Bbs Documentary

Synopsis

A series of 8 short documentaries about the history of Bulletin Board Systems or BBSes, the forerunner of the Internet. It was established by a pioneering band of computer users who set up their home computers and phone lines to welcome anyone who called. By using a modem, anyone else who knew the phone number of these computers could connect to them, leave messages, send and recieve files. When the Internet grew in popularity in the early 1990s, the world of the BBS faded, changed, and became a part of the present networked world, but it wasn’t the same.

Individual parts are: BAUD - the story of the beginning of the BBS, including interviews with Ward Christensen and Randy Suess, who used a snowstorm as an inspiration to change the world; SYSOPS AND USERS introduces the stories of the people who used BBSes,; MAKE IT PAY covers the BBS industry that rose in the 1980s and grew to fantastic heights before disappearing almost overnight; FIDONET covers the largest volunteer-run computer network in history, and the people who made it a joy and a political nightmare; ARTSCENE tells the rarely-heard history of the ANSI Art Scene that thrived in the BBS world, where art was currency and battles waged over nothing more than pure talent; HPAC (Hacking Phreaking Anarchy Cracking) hears from some of the users of "underground" BBSes and their unique view of the world of information and computers.; COMPRESSION tells the story of the PKWARE/SEA legal battle of the late 1980s and how a fight that broke out over something as simple as data compression resulted in waylaid lives and lost opportunity; NO CARRIER wishes a fond farewell to the dial-up BBS and its integration into the Internet.

DVD extras include: over 80 minutes of bonus footage; commentary tracks and statements by Jason Scott; Easter Eggs; licensed under Creative Commons; DVD-ROM Section with thousands of photos, additional audio interviews and speeches by Jason Scott and guests.

Language

English

Country

United States

Year of production

2005

Subjects

Information technology

Keywords

computer applications; electronic engineering; Internet; telecommunication systems; history of computing; Bulletin Board Systems

Credits

Director

Jason Scott

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 0 NTSC

Price

$40.00

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

330 minutes

Year

2011

Type

Film

Format

Super 8

Distributor

Name

BBSDocumentary.com

Email

sales@bbsdocumentary.com

Web

http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/ External site opens in new window