The Arachnet Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture __________________________________________________________________ ISSN 1068-5723 September 27, 1993 Volume 1 Issue 6 EJVCV1N6 MONITOR THE CYBERSPACE MONITOR ====================== edited by Algirdas Pakstas (Algirdas.Pakstas@idt.unit.no) ///////////////////// / TABLE OF CONTENTS / ///////////////////// MEDIA REVIEWS BOOKS: - "WOMEN, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SCHOLARSHIP" EDITED BY H. JEANIE TAYLOR, CHERIS KRAMARAE, AND MAUREEN EBBEN NETWARE REVIEWS (systems/hw/sw/services) SERVICES: - CONNECT MAGAZINE GOES DIGITAL WITH A NEW BBS EDITION - NEW SIRI SERVICES - GLASNEWS - JOURNALS FOR PUBLIC SEARCHING IN COMSERVE'S JOURNALS INDEX - ANNOUNCING THE OPENING OF IPCT-J@GUVM - NOVEL RELEASED AS "SHAREWARE" ON THE INTERNET NETWARE TUTORIALS LISTSERV/LDBASE: HOW TO SEARCH A LISTSERV'S ARCHIVES MEETINGS/CONFERENCES/EXHIBITIONS/EVENTS PROJECTS: - BALT-INFO PROJECT GETS UNDER WAY - SCHEDULE OF "GLOBAL LECTURE HALL" VIDEOCONFERENCE ON 8/21/93 - GOING GLOBAL FOR YOUTH - NPTN AND COMMUNITY COMPUTING CALL FOR PAPERS/PARTICIPATION: - UM-94: FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON USER MODELING - ALTERNATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: WORK, SCHOOL, PLAY - CHASQUI: A JOURNAL OF LATIN AMERICA COMMUNICATIONS - CONFERENCE: A PACIFIC ENCOUNTER/UN ENCUENTRO PACIFICO - BOOK ON MEDIA AND SELF - SIGIR'94 CONFERENCE, DUBLIN, IRELAND - STSF '94: AN INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY THROUGH SCIENCE FICTION - ASIS ANNUAL MEETING 1993: INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES\ CONVERGING PROFESSIONS [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ///////////////// / MEDIA REVIEWS / ///////////////// BOOKS ~~~~~ "WOMEN, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND SCHOLARSHIP" EDITED BY H. JEANIE TAYLOR, CHERIS KRAMARAE, AND MAUREEN EBBEN _Women, Information Technology, and Scholarship_. Edited by H. Jeanie Taylor, Cheris Kramarae, and Maureen Ebben.Urbana,Illinois: The Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois, 1993. 128 pages. Paperback. $10. ISBN 1-882875-00-1.Available from: WITS, The Center for Advanced Study, 912 West Illinois St., Urbana IL 61801. U.S.A. Reviewed by Leslie Regan Shade McGill University, Graduate Program in Communications [shade@ice.cc.mcgill.ca] _Women,Information Technology,and Scholarship_ (WITS) is an important and timely volume that provides an introductory exploration into many of the issues that need to be addressed if women are to become equally represented in the new "electronic frontier" of cyberspace. For, despite the abundance of various private networks such as Compuserve,Prodigy, America Online, Echo, and the Well, and the meteoric growth of the Internet,this rapidly expanding user base does not include an equal proportion of men and women. The breakdown of gender usage on various networks is difficult to gauge, but it is safe to say that women are typically under-represented on most networks. Given the low visibility of women in most aspects of computer culture, from programming to product design to everyday use, this disparity isn't so surprising. WITS grew out of a working colloquium held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Centre for Advanced Study. The interdisciplinary group consisted of faculty and academic professionals at UIUC, whose main goal was to study the new communication technologies and their impact on women within the university environment. The WITS volume consists of four articles that explore problematic aspects of gender, scholarship, and information technologies within academia; brief colloquium digests; and a lengthy annotated bibliography on women and information technology. Maureen Ebben and Cheris Kramarae investigate some of the challenges that women face in creating "a cyberspace of our own that fosters women's communication and scholarship in this time of rapid technological change" (17). Proclaiming that "our challenge to the university is that women's voices not only be allowed, but be encouraged and listened to" (15), they focus on women's access, training, and participation with the new information technologies on campuses. Access to computer networking for women involves access to both the hardware and the software to support communications. As well, women must have access to the training that will support such communication, and access to significant and relevant resources that can support their research needs. Indeed, there has been a proliferation of newsgroups, listservs, and even some electronic conferences that provide tangible and viable information forums for women, and most of these are situated in the academic context. Several of these are listed in WITS, but ironically, the information for actually accessing these electronic venues is unfortunately not provided. How can women be given the technical expertise to become comfortable and versatile with information technology? Ebben and Kramarae contend that most training within the university environment is ad hoc and unsystematic, which puts women at a disadvantage since they are less inclined to be as technically informed--due to the cultural construction of computing--as their male counterparts. Instead, they suggest putting the training into women's learning styles, such as that conducted by Judy Smith through the Women's Opportunity Resource Development (WORD) in Missoula, Montana, whereby skills are linked to rewards, and instruction is systematic, with follow-up instruction given. The potential for networking to be a positive and empowering tool for feminist research within academia is emphasized by the authors, who stress the collaborative and cross-disciplinary nature of networking. However, in order for networking to realize its feminist potential, they emphasize that "the development of computer networks for women be placed on the agenda of general campus discussions. University administrators as well as faculty need to participate in the creation of relevant, accessible, and harassment-free information technology resources for women" (25). These ideas are explored by Kramarae and Taylor in the last article in this volume, and will be discussed later in this review. The changing nature of scholarly publishing due to CD-ROM technology and the increasing prevalence of electronic publishing is an area which Ebben and Kramarae feel is ripe for the input of women's scholarly work, and which Dale Spender elaborates on in the next chapter. Posing the question, "What is the electronic equivalent of a footnote?" (28), Spender's essay explores some of the changes in knowledge construction that the new information technologies pose, and the quandaries we now face in processing and evaluating the abundance of information that these technologies proliferate. The particular challenge that women scholars now face, given the quickly evolving shift from print to electronic media, is making sure that they have access and recourse to the new forms of electronic scholarship. Spender emphasizes that in order to ensure that women's scholarship and knowledge remains relevant and timely, women themselves must initiate the production and dissemination of electronic forms of feminist knowledge. To this end, then, Ann Okerson's article provides a concise overview of the issues that electronic publishing poses for scholarly publishing and resource sharing in academic libraries. In particular, Okerson explains the changing concept of ownership, and the effect that U.S. copyright transfer has on an author's ownership and control of the work, including an explanation of the "fair use" provisions of the 1976 U.S. Copyright Act. Okerson advocates that ownership of information be retained in the scholars' hands. She outlines several ways that this control can be ensured within the academic environment, including supporting and funding learned societies and university presses as publishers, in both paper and electronic forms; encouraging official partnerships and institutionalization of ejournals; developing model copyright transfer forms; developing good bibliographic control for the many net resources, including indexes to ejournals; and encouraging the use of peer review on the net. The last article by Kramarae and Taylor, "Women and Men on Electronic Networks: a conversation or a monologue?" originally appeared at both The Electronic Salon of the Gender Symposium at Lewis and Clark College in April 1992 and the Gender, Technology, and Ethics conference held in June 1992 in Lulea, Sweden. In it the authors detail the chilly climate that some women face in networking within the academic context. This includes monopolization of postings by men, sexual harassment on the net, and the prevalence of sexual imagery and content on the net. Although it is hard to determine the contribution of women to UseNet newgroups, it is generally assumed that in the unmoderated feminist newsgroups(alt.feminism and soc.women) 80% of the messages are posted by men. Soc.feminism, a moderated group, has about an equal representation of men and women. As well, many women complain that some newsgroups are hostile environments, and sexual harassment on the nets has been reported. This can take many forms--whether subtle, such as personal questions directed to a woman, or blatant, such as women receiving sexual propositions via email. The authors suggest that women-only forums for speech should be encouraged, because "until gender equality becomes a reality in a wide variety of settings, women need both access to the public nets and some safe forums for their conversations" (57). Of course, given the relative insecurity of electronic identity, and the fact that electronic personas can be easily spoofed, such segregation is difficult to control. The ethical uses of computers and computer networks is a contentious and unresolved area, both legally and socially. Given the current importance and rapid growth of computer networks and users internationally, there are no universal standards of governance, and it seems unlikely that such a consensus could ever be reached, given both the evolving technological infrastructure, types of various information carriers and providers, and variety of nationalistic notions of legal jurisprudence--when it exists--for computer networks. Sexual imagery and pornographic content on the nets is one of these debatable arenas. How, exactly, does one define computer pornography and "offensive" material on networks? In this last year alone many debates have surfaced within various universities in North America and Europe as to whether or not it is appropriate to censor the alt.sex hierarchy within UseNet. Where can one draw the line between freedom of speech and mere censorship? Are there any links between computer pornography, sexual harassment and sexual violence? Are such "questionable" UseNet newsgroups a "proper" use of University computing facilities? Should academic institutions monitor, censor, or "police" UseNet bulletin board postings and newsgroups based on content, such as sexual explicitness (which could be in perceived violation of the law) without consulting the user community? What kinds of mechanism should be instituted, if at all, to judge the acceptability of the contents of certain newsgroups? What legal rights regarding free speech and privacy should academic network users be entitled to? Although Kramarae and Taylor don't delve into these issues in detail here, their article offers several suggestions for university policies so that networking can become an accessible, inviting, and productive space for both women and men. Sexual harassment guidelines to be incorporated into university computing policies are advocated, and include grievance procedures for complaints of sexual harassment on the net, which can be integrated into the overall sexual harassment policies; periodic reports on the number and types of complaints, and action taken, to be reported to a central body; and clarification of what constitutes offensive messages. The second section of WITS consists of eight brief colloquium digests of the talks given by several of the speakers, including Dale Spender, Phyllis Hall, Judy Smith, and H.Patricia Hynes. The third section of WITS is a lengthy annotated bibliography compiled by Maureen Ebben and Maria Mastronardi related broadly to women and information technology, as well as current work on technology in general. It is an excellent and thorough survey of many of the major works published in the last decade on this vast topic. WITS, although a slim volume, broaches many significant issues surrounding gender, scholarship, and information technology in the current climate. One of the major strengths of this book is its generation of ideas for further research, action, and policy-making within the academic environment. It is