human-nets@ucbvax.ARPA (01/29/85)
From: Charles McGrew (The Moderator) <Human-Nets-Request@Rutgers>
HUMAN-NETS Digest Monday, 28 Jan 1985 Volume 8 : Issue 3
Today's Topics:
Responses to Queries - Networks for Impaired People &
Floppy Disk Storage,
Computers and People - Home Banking Arrives &
CDs vs. Books (2 msgs),
Information - MIT Communications Forum Seminars (2 msgs)
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From: KYLE.WBST@XEROX.ARPA
Date: 21 Jan 85 9:02:02 PST
Subject: Re: HUMAN-NETS Digest V8 #2
Re: Henry Nussbacher's request re: Mute/Paralyzed net users.
Here in Rochester, New York you may make a connection to do the sort
of thing you are looking for as we have the NTID (National Technical
Institute for the Deaf) associated with the Rochester Institute of
Technology and as I recall some of the people associated with the
local Apple computer user's club (Apple CIDER) are involved with NTID.
Apple computers have been extensively used with the handicapped so I
suspect you may find some users up here. There is also a local ACM
chapter here with a SIGCAPH (Special Interest Group for Computers and
the Physically Handicapped). More info on that can be obtaained from
the chapter secretary Karen K. Anderson (Anderson.Henr@Xerox.ARPA).
If you can get through to someone at the University of Wisconsin at
Madison, they have the TRACE CENTER which is a clearinghouse on the
entire subject of organizations, hardware, current research, etc.
Professor Darrell Frohrib (University of Minnesota Mechanical
Engineering Dept) heads a project called Designing for the Living
using students to design interfaces for handicapped youngsters. There
is an ARPANET connection into the computer Science Dept at the U. of
M. so someone there may be able to put you in contact with some of the
people on Frohrib's team.
Control Data Corp. in Minneapolis had a project (which I think is
still current) called "Project Homework" headed by Ken L. Anderson
involved with putting the handicapped on the PLATO system for working
and telecommuting from home. You may be able to contact some of those
participants via someone at Don Bitzer's shop at the University of
Illinois at Champaaign-Urbana (Home of the PLATO system).
At Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA you may be able to get
in touch with some users via Anthony N. Penna who used to be Associate
Director of CMU's Education Center and was instrumental in getting CMU
involved with the Pittsburgh HCC (Home for Crippled Children ) which
led to some very novel interface designs by Mark Friedman and his team
at CMU.
Last summer there was a request from the Berkeley Unified School
District to engage computer technology for use with the handicapped.
You may have some luck contacting the technology consultant Eric
Novikoff (415) 527-9030 or at CJET@AMBER@BERKELEY.ARPA.
Good Luck.
Earle.
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Date: 20 January 1985 21:55-EST
From: Jacob Moskowitz <JMSK @ MIT-MC>
Subject: Floppy Disk Storage: Steel or Plastic
To: norm @ RAND-UNIX
We keep them in the usual cardboard boxes, which are in turn placed
inside a filing cabinet (steel) on the theory that whatever small
permanent magnetization the cabinet may pick up is kept at a safe
distance from the floppy surface. Also, constant magnetic fields are
known to be relatively inefficient at erasing magnetic recordings, so
the net effect of the steel enclosure is beneficial ( I think)
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Date: Monday, 28 Jan 1985 03:57:21-PST
From: porter%krikit.DEC@decwrl.ARPA
Subject: home banking arrives
The UKs (worlds?) first nationwide home banking service has just been
launched by the Bank of Scotland. The service is provided through
Preset, British Telecom's viewdata service. Users can get details of
all their bank accounts, including full transaction information. They
can pay regular bills, order new cheque books, and transfer money
between accounts.
The cost is #2.50 per month, plus normal bank charges, plus call costs
and the cost of the extra equipment (Bank of Scotland will supply a
keyboard adapter if you do not have a Prestel TV set).
"Customer information is to be safeguarded by personal passwords and
security codes separate from those used by Prestel itself."
I've sent in the 'please-send-me-more-information' coupon; if I find
anything interesting, I'll pass it on.
dave
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Date: 20 Jan 85 14:09:24 PST (Sunday)
From: Jef Poskanzer <Poskanzer.SV@XEROX.ARPA>
Subject: Re: CDs obsoleting books
To: hpda!hptabu!dclaar@UCB-VAX.ARPA (Doug Claar)
You complain that displays for CDs wouldn't be able to show multiple
fonts, graphics, and enough text at a time. I am reading your message
on a Xerox Large Format display, a 16" diagonal BW tube displaying
1024x by 808y pixels. It can show multiple fonts and graphics.
Displaying text in a 10 point font, it can show two pages side by
side, each holding 82 characters by over 60 lines; 5000 chars per
page, 10000 per screen. By your measure, this compares with a Macro
Economics text. If I wanted to display more, two mouse clicks would
suffice to switch a window to an 8 point font, which is still complete
readable, and shows 13000 chars per screen. This is \old/ technology
- there are newer, cheaper, more reliable BW displays available, and
color displays too.
Thus, I don't think display resolution will have any bearing on
whether CDs replace books. We have had sufficient resolution for a
few years now. What will decide the issue is (1) cost - even the
newer high-res displays are still far more expensive than the $300 CD
readers; and (2) convenience - a replacement for books must be
portable, and that almost certainly implies that it's flat.
