ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the history of Taiwanese Internet development surrounding its distinctive bulletin board system (BBS) culture, which witnessed the founding of Taiwanese Internet networks in the 1980s and 1990s, accompanied its growth in the 2000s and played significant roles in social movements in Taiwan. To begin with, it is important to point out that the currently prevailing BBS in Taiwan is different from the ones used in the 1980s in many countries. However, there were internal structural tensions within the official university BBS sites. There was the practical logic from the viewpoint of the university, treating the university BBS sites as a tool of administration; the BBS site for them was little more than just “bulletin boards”. Starting from the setting up of Internet infrastructure, the introduction of Telnet BBS and the localization of the BBS system in the Chinese language established the foundation of Taiwanese BBS development.