therefore well suited for all women scholars, university administrators, librarians, students, and network designers. It does not, however, provide a primer for the women scholar interested and anxious to get online; but it is definitely a catalyst for encouraging women to become electronically savvy. [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] //////////////////////////////////////////// / NETWARE REVIEWS (systems/hw/sw/services) / //////////////////////////////////////////// SERVICES ~~~~~~~~ CONNECT MAGAZINE GOES DIGITAL WITH A NEW BBS EDITION ------------ July 1, 1993 NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ------------ CONTACT: Clint Bradford Voice 909/681-6210 Pacific BBS LEGAL GROUP BBS 909/681-6221 8/N/1 v.32bis 5085 Trail Canyon Drive CIS 71160,2176 Mira Loma CA 91752-1685 GEnie ---------------------------------------------------- CONNECT Magazine Goes Digital with a New BBS Edition ---------------------------------------------------- BBS Legal Group, in conjunction with Pegasus Publishing, proudly introduce the CONNECT Magazine Computer BBS Edition. CONNECT is a national, bi-monthly magazine covering the major commercial online services (CompuServe, America OnLine, GEnie, Delphi, BIX), the Internet, and BBS/Networks. The CONNECT Staff is dedicated to bringing the telecomputing community up-to-date and timely news, reviews, and information about the products and services available for computer and modem users on all platforms. CONNECT Magazine has recently announced the addition of telecommuni- cations author Michael A. Banks as an Editorial Staff Columnist. His column, "The Inside Line," takes readers behind the scenes of their favorite online services. With literally hundreds of book and magazine article credits to his name, Michael is recognized as one of the premiere authors in the computer industry. Often controversial and always thought-provoking, he promises to "tell it like it is" in this new column - giving CONNECT readers a view of the online world they may never see on their computer screens. You may have noticed that CONNECT Magazine is published bi-monthly - and here is where the BBS LEGAL GROUP comes into play. Not only do we provide registering Sysops with a custom Text Viewer Door to display CONNECT, but will also provide additional monthly editorial content, ranging from late-breaking industry news to marketing, business, and legal tips - designed especially for Sysops. In addition, we will arrange a Monthly Special for registered Sysops - either a free Utility, or substantial discounts on well-known programs. Sysops will also be able to accept Subscriptions for the Print Version of CONNECT Magazine, and receive a 40% Commission on each. BBS Legal Group provides you with a Text Reader Door programs at NO EXTRA CHARGE. Our Door supports PCBoard, Wildcat!, Gap, QBBS, RBBS, Spitfire, UltraBBS, Telegard, TriBBS, Remote Access, WWIV - ANY BBS software that can generate a User Data Drop File! Additionally, the Door features: * Desqview/Network Awareness. * COM0-15 support & non-std IRQ's. * WildCat IM Support * PCB/M Support * Colorful ANSI screens. * Chat function. * NO BRUN module needed. * BETA tested on many different BBSs * Use of HOT KEYS in door. * Support BBSs available. * Fossil Driver support. * Online HELP available. * Page Forward or Back. * KEYWORD Searching. * Will return to BBS on dropped carrier. * Will TIMEOUT after 5 mins. of no activity (Sysop-configurable). With our CONNECT Magazine Computer Edition, you will get everything you need to add this valuable reference to your system. Your Users will recognize CONNECT Magazine from seeing it on their newsstands. They could pay the $4.25 per issue price for the print edition. But by adding CONNECT Magazine BBS Edition to your BBS, you bring your Users a value of $25.50 every year! This addition to your BBS will help retain Subscribers year after year. CONNECT Magazine BBS Edition is available on ATTENTION to Details BBS for your review. The package is better than any other currently being offered: * NO OTHER product contains special articles geared to the Sysop. * NO OTHER product provides Sysops with discounts on Doors/Utils. * NO OTHER product includes a dedicated Text Reader Door - in the low Subscription cost! CHARTER Subscribers Regular Subscribers ------------------- ------------------- PRICING: 1 - 2 Nodes: $65.00 Annually $ 90.00 Annually 3 - 7 Nodes: $75.00 Annually $100.00 Annually 8 or More Nodes: $99.00 Annually $124.00 Annually "Charter Subscribers" are those Sysops who take advantage of this offer before OCTOBER 1, 1993. CHARTER Subscribers may pay in two equal monthly installments. You can subscribe Online at ATTENTION to Details BBS using your VISA or Mastercard, and get overnight access to the latest edition of CONNECT. IF you pay by check or money order, you must send in your first payment before you are given access to the current edition. You will then be invoiced for the remaining payment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- The BBS Legal Group is dedicated to providing pertinent, quality information and services to Bulletin Board Operators. [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] NEW SIRI SERVICES PROVIDING YOU WITH INFORMATION THAT YOU CAN PUT TO WORK... Following feedback from our readers, the SIRI (Service integre de ressources d'information/Integrated Service for Information Resources) team at the Canadian Workplace Automation Research Centre (CWARC) is in the process of revising its products, services and policies. For anyone in an interdisciplinary field wanting to remain fully up-to-date, scanning multiple journals on a regular basis is critical. It is, however, a time-consuming activity. Moreover, one may not necessarily have access to all the relevant periodicals dealing with the subject being researched. The objective of the SIRI team, therefore, is to offer through FLASH INFORMATION and a new additional product (which is yet to be named), a selective dissemination of information specifically geared towards the information needs of researchers and management within the fields of information management and information technologies. These electronic publications will keep our readers up-to-date by providing details of relevant newly published information scanned from some 300 journals and news bulletins from our collection on a weekly basis. OUR NEW FORMAT.... The SIRI team is working toward improving the contents, format and access of FLASH INFORMATION. Future issues of FLASH INFORMATION, our bibliographic issue of articles on information technologies and industry news, for example, will be more comprehensive and entries will be grouped under general subject headings. Topics identified reflect the Centre's main research interests which include language technology, content engineering, multimedia, human-computer interaction issues, and learning technologies. An indexed listing of the journals scanned will be provided upon request. OUR NEW PRODUCT.... Whereas FLASH INFORMATION is a list of titles of articles, our new product will consist of abstracts of articles. This publication will provide researchers and management with news on strategic alliances within the industry and the Canadian government, industry news and issues, market and R & D trends, and recent developments in information/computer/communications related fields. These abstracts will be distributed jointly with FLASH INFORMATION. The list of subject headings, an example of FLASH INFORMATION in its new format and sample entries of our new product are included. TO PROVIDE YOU WITH INFORMATION THAT YOU CAN PUT TO WORK.... Up to now FLASH INFORMATION has been made available free of charge. We will continue sending you FLASH INFORMATION together with our new publication free until September. In order to provide you with the new products and services, however, a minimal subscription fee may be charged beginning September in order to recover some of the production costs. We would like to accommodate the needs of as many readers as possible; we would appreciate it, therefore, if you could supply us with the name and the electroni c address of anyone who may be interested in our services. If you have any new ideas, suggestions or comments, please contact us at Siri@aigle.ccrit.doc.ca. SUBJECT HEADINGS... (BUS)BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT/AFFAIRES ET GESTION (NET) COMPUTER NETWORKS AND DATA COMMUNICATIONS/RESEAUX D'ORDINATEURS ET TELEINFORMATIQUE (ARC) COMPUTER SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE/ARCHITECTURE DES SYSTEMES INFORMATIQUES (BAR) DATA CAPTURE/COLLECTE DES DONNEES (DIS) DISABLED PERSONS' AIDS/OUTILS POUR PERSONNES HANDICAPEES (CAI) EDUCATION, TRAINING, PERFORMANCE SUPPORT/EDUCATION, FORMATION, SOUTIEN A LA PERFORMANCE (HUM) HUMAN-MACHINE INTERACTION/INTERACTIONS PERSONNE-MACHINE (IND) INDUSTRY NEWS/NOUVELLES DE L'INDUSTRIE (EDI) INFORMATION INTERCHANGE/ECHANGE DES DONNEES EDI, CALS (ISR) INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL/STOCKAGE ET REPERAGE DE L'INFORMATION (MIS) INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT/GESTION DES SYSTEMES INFORMATIQUES (LEG) LEGAL, SOCIAL, POLITICAL ISSUES/ASPECTS LEGAUX, SOCIAUX, POLITIQUES (MUL) MULTIMEDIA SYSTEMS/SYSTTMES MULTIMEDIAS (LIN) NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING/TRAITEMENT DES LANGUES NATURELLES (RSO) REVIEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS - SOFTWARE PRODUCTS/RECENSIONS ET ANALYSES - LOGICIELS (RTE) REVIEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS - TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES/RECENSIONS ET ANALYSES - SERVICES DE TELECOMMUNICATIONS (REQ) REVIEWS, ANNOUNCEMENTS - COMPUTER HARDWARE AND PERIPHERAL EQUIPMENT/ RECENSIONS ET ANALYSES - MATERIEL INFORMATIQUE (SEN) SOFTWARE ENGINEERING/GENIE LOGICIEL (STD) STANDARDS AND STANDARDIZATION/NORMES ET NORMALISATION (TEL) TELECOMMUNICATIONS/TELECOMMUNICATIONS (WOR) WORK ORGANIZATION/ORGANISATION DU TRAVAIL (VAR) MISCELLANEOUS/DIVERS [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] GLASNEWS GlasNews (Two Items) Submitted by: Anthony Giffard (1) There's a new online publication focusing on East-West communication links: GlasNews, which is published by the Art Pattison Communications Exchange Program in Seattle. The aim of the newsletter and the CEP is to promote contacts between communications professionals in the United States and the former Soviet Union. Among other things, the CEP hopes to sponsor a conference on new media a yea from now, as well as establish online contacts in Russia and other parts of Eurasia. If anyone has tips on such contacts, or on any sorts of resources (e.g., WAIS, TELNET, FTP goodies), please send a message to glasnews@eskimo.com -- requests for subscriptions to the newsletter may be sent to the same address. BTW, tax-deductible donations may be sent to the CEP, 111 West Harrison St., Seattle, Wash. 98119. (2) GlasNews is looking for contacts with journalists and other communications professionals in the newly independent (former Soviet) states. What's GlasNews, you ask? Well, it's a quarterly newsletter for American and NIS communicators (that includes telecommunications types, advertising and PR, as well as journalism and education). Its publisher is the Art Pattison Communications Exchange Program in Seattl"ee. The CEP also facilitates exchanges between the U.S. and NIS, and hopes to present a communications conference in St. Petersburg in summer 1994. GlasNews is distributed on-line via the soc.culture.soviet newsgroup. For more info on GlasNews and the CEP, contact glasnews@eskimo.com. Paper subscriptions are available from GlasNews, 111 West Harrison, Seattle, Wash. 98119. [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] JOURNALS FOR PUBLIC SEARCHING IN COMSERVE'S JOURNALS INDEX From: Comserve/CIOS Staff Office * * * * Special News Update * * * * Three journals -- Human Communication Research, Quarterly Journal of Speech, and Journal of Communication -- are now available for public searching in Comserve's Journals Index. For more information, send this message to Comserve@vm.its.rpi.edu in the body of an e-mail note: Show Journals Then send this message: Help Topics Journals -- Comserve Staff [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ANNOUNCING THE OPENING OF IPCT-J@GUVM Interpersonal Computing and Technology: An Electronic Journal for the 21st Century The publisher and editors of "IPCT: An Electronic Journal for the 21st Century" are pleased to announce the opening of a list exclusively for the distribution of the IPCT Journal. The IPCT Journal has been distributed through the Interpersonal Computing and Technology Discussion List (IPCT-L) that is moderated and maintained at Georgetown University. IPCT Journal is published at Georgetown University and shares editorial responsibilities with The Pennsylvania