FREELANCING IN CYBERSPACE

by Nathan Cochrane

THE QUANDARY

Timely and accurate information is one of the greatest assets that any writer can have at his or her disposal. Journalists working for the larger mainstream media outlets often take for granted the immense utility of the various news databases that are only a terminal or microfiche away. It is not only access to up-to-the-minute infosources that are vital; archival or historical information is also a priority especially for features writers who may need to amass a considerable volume of background material before they ever put pen to paper.

Access to information is increasingly becoming a social issue, as Al Gore has brought attention to in recent months by publicly announcing plans for funding informational infrastructure in the US. However for the freelance writer these issues are not mere technobabble nor vague sociological theory, they are what separates him from the world; a prospect that instils paralyzing fear in the bosoms of many seduced by the resources their employer provides for them. The corollary to this is that where there is risk there is also opportunity. Not tied to any particular resource provider, the freelancer is like an infomercenary, ruthlessly scouring the ether for the information he or she may require. But where to start?

EMERGING CYBERSPACE

Fortunately the technology of the emergent Information Superhighway is largely already upon us. Today's freelancer plies the routes of data exchange in much the same way as the clippers of the ancient Dutch-East India company once did the seas several hundred years ago. The carriers are no longer rat-infested hulks laboriously carting tea and spices from the exotic far-east; now they are fibre-optic cable and satellites transmitting something less tangible, and a great deal more important.

No-one knows for sure, but it is estimated that the total numbers of people operating on these Cyberspace networks could be as high as 10-15 million, on the Internet (the world's largest public access system) numbers of users and sites is doubling yearly. Newsgroups and conferences, also known as echoes or forums, range on virtually any subject imaginable. From the latest in military technology, to the best positions for zero-g sex; the happenings in the lives of the rich and infamous, to the political scene in outer Mongolia - it is all there for you to peruse and gather utility from.

WHAT IS NEEDED?

Accessing these nets is a relatively simple affair, and most writers will already have a good deal of the capital required to do so sitting at home in their studies. First you need a computer (obviously!); what make and model is less important than how familiar you are with it and the attendant technology. If you don't have a machine, then you probably need one anyway, so it is worth considering the options. A complete buyers' guide is beyond the scope of this work, and in any event there are plenty of books available on the subject.

Next you will need a modem, a device that interfaces your computer with the phone system so you can dial into the aforementioned databases. A word of note; it is worth spending a little extra at the beginning to get a fast modem (14,400 baud or above), as large volumes of information mean commensurately long periods online, a consideration if you subscribe to a pay-per-use service. Many data modems now include fax capabilities for as little as $50-$100 more, giving you the facility of a fax as well for a fraction of the cost of a dedicated machine. Lastly you will require a piece of software (known as a Terminal or Comms package) that instructs the computer on how to handle the information that comes in over the phone, and that can make sense of translating your requests in the other direction.

SERVICE PROVIDERS

The databases are available through numerous outlets, and the list of providers is growing daily. Many of these charge a per annum connection fee and then usually a further fee on a user-pays time basis. The variable charges differ considerably, and it is worth analysing your own computing abilities before signing up with every service in town.

The service most people are familiar with is Compuserve Pacific. Compuserve offers comprehensive areas dedicated to Email (like Australia Post, but quicker and more reliable), games and conferencing. Product manufacturers, banking and a variety of other miscellaneous services are also provided online which due to the logical and user-friendly nature of the setup permit rapid and relatively hassle-free access - at a price. Connection fees begin at $20-$70, with an online charge of $0.60 per minute and estimating 90 minutes a week online that amounts to $54 a week To put this into perspective, that weekly figure translates into over $2, 800 per annum, so you will require an income in the order of $28,000 a year in order to justify this sort of an outlay.

Cheaper and more comprehensive is the Internet (in Australia AARNet), Telnet & Usenet services. These three are the most commonly known of the 'non-commercial' networks. They are however to Compuserve as night is to day. Whereas Compuserve is structured and convenient, the likes of Internet are rambling, monstrous creations that resemble an electronic community that has grown from a backwater village to megalopolis in a scant handful of years. If ever there was an argument for town planning, then the 'Nets are it! To the novice user their width and breadth, as well as their totally uncompromising environments are daunting, nay chilling, to say the least. However with this great, anarchic outlook there are gems to be had for people willing to invest the time it takes to find them.

Service providers charge around $100 per annum, but online time is either not charged if subscribed through a free access system, or at the lower rate of around $10/hour if a more comprehensive service like that of Oz- Email's is subscribed. At around a quarter of the cost of Compuserve, it means either more online time, or lower costs with around the same informational utility. It features a unique 'navigational' interface, which simply put means that it is very simple to use, the front-end software mimicking an environment that people familiar with Windows or Mac Desktop.

Another Internet provider is the DIALix network. This system uses the native Unix operating system, so it is more like DOS than OzEmail's system. This is very intimidating at first, but the rewards are even greater. At an average annual charge of just $3.65 per annum, with 1c/minute connection charge this would have to be one of the cheapest options going. An average weekly bill of five dollars is the order of the day, and well within the reach of even the most hard-up freelancer.

Just announced is the upgrading of the Internet access on the electronic bulletin board service, 1990 Multiline. Bulletin boards (BBSs) differ from larger commercial providers in that they ususally incur far lower subscription fees (if any at all) and are usually aimed at amateur users, which would ordinarily mark them outside the demesne of this article.

1990 Multiline (sysops Graeme & Gloria Platt) was one of the first BBSs in W.A. to offer a fully configured BBS with download file and 'chat' areas, as well as a fully functioning access to the Internet, Telnet, Usenet and FTP. The base cost to join the board varies depending on access level (daily online time and download limits), averaging around $50 per year, with unlimited Internet access for an additional $200 per year. This represents excellent value for those who wish to move large files back and forth across the 'Nets, as it avoids connection and transfer costs. Logging on is never difficult, as the board boasts 48 separate lines (and growing) and gigabytes of online storage.

One of the great advantages of these services is that their E-Mail services are all interlinked. Someone on the Internet can, for instance, post messages to someone on Compuserve or one of the lesser known services such as BitNet and so on. You need not feel that in order to post someone you need to fork out large sums of money to every service provider.

WHAT YOU WILL FIND

Wandering around Usenet for the first few sessions is rather like driving around a foreign country; the road signs all look funny, the people don't speak the same language as you and every turn leads you on a new adventure. It is at first frustrating and a tad frightening, but ultimately rewarding as you learn the ground rules and begin exploring in earnest. There are opportunities for knowledge unprecedented in the history of the human race available on the 'Nets. Their largely uncensored nature provides a greater freedom for different points of view to be expressed, opinions that rarely find voice in the mainstream media channels. Alternative news sources, not subject to the vagaries of mass media ownership entanglements and editors' bias, are permitted carte blanche to report things as they actually are (at least as far as the reviewer is concerned, and which one of us can say better about our own work?), rather than what has the best 'spin'.

Stories abound as to how the Gulf War actually happened, as reported by people who were there over the Usenet, rather than what was censored by the US Military. The fall of successive Soviet governments has been reported in excruciating detail, as it happened. Services such as AP, ClariNet and that doyen of infotainment - USA Today - all have gateways onto the 'Net that can be accessed directly, as do many government agencies from around the world. The overwhelming feeling that one gets when reading the postings is the immediacy of it all, and that can be a great comfort to the, often as not, housebound freelancer.

It is not only the late-breaking stories that are the province of the 'Nets, archival material can be garnered through the various links to hundreds of libraries throughout the world. Need to find an article on cold fusion? Perhaps the Oxford Server can point you in the right direction. Maybe the Agricultural digest at a Midwestern university has the background on farming techniques in the third world that is required for that feature piece. An obscure test case in the US Supreme Court's history is instantly accessible from none other than that great institution's vast archives themselves. The good news is that new services are clamouring to get on board, so the possibility of an international electronic global village really is beginning to come to fruition.

WHERE FOR THE MEDIA BARONS?

