| It has been nearly 30 years since China was fully connected to the Internet in 1994.Under the grand narrative of Internet history,there lurks the historical foundation and cultural logic of the Internet in China.As the focus on China’s Internet history does not match the rapid development of the Internet,it is urgent to write Internet history.Under the call of global Internet history,China’s Internet history is on the ascendant.The specific technology of the early Internet is rarely noticed in past research.By taking Bulletin Broad System(BBS),a popular form of Internet technology in the 1990s,as the research object,this study analyzes the early Internet technoculture from 1991 to 2000 and explores the narrative possibilities of Internet history.As the earliest source of network social media and "virtual community",BBS has unique research value.Through the perspectives of BBS technology,BBSers’ portraits,usage experience,and cultural discipline,this research reveals the localization and routinize of the early Internet,and presents a complex prospect.Based on a linear review of the connectivity,sinicization,and development of the early Internet,considering the unity of "producer" and "consumer" in the identity of the early "network user",Internet technoculture can be divided into academic Internet technoculture,official Internet technoculture,commercial Internet technoculture,and amateur Internet technoculture.The four different types of technoculture formed the strong portability,nationality,and elitism of the Internet.BBS reflected the mutual effect of different technoculture and also became an important incision to writing the early Internet history and prehistory.In terms of BBS’ development,BBS is a bottom-up technology,its origin narrative is often full of romantic images of "the rise of grassroots".In 1991,amateur BBS,represented by Chinese FidoNet,opened the door to a new world of private Internet.Before the Internet was fully accessed,amateur BBS constructed an Internet culture dominated by "amateur spirit".After 1994,academic BBS such as Shuimu Qinghua,and commercial BBS such as Sitong Lifang,developed rapidly and reached a golden period between 1995 and 1998.As the only social media at that time,BBS gathered a group of technical elites and became the earliest "virtual community" in China.After 1998,with the evolution of technology,BBS declined as a result of the change of social remands,the incorporation of commerce,and the tightening of government regulation.In terms of BBSers’ portraits,the analysis of BBSers is also the outline of early Internet users.People are used to using "grassroots" to depict the collective image and cultural characteristics of Internet users and to express the "democratization" of the Internet.It can be seen that the early Internet users had obvious elite characteristics,and were "educated men with good knowledge background and certain income".In the early Internet,they created a cultural order based on rationality and took "Internet ability" as technical capital to realize collective identity.Early netizens constructed the discourse of "equality" by combining the Internet with "grassroots",to realize the popularization and promotion of the Internet.However,this process also brought the fission of groups and the disorder of power,which paves the way for the breakthrough of technological elitism.In terms of BBS’ practice,as a network originated from the people,BBS witnesses the change of the Internet users from minority elite to majority netizens.With the empowerment of technology,some netizens,like forum moderators,network writers,hackers,and other "Internet celebrities",realized the identity transition.Through the discussion of BBS operation,content,and other aspects,the changes in technology—from command to click,from technical salon to noisy square,from selected content to "guanshui"—made a profound impact on Internet culture.BBS witnessed the logical transition of the Internet from complexity to convenience,from professional discussion to private discourse,and from minority users to majority netizens.Relying on traditional culture and collectivism,Chinese netizens showed their unique collective intelligence in creating cultural memes,such as Internet literature,emoticons,and buzzword,forming network nationalism and activism,making the technical imagination of friendship,romance,and "Wuxia",etc.These collective intelligence products reflect the completely different cultural direction of the Internet between China and the West.In terms of BBS’ discipline,although the early technical elites and amateurs spared no effort to publicize and promote the Internet by "equality" discourse,the Internet is not a "perfect utopia".Under the imagination of "equality","free" and "open",the limitations of technology still inevitably fuel conflicts.To alleviate these contradictions,BBS started the process of autonomy management.From the elite-dominated management to the relationship-dominated management,the empowerment logic of the Internet had changed and formed a new hierarchy that provided the path for netizens to realize their identity.The focus on cultural discipline is the reflection on technology empowerment and the exploration of reshaping and regulating Internet power.Taking BBS as the carrier,this research observes the transition of the early Internet users from the minority elite to the majority mass,which helps the analysis of the connotation,characteristics,and influence of the early Internet technoculture.As a special form of technology,BBS grew from amateurs and developed from the combined efforts of society and government.During this period,BBS witnessed the earliest emergence of Internet commerce and the innovation of networking technology.The research focused on BBS is concerned with some mesoscopic,even macro issues,that is,how the Internet realized transplantation and localization,how early netizens imaged the Internet,how the Internet entered into daily life,what is the connection between the early Internet culture and the modern Internet culture.The answers to these questions above are not only the analysis of the logic of the early Internet technoculture but also the exploration of the origin of Internet civilization and the reflection of the human network civilization community. |
PDF Full Text Request