State University. Realizing that there are individuals and organizations (e.g., libraries) who wish to receive announcements for each new issue of the journal but without the accompanying discussion, we are inviting their subscription to IPCT-J. There will be neither discussion nor public postings to this list. The only postings that are anticipated are the Table of Content and Abstracts for each quarterly issue of the Journal, (which will also include retrieval instructions). The IPCT-L discussion list will continue to receive the announcement of each issue of the journal. For those persons that are subscribers to the discussion list, there is no need to change anything--you will see no difference whatsoever in your subscription or the content of the list. Articles in IPCT Journal are full length (10-20 pages with notes and bibliography) done in APA format. Published articles have been rigorously peer-reviewed and include, but are not limited to, the following topics: use of electronic networks in the classroom, electronic publishing, use of electronic networks and information exchange, library applications of electronic communication, professional relationships carried on via electronic communication, use of electronic communication in higher education, business, industry and government and related topics. Articles may have a humanistic or social science cast. Technological articles are considered to the extent that they are intelligible to the bulk of the readers and are not specific to any particular hardware configuration. Articles can be submitted to the Editor-in-Chief, Gerald Phillips, GMP3@PSUVM.BITNET or gmp3@psuvm.psu.edu (internet).) TO SUBSCRIBE TO IPCT-J PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW: Send a message in following form to LISTSERV@GUVM or LISTSERV@GUVM.GEORGETOWN.EDU To: LISTSERV@GUVM.GEORGETOWN.EDU ----------------- SUBSCRIBE IPCT-J YOURFIRSTNAME YOURLASTNAME Regards, Zane Berge, Publisher Interpersonal Computing and Technology: An Electronic Journal for the 21st Century BERGE@GUVAX.ACC.GEORGETOWN.EDU [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] NOVEL RELEASED AS "SHAREWARE" ON THE INTERNET NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 1993 JUL 19 (NB) -- INTER.PACT Press has announced that it has released "Terminal Compromise" by Winn Schwartau as a shareWare "novel-on-the-net" (a term that the company has trademarked). Terminal Connections was previously published as a 562 page hardcover book (ISBN 0-962-87000-5) and, according to the publishers "has sold extremely well world-wide." The novel is billed as a techno-thriller, claiming to deal with information uses, piracy and attempts to exploit weakness in the US techno-economic infrastructure. According to INTER.PACT, the book is not being issued into the public domain and, in issuing it as shareware, neither the author nor the publisher is waiving any rights or copyrights. INTER.PACT claims that the work is "being distributed electronically so hundreds of thousands more people can enjoy it and understand just where we are heading with our omnipresent interconnectedness and the potential dangers we face." The manuscript may be obtained through use of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) over the Internet. FTP is a term used to describe the automated download of a file from a computer system over the Internet, using standard protocols. To download the file automatically over the net, Internet-connected users should log on to netsys.com (in the /pub/novel directory); or wuarchive.wustl.edu(/doc/misc); or soda.berkeley.edu (/pub/novel). The announcement refers to the net version of Terminal Connection as the "world's first novel-on-the-net". It also mentions that the work is still available in traditional form in bookstores. (Barbara E. McMullen & John F. McMullen/19930719/Press Contact: Winn Schwartau, 813-393-6600 (voice); 813-393-6361 (fax); Email over the Internet: wschwartau@mcimail.com) [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ///////////////////// / NETWARE TUTORIALS / ///////////////////// LISTSERV/LDBASE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HOW TO SEARCH A LISTSERV'S ARCHIVES Many people asked for this so I post it again.... This is the best explanation I have found for how to search a LISTSERV's archives. It tells how to search the PACS-L list archives at UHUPVM1, but it works for all true listservs like ASIS-L. Just substitute ASIS-L for PACS-L, and UVMVM (or UVMVM.UVM.EDU) for UHUPVM1. All ASIS-L messages are iarchivedd using listserv software. Use this to 1) find messages you remember being posted but didn't save and need now 2) verify that a message made it to the list 3) research what people have been talking about, etc... Merri Beth Lavagnino, ASIS-L List owner ******************************************************************* How to Search the PACS-L Message Database By Charles W. Bailey, Jr. Here's a brief tutorial on how to search the PACS-L message database and retrieve information. To get a more complete explanation, send a message to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 that says: INFO DATABASE First, we are going to construct a batch job to search for all messages that have the term "Hypertext" in them, and we are going to ask for an "index" that will tell us which messages have this search term. To do so, we create an e-mail message with the following information in it, and we send it to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 (don't send it to PACS- L@UHUPVM1): // Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * Search Hypertext in PACS-L Index /* We get back two things. An e-mail message that tells us how the job went and the actual output file, called DATABASE OUTPUT. Here's the file: > Search Hypertext in PACS-L --> Database PACS-L, 137 hits. > Index Item # Date Time Recs Subject ------ ---- ---- ---- ------- 000022 89/06/30 08:31 306 Common Knowledge Info. 000047 89/07/07 08:15 18 Hypertext Conference 000075 89/07/12 17:13 21 Hypertext & Hypermedia Articles 000088 89/07/13 16:19 17 CD-ROM Expo '89 000194 89/07/22 14:11 25 Hyperdoc 000248 89/07/30 20:00 23 Hypertext Hands-On! 000251 89/07/31 12:52 14 Re: Hypertext Hands-On! 000253 89/07/31 15:04 47 Was: Hypertext Hands-On! 000267 89/08/03 09:38 24 A New Journal -- Hypermedia 000311 89/08/11 12:18 23 Hypermedia & Optical Tech. Resources 000338 89/08/17 11:37 33 Hypermedia/Multimedia [The rest of the list is omitted.] We decide we want to see number 267 (the messages are numbered at the left). So we send a second job to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 with the fllowing lines in it: // Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * Search Hypertext in PACS-L Print all of 267 /* We get back both an e-mail job status message and a file. The file contains the entire retrieved PACS-L message. Here's the message text. > Search Hypertext in PACS-L --> Database PACS-L, 137 hits. > Print all of 267 >>> Item number 267, dated 89/08/03 09:38:14 -- ALL [The retrieved message is here.] To print multiple messages, just add the additional numbers: Print all of 267 311 You can use these examples as JCL templates for your own searches. I have two template files (one per job stage) that I edit and "include" in the appropriate e-mail message for the server. Here's a brief summary of some more advanced search features. The Boolean "AND" operator is implicit: Search hypertext hypermedia in PACS-L You can also make the "AND" operator explicit: Search hypertext AND hypermedia in PACS-L The Boolean "OR" operator is explicit: Search hypertext OR hypermedia in PACS-L The Boolean "NOT" operator is also explicit: Search hypertext NOT hypermedia in PACS-L Terms can be nested: Search (hypertext OR hypermedia) AND multimedia in PACS-L You can also limit searches in the PACS-L message database by date. The first technique is to search for records in a date range. As you recall, the search request is sent to LISTSERV@UHUPVM1 as an e- mail message. Note how the dates are constructed. // Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * Search Hypertext in PACS-L from 91/1/1 to 91/4/30 Index /* Another technique is to request messages since a specified date. Here is a sample search: // Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * Search Hypertext in PACS-L since 1/91 Index /* A final technique uses the asterisk wildcard character to retrieve all messages in a date range: // Database Search DD=Rules //Rules DD * Search * in PACS-L from 91/4/1 to 91/4/30 Index /* This search results in a handy index of all the PACS-L messages sent out in April 1991. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (C) 1991 by Charles W. Bailey, Jr. All Rights Reserved. Copying is permitted for noncommercial use by computer conferences, individual scholars, and libraries. This message must appear on all copied material. All commercial use requires permission. +------------------------------------------------------------+ | Charles W. Bailey, Jr. Voice: (713) 749-4241 | | Assistant Director For Systems FAX: (713) 749-3867 | | University Libraries BITNET: LIB3@UHUPVM1 | | University of Houston CompuServe: 71161,3410 | | Houston, TX 77204-2091 | |------------------------------------------------------------| | PACS-L Moderator (PACS-L@UHUPVM1) | | Editor-in-Chief, The Public-Access Computer Systems Review | | Co-Editor, Public-Access Computer Systems News | +------------------------------------------------------------+ Rev. 5/26/91 [Repost from ASIS-L] [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] /////////////////////////////////////////// / MEETINGS/CONFERENCES/EXHIBITIONS/EVENTS / /////////////////////////////////////////// PROJECTS ~~~~~~~~ BALT-INFO PROJECT GETS UNDER WAY The RFE/RL Research Institute is pleased to announce the creation of BALT-INFO. Funded in part by an IREX Special Project Grant, BALT-INFO is an electronic user's network using existing INTERNET resources to connect Baltic Area librarians and information specialists in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia with their counterparts in the West. Our intent is to emphasize participation by Baltic users and to aid in improving the existing but inadequate communication links between major research libraries in the Baltic states. During its initial phase, BALT-INFO hopes to become an open forum for exchanging information about Baltic-related library resources and librarianship, as well as an electronic tool to help librarians find information about the Baltic. BALT-INFO is *not* intended to replace or overlap existing information distribution sources like the BALT-L discussion list. As BALT-INFO grows, it will welcome any interested researchers working in the field of Baltic Studies, in an attempt to electronically link information providers with information seekers. Every major research library in the Baltic, with the exception of the National Library of Latvia, has an email connection to BALT-INFO and to the INTERNET. (Full access to the INTERNET is relatively widespread in Estonia, less so in Latvia, and is only just beginning in Lithuania.) As an electronic network of Baltic librarians, BALT-INFO will help participating libraries exchange information and concerns related to acquisitions, cataloging, reference services, and any other aspect of librarianship. BALT-INFO will also try to help researchers locate Baltic-related bibliographic citations or library resources as well as attempt to answer relevant reference requests. BALT-INFO will also serve as a forum for announcing Baltic-related conferences, grants, and other possible funding sources for librarians and researchers in the field. Whenever possible, information about any identifiable Baltic-related INTERNET resources or databases will also be posted. The BALT-INFO Project will last for about one year (until September 30, 1994). During this time, IREX funding will be used to upgrade or establish INTERNET links for participating research libraries in the Baltic. IREX funding for INTERNET training has also been made available, and Dawn Mann of RFE-RL will conduct three three-day workshops (one each in Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius). She will also visit BALT-INFO participants in Tartu (Estonia) and Kaunas (Lithuania). If you are interested in being added to BALT-INFO's electronic mailing list or would like more information, please contact Dawn Mann via the INTERNET at MANND@RFERL.ORG [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] SCHEDULE OF "GLOBAL LECTURE HALL" VIDEOCONFERENCE ON 8/21/93 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 24, 1993 CONTACT: TAKESHI UTSUMI Chairman, GLOSAS/USA 718-939-0928 "Global Lecture Hall" (GLH) (TM) (multipoint-to-multipoint multimedia interactive videoconference) of The U.S.