very active on Usenet starting in 1989. Usenet was like an early version of online forums or message boards. He wrote many early FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about topics like ASCII art, musician Kate Bush, and authors Thomas Pynchon and James Joyce.

In 1994, he came up with an idea called the "Inverse Law of Usenet Bandwidth." This idea suggested that the more interesting your life becomes, the less time you spend posting online. He was known as a very active Usenet poster who could talk about many different subjects at once. This made him an "online legend."

The Birth of Weblogs

Barger started his website, Robot Wisdom, in February 1995. On this site, he shared essays and information about James Joyce, artificial intelligence, history, and technology.

On December 17, 1997, Barger began posting daily updates to his site. He called this part of his site Robot Wisdom Weblog. He hoped to find people who shared his many interests. These daily posts included a list of links that he found interesting. This was a new way to publish online, and he was the first to use the word "weblog." Later, in 1999, the word was shortened to "blog" by Peter Merholz.

Barger wanted his weblog to help people explore and discover new things online. He wanted to show "what treasures were there" on the internet. He believed a weblog should always be updated with the "best web links."

Robot Wisdom's Popularity

Robot Wisdom Weblog became very popular. Many publications praised it:

• Village Voice called it "one of the best collections of news and musings culled from the Web."
• The Guardian said Barger was a "highly observant and thoughtful surfer."
• Wired called it "one of the oldest and most popular weblogs."
• The New Yorker liked Barger's "healthy appetite for everything from literature to science."

People described the content of Robot Wisdom Weblog as a "mesmerizing sequence of arcana" and a "cornucopia of offbeat delights."

Barger is also recognized for helping the "blogosphere" grow. The blogosphere is the world of all blogs and bloggers. He was nominated for an award in 1998 for inspiring the weblog community. Many people say his work was "seminal," meaning it was very important and influenced millions of blogs that came after.

In September 1999, Barger wrote one of the first detailed guides about weblogs, called the "Weblog FAQ."

Challenges and Changes

Over time, Robot Wisdom became less popular. This was partly because Barger posted less often and the site sometimes went offline.

Barger also faced financial difficulties. In 2001, he announced that he might not be able to keep Robot Wisdom online. The site went offline for a few months. In 2005, he let his website's registration expire, but he got the site back online a few weeks later. The site went offline again in 2007, but Barger asked for donations and got it back online quickly.

Barger tried to make money from Robot Wisdom by asking for ads and donations, but he never made much money from his weblog.

Jorn Barger and James Joyce

Jorn Barger is very interested in the connection between artificial intelligence and the works of James Joyce. Joyce was a famous Irish writer known for his complex novels like Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.

Barger has studied Joyce's personal notebooks and manuscripts. He even created an online, shorter version of Finnegans Wake with notes. His website is known for its deep research into Joyce's writings. However, most of his work on Joyce has not been formally reviewed by university experts. This means it can sometimes be hard to tell what is widely agreed upon by Joyce scholars and what is Barger's own idea. Barger himself listed some of his ideas as "50+ Joycean Conjectures."

Barger has also written one chapter in a book about Finnegans Wake and a book review for the James Joyce Quarterly.