---
Jef
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Date: Mon, 21 Jan 85 16:28:05 pst
From: hpda!hptabu!dclaar@UCB-VAX (Doug Claar)
To: hpda!hptabu!dclaar@UCB-VAX, Poskanzer.SV@XEROX.ARPA
Subject: Re: CDs obsoleting books
I should have stated my assumption more clearly. The point that I was
trying to make was that CDs won't replace books because the technology
to display adequate resolution weighs 50+ pounds: hardly something
that you'll take "to the beach", as the current comparison goes. One
of the primary reasons that I don't use my home computer more is that
it's tied down to one place (yes, I know about portables, but that's a
side i$$ue). I throw my school books in my book bag, and study them
at work, at the breakfast table, in my car before class, etc. I don't
have to worry about them getting stolen, and I don't have to be
careful not to break them. I can mark in them, and throw them if I get
disgusted with them. I can read them sitting, standing, or lying down.
And I can highlight them without needing a flat space for a mouse.
Sure, someday, all these things will be do-able with CDs--and man will
live in peace and harmony forever. ( :-) ) The electronic office
hasn't gotten rid of paper (you should SEE my desk!) and I don't
think that CDs will get rid of my books, either. Maybe someday, but
I'm still waiting for broadcast television to replace teachers. In
summary, just as broadcast television has changed our life in ways
that nobody dreamed of, so CDs will (most likely) change our life, but
also in ways nobody dreamed of.
Doug Claar
UUCP: ...!hplabs!hpda!dclaar
HPsnAIL: HP4701/02
mailstop: bldg. 47UE
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Date: Tue, 22 Jan 85 13:12 EST
From: Kahin@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: MIT Communications Forum Seminars
To: Telecom@USC-ECLC.ARPA,
To: *bboard@MIT-MC.ARPA, DEPhillips@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
MIT Communications Forum seminars are held on Thursdays from 4:00 to
6:00 in the Marlar Lounge (Bldg. 37-252, MIT, 70 Vassar St.,
Cambridge)
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 21 Jan 85 17:40 EST
From: Kahin@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA
Subject: Communications Forum Seminars
To: Bartl@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA, RSKennedy@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA,
To: Neuman@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA, DEPhillips@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA,
To: Telecom@USC-ECLC.ARPA, *bboard@MIT-MC.ARPA
Prospects for Leased Access
February 7, 1985
Richard B. Smith, President, Satellite Program Network
Kathy Garmezy, Labor Institute of Public Affairs
William Finneran, Chairman, New York State Commission on Cable
Television
The new cable legislation provides that systems with 36 or
more channels must make time available for commercial leasing at
a "reasonable" fee. Some have argued that such laws deprive
cable operators of First Amendment rights. Others have argued
that a full "separations policy" is necessary to maximize
diversity.
This seminar will look behind the longstanding policy debate
to assess the demand for leased access. Who is willing to pay
for it? At what price? What are the opportunities for national
packaging services? Will leased access programming offer
anything different? Or will it simply substitute for public
access or special programming services?
Software Protection and Marketing
February 14, 1985
Ronald Rivest, MIT Laboratory for Computer Science
Wayne Chou and Richard Erett, Software Security, Inc.
February 21, 1985
Michael Tyler, Datamation
Todd Sun, Multimate International
Representative from Lotus Development Corporation
The mass marketing of personal computers has created a large
market for software -- and with it, unauthorized copying on a
large scale. Two special seminars will look at the problem of
unauthorized copying: What technologies can be used to minimize
it? How big is the problem and how does it affect marketing
strategies? Are technological and marketing solutions adequate?
The first seminar will look at different technologies used to
prevent copying. The second will consider the advantages and
disadvantages of copy protection in the marketplace and
strategies such as user registration and bundling of support
services.
The Multivendor Computer Networking Zoo
February 28, 1985
Paul Green, IBM
The difficulty of interconnecting networks or network
components when they obey different architectures inhibits the
growth and flexibility of computer communications. Two ways to
alleviate the problem are: to adopt a standard architecture for
all nodes in the network; or to provide conversions at suitable
points in the network and at the level of a suitable
architectural layer. The first approach is most unlikely to
succeed. The seminar will focus on the second approach. First
some details of the "mapping" that must take place at the point
of discontinuity will be reviewed. Then the roles of enveloping,
substitution, complementing, and conversion will be described.
Prognosis about the possible existence of a general methodology
for synthesizing the mapping leads to the final topic -- the role
of Open System Interconnect as a solution.
Changing Communications Technologies: Learning from the Past
March 7, 1985
John McLaughlin, Harvard Program on Information Resources Policy
JoAnne Yates, MIT
Richard John, Business History Review, Harvard
New communications technologies have profoundly changed
communications practices and communications industry structure --
and the structure of other businesses. Mapping these changes
over two centuries reveals an interrelationship between broad
structural trends and the development of particular products and
services.
One trend is the emergence of systems that combine products
and services -- and that combine content and conduit. Another is
the cycle from competition to monopoly and back to competition.
An especially important question is how advances in
communications technology affect the size and structure of
business users.
Unrecordable Video
March 14, 1985
Andrew Lippman, MIT
John Woodbury, National Cable Television Association
Speaker to be announced
Although motion picture producers depend increasingly on
revenue from television and home video, the spectacular growth of
videocassette recorders has provoked fears that much potential
revenue will be lost. The Electronic Publishing group of MIT's
Media Laboratory has developed a way of generating television
transmissions that can be viewed but not taped. This seminar
will present the technology, and industry representatives will
discuss the possible effects on distribution practices.
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End of HUMAN-NETS Digest
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