-Russian Electronic Distance Education System (EDES) at the occasion of TELETEACHING'93 Trondheim, Norway Date: Saturday, August 21, 1993 ~~~~~ Time: 15:30 to 18:00 (Trondheim time) ~~~~~ 9:30 to 12:00 noon (EDT/USA) Range: North, Central and South America; Western, Northern, Central and ~~~~~~ Eastern Europe, Russia, and the Baltic -- with 7 satellites and 10 transponders (Ku- and/or C-band in analog, but digital in Latin America), ranging from Fairbanks, Alaska to Buenos Aires, Argenti- na, and from the West Coast of Americas to Moscow, Russia. (Europe and Baltic depend on the footprints of satellites we are now confirming.) I. SCHEDULES (in EDT/USA) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part 1 ~~~~~~ 9:30 "Philosophy of Global (electronic) University" Dr. Takeshi Utsumi, President of the Global University/USA 9:45 Panel Discussion: "Compressed Digital Video, Its Quality and Ap- plicability to Instructional Television" Moderator: Dr. Tom McCall, Director of R & D National Technological University Fort Collins, CO Panelists: Professor F. Lawrence Bennett, P.E., Head, Engineering and Science Management University of Alaska Fairbanks, AK Professor Russell Mersereau Electrical Engineering Department Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 10:15 Questions and Answers Part 2 ~~~~~~ 10:30 "International and Distance Education Opportunities at Algonquin College (Ottawa)." Professor Anton Ljutic, Department of Economics, Champlain Regional College, Ottawa, Canada 10:45 "Demonstration of videoconference via packet-switching networks" Professor Kevin Jeffay, Computer Science Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 11:00 "Demonstration of CUSeeMe videoconference via Internet" Dr. Richard Cogger, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 11:15 "Advanced Communications Technology Satellite" (ACTS) of NASA A video show 11:30 "Fulbright Task Force (tentative title)" Dr. David A. Johnson, Chair of Fulbright Association Task Force on East Central Europe and the Former Soviet Union, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (tentative). 11:45 Questions and Answers 11:55 Closing Remark Dr. Takeshi Utsumi, President of the Global University/USA 12:00 Closing II. DESCRIPTIONS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) In the first part, the panelists from different locations will simulta- neously uplink to a single satellite transponder using compressed digital video (CDV) technology. Their videos will be put into three split windows, and all of windows into a composite video which analog signal will be sent to Russian students in Moscow through Brown Univer- sity's digital video link with Moscow Space Institute and at the same time be broadcast to TeleTeaching'93 attendees in Trondheim, Norway, and to Central and South America. The fourth window will alternate between the video (color and full-motion) of Russian students brought back via Brown University and California State University in Sacramento, and the slow-scan TV image of TeleTeaching'93 attendees brought back via ordinary telephone line. The objectives are to demonstrate the cost effectiveness of the CDV technology and to provide a face-to-face meeting via satellite for prospective faculty and students of EDES. (2) In the second part, Professor Jeffay will demonstrate the potential of the new color, full-motion videoconferencing technology via a packet- switching data communication network, without use of satellite nor dish antenna, albeit limited range yet. Dr. Cogger will also demonstrate CUSeeMe (pronounce "See You See Me") black and white videoconference with Macintosh via Internet, ranging from the West Coast to Moscow, Canada to New York, with 8 participants in individual windows. The computer screen will be broadcast via satellite for worldwide viewing. A video of NASA's "Advanced Communications Technology Satellite" (ACTS) will also be broadcast. ACTS enables 1 giga bits per second high speed transmission with on-board processing and switching, using multiple high-powered spot beams and small, low-cost ground terminals. There will also be presentations by Professor Ljutic from Ottawa, Canada, and by Professor Johnson from Knoxville, Tennessee. III. PARTICIPATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) If you have a dish antenna and our satellite foot-prints cover your area, you can receive our video signal. (2) If you are in Central and South America, and the Caribbean, please ask Takeshi Utsumi the location of a viewing room of PANAM's affiliate in your city. (3) Other than participation fee, all participants have to be responsible for the costs of (a) down/uplinking from/to satellites; (b) telephone call to Colorado State University (CSU), our videoconference center, in Fort Collins, CO, for Q&A; and (c) sending fax to CSU for backstage coordination. **************************************** ---------------- ----- ----------------- - 1 - -----------< T H E R E G I S T R A T I O N F O R M >-------------- "Global Lecture Hall" (GLH) (TM) of The U.S.-Russian Electronic Distance Education System (EDES) at the occasion of TELETEACHING'93 Trondheim, Norway August 21, 1993 I. REGISTRATION (1) REGISTRANT: NAME: _____________________________________________________________________ TITLE: ____________________________________________________________________ ORGANIZATION: _____________________________________________________________ ADDRESS: __________________________________________________________________ CITY: _________________________ STATE: _____ ZIP CODE: __________________ COUNTRY: ______________________ PHONE: ________________________ FAX: ___________________________________ E-MAIL ADDRESS(ES): _______________________________________________________ (2) PRIMARY RECEIVING SITE: LOCATION: _________________________________________________________________ SITE COORDINATOR: _________________________________________________________ RAISING QUESTION PHONE NUMBER: ____________________________________________ COORDINATION FAX NUMBER: __________________________________________________ EMERGENCY PHONE NUMBER: ___________________________________________________ TECHNICAL SUPPORT PHONE NUMBER: ___________________________________________ (3) POTENTIAL MEDIA USAGE (check all that apply): SATELLITE DOWNLINK: _______ C-BAND: _________ KU-BAND: __________________ SATELLITE UPLINK: _______ C-BAND: _________ KU-BAND: __________________ SATELLITES USED: __________________________________________________________ OTHER VIDEO EQUIPMENT: ____________________________________________________ - 2 - II. PARTICIPATION FEE (1) Primary Receiving Site: (A) [ ] Non-profit organization: (i) Pre-college level: [ ] GLOSAS/USA member (*) . . . . . . . . U.S.$150. [ ] Non GLOSAS/USA member . . . . . . . . . . . 200. (ii) College and university level up: [ ] GLOSAS/USA member (*) . . . . . . . . . . . 300. [ ] Non GLOSAS/USA member . . . . . . . . . . . 400. (B) [ ] Profit-oriented organization: [ ] GLOSAS/USA member (*) . . . . . . . . . . . 600. [ ] Non GLOSAS/USA member . . . . . . . . . . . 800. (*): Educational Professional members ($100) or up. (2) Secondary and Other Receiving Sites Connected to Primary Site or of "In- Company" Network System: (A) Secondary site . . . . . . . . . . 50% of the "Primary site fee." (B) Other sites . . . . . . . 25% of the "Primary site fee" per site. If this creates a problem, please write to GLOSAS/USA -- especially those people in under-served Third World countries. III. PAYMENT (1) Primary site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __________ (2) Secondary site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __________ (3) Other sites (No. of sites ___ X 25% of "Primary site fee") . __________ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . __________ Enclosed is my (our) check made payable to "GLOSAS/USA" for the partici- pation of GLH on August 21st, 1993. Total enclosed: . . . . . . $__________ IV. OTHERS [ ] Please bill me (us) using the Purchase Order Number: _____________ [ ] Please inform me technical specifications of satellite from which we can receive the signal of GLH. [ ] Enclosed is my separate check ($100) made payable to "GLOSAS/USA" for the Educational Professional membership. [ ] Please send me the application form of GLOSAS/USA membership. [ ] Please send me information about the U.S.-Russia EDES project and list me in the mailing list of the project. Return address: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr. Takeshi Utsumi, President Global University in the U.S.A. (GU/USA) A Divisional Activity of GLOSAS/USA (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A. Tel: +001-718-939-0928 Email: utsumi@columbia.edu [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] GOING GLOBAL FOR YOUTH My organization, The Phoenix Institute for Global Entrepreneurship, is interesting in forming alliances with organtizations interested in promoting economic development through education and training in global entreprenuership using information technologies. The staff of the Phoenix Institute has over 20 years experience promoting international and regional trade in the United States. We have developed a highly successful bulletin board system which is operated on an IBM-compatible PC and several modems. This BBS, called GEITWay, contains hundreds of market and industry studies developed by the U.S. government, including the Departments of State, Commerce, Agriculture and the Central Intelligence Agency. We also lists hundreds of opportunities to buy, sell and represent goods and services, collected by the U.S. government from around the world. In addition, the Phoenix Institute has developed several courses for teaching global entrepreneurship to local government leaders, educators and senior secondary school and university students. These courses, in particular our Global Awareness and Network Training (GANT) course are delivered online. All of our courses place a heavy emphasis on the local community, its people, institutions and economy. Recently we placed much of the aforementioned information on the Internet. This was intended to make the information available for individuals and organizations around the world. We are hoping to find organizations that are interested in the exchange of information, ideas and programs in the areas of community and economic development, international trade, global entrepreneurship and information technologies. We especially believe that information technologies will play a key role in helping developing economies make the transition from local to international trade. We are also especially interested in programs involving senior youth (ages 14-20). We are designing special courses for these youth in entrepreneurship and information technologies. If you know of such organizations, or of individuals, who would find our material useful and/or would like to discuss mutually beneficial opprotunities for promoting education and research in the areas of global entrepreneurship and information technologies, please ask them to notify us by elaving E-mail at Internet address SMDUBRO@SLVAXA.UMSL.EDU. Thank you. Rabbi Michael L. DuBrow Executive Director [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] NPTN AND COMMUNITY COMPUTING The National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) The concept behind NPTN is not new. You are probably familiar with National Public Radio and Public Broadcasting on T.V. To understand NPTN, simply substitute community computer systems for radio or television stations, and you have the core of what we hope to accomplish--with two important differences. First, unlike NPR or PBS, we are NOT subsidized by the government; and second, unlike radio and television, our medium, telecomputing, is not yet as well established. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which is funded completely by voluntary membership dues from the users of our community computer systems, corporate and foundation grants, individual donations, and other fund-raising activities. Objectives NPTN has established specific objectives in three major areas: 1. To assist organizers in cities throughout the U.S. and the world in establishing free, open access, community computer systems. (For example: NPTN has established affiliates in Twelve U.S. cities, with another 11 or so cities scheduled to go online in the next 12 months.) 2. To link those systems together into a common network similar to National Public Radio or PBS on T.V. (For example: NPTN has establish networkwide electronic mail and "cybercasting" services to all affiliates.) (N.B. "Cybercasting" refers to the regular dissemination of information and communication services to NPTN affiliates. These services function like network feeds in the radio and television industry, where local station programming is supplemented on a regular basis by high quality network programs. Examples would include: Project Hermes, U.S. Supreme Court Decisions; the Congressional Memory, reports on legislation in Congress; USA TODAY electronic news service, etc.) 3. To establish networkwide special services and programs which take advantage of the unique strengths of telecomputing as a medium. (For example: Academy One, our K-12 education network; and the Teledemocracy Project.) Organizational Status The National Public Telecomputing Network is an Ohio nonprofit corporation, and has received 501(c)(3) tax exemption status from the Federal Government. While NPTN has its origins at Case Western Reserve University, the two are separate and distinct entities. NPTN is governed by a seven member Board of Directors and by an Affiliate Council which consists of one delegate from each NPTN system. The Affiliate Council advises the corporation on matters of policy and procedure and, each year, elects people to the Board of Directors. The current President and Chairman of the Board of NPTN is its founder, Dr. Tom Grundner. NPTN is funded by voluntary membership dues from the users of our community computer systems, corporate and foundation grants and donations, and other fund-raising activities. Background NPTN has its origins in a series of research projects conducted at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) in Cleveland, Ohio. The initial project began in the fall of 1984 when Dr. Tom Grundner, then of CWRU's Department of Family Medicine, set up a single phone line, computerized, "bulletin board" system called "St. Silicon's Hospital and Information Dispensary" to test the effectiveness of telecomputing as a means of delivering health information to the public. The heart of the system was an interactive area where lay people could call in using their home, school, or business computers, leave medically-related questions, and have them answered by a board certified family physician within 24 hours. The experiment proved so successful that it attracted the attention of the Information Systems Division of AT&T and the Ohio Bell Telephone Company, who supported a larger project to expand and develop this interactive concept. Based on these donations, Dr. Grundner began work on a full-scale "community computer system" on an AT&T 3B2/400 computer with ten incoming phone lines. The initial system was designed to serve as a community information resource in areas as diverse as law, medicine, education, arts, sciences, and government-- including free electronic mail services for the citizens of northeast Ohio. On July 16, 1986, this system, called the "Free- Net" was opened by Ohio Governor Richard Celeste and Cleveland Mayor George Voinovich and the project was officially underway. Version I of the Cleveland Free-Net gathered over 7000 registered users from throughout the Cleveland metropolitan area and handled between 500-600 calls per day. In 1989, however, it moved into a second phase of development in a big way. A new system was designed around six IBM-RT (Model 135) computers which would be linked together so that, from the user's standpoint, they would appear as one big machine. This new system would provide the Cleveland Free-Net with 96 megabytes of RAM (96 million characters of Random Access Memory), over five gigabytes of hard disk storage (five billion characters of hard disk), and would be easily capable of supporting over 180 simultaneous users. In August, 1989 the Cleveland super-system opened on 48 phone lines--32 designated for the community, 16 for CWRU faculty and students--plus a connection to the Internet and to CWRU's fiber- optic campus network called CWRUnet. Within a year the system was averaging well over 3000 logins a day... then 4000 a day... then 5000... until today the Cleveland Free-Net routinely hosts over 9000 logins a day. One of the central tenets of the project from the very beginning was that, if we were successful, we would attempt to give the software and our methodology the widest possible dissemination. With that goal in mind, in September 1989, the National Public Telecomputing Network was formed. In July, 1986 the Cleveland Free-Net went online. In July, 1987, the Youngstown Free-Net began operation. In the first four months of 1990 we brought three more systems into the network: TriState Online in Cincinnati, Ohio; The Heartland Free-Net in Peoria, Illinois; and the Medina County Free-Net in Medina, Ohio -- our first rural system. From these beginnings, NPTN continues to develop and grow as the nation's first free public-access telecomputing network The Concept of Community Computing The development of community computer systems represents a new application in computing. A multi-user computer is established at a central location and the machine is connected to the telephone system through a series of devices called modems. Running on the machine is a computer program that provides its users with everything from electronic mail services to information about health care, education, technology, government, recreation, or just about anything else the host operators would like to place on the machine. Anyone in the community with access to a home, office, or school computer and a modem can contact the system 24 hours a day. They simply dial a central phone number, make connection, and a series of menus appear on the screen which allows them to select the information or communication services they would like. All of it is free and all of it can easily be accomplished by a first- time user. The key to the economics of operating a community computer system is the fact that the system is literally run by the community itself. Everything that appears on one of these machines is there because there are individuals or organizations in the community who are prepared to contribute their time, effort, and expertise to place it there and operate it over time. This, of course, is in contrast to the commercial services which have very high personnel and information-acquisition costs and must pass those costs on to the consumer. Couple this volunteerism with the rapidly-dropping costs of computing power, with the use of inexpensive transmission technology, and public access computing becomes an economically viable entity. A Civic Utility: Potential Impact on the Community. Who, exactly, benefits from community computing? To cite just a few examples: * The Citizens of a Given Community: First and foremost, these community computer systems open up information services to very large populations that would otherwise not be able to afford it. The cost of utilizing a Free-Net community computer consists of the cost of having standard telephone service in the home, school, or business, plus the price of the equipment needed to get online. Minimum equipment is now well under $250 virtually anywhere, and that is assuming the person purchases new. If a person wishes to attend a few garage sales, flea markets, or computer fairs, it could be considerably less. With the addition of public access terminals in a city, anyone would be able to utilize one of these systems. * Public and Private Schools: Via community computers, school systems finally have a cost-effective way to teach telecomputing to their students, thereby sending a new generation of information- literate citizens into the work force. In addition, these systems allow students, teachers, parents, and administrators to communicate with each other and have access to information bases of interest and importance. * Government: Community computers provide citizens with an inexpensive and rapid way to make contact with their elected representatives at the city, county, state, and national levels-- contacts which include everything from obtaining information on governmental services to providing access to tax-payer supported, governmentally-produced databases. It should also be pointed out that these communications are not one way. Elected representatives and other officials also have the ability to electronically communicate with their constituents. * Small- and Medium-sized Businesses: Most major corporations have electronic mail and other computer-driven information services at their disposal. Most small- and medium-sized businesses do not. With a Free-Net system in place, these smaller enterprises are finally able to afford to link their operations together via Free-Net electronic mail services and have access to a variety of useful business databases--something that cannot help but improve the business infrastructure of any city. * The Agricultural Community: Among the segments in our society that were the first to embrace computing were our farmers. The reason was obvious. Farmers are business people too, but they have the disadvantage of, in general, being dispersed over wide geographic areas. A Free-Net system in a central location in a county allows the agricultural community to access common information bases, share solutions to farm-related problems, access up-to-date crop and price information, and make electronic connection with the County Agent and each other--all without ever leaving home. * The Telecommunications and Videotex Industry: For years the commercial videotex industry has been dividing, sub-dividing, and sub-sub-dividing essentially the same "up-scale" demographic group: $50,000+ yearly household incomes, very well educated, overwhelmingly white, and overwhelmingly male. If the industry is to survive and flourish, however, it is going to have to find a way to penetrate the middle class with its services. Free-Net community computers do exactly that. On the Cleveland system, for example, we draw as many users out of the demographically blue collar areas of the city as we do out of the wealthier sections. Demographic penetration such as this, on a nationwide basis, is vital if the telecomputing and videotex industry is to survive into the 21st century. It is also important to the telephone industry, which has spent millions of dollars on "gateway" technology, that telecomputing flourish and that their services be used. * Community Organizations and Institutions: Each Free-Net is set up using an "Electronic City" motif. That motif was not selected by accident. To one degree or another, virtually every institution in society has an information dissemination function of some kind--a need to tell others about itself and share its knowledge. The Free-Net makes it possible for any and all of them to utilize a new medium to accomplish that goal. From artistic and cultural organizations to medical institutions to hobbyists of all kinds, all can find a place on a community computer. The Greening of a Medium As a result our experience in working with and developing these systems, we have learned several very important things. First, it is clear that these community computers represent the leading edge of what can only be described as a new telecommunica- tions medium. Telecomputing is not radio, not television, not print, but has characteristics of all three plus additional ones all its own. This fact alone will inevitably lead to developments and uses that we cannot now even begin to imagine. Second, it is clear that a critical mass of people now exist who are prepared to utilize this new medium. As more and more modem-equipped microcomputers penetrate the home and especially the work environment, the utility of public-access computerized information services goes up. And third, there is a certain sense of inevitability to the development of community computing. Simply stated, we find ourselves unable to imagine a 21st century in which we do NOT have community computer systems, just as this century has had public libraries. Moreover, we believe that the community computer, as a resource, will have at least as much impact on the next century as the public library has had on ours. The library analogy we just used is equally valid as an historical analogy. In the latter part of the last century there was no such thing as the free public library, at least not as we know it today. Eventually the literacy rate became high enough (and the cost of books became cheap enough) that the public library became feasible. People in cities and towns all across the country banded together to make free public access to the printed word a reality. The result was a legacy from which virtually every person reading this document has, at one point or another, benefited. We believe it is time to leave a legacy of our own. We believe we have reached the point where computer "literacy" has gotten high enough (and the cost of equipment low enough) that a similar demand has formed for free, public-access, computerized information systems. Indeed, we believe we have reached a point where the question is no longer whether it will happen; the question is "who" and "when." Who will do it and when will it happen? The National Public Telecomputing Network exists to make free public access to computerized communications and information services a reality--to hand down a legacy to our children's children as great as the one handed to us. ______ For More Information: Please feel free to contact us at the following: T.M. Grundner, Ed.D Voice: (216) 247-5800 President, NPTN FAX: (216) 247-3328 Box 1987 Internet: info@nptn.org Cleveland, Ohio 44106. (tmg@nptn.org) -------------- Robert Mathews. Voice :(808) 921-2097 Chairman - Steering Committee, Message :(808) 533-3969 The Pacific Network Consortium Ltd. Fax :(808) 921-2035 Suites 814 & 815, Internet :bm189@po.CWRU.EDU Honolulu, Hawaii 96815. Bitnet :bm189%po.CWRU.EDU@cunyvm =========================================================================== THE NATIONAL PUBLIC TELECOMPUTING NETWORK --- MISSION STATEMENT ----------------- The National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN) is a non- profit organization dedicated to establishing and developing free, public access, computerized information and communication services for the general public. To that end, objectives have been established in three major areas: 1. To assist organizers in cities throughout the U.S. and the world in establishing free, open access, community computer systems. (For example: NPTN has established affiliates in more than 12 U.S. cities, with another 30+ cities scheduled to go online.) 