<html>
<head>
<meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"
http-equiv="Content-Type">
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
Great question. I'd endorse what Michael says here: there will not
be much overlap between "new and incredible" language and
"instructional videos supplied with the machine". Promoters focused
their efforts very strongly on the potential consumer who hadn't
taken the box home yet: producing video material to support existing
users wasn't generally seen to be worth it till it could be treated
as a routine exercise, ie, until computers were already widely
familiar. <br>
<br>
I'm mainly familiar with the British case, and there <i>could </i>be
a difference here in that the VCR reached critical mass earlier in
the US. No producer in Britain in the early 80s would have packaged
a videocassette with the machine, because the typical user wouldn't
have anything to play it on. An audio cassette would have been a
possibility, but I'm not aware of any. The earliest machines were
largely sold to technically capable enthusiasts (compare hi-fi or CB
radio) and rarely had any documentation aimed at the general user.
Probably the first affordable machine to seek a broader market over
here was the Sinclair ZX81 of 1981: the package contained only the
machine, its cables, a programming manual for the Basic language,
and a software catalogue. The more powerful BBC Micro, launched the
same year, came with a data cassette containing a series of
introductory demo programs, guidance being provided on-screen and
through minimal print documentation. <br>
<br>
"New and incredible" was, however, certainly a major trope in
promotion of computers in the 70s and early 80s -- but it came
mainly through other sources such as TV commercials and print
magazines, and also through broadcast documentaries and educational
resources, including audio guides and film, which basically served
to promote home computers by taking a line that said "new
information technology is transforming our society; we'd better be
prepared for it". Again a rather specific UK case, but the BBC
Computer Literacy Project which endorsed the BBC Micro developed a
whole range of TV, radio and adult education materials (see for
instance <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtMWEiCdsfc"><http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtMWEiCdsfc></a>): it
could be taken for granted by 1982 that the average newcomer to
computing had had some exposure to this kind of material before
going out and buying a machine. <br>
<br>
Hope this helps<br>
Best<br>
James<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 09/09/2014 16:37, Michael Newman
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:CAJta2t0vYDbppAcbz7k+WhkfNdjN8KUCWRzq25R=3gCejYMi_w@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
charset=ISO-8859-1">
<div dir="ltr">Hi Luisa, in my research on home computers from the
1970s I haven't found that the idea of personal computing was
always represented as something new and incredible. Computers
were familiar to people (many of whom had a negative impression
of them as instruments of institutional control) and it wasn't
clear what needs a home computer would satisfy. One persistent
question in articles about home computers in magazines like <i>Esquire</i>
was: what are you actually going to do with it? A frequent
answer was that you would use a computer to learn how to use a
computer. Probably the most common use for many people who
bought a computer for the home was playing games, which wasn't
so different from using something like an Atari VCS. In
advertisements for home computers on TV, you will find some of
that "new and incredible" tone -- they're selling a product,
after all, though what they're selling is as much a platform for
games as it is a computer for programming or other more
"productive" uses. The "Atari brings the computer age home"
campaign would offer some nice examples of this, and some (in
poor quality) are on YouTube.
<div><br>
<div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>michael z. newman <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://zigzigger.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">zigzigger</a> | <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://twitter.com/mznewman" target="_blank">@mznewman</a></div>
<div>assoc prof, journalism, advertising, & media
studies, uw-milwaukee</div>
<br>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Sep 8, 2014 at 10:28 PM, Luisa
Emmi Beck <span dir="ltr"><<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:emmi.beck@gmail.com" target="_blank">emmi.beck@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
.8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_default" style="color:#000000">Hi SIGCIS
members, </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="color:#000000"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="color:#000000">I'm
working on a radio story about the history of personal
computing. </div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="color:#000000"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="color:#000000">I would
like to find instructional videos for the first
Macintosh or other personal computers. The goal is to
give listeners a sense for how new and incredible the
idea of personal computing was in the 1970s. Does
anyone on this list know of where I could find such
videos? I haven't been able to find anything on YouTube
but I'm hoping to be able to track down a few
instructional videos (or at least the audio portion of
the videos). </div>
<div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">Thanks!<span
style="color:rgb(34,34,34)"> </span></div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">Luisa
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="tel:%28510%29%20856.7475"
value="+15108567475" target="_blank">(510)
856.7475</a><br>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://luisabeck.com/" target="_blank">http://luisabeck.com/</a><br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
This email is relayed from <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a>,
the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives
are at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/"
target="_blank">http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/</a>
and you can change your subscription options at <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members"
target="_blank">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a><br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
<br>
<fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
<br>
<pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
This email is relayed from <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/">http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/</a> and you can change your subscription options at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a></pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
</body>
</html>