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The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media
The untold story about how the internet became social, and why this matters for its future
“A great book for anyone who wants to understand the early days of online communications.”—Preston Gralla, Arts Fuse
Fifteen years before the commercialization of the internet, millions of amateurs across North America created more than 100,000 small-scale computer networks. The people who built and maintained these dial-up bulletin board systems (BBSs) in the 1980s laid the groundwork for millions of others who would bring their lives online in the 1990s and beyond. From ham radio operators to HIV/AIDS activists, these modem enthusiasts developed novel forms of community moderation, governance, and commercialization. The Modem World tells an alternative origin story for social media, centered not in the office parks of Silicon Valley or the meeting rooms of military contractors, but rather on the online communities of hobbyists, activists, and entrepreneurs. Over time, countless social media platforms have appropriated the social and technical innovations of the BBS community. How can these untold stories from the internet’s past inspire more inclusive visions of its future?
“A great book for anyone who wants to understand the early days of online communications.”—Preston Gralla, Arts Fuse
Fifteen years before the commercialization of the internet, millions of amateurs across North America created more than 100,000 small-scale computer networks. The people who built and maintained these dial-up bulletin board systems (BBSs) in the 1980s laid the groundwork for millions of others who would bring their lives online in the 1990s and beyond. From ham radio operators to HIV/AIDS activists, these modem enthusiasts developed novel forms of community moderation, governance, and commercialization. The Modem World tells an alternative origin story for social media, centered not in the office parks of Silicon Valley or the meeting rooms of military contractors, but rather on the online communities of hobbyists, activists, and entrepreneurs. Over time, countless social media platforms have appropriated the social and technical innovations of the BBS community. How can these untold stories from the internet’s past inspire more inclusive visions of its future?
328 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2022
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399 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 5, 2022
an alternate history of the social network
This is an important and persuasive history of a path once-taken but now forgotten: dial-up bulletin boards in the 80s and early 90s as deep and meaningful social networks. I highlighted it compulsively and learned a lot, even as someone who considers himself a fairly knowledgeable amateur historian of social tech.
The book's conceit (well-grounded) is that modern histories of the net focus on the academic and commercial internet: always-on campus and government networks, populated by consciously cosmopolitan elites. In contrast, this book argues that there was a strong, early, geographically-centered "modem world" culture of bulletin boards that should be included in our narratives about this period and (just as importantly) inform our imagination about what might come next.
The writing is clear and lucid for an academic text, well-sourced without being grindingly dry; using only very occasional jargon.
A couple of mild weaknesses prevent me from giving this five stars, but definitely won't prevent me from recommending it very widely:
- the author's goal is to tell alternative stories of this early period, but the focus on sysops rather than users makes the storytelling a little sparser and less compelling than it could have been.
- the author's thesis is that the skills of sysops transferred over and influenced the next generation of social networks, which does feel correct, but the evidence presented for it is pretty thin. Even a single interview with someone whose career took that trajectory would have been very helpful.
This is an important and persuasive history of a path once-taken but now forgotten: dial-up bulletin boards in the 80s and early 90s as deep and meaningful social networks. I highlighted it compulsively and learned a lot, even as someone who considers himself a fairly knowledgeable amateur historian of social tech.
The book's conceit (well-grounded) is that modern histories of the net focus on the academic and commercial internet: always-on campus and government networks, populated by consciously cosmopolitan elites. In contrast, this book argues that there was a strong, early, geographically-centered "modem world" culture of bulletin boards that should be included in our narratives about this period and (just as importantly) inform our imagination about what might come next.
The writing is clear and lucid for an academic text, well-sourced without being grindingly dry; using only very occasional jargon.
A couple of mild weaknesses prevent me from giving this five stars, but definitely won't prevent me from recommending it very widely:
- the author's goal is to tell alternative stories of this early period, but the focus on sysops rather than users makes the storytelling a little sparser and less compelling than it could have been.
- the author's thesis is that the skills of sysops transferred over and influenced the next generation of social networks, which does feel correct, but the evidence presented for it is pretty thin. Even a single interview with someone whose career took that trajectory would have been very helpful.
October 25, 2022
It's an interesting book, or at least I think it is. Too technical for me. A lot of emphasis on the system operators or sysops of the BBS and not so much on the actual, everyday users of said boards.
It's an interesting and a good book on the origins of internet and how it eventually spawned today's social media platforms but written in a very dry, academic style. For me, that dryness brought this book down from 3 to 2 stars.
N.B. - the page count is 300+ but the thesis is only 199 pages long. The rest are the notes and index.
It's an interesting and a good book on the origins of internet and how it eventually spawned today's social media platforms but written in a very dry, academic style. For me, that dryness brought this book down from 3 to 2 stars.
N.B. - the page count is 300+ but the thesis is only 199 pages long. The rest are the notes and index.
June 28, 2023
Good book, but focuses too much on BBSs.
I wish it had more data about corporate modem based networks like Compuserve etc
I wish it had more data about corporate modem based networks like Compuserve etc
January 29, 2023
A summary of an often overlooked history of the emergence of the internet. I’m amazed out how networked communications came into being before what I traditionally have just associated with social media. Also fascinated how much queer history is entwined with the creation of the internet - another thing that I feel generally gets overlooked in how this subject is taught. I like how the author included a cultural critique of who this emerging technology was and wasn’t accessible too. I think he concluded this book noting the difficulties he had in with including this cultural critique while not over attributing this history to just a certain point of view. This is something I will be mindful of when writing about this topic myself.
August 16, 2023
This is a good book, but I didn't enjoy it very much because I went into it with the wrong expectations: it is less a prehistory of social media than a history of Bulletin Board Systems. We get some of the prehistory of those in a chapter about hobby radio, and their aftermath in another one, but the book pretty much ends when the Web takes off.
The thesis of the book is that the often overlooked BBS communities foreshadowed the dynamics of current Social media better than other web experiences, and we can think about paths not taken and possible futures of the internet by looking back at them. It is an interesting take, but as said I wasn't expecting so much detail on BBSs and so little about other social media precursors.
The thesis of the book is that the often overlooked BBS communities foreshadowed the dynamics of current Social media better than other web experiences, and we can think about paths not taken and possible futures of the internet by looking back at them. It is an interesting take, but as said I wasn't expecting so much detail on BBSs and so little about other social media precursors.
January 2, 2024
An authoritative introduction to pre-internet computerized social networks. Well cited, giving the interested reader many jumping off points. The writing style is very very dry; I felt it became more and more essay format as the book progressed, until in the penultimate chapter the writer was using the essay format: introducing what they intended to say, elucidating each point, and then summarizing the points that were made.
Birthday gift. Finished on flight from DIA-MSP.
Birthday gift. Finished on flight from DIA-MSP.
October 16, 2023
It was great right up until it basically argued that inherent ideologies of technologies rather than capitalists are the problem. Like sure, I get that with networked technologies it's hard to point to a particular human agent, but this makes invisible the labor that upholds the platforms this book demonizes. But otherwise, not a bad history.
June 19, 2022
Not only a history of BBSes but an essential argument for their long-overlooked contribution to the internet and social media.
Immensely readable and one of the best tech books I’ve read.
Immensely readable and one of the best tech books I’ve read.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews