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[[Ivan Illich]] coined the term [[Convivial Tools]] in his book  [[Tools for Conviviality]], first published in 1973. [[Convivial Tools]] can be defined as tools which allow the user to operate with independent efficiency. At the same time, [[Convivial Tools]] are often developed and maintained by a community of users, for example by an on-line community.

Illich first became known for his earlier book [[Deschooling Society]], a critique of institutionalized education. In this book Illich proposed the development of "learning webs" for informal learning outside of academic institutions, and advocated the development of a computer network which strongly ressembles the Internet, at a time before the Internet existed. Illich's later book [[Tools for Conviviality]] influenced both philosophers such as [[Andre Gorz]] and inventors such as [[Lee Felsenstein]], a member of the [[Hacker Generation]] who contributed to the development of the personal computer. Felsenstein notably adopted Illich's vision of tools that would be developed and maintained by a community of users. This vision of community tool development has also been embodied in more recent movements, such as the [[Free and Open Source Software]] (FOSS), [[Wiki]] and [[Open Design]] movements, which are manifestations of the idea of [[Convivial Tools]], without necessarily being familiar with the concept.

When [[Ivan Illich]] wrote [[Tools for Conviviality]] in 1973, he was following on a long tradition of criticism of industrial technology and of proposal of alternatives. The [[Historical Roots]] of the idea of [[Convivial Tools]] extend at least as far back as the eighteenth century French Enlightenment and the philosophy of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]]. More recent precursors include twentieth-century figures such as [[Lewis Mumford]] and [[Jacques Ellul]]. The [[Whole Earth]] and [[Appropriate Technology]] movements, mentioned below, appeared a few years ''before'' Illich wrote [[Tools for Conviviality]], and probably exercised significant influence on his thinking.

In the years just before, during and after the second world war, emerging tendencies in scientific thought coalesced into a new field which [[Norbert Wiener]] called [[Cybernetics]]. This discipline formed at the crossroads of computer science, electrical engineering, biology and social science. [[Post-War Cybernetics]] exercised a major influence on the development of theories about society, information, the environment and the use of computers. The concepts of [[Cybernetics]] were taken up by the [[Whole Earth]] movement, and in the context of the Internet the word has spawned derivative terms such as [[Cyberspace]] and [[Cybernaut]].

The [[Whole Earth]] movement began with the publication of the [[Whole Earth Catalog]] (WEC) by [[Stewart Brand]] in 1968. The [[Whole Earth Catalog]] served as the focal center of an informal community of users and contributors to that publication, which appeared regularly until 1972, and periodically thereafter. [[Stewart Brand]] and the [[Whole Earth]] community spawned a number of influential spin-offs, such as the [[Coevolution Quarterly]], the Internet community called the [[WELL]] and the magazine [[Wired]].