2. To link those systems together into a common network similar to National Public Radio or PBS on T.V. (For example: NPTN has established networkwide electronic mail and "cybercasting" services to all affiliates.) (N.B. "Cybercasting" refers to the regular dissemination of information and communication services to NPTN affiliates. These services function like network feeds in the radio and television industry, where local station programming is supplemented on a regular basis by high quality network programs. Examples would include: Project Hermes, U.S. Supreme Court Decisions; the Congressional Memory, reports on legislation in Congress; USA TODAY electronic news service, etc.) 3. To establish networkwide special services and programs which take advantage of the unique strengths of telecomputing as a medium. (For example: Academy One, our K-12 education network; and the Teledemocracy Project.) NPTN TELEDEMOCRACY PROGRAM: SUMMARY Engraved in stone across the entrance to the Library of Congress are these words by James Madison: "A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives." The men who founded this country knew how well those words applied to the major medium of their day, the printed word. Those who followed made similar use of other communications media, such as radio and television, to further close the gap between governor and governed. In our generation we are faced with the development of yet another major means of communications, a new medium, known as telecomputing. What remains to be seen is how this medium will be used to enhance the democratic process. The purpose of the NPTN Teledemocracy Project is to explore that question. For the past six years researchers at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) have been developing a highly cost-efficient means of delivering computerized information and communications services to the community. This work has resulted in two major products. The first is the Cleveland Free-Net, the nation's first completely free, open-access, community computer system; and second, the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN), a spin- off nonprofit organization, which establishes Free-Net community computer systems in other cities and links them together into a common network. These systems work as follows: A multi-user computer is established at a central location and is connected to the telephone system through a series of devices known as modems. Running on this machine is a program which provides its users with everything from electronic mail services, to information about health care, education, technology, recreation, law, or just about anything else the host operators would like to place on the machine. Anyone in the community with access to a home, office, or school computer can connect to the system, 24 hours a day, and utilize these services. All of it is free, and all of it can easily be accomplished by a first-time user. The first such system, the Cleveland Free-Net, is now a major communications and information resource serving northeast Ohio, averaging over 9000+ logins a day from a registered user base of over 65,000+ people. NPTN has more than Twelve systems formally affiliated with it. They are in Cleveland, Youngstown, Cincinnati, Medina County and Lorain County - Ohio, Peoria - Illinois, Dillion - Montana, Fargo - North Dakota, Denver - Colorado, Columbia - Missouri, The California Online Resources for Education - CORE: Seal Beach - California, Wellington - New Zealand, Victoria and Ottowa - Canada, Buffalo - New York, Tallahasse - Florida and VA-PEN: Richmond - Virginia. Further we expect to add at least another <5> systems by the end of this calendar year. Systems in Germany, Finland and Singapore are presently under organisation. We are expected to add 12+ systems before the end of next. These systems represent, in effect, the laboratory from which the project is run. The Teledemocracy Project is proceeding in three distinct stages: Stage One has involved us in establishing several significant governmental information services on each of the public access community computer systems. Stage two, called "Campaign '90," involved us in studying how these public access computers can best be utilized by candidates for public office to interact with the electorate, and by the electorate to learn more about the candidates. Stage three will involve two major branches. The first will be to establish "electronic office space" for as many public officials and city/county governments as we can, in order to study the interaction between these elected officials and their constituencies over time. The second branch will involve us with a major educational campaign whereby curricula will be devised at levels ranging from secondary schools, to college, to adult education classes, which will teach even more people how to use this technology to become better citizens. STAGE ONE: Stage One involved us in establishing several major governmental information services across the NPTN network. The two most notable of these were the Congressional Memory Project and Project Hermes. The Congressional Memory Project is a service being carried out by NPTN in conjunction with the Washington Times Corporation. Each week six congressional bills are summarized (three on the House side and three on the Senate) and placed on each of the NPTN community computer systems. Along with each bill is a list showing how each member of the Ohio (or Illinois) congressional delegation voted on that measure. These bills are searchable by subject and, within each file, by keyword. As with all Free-Net services, they may be viewed by any member of the community who wishes to call in and use the system. At the moment there are about 65 bills in the database with six more being added each week. Money is being sought to type in these bills retrospectively going back to at least January 1st, 1990. We suspect that this service, which is already very popular, will find increasing interest as election time draws near. Project Hermes is a service being provided by the U.S. Supreme Court whereby decisions are sent electronically to CWRU within minutes of their release by the Court. CWRU, in turn, processes and makes them available to a large list of academic institutions throughout the country, as well as posts them on each of the NPTN affiliated community computer systems. Thus, via Project Hermes, citizens throughout Ohio and the nation can be reading the full-text of Supreme Court decisions within 15-20 minutes of their release in Washington D.C. This represents a governmentally-related information resource which, heretofore, was utterly unavailable to the average citizen without going to a specialized library, usually months after a decision was rendered. Other Stage One activities include: making electronically available to the business community a wide variety of U.S. Department of Commerce weekly economic data; and, hopefully soon, providing a service similar to Project Hermes for the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Ohio Supreme Court. STAGE TWO Stage two of the Teledemocracy Project was dubbed "Campaign '90." Campaign '90 actually began during the 1990 presidential campaign when both major candidates were criticized by the press for not making their positions clear with regard to the substantive issues of the day. The candidates, in turn criticized the press for not utilizing the myriad position papers and other documents they produced. During Campaign '90; we launched a concerted effort to collect and archive on each Free-Net system any and all documents released by the major candidates which dealt with their position on various issues. Most recently, "Campaign '92" - watched over and reported a timely and accurate perspective on the U.S. Presidential election. These files were searchable and downloadable by the electorate. The two major gubernatorial candidates in Ohio were especially invited to participate in this forum; and, with the cooperation of the Ohio League of Women Voters we were able to provide at least a capsule sketch of all candidates running for office at whatever level in each relevant county. But telecomputing is an interactive medium so, in addition to these static files, we will offer all major candidates "electronic campaign office space" on at least the Cleveland system whereby they will not only be able to post their press releases, etc. but will be able to engage in a question and answer dialogue with the electorate. If sufficient funds can be located, we would also like to involve area high school and college government classes in this process as well. This has been the first use anywhere of free open-access community computer systems to directly enhance the electoral process; and continually presents a marvelous opportunity to learn more about their effectiveness in this role. STAGE THREE As mentioned above, Stage three will involve two major branches. In the first we will begin a long-term program to establish permanent electronic office space for as many public officials and city/county governments as we can. This will allow cities and counties to post information about its services and facilities, provide information services to its citizens such as City/County Council meeting minutes, and have question and answer forums available where officials can clear-up the many questions and problems that people have. It will also allow elected representatives from Washington and Columbus to have electronic mail contact with their constituents and be able to post, among other things, summaries of their activities. In this regard, we already have online several city and/or county governments in the tri-state area around Cincinnati, in Medina County, and in Cleveland. The second branch will involve us with a major educational campaign whereby curricula will be devised at levels ranging from secondary schools, to college, to adult education classes, which will teach even more people how to use this technology to make them better citizens. This will, however, involve a larger funding base than what is available to us at the moment. Whether we are going to enter an Information Age is no longer at issue. We are. The only question which remains is what we, as a nation and as a society, are going to do about it. The Teledemocracy Project is one small attempt at developing the technology necessary to bring the citizens of all states into that Information Age and study the impact of this new technology on the governmental process. There is no way we can imagine a governmental structure of the 21st Century which does NOT include telecomputing as one means of communicating with and informing the people; and, if that is so, then let that developmental process begin now. [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] CALL FOR PAPERS/PARTICIPATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UM-94: FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON USER MODELING UM-94: Call for Papers and SIG Meeting Proposals FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON USER MODELING Hyannis, Cape Cod, MA, U.S.A. August 15-19, 1994 Research in the field of user modeling and user-adapted interaction provides crucial foundations for improving the usability of interactive software systems and technical devices in many application areas. UM-94, the Fourth International Conference on User Modeling, will offer a forum for presenting the results of academic and industrial research in this field to an international audience. Whereas UM-86, UM-90 and UM-92 were invitational workshops, UM-94 will be a conference