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Accepted Paper:
Demarcating a pure land: CFido as cyberspace for computer amateurs in 1990s China
Chen-Pang Yeang
(University of Toronto)
Wen-Ching Sung
Zhixiang Cheng
(Chinese Academy of Sciences)
Launched in 1991, Chinese FidoNet (CFido) provided a virtual space, perceived as a "pure land," for hobbyists to explore technology-for-fun and aggregated would-be prominent Chinese digital entrepreneurs to experiment with business models and pursue open-source software with Chinese characters.
Long abstract:
The Bulletin Board System (BBS) significantly changes the production and transmission of knowledge in China’s information technology (IT). Launched in 1991, Chinese FidoNet (CFido) provided a virtual space for hobbyists to explore technology-for-fun and aggregated many would-be prominent Chinese digital entrepreneurs to experiment with business models and pursue open-source software with Chinese characters. CFido’s short history (1991-1998) also encapsulates the fast-changing dynamics between knowledge and its social context. CFido participants first perceived BBS as a utopian “pure land” for grassroots intellectuals to develop software and digital technologies, free from interests and interventions. Yet the beginning of government control of cyberspace, the boom of IT industry and e-commerce, and the transition from dialup BBS to the Internet led the CFidoers to diverging positions about amateurs and ultimately brought CFido to its end.