A Brief History

Disclaimer

Every redbrick member has their own personal history of the society, and together we have a collective personal history of events. The society indepdently of this has it's own independent history rooted in facts, developments, events. Whether we can accurately describe all these views of our beloved society in true glory (with warts & all, for better & worse) remains uncertain, and we each develop a view of the history the more we learn and the more involved we become. Given all this, here's a loose overview of things anyway. Maybe we can work with it.

Beginnings

"In October 1995 a group of friends got the ball rolling on the idea of a computer network in DCU, run by students for the students". These immortal words have been on every society website since 1998, and still capture what redbrick essentially is (friends, vision, education, cooperation, proactivity). The first redbrick machine was a personal computer of drjolt, dubbed 'Nurse' (named after a Therapy? Album), originally put on the network in the School of Computer Applications. This was early 1996 when Redbrick was switched on for the first time. Soon after, Redbrick was granted a 'subnet' (136.206.15.X) from the wider college organisation, DCU Computer Services (CSD), giving the society more official status within the university.

The first event organised by the committee was a social in the Jolly Beggarman pub (now Kitty Kiernans) on Collins Ave, just down the road from DCU. This event has become legendary for stories of thayl@rb climbing & falling off a nearby phonebox, and further trouble at a house party later on where uninvited local ruffians ("scumbags") were dealt with by some of the society's more intimidating early members.

Redbrick as a system consisted of a Bulletin Board System (BBS), which were popular at that early time of the Irish internet. These were systems that people could dial into from home, post messages to, chat, all in a purposely-designed program on a text based terminal. Redbrick's BBS had a popular chat room area and a strong newsgroup culture. Many famous discussions and posts took place, and the BBS system is remembered fondly

Social

In 1996/1997 the BBS started getting notoriety, and the people who socialised on it, Justin's BBS Virgin post.

Growth & Momentum

Early society growth, the spock tenure, membership cards, Alt Rag Ball, huge fresher events, dyed hair

DCU's Biggest Society

1000+ members. Officially the biggest society. Powerful systems, powerful influence. Awards & accolades. Recognition.

Technical Prowess

Website/webgroup project, the network grows, clusters, IPv6, contributing to technical projects in Ireland like SAGE-IE and ILUG.

Female leads

Potential infights post-success, Kamili, Drusilla tenures, society happenings around this time?

Associate Culture

The first time the associate presence becomes sizeable, the effect on the society's dynamic

Settling in

Living in the Redbrick room, consolidating the network, Wavehunt, Techweek

Anniversary

Anniversary organisation, the event, the collage, the general spirit, associate meetups, the death of drjolt

[ In progress page by kpodesta - due to be finished 29/5/2006 ]