with open participation. Much of the original character will be preserved, however, by holding the meeting in a workshop-like setting, with ample room for presentations, special interest group meetings and system demonstrations. Submissions are invited on original and substantial academic or industrial research on all aspects of user modeling and user-adapted interaction, including (but not limited to) the following topic areas: user model acquisition, plan and intent recognition, user stereotypes, representation of user models, inference, consistency of user models, user modeling shell systems, explanation generation, intelligent/adaptive user interfaces, intelligent tutoring systems, navigational aids, adaptive hypertext and hypermedia, information retrieval and information filtering, knowledge-based information presentation, natural-language systems, and applications in office machines and consumer electronics. Accepted submissions will be published in a proceedings volume. Extended versions of high-quality papers should be submitted to the international journal User Modeling and User-Adapted Interaction after the conference. General and Local Arrangements Chair: Brad Goodman, The MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA, USA Program Chairpersons: Alfred Kobsa, University of Konstanz, Germany Diane Litman, ATT Bell Labs, Murray Hill, NJ, USA Program committee: Doug Appelt, SRI, Stanford, CA, USA Peter Brusilovsky, ICSTI, Moscow, Russia David Chin, University of Hawaii, USA Michael Desmarais, CRIM, Montreal, Canada Mark Elsom-Cook, EBC, Leeds, England Jim Foley, Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA, USA A. Jameson, Univ. of Saarbrucken, Germany Andrew Jennings, Telstra, Melbourne, Australia Craig Kaplan, IBM, San Jose, CA, USA Bob Kass, EDS, Troy, MI, USA Uwe Malinowski, Siemens, Munich, Germany Cecile Paris, ISI, Marina del Rey, CA, USA Karen Sparck Jones, Univ. of Cambridge, England Carlo Tasso, University of Udine, Italy Junichi Toyoda, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Japan Sherman Tyler, NASA Ames Res. Ctr., CA, USA Gerrit van der Veer, Free University, Netherlands Submission of papers: Submissions should be no longer than 12 pages in length (excluding title page and references), and should use a font no smaller than 12-point. Five (5) hardcopies should be sent to Alfred Kobsa, University of Konstanz, P.O. Box 5560-D73, D-78434 Konstanz, Germany. Papers should include the authors' postal and email addresses as well as their phone and fax numbers. Authors are strongly encouraged to also send an electronic abstract of their papers to um94-abstracts@inf-wiss.uni-konstanz.de This will significantly aid the reviewing process by helping direct the papers to the most appropriate reviewers. If possible, authors should additionally transfer a Postscript version of their papers to the directory /incoming on the ftp server ftp.rz.uni-konstanz.de The name of the file should be the first author's last and first name, as: ..ps. The directory /incoming is unreadable for anonymous ftp users. Submission of proposals for special interest group meetings: Proposals of not more than one page should be submitted to Diane Litman, Room 2B-412, ATT Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Avenue, Murray Hill, NJ 07974, USA, diane@research.att.com. Electronic submissions are preferred. The proposals should include the proposed topic, an abstract, reasons for the usefulness of the meeting, and the names of several other participants who have agreed to participate in the proposed meeting. Registration of system demonstrations: Various platforms will be available for unrefereed system demonstrations. Prospective presenters should contact Brad Goodman (bgoodman@mitre.org) and specify their hardware and software requirements. Important deadlines: Feb. 28, 1994: hardcopy submissions to be received by Alfred Kobsa March 31, 1994: proposals for special interest group meetings to be received by Diane Litman May 1, 1994: notification of authors about acceptance or rejection June 15, 1994: final copies to be received by Brad Goodman June 30, 1994: system demonstrations to be registered with Brad Goodman Further information: Further information on the conference, including hotel reservation and travel directions, can be obtained from the automatic mail agent um94@mitre.org in due course. ------- Prof. Dr. Alfred Kobsa Knowledge-Based Information Systems kobsa@inf-wiss.uni-konstanz.de University of Konstanz Phone: +49 7531 88 3593 P.O. Box 5560-D73 Secretary & FAX: 88 3065 D-78434 Konstanz, Germany [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ALTERNATIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: WORK, SCHOOL, PLAY ***************** CALL FOR PROPOSALS ****************** Electronic Networking Special Interest Group (ENETSIG) American Educational Research Association New Orleans, April 4-8, 1994 Conference Theme: Alternative Learning Environments: Work, School, Play SIG Mission: "To facilitate communication regarding the development and use of electronic networking by educators, researchers, and others in the pursuit of their professional missions." In anticipation of presentation sessions at the 1994 AERA meeting in New Orleans, ENETSIG issues this call for proposals to be submitted for consideration. While the AERA CFP (see Educational Researcher, May, 1993) explicitly prohibits electronic submissions, the ENETSIG Program Committee has decided that, in keeping with the mission of ENETSIG and to demonstrate the viability of telecommunication capabilities in dealing with the program, ONLY electronic submissions will be considered. The ENETSIG Program Committee will consider proposals submitted as ASCII (text) files which otherwise conform to the guidelines presented in the AERA CFP. Special consideration will be given to proposals that include innovative use of telecommunications to enhance the presentation in New Orleans. Such innovations might include but are not limited to pre-meeting discussion of the presentation with the members of ENETSIG's email list or a plan to conduct follow-up discussions/research through enetsig@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu (the email address of the AERA E-NET SIG). Proposers are generally encouraged to consider the use of the SIG's email list or other telecommunication capabilities as part of their proposals. All matters of the Program Committee will be dealt with electronically until proposals have been selected for inclusion on the program. The Program Committee will then ask the selected presenters to submit a paper copy of the appropriate materials with the presenter's signature. To submit a proposal for consideration, send an ASCII file, with the appropriate cover sheet from below, to the Program Committee Chair, Don Soucy by August 3, 1993. Requests for assistance in the submission of the materials can be addressed to Please refer to the May 1993 Educational Researcher, pp 34-44, for general information on submissions. Submissions, including the appropriate cover sheet and the "2- to 3-page (8 1/2 x 11 paper) single-spaced summary" should be sent to dsoucy@unb.ca by August 3, 1993. If selected for inclusion on the program, presenters will be expected to make an ASCII copy of the paper(s) available for the /outgoing/enetsig anonymous ftp directory at ftp.hawaii.edu prior to the meeting in New Orleans, April 4-8, 1994. For AERA E-NET SIG: Daniel Blaine University of Hawaii at Manoa daniel@uhunix.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu daniel@uhunix.bitnet --------------------------------------------------------------------- APPENDIX [The Proposal Cover Sheets for Individual and Multiple-Presenter submissions are available as pro.paper and pro.sym, respectively, on anonymous ftp from ftp.hawaii.edu under the outgoing/enetsig directory. If you do not have ftp facility, you can send email to enetsig@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu or daniel@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu requesting the Cover Sheet files.] [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] CHASQUI: A JOURNAL OF LATIN AMERICA COMMUNICATIONS Call for Papers: Chasqui A Journal of Latin America Communications Submitted by: Gino Lofredo I am the Editor of Chasqui, a Journal on Latin American media and communications trends. We have been publishing without interruption since 1981 and our topics include developments in the cultural and communications industries in the region, new trends in alternative or community media, analysis and proposals of media policies in the region, the role of media in political developments, among many others. In fact Chasqui is a journal on Latin American affairs for students and researchers working on regional issues and international relations. I am requesting articles for our next issue to be published in October 1993. Our central topic will be Public and Educational Radio and Television Networks in the Industrialized countries particularly, in the US, Canada, Australia, UK, Denmark, Sweden and Germany. Background. Latin American countries are going through a period of radical transformation in their media legislation, property structures, and relations with regional and national governments. Alternative, community or popular media is searching for ways to survive in an unfriendly economic and political environment. In all countries scholars and professionals are looking for models of systems in which the national, state, and local government may join with private sector sponsors, listeners, and NGO's to create networks of educational, cultural and community radio and tv stations. The process is seen as part of ongoing democratization of the market, society and the political system. The industrialized countries of north America, Europe and Asia have built such systems of public service media over the past decades with different initial objectives and different achievements. We want to devote most of our next two issues to a critical review of these systems. The articles would be aimed at readers generally unfamiliar with media in the countries studied. The articles must be submitted to Chasqui by August 15, 1993 by fax, e-mail, or ordinary or express mail. The articles should be about 2400 words. Longer essays will be considered but may be edited down if needed. Articles may be submitted in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese or Italian. They will be translated for publication in Spanish. Also we are interested to learn of availability of essays or papers in other topics related to international telecommunications, academic/ research/other conferences, hotlines, new technologies, libraries virtual and otherwise, role of media in political developments in Latin America, media and development, media and education, etcetera. If you intend to present an article please indicate so ahead of time: length, one paragraph description, estimated date of transmittal/arrival, and a few lines on your professional background. Subscriptions are available for US$ 40, 72 and 96 for 1, 2, or 3 years. We are also offering complete collections (46 issues) at US$10.00 per issue for reference and specialized libraries. If you need additional information please contact Juana Ordonez by E-mail You may communicate with us as follows: Mail address: Gino Lofredo, Editor Chasqui/CIESPAL Casilla Postal 17-01-584 Quito, Ecuador Telephone: (5932) 506 149 or (5932) 505 920 FAX: (5932) 502 487 or (5932) 500 340 E-Mail: chasgino@ecuanex.ec [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] CONFERENCE: A PACIFIC ENCOUNTER/UN ENCUENTRO PACIFICO Conference Announcement: A Pacific Encounter/Un Encuentro Pacifico Submitted by: Katrina Beard Victoria University of Technology and University of Melbourne The Department of Communication and Language Studies at Victoria University of Technology, Victoria, Australia is holding a conference, "A Pacific Encounter/Un Encuentro Pacifico" on the 3rd and 4th of September, 1993. The Conference will concentrate on issues of Latin American culture, politics and business with a strong concentration on communication. The keynote speaker will be Carlos Monsivais. Other papers include: Prof. Enrique Sanchez Ruiz, President of Asociacion de Investigadores de la Comunicacion and Director of Communication Research at Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico speaking "Cultural Industries within NAFTA". Assoc Prof. John Sinclair, Communication and Language Studies, Victoria University of Technology, and Associate of CIRCUIT (Centre for International Research on Communication and Information Technologies), on "Television Markets of the Latin World." A wide range of papers dealing with the economic and political climate of Latin America, as well as special interest workshops including: "Latin America in the Media" and "Research Experiences in Latin