The mass media outlets, while far from extinct, are under attack from a dispersed knowledge base that relies increasingly less upon the former's news-gathering resources for that ephemeral concept that is loosely referred to as 'the truth'. It is in this environment that the flexible electronic freelance writer, or cyberjourno, can best reap the benefits of the new technology - if they know how to use the new tools.

Issues such as the involvement of media barons in the workings of their outlets really does not arise in cyberspace, as there are no central repositories of all information, no-one has complete or even substantial control over what is produced. Even the larger media outlets that have gateways onto the 'Nets are but a small voice when compared to the wealth of readily accessible alternative sources. Due to the worldwide nature of cyberspace, even national governments are largely powerless to control the flow of ideas and information that continually invade their borders like marauding shock-troops. Is it any wonder that governments and big business are so eager to involve themselves in the workings of cyberspace and in so doing seek to bring a measure of control over something that historically they have never understood, provided or legislated effectively for?

THE FUTURE OF THE INFOMERCENARY?

So what role does the freelancer serve, now that Joe Average has access to what, less than a decade ago, only large specialist corporations could provide? Paradoxically the freelancer's position in the informational hierarchy is stronger than ever. The flood of information is dizzying in the extreme; people need readily digestible information, as opposed to data, now more than ever before. Consumers are suffering informational overload as a result of these multifarious alternatives, which provides the infomercenary with the avenue he needs to ply his craft, by making the huge chunks of data more digestible, more readily understood.

Providing niche reporting is easier and more profitable than ever before. The independent contractor is more able than his salaried counterpart to provide meaning and depth to his writings, while searching out new clients and better information sources. That is not to say that the freelance writer's work is any less difficult or financially perilous, all the old caveats as regards this line of work apply now more than ever, however the opportunities are enormous. From searching for information, to editing and eventually posting it to your client, the world's information networks and data channels are the freelancer's greatest allies in a world where change is the only constant.

So power-up, jack-in and turn-on; the electronic frontier awaits those stout of heart, open of mind and nimble of finger.

The following glossary has been borrowed from Goldstein & Heard's treatment Copyright AARNet & QUT

AARNet    Australian Academic and Research Network--the
          computer network connecting Universities, research and
          other organisations throughout Australia.
archive   Collections of files related to a particular subject, which are
          stored on a computer and made available to the network
          community, usually via anonymous FTP.
conferencing
          A communications method which brings together
          groups with common interests, so that an item
          contributed by one person can be read by all members
          of the group. Bulletin boards are the most common
          examples of conferencing systems.
electronic mail (E-Mail)
          A system which allows you to send messages to other
          computer users.
FTP       File Transfer Protocol. A means of transferring electronic
          data files around the Internet.
gateway   A computer which connects two communications
          networks, possibly converting protocols where these differ
          between the networks.
gigabytes Around 1000 megabytes.
Internet  A very large network consisting of interconnected
          computer systems able to communicate because they use
          a common protocol (TCP/IP). AARNet is effectively part
          of Internet.
kilobytes  Around 1000 bytes (approx. 1000 characters)
megabytes Around 1000 kilobytes
network   A group of computers able to communicate because there
          is a communications link between them, and because they
          each obey a set of rules to correctly interpret any data
          sent between them.
news      A large conferencing system, comprising a wide range of
          newsgroups covering various areas of interest, to which
          interested individuals can post information. News is often
          called Netnews or Usenet.
newsgroup
          A subdivision of network News where items covering
          a particular field of interest are posted.
newsitem  An individual item in a newsgroup within network News.
online databases
          A typical online data base stores information from a particular
          discipline so that you can connect to it and search for the
          information they need. For example, many online data bases
          contain reviews and abstracts of journal articles in a particular
          field.
Sysop     SYStemOPerator also known as system administrators.  The
          people who maintain and supervise the operations of online
          systems.
Telnet    A program on a computer which enables you to connect
          from that computer to another one on AARNet or
          Internet.
Usenet    The international mailing conferences that act as 'open forums'
          for users of the InterNet system and others.

This article is Copyright (C) 1994 by Nathan Cochrane for Game Bytes Magazine. All rights reserved.