Questions about the Usefulness of Microcomputers in 1980s Australia

Autor:	Melanie Lorraine Swalwell
Rok vydání:	2012
Předmět:	Cultural Studies Engineering Project commissioning business.industry Communication Advertising Public relations Consumption (sociology) Archival research Early adopter Publishing Vanguard business History of computing Period (music)
Zdroj:	Media International Australia. 143:63-77
ISSN:	2200-467X 1329-878X
DOI:	10.1177/1329878x1214300109
Popis:	Relatively cheap, low-end 8-bit machines were embraced by hobbyists interested in computing in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But what were these early computers good for? Opinion was split as to whether these early computers were useful, and what for. As early adopters, hobbyists were in the vanguard of inventing new uses for computers. To date, their pursuits have tended to be overlooked or dismissed as insignificant. This article focuses on consumption in the early microcomputing period and considers the Australian history of computing in terms of several interrelated questions about utility. Based on extensive archival research, it discusses doubts about the usefulness of these computers, the actual uses to which these micros were put, the invention of new uses by hobbyists and factors behind the change in perceptions of computers' usefulness in the latter part of the decade.
Databáze:	OpenAIRE
Externí odkaz:	https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=doi_________::998905d5d3bddd9cda9e9d46c894c0a1 https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878x1214300109 Zobrazit plný text záznamu