4S notes: Hackers and Tinkerers I: Building Amateur Identity
SAARIKOSKI, Petri :
Meetings of pioneers and enthusiasts? Computer clubs in Finland in the 1970s and 1980s
- Telmac microcomputer kits first popular ones (1970’s) – Company clubs – drew members from company employees and users – club activities: assembly and use of ktit computers; program exchange, equipment supply – almost all members of a given club came from same city – strong local identity – “Play”: miniature, computer-controlled railways; computer games – Many hobbyists came from technical background, many came from radio community – Popularity of kit computers decreased with succes of commercial-produced microcomputers (what happened to original clubs when kit computers began to decline?) – “Hacker” didn’t show up in Finland until 1980’s, used mainly to describe criminal activity (!)
TANG, Jeffrey :
The Endless Quest for Fidelity: A portrait of the early audiophile community
- all-consuming nature of audiophilia, orientation not toward practice per se, but toward quality of product – nature of component stereo as “self-made”, in comparison with “furniture” systems – (Did audiophiles discover component systems because they had the expertise, or were they introduced to them by dealers?) – “penchant for turning knobs” made fun of by professionals – “sound freaks” seen as technically-minded enthusiasts who didnt’ care about music, only sound, and who liked to listen to test records for properties of sound alone – all about testing one’s system, not the output of that system – ultimate extreme: turning off speakers entirely, and “watching” the sound on an oscilloscope
GREENBERG, Josh :
Going broke on long distance phone calls and blank tape: Videophiles and Betamania
- Me