csrobe@ICASE.ARPA (Charles S. Roberson) (03/19/88)
This came across on info-futures yesterday and I found it extremely
fascinating. Since it is (or will be) applicable to Atari and its
users, I felt justified in cross-posting it.
-c
---------------
Date: 11 Mar 88 15:45:43 GMT
From: phri!dasys1!patth%nyu.edu@bu-cs.bu.edu (Patt Haring)
Organization: The Big Electric Cat
Welcome to NETWEAVER
The interactive, intersystem
newsletter of the
Electronic Networking Association
"Our purpose is to promote electronic networking in ways that
enrich individuals, enhance organizations, and build global
communities."
________________________________________________________________
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 2, Article 4 (February 1988)
HOW TO PICK UP SOMEONE NEW WITH THE SAME OLD LINE
By Sue Gunn and Linda Bryant Nicholson
OFFERING ALTERNATIVES
*********************
In the last issue of Netweaver, concerns were brought forth
as to the possibility that once electronic communications becomes
the predominant means of information delivery, important information
will become less and less available to people without the technical
and financial resources to access them, thereby "exacerbating the
gap between the ordinary citizen and business and between the haves
and the have-nots in society."
X*PRESS X*Change, the premier computer information service
on cable, is already offering a free, easily-accessible alternative
to the other, more costly information services available today.
Information is delivered 24 hours a day, seven days a
week, not to television sets, but to home personal computers.
It's like having a new channel on your home computer - a
whole new way of delivering information to computers inexpensively
and instantaneously.
Stories right off the wires are available for you to read
selectively through a special software program which sorts
information by category. And, as quickly as you read and discard
stories, your computer captures new ones. It's a continuous stream
of knowledge.
WHAT'S AVAILABLE
****************
X*PRESS X*Change provides access to Standard and Poor's
Ticker III stock market quotes, business and financial news, and
national and international news. Some of the wire services carried
on X*PRESS X*Change include: Associated Press; Canadian Press;
Gannett/USA Today; Cable News Network; TASS, the official news
agency of the Soviet Union; The Opec News Agency/OPECNA; Kyodo,
Japan; the Central News Agency of the Republic of China, Taiwan;
Deutsche Presse-Agentur of West Germany; Agence France Presse; and
Xinhua of the People's Republic of China.
In addition to securities and news, X*PRESS X*Change
provides continuously updated sports scores and features, national
and international weather reports, computer news from Best of Bix
and Microbytes, and an opportunity to discuss the issues of the day
through ongoing computer discussions in the Information X*Change
category.
WHAT IS X*PRESS X*CHANGE?
************************
X*PRESS X*Change is a service of X*PRESS Information
Services, Ltd., a partnership of McGraw Hill, Inc. and
Tele-Communications, Inc., the largest multiple system cable
operator in the country, and is now available nationwide to more
than 3.8 million homes in 347 communities.
And, the X*Change-In-The-Schools Program provides every
school with two free X*Change kits for use in their PC lab or
library. For the first time, schools can access a vast information
resource absolutely free. In the past, information services have
only been available through costly telephone hookups.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
*****************
All that is needed to access the service is basic cable, a
compatible computer and an installation kit. The only charge is for
the initial installation kit, which includes a decoder, cable and
software package. The current suggested retail price is $125.00.
Then it costs you nothing extra per month, because it is part of
your basic cable package.
X*Change operates on IBM PC, XT, AT and 100 percent
compatibles, Apple IIc and IIe, and Macintosh computers. An Atari
version is currently in the testing stages. All personal computers
must have a serial port in order to operate with X*Change.
All of the X*PRESS Executive and X*Change software is
developed by outside interests. Over 100 software developers have
requested documentation of the X*PRESS information feed for the
purpose of developing software.
Millions of words in a vast range of categories are received
from approximately 30 information providers daily at X*PRESS
Information Services, Ltd. The data is uplinked along with the
digital audio signal of CNN (Galaxy I, transponder 7) using General
Instruments Videocipher/Infocipher 1500P technologies. It is also
transmitted on the Cinemax transponder of Galaxy I. With the
addition of a low-cost GI interface and Wegener modulator card, a
cable system is set to send the X*PRESS signal downline.
FILE TRANSFER - IT'S NEW!
*************************
A new feature of the X*Change software is called File
Transfer. This feature allows X*PRESS to send complete databases of
information to customers at special scheduled times. Complete
software, freeware or shareware which could interface with the
X*PRESS feed could also be downloaded through File Transfer, as well
as new versions of the X*Change software.
Examples of information that might be sent are stock
charting data, job listings, lottery statistics or even specialized
sports data, such as racing information.
INFORMATION X*CHANGE CONFERENCING
*********************************
Mary Gardiner Jones and Nancy Chasen also noted in the last
issue of Netweaver, "The time has come for non-profit organizations
to explore the new telecommunications technologies to expedite their
work and enhance their communications and non-profit capabilities."
Well, once again, X*PRESS X*Change is helping to lead the
way. Efforts are currently underway to encourage non-profit
organizations to participate in the Information X*Change
conferencing categories by helping to generate topics, provide
moderators and offer advice and information.
In return, we are offering these organizations an
opportunity to distribute information at little or no
telecommunications costs through Information X*Change. In this way,
organizations can increase public awareness and set the agenda on
issues of importance.
The organization's members would be able to access the
X*PRESS X*Change two-way conferencing platform from anywhere in the
nation, and share information on topics of importance to the
organization and, therefore, to the rest of society. Excerpts from
these discussions will be ported from the two-way platform and
broadcast in the X*PRESS X*Change feed, allowing subscribers to read
the ported information free of charge, without paying access fees or
telecommunications charges.
Information X*Change categories include Religion, Sex and
Politics, World Around Us, Inside Your Head, Teen Talk and Computers
and You.
X*PRESS is eager to discuss possible conferencing topics
with any non-profit organization.
In the Inside Your Head category of Information X*Change,
a popular psychotherapist from Parker, Colorado, will soon
begin moderating a conference on family stress. Questions,
problems and situations presented by subscribers will be addressed by
the psychotherapist via the two-way conferencing platform. Again, activity
within the conference is ported onto the feed to allow subscribers
to read the responses free of charge. Subscribers can participate
via the two-way platform, the X*PRESS X*Change electronic mailbox, a
toll-free telephone line or in writing.
Our goal is to offer similar conferences moderated by
professionals who can offer subscribers advice and information which
is not readily available to people who do not have the financial
resources to pay for it.
CABLE AND COMPUTERS - A NATURAL MARRIAGE
****************************************
Cable, because it is so cost effective, because it is
already in place as a national distribution network, is the
inevitable partner to computer information services.
Cable is at a strategic crossroads. It has the opportunity
to grow and develop a national information network on cable, or lose
that opportunity. X*PRESS is dedicated to enhancing the investment
already made by cable in wiring the nation, establishing an
information network, and becoming a significant player in the home
information age.
-------
author's note:
For more information, contact Linda Bryant Nicholson at 303-721-5130
or at 5970 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. Suite 156, Englewood, CO. 80111.
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|Chip Roberson ARPANET: csrobe@icase.arpa |
|1105 London Company Way BITNET: $csrobe@wmmvs.bitnet |
|Williamsburg, VA 23185 UUCP: ...!uunet!pyrdc!gmu90x!wmcs!csrobe|
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