Home Computer Cultures and Society Before the Internet Age
Editorial
With this thematic issue (2/2020), WiderScreen returns to the topic of computer subcultures and “scenes”. However, while previous issues of this journal had a stronger focus on the artistic output of computer subcultures, the present issue focuses on the social conditions and practices that constituted computer subcultures and alternative user cultures in…
Global Machines and Local Magazines in 1980s Greece: The Exemplary Case of the Pixel Magazine
Peer-reviewed article
The article explores the skillful and laborious work that was necessary to make the supposedly universal computer usable locally. To achieve this, it explores the role of home computer periodicals in Greece, particularly the magazine Pixel.
Theodore Lekkastlekkas [a] phs.uoa.grPhDNational and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Aristotle Tympastympas [a] phs.uoa.grProf., PhDNational and Kapodistrian…
The Polish Amiga Scene as a Brand Community
Peer-reviewed article
This article investigates the community of Commodore Amiga computer users in early post- communist Poland by focusing on the constructions of rituals in the community and a shared identity. This case study is used to examine the usefulness of the concept of brand community for consumer culture research.
Patryk…
New Scenes, New Markets: The Global Expansion of the Cracking Scene, Late 1980s to Early 1990s
Peer-reviewed article
The article reconstructs the history of underground software transfer in the second half of the 1980s between the core countries of the home computer software industry and its ‘peripheries’ both in the Eastern Bloc and in the ‘Global South’, and the geographical expansion of the cracking scene in this process.
Gleb…
The Rise and Fall of BBS Culture in Finland, 1982–2002
Peer-reviewed article
The history of Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) in Finland started in 1982. This article provides a case study, focusing on the general history of the Finnish BBS culture.
Petri Saarikoskipetsaari [a] utu.fiPhD, senior lecturerDigital Culture, University of Turku
Hobbyist and Entrepreneurs: A Study of the Interplay Between the Game Industry and the Demoscene
Peer-reviewed article
This article investigates the relationship between the Swedish demoscene and the formation of the Swedish game industry in the 1980s and 1990s. It explores the generational aspects of this symbiosis, and looks at the interrelations between subcultural and entrepreneurial practices.
Ulf Sandqvistulf.sandqvist [a] umu.sePhDHumlabUmeå University
BBS Worlds. Looking Back at the Swiss BBS Scene of the 1990s
Overview
The article recapitulates the author’s ethnological licentiate thesis on the usage of BBSs in Switzerland and Germany in 1995, when this particular user culture was in decline. It also takes into account the contemporary media discourse of “cyberspace” which differed greatly from the observation of this study.
Beatrice Toblerbeatrice.tobler [a] ballenberg.chLic. phil.Swiss…
Demography and Decentralization: Measuring the Bulletin Board Systems of North America
Overview
Bulletin board systems, or BBSs, represent an early form of online community for home computer owners. Using demographic data from public and private sources, the article attempts to estimate the population of this dynamic, decentralized network from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.
Kevin Driscollkdriscoll [a] virginia.eduPhDDepartment of Media StudiesUniversity of…
West and East German Hackers from a Comparative Perspective
Overview
This contribution focuses on the hacker cultures in the FRG and GDR in the 1980s. It calls for more comparative studies and shows that the narrative of technical backwardness of the Eastern Bloc does not cover the whole history of its computerization of the private sphere.
Julia Gül Erdoganjulia-guel.erdogan [a] hi.uni-stuttgart.deM.A.Institute of…