The Homebrew Computer Club was a hobbyist group in the San Francisco Bay Area dedicated to helping people build their own home personal computers.

In her article “Imagining the Personal Computer: Conceptualizations of the Homebrew Computer Club 1975–1977,” (login required for full text) Elizabeth Petrick from the New Jersey Institute of Technology analyzes 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 on 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.

About Lori Cameron

Lori Cameron is a Senior Writer for the IEEE Computer Society and currently writes regular features for Computer magazine, Computing Edge, and the Computing Now and Magazine Roundup websites. Contact her at l.cameron@computer.org. Follow her on LinkedIn.