[Air-L] The history of asterisks?

[Jonna Ahti]

Hello,

I wonder if any of you would have ideas on the history of asterisks* in IRC
and chat conversations? I know how they are used and I've found several
references to them, for example:

Another common feature is the use of asterisks to emphasize words denoting
actions (*grins*) or sounds (*bang*).
(http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol2/issue4/danet.html)

I would still like to know more about the history of these symbols. I have
read an article by Tine Thode Hougaard in whitch she suggests that they
might origin from manuscripts for plays where actions are described within
asterisks. My own hypothesis is that asterisks might have something to do
with computer programming languages. On IRC, for example, one can search for
keywords by using the command /list *keyword*. 

Are there any articles written on this topic?

with best regards,

Jonna Ahti

PhD student
Department of Scandinavian languages and literature
University of Helsinki