[Sil_E_Goose]

For anyone interested in learning more about the ANSI art scene and BBS history in general, I highly recommend Jason Scott's documentary series "BBS The Documentary"[0]. There is a part specifically dedicated to the art scene [1]. Watching this series in my early teen years really opened my eyes to the fact that the internet subcultures I was then a part of had been around for much longer than I was aware.

[0]http://www.bbsdocumentary.com/

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t74FlFL_M0

[api]

It really does go back to the 1960s phone phreak subculture as well as technophile aspects of the hippie subculture. Look for old issues of the Whole Earth Catalog.

A lot of those people from the 1990s grew up and created the tech startup scene, which sometimes reminds me of hacker/warez groups in some ways.

[EamonnMR]

If you're into this sort of thing, you'll like Exploding the Phone[1] which details the history of phone phreaking and Counterculture to Cyberculture [2] which is a critical look at how the Whole Earth Catalog circle interacted with the tech scene.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Exploding-Phone-Phil-Lapsley/dp/08021...

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Counterculture-Cyberculture-Stewart-N...

[myth_drannon]

There is also a new doc "Back to the BBS"- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0OwGSX2IiQ

More about the modern BBS scene