Imagining the Personal Computer: Conceptualizations of the Homebrew Computer Club 1975-1977

Elizabeth Petrick

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Homebrew Computer Club was a hobbyist group in the San Francisco Bay Area dedicated to helping people build their own home personal computers. I analyze their writings between 1975 and 1977, in order to understand how their values became embedded in the technology they built, establishing how the personal computer should be used and thought of. These values were based in ideals of open information, access to computers, and the computer as a universal tool, while also allowing for development of entrepreneurial ambitions to market the computer as a consumer product.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number8267600
Pages (from-to)27-39
Number of pages13
JournalIEEE Annals of the History of Computing
Volume39
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2017

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Computer Science
  • History and Philosophy of Science

Keywords

  • History of computing
  • computers and society
  • computing milieux
  • people
  • personal computing

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