Article ID: CBB993842623

Vernacular Technical Practices Beyond the Imitative/Innovative Boundary: Apple II Cloning in Early-1980s South Korea (2022)

unapi

This article seeks to reinstate the significance of microcomputer cloning in the history of computing, seeing it as a vernacular technical practice that is outside of the institutional domain yet entangled with it. While exploring the practices of Apple II cloning at the Cheonggyecheon electronics market, and its contribution to promoting the computer industry in South Korea during the early 1980s, the study examines how the vernacular technical practices of cloning moved beyond the imitative/innovative boundary. It has two parts. First, the cloning of Apple II computers is traced with a focus on cottage industry technicians at the electronics market and their East Asian translocal connections. Second, the entanglements of the vernacular with the institutional are analyzed in relation to how clones were sometimes superior to the original while retaining compatibility with it, which in turn made large firms rely on such vernacular practices. Arguing that the boundaries of copy/original, imitative/innovative, or vernacular/institutional were permeable, this study concludes that vernacular technical practices of cloning, although outside formal institutions and official histories, constitute a critical part of the computer industry and the history of computing.

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Authors & Contributors
Yost, Jeffrey R.
Cortada, James W.
Lussier, Kira
Elzway, Salem
Park, Dongoh
Lin, Ling-Fei
Concepts
History of Computing
Computer industry
Technological innovation
Computers and computing
Technology and government
Business history
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
19th century
Places
United States
Korea
Europe
Massachusetts (U.S.)
California (U.S.)
Taiwan
Institutions
Apple (firm)
United States. Securities and Exchange Commission
International Business Machines Corporation
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