America." There will be a Festival of Latin American films and a display of pre-Columbian artefacts loaned to us by the Mexican Embassy. For further information contact: Letitia Worley, Co-ordinator of Spanish studies, Department of Communication and Language Studies, Faculty of Arts, St Albans Campus, Victoria University of Technology, PO Box 14428, MMC, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Fax no: (03) 365 2242 or E-mail worle@stamail1.vut.edu.au [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] BOOK ON MEDIA AND SELF Call for Proposals: Book on Media and Self Submitted by: Debra Grodin Tom Lindlof and I are co-editing a book entitled Constructing the Self in a Mediated World. Lindlof is an associate professor of telecommunications at the University of Kentucky. I (Debra Grodin) am currently a visiting scholar at the University of Washington. We already have 10 chapters developed, and are looking for a few more contributions. Our intent is to bring together a diverse, provocative collection of theoretical and empirical studies organized around the theme of the self and mediated communication. Many scholars are recognizing the self (and its cognates: identity and subjectivity) as a problematic concept, particularly in light of poststructuralist criticism, among others. One of our primary interests is in the way in which self is socially constructed through media engagement. We are interested not only in media content, but in the way technologies shape the experience of self due to qualities such as mobility, interactivity, and progammability. We are now looking for contributions in the following areas (and we are also open to any other suggestions and /or leads readers may have). At this point in our search, we are particularly interested in a contribution that focuses on minorities. We are also looking for a chapter on the topic of children, media, and self. Please send inquiries and abstracts to Debra Grodin at DG4652@U.Washington.edu , no later than August 5. Mailing address is: Debra Grodin 14486 NE 58th St. Bellevue, WA. 98007 [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] SIGIR'94 CONFERENCE, DUBLIN, IRELAND C A L L F O R P A P E R S 17th International Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval -- SIGIR'94 Sponsored by Dublin City University in cooperation with ACM, BCS-IRSG, GI, AICA-GLIR, CEPIS-EIRSG and ICS The SIGIR'94 conference will take place in Dublin. Ireland, from 3rd to 6th July, 1994. This conference is a forum for the exchange of ideas and reporting of work done in areas related to information retrieval and covers information retrieval theory, user interface issues, multimedia, natural language processing, advanced techniques implementations and system issues, networked information retrieval, applications and many other areas. Program co-chairs are Prof. Keith van Rijsbergen (Glasgow U.) and Prof. W Bruce Croft (UMass). Contributions to the conference can be in the form of papers, panels, tutorials or workshops. The deadlines for submission are 6 January 1994 (papers) and 14 february 1994 (others). For a copy of the full call for papers send e-mail to sigir-cfp@ca.dcu.ie or contact the conference chair. Full details on submission formats for papers, panels, tutorials or workshops may be obtained by sending e-mail to sigir-format@ca.dcu.ie or contacting the general conference chair. To be added to the mailing list send e-mail to sigir-info@ca.dcu.ie. Conference Chair Dr Alan Smeaton Tel: +353 - 1 - 7045262 School of Computer Applications Fax: +353 - 1 - 7045442 Dublin City University, e-mail: asmeaton@ca.dcu.ie Glasnevin, Dublin 9, IRELAND [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] STSF '94: AN INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY THROUGH SCIENCE FICTION 1st Announcement and CALL FOR PAPERS STSF '94 An International Workshop on SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY through SCIENCE FICTION 22nd-23rd June 1994 - BARCELONA (Spain) Organized by: CONSELL SOCIAL (Board of Trustees) of Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC) in cooperation with: Software Department (UPC) Physics and Nuclear Engineering Department (UPC) WORLD SF (Hispanic Chapter) THE WORKSHOP: A good working definition of science fiction is "speculative extrapolation about the effect of science and technology on society." The aim of this International Workshop is to provide a forum for identifying, encouraging and discussing research about science and technology, or their consequences, as portrayed in science fiction. The Workshop will bring together researchers, scientists, and other academics with science fiction professionals to share information and explore new ideas about the relationship between science fiction, science and technology. TOPICS OF INTEREST The topics of interest include but are not limited to: - Biotechnology, genetic engineering - Computer science, robotics, artificial intelligence - Macroengineering - Nanotechnology - Physics, astronomy, cosmology - Professional activity of scientists and engineers - Social impact of science and technology - Teaching science and technology with science fiction INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS: Paper submissions must be in English and no more than 6000 words long. The Proceedings of the Workshop will be published by the organizing institution. Authors are requested to submit a "Letter of Intention" with the title of the paper and a short abstract (less than one page) be- fore November 30, 1993. Authors must submit five copies of each paper, before January 31, 1994, to the: Program Chairperson: Miquel Barcelo Facultat d'Informatica Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya Pau Gargallo, 5 E 08028 BARCELONA (Spain) Tel: 34.3.401.6958 Fax: 34.3.401.7113 E-mail: blo@lsi.upc.es IMPORTANT DATES * Deadline for Letter of Intention: November 30, 1993 * Deadline for Paper Submission: January 31, 1994 * Notification of Acceptance: March 15, 1994 * Camera Ready Papers Due: April 30, 1994 * Workshop: June, 22-23, 1994 [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] ASIS ANNUAL MEETING 1993: INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES\ CONVERGING PROFESSIONS Technical, organizational and societal issues are fundamentally changing both the relationships between information technologies and the boundaries among information workers. Whether we look at the technological infrastructure, the characteristics of data, the use of systems, or the responsibilities of information professionals -- differences no longer matter as much. Because these concerns are so important, I bring to your attention the 1993 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science, INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGIES\CONVERGING PROFESSIONS. From October 24-28, in Columbus, Ohio, our colleagues will bring us their most current and thought-provoking ideas on maneuvering through the changes wrought by technological developments. Voice and data communications have come together as telecommunications, which is combining with data processing. The responsibilities of the technical information searcher and business information specialist are combining, as are those of librarian and records manager, of marketing analyst and strategic planner. New positions are emerging such as data administrator, end-user support facilitator and information analyst. Each day, a conference general session will help to establish the conceptual parameters of this important topic. Among the speakers in these plenary sessions are PAUL STRASSMANN, former Vice President, Information Products, Xerox, former chief information executive for Kraft and former director of information for the U.S. Department of Defense; KENNETH WILSON, Ohio State University professor and 1982 Nobel Prize winner in physics; and STEVEN SOLAZZO, Director of Multimedia, Fireworks Partners. These renowned speakers will present their individual assessments of the future of the information profession as the boundaries among all professions and technologies continue to blur. We will also have a plenary session featuring the views of representatives of leading information organizations in Columbus, including Ohio State University, Chemical Abstracts, OCLC, and CompuServe. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ HOW TO REGISTER Contact ASIS to request a registration form: PHONE: (301) 495-0900 or FAX: (301)495-0810 or E-MAIL: ASIS@CNI.ORG FOR COMPLETE PROGRAM INFORMATION: including the daily schedule of activities and sessions, Travel information, Social event and tour information, Fee schedules and registration deadlines contact ASIS at the number above or write: AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE 8720 Georgia Avenue,Suite 501 Silver Spring, MD 20910 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ CONTINUING EDUCATION/PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS Separate registration and fee usually required for continuing education/professional development programs. See registration form for details. Attendance is limited. Check with conference organizers for times. CROSSING THE INTERNET THRESHOLD THRESHOLD: AN INSTRUCTIONAL HANDBOOK CROSSING THE INTERNET THRESHOLD: AN INSTRUCTIONAL HANDBOOK INTRODUCTION TO TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT TELECOMMUNICATIONS FOR DATA TRANSFER AND MANAGEMENT ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT IMAGING: SYSTEM PLANNING AND DESIGN INTRODUCTION TO IMAGE DATABASES THESAURUS CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSITION 4TH SIG/CR WORKSHOP ON CLASSIFICATION RESEARCH (SIG/CR) RELEVANCE: WHAT ARE THE QUESTIONS? A WORKSHOP ON FUNDAMENTALS CONFERENCE HOTEL AND HEADQUARTERS The Hyatt Regency Columbus at Ohio Center will serve as conference headquarters for the 1993 ASIS Annual Meeting. A block of rooms has been reserved for the ASIS conference at special reduced rates. Reservations must be made by September 27th to guarantee these rates; after October 1st all rooms will be allocated on a space-available basis. Single room: $94 Double room: $104 Call 1-800/233-1234 or mail your reservation request to Room Reservations, Hyatt Regency Columbus at Ohio Center, 350 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43215; local phone 614/463-1234. HOW TO REGISTER Contact ASIS to request a registration form: PHONE: (301) 495-0900 or FAX: (301)495-0810 or E-MAIL: ASIS@CNI.ORG FOR COMPLETE PROGRAM INFORMATION: including the daily schedule of activities and sessions, Travel information, Social event and tour information, Fee schedules and registration deadlines contact ASIS at the number above or write: AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE 8720 Georgia Avenue,Suite 501 Silver Spring, MD 20910 [][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][][] _____ Articles and Sections of this issue of the _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ may be retrieved via anonymous ftp to byrd.mu.wvnet.edu or via e-mail message addressed to LISTSERV@KENTVM or LISTSERV@KENTVM.KENT.EDU (instructions below) Papers may be submitted at anytime by email or send/file to: Ermel Stepp - Editor-in-Chief, _Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture_ M034050@MARSHALL.WVNET.EDU _________________________________ *Copyright Declaration* Copyright of articles published by Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture is held by the author of a given article. If an article is re-published elsewhere it must include a statement that it was originally published by Electronic Journal on Virtual Culture. The EJVC Editors reserve the right to maintain permanent archival copies of all submissions and to provide print copies to appropriate indexing services for for indexing and microforming. _________________________________ _________________________________ _THE ELECTRONIC JOURNAL ON VIRTUAL CULTURE_ ISSN 1068-5327 Ermel Stepp, Marshall University, Editor-in-Chief M034050@Marshall.wvnet.edu Diane (Di) Kovacs, Kent State University, Co-Editor DKOVACS@Kentvm.Kent.edu ____________________________ GOPHER Instructions ____________________________ GOPHER to gopher.cic.net 70 ____________________________ Anonymous FTP Instructions ____________________________ ftp byrd.mu.wvnet.edu login anonymous password: users' electronic address cd /pub/ejvc type EJVC.INDEX.FTP get filename (where filename = exact name of file in INDEX) quit LISTSERV Retrieval Instructions _______________________________ Send e-mail addressed to LISTSERV@KENTVM (Bitnet) or LISTSERV@KENTVM.KENT.EDU Leave the subject line empty. The message must read: GET EJVCV1N6 CONTENTS Use this file to identify particular articles or sections then send e-mail to LISTSERV@KENTVM or LISTSERV@KENTVM.KENT.EDU with the command: GET where is the name of the article or section (e.g., author name) and is the V#N# of that issue of EJVC