BITNET

One, called BITNET the Because It’s Time Network, was a cooperative network among IBM systems with no restrictions on membership.

Where Wizards Stay Up Late Katie Hafner 2001

One, called BITNET the Because It’s Time Network, was a cooperative network among IBM systems with no restrictions on membership.

Where Wizards Stay Up Late Katie Hafner 2001

Then, when BITNET joined with other computer networks in INTERNET, the total number of users skyrocketed because of reciprocal interdependence.

Diffusion of Innovations Everett M. Rogers 1995

Gurbaxani, Vijay (1990), “Diffusion in Computing Networks: The Case of BITNET,” Communications of the ACM, 33(12):65-75.

Diffusion of Innovations Everett M. Rogers 1995

By the end of the first year, 1981, four additional universities joined BITNET.

Diffusion of Innovations Everett M. Rogers 1995

At this point, an academic person at a U.S. research university could safely assume that any other such individual with whom they wished to communicate could be reached via BITNET.

Diffusion of Innovations Everett M. Rogers 1995

Here we see an illustration of sequential interdependence; each additional adopting university increased the benefits of BITNET for every institution that was a potential adopter through a decreased initial cost of adoption.

Diffusion of Innovations Everett M. Rogers 1995

The first adopters of BITNET were elite East Coast institutions, who were highly competitive in applying for government and foundation research grants.

Diffusion of Innovations Everett M. Rogers 1995

The main impetus for this expansion was the formation of INTERNET, a network linking over 20,000 existing computer networks, including BITNET.

Diffusion of Innovations Everett M. Rogers 1995

Then, in 1982, the University of California at Berkeley leased a long, expensive telephone line to join BITNET.

Diffusion of Innovations Everett M. Rogers 1995