patth@dasys1.UUCP (Patt Haring) (09/20/88)
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 1 (June 1988)
Welcome to NETWEAVER
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."
_______________________________________________________________
Volume 4, Number 6 June 1988
Copyright(c) by Electronic Networking Association (ENA), 1988
NETWEAVER is published electronically on Networking and
World Information (NWI), 333 East River Drive, East Hartford,
CT, 06108 (1-800-624-5916) using Participate (R) software from
Network Technologies International, Inc. (NETI), Ann Arbor, MI.
Managing Editor: Lisa Carlson
Contributing Editors: Mike Blaszczak
Linda Nicholson
Stan Pokras
George Por
Tom Sherman
Philip Siddons
(Ms) Gail S. Thomas
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
NETWEAVER is available via NewsNet, the world's leading
vendor of full-text business and professional newsletters
online. Read, Search or Scan all issues of NETWEAVER as TE55
in NewsNet's Telecommunications industry category. For access
details call 800-345-1301. In PA or outside the U.S., call
215-527-8030.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
We *welcome* anyone interested in joining the Netweaver staff!
The deadline for articles for the next issue is
the 15th of the month.
KUDOS to the "porters," unsung heroes of the Network Nation!
One of them has brought this issue to you.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Volume 4, Number 6 ---CONTENTS--- June 1988
1 Masthead and Index
2 ENA UPDATE ................................ by Lisa Carlson
ENA names new Moderator and President and presents its
first awards for contributions to creativity in the
medium and building global communities.
3 GRADUATION SPEECH FOR THE INFORMATION AGE ...by Frank Odasz
Share this inspiring look at the present and the future
with the 8th grade graduating class of Wisdom, Montana.
4 DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER CONFERENCING MODERATOR
EDITORIAL TEAM .............................by Griff Wigley
Development of a team of moderators which functions as the
editorial component of a computer conferencing network on MIX,
the McGraw-Hill Information Exchange for educators.
5 KEYNOTE ADDRESS to the Electronic Networking Association
May 13, 1988 Part I .......................by Mike Greenly
The world's first interactive online journalist shares his
insights about the contribution of this medium to the
future of organizations AND society.
6 KEYNOTE ADDRESS to the Electronic Networking Association
May 13, 1988 Part II.......................by Mike Greenly
7 SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:
CHOOSING CONFERENCING TO RUN ON A MINICOMPUTER
....................By Gordon Cook
A look at criteria and considerations for evaluating
choices for computer conferencing host software.
8 UPDATE ON THE INSTITUTE FOR NETWORKING DESIGN by Izumi Aizu
Find out what's happened for IND since our last ENA
conference in November, 1985. Networking is growing fast
in Japan!
9 The LAN Wo/Man Cometh ............by Donald L. (Skip) Conover
There's a lot of talk about "networking" by major vendors
these days - but *this* medium is usually left out of the
conversation. Do these folks realize the human implications
of networking technology?
10 ENA Membership Form
Join us!
2 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:02 Eastern (3480 characters)
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 2 (June 1988)
ENA UPDATE
by Lisa Carlson
The Electronic Networking Association (ENA) conference in
Philadelphia last week was a great success. More than 200
networkers participated in sessions about applications of
networking for business, education, nonprofits, and individuals.
People came from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, and the Soviet
Union. As usual, the connections being made in the halls were as
important and interesting as the formal program and numerous
plans for future collaborative projects were hatched.
It will be a challenge to maintain good communication across all
the participating networking systems world-wide. To facilitate
that process, ENA needed someone to serve as a point of contact
for people initiating ENA activities and coordinate our complex
communication system. ENA needed a MODERATOR!
We're happy to announce that the ENA MODERATOR is now >>>>>>>
Jeffrey Shapard
Most of you probably know Jeff - though you may be more familiar
with him as JEFU, the moderator of "Japan Talk" and other
interesting topics. He has made many significant contributions
to the medium including directing operations on TWICS, the
networking system based in Tokyo. Jeff will serve as
MODERATOR *and* President of ENA until our next f-t-f
conference. Congratulations Jeff!
ENA also gave out its first awards at this conference. An award
for "Contributions to Creativity in the Medium" was established
and named after the late David Rodale who contributed so much to
us online. This year, ENA gave out two awards in this category
to:
MIKE GREENLY - the world's first interactive online journalist
for his pioneering work covering everything from computer shows
to toy shows, from the political conventions to aids;
*and*
PHIL MOORE AND SHERWIN LEVINSON - for their teamwork during the
creation of the NWI system and their involvement of the user
community in its design and implementation.
David's parents attended the Sunday awards program during which
we remembered and honored David and talked about what he meant
to us.
In addition, ENA presented an award for contributions to
"Building Global Communities" to IZUMI AIZU for his efforts to
use the medium to create electronic bridges across the world.
Congratulations to all the award winners!
Next year's conferences are already in the planning stages and
it looks like we may be offering an international conference in
Japan as well as a meeting in the U.S. If you would like to
participate in ENA and its activities, use the membership form
here in NETWEAVER or call NAN HANAHUE who is our membership
coordinator (215-821-7777).
There are lots of new plans for NETWEAVER in the works -
including printed highlights and availability via disk. We also
have some new editors and are looking for more!
In this issue, you can read Mike Greenly's stunning keynote
speech to the ENA conference. There are also reports from
sessions on evaluating computer conferencing software and how
the marketing of LANS relates to what we're doing in this
medium. Read an update on what our colleagues in Japan have
been up to since the ENA conference in 1985 and get advice on
supporting moderators from a system supporting the educational
community. You can also read a graduation speech from the
director of Big Sky Montana which will make you optimistic about
the future.
Enjoy!
3 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:03 Eastern (6533 characters)
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 3 (June 1988)
Graduation Speech for the Information Age
by Frank Odasz
[Note from Dave Hughes: Below was the brief "Commencement
Address" by Frank Odasz, Assistant Professor of Computer
Education of Western Montana College at the one-room Wisdom
Montana K-8 School, Friday night, May 27th, 1988.
There were exactly 2 graduating 8th graders in this
tiny town of less than 75 in the middle of remote ranching and
farming country in extreme southwest Montana. Over 100
parents, grandparents, school board members (of the 5
Kindergarteners also 'graduating' to 1st grade) showed up. The
faces in the audience were right out of Norman Rockwell.
Frank was invited to speak by three teachers, and one
assistant teacher (she played the piano), of the school who had
all logged onto Big Sky Telegraph from their one Apple
Computer and taken the teacher recertification course entirely
online from Western Montana College February to April, 1988.
Knowing these facts, the name of the town and school - Wisdom
- is more than ironic.]
GRADUATION SPEECH
Good evening, I'm Frank Odasz, director of Big Sky Telegraph at
Western Montana College.
It is an honor to share in the celebration of the achievement of
Wisdom's student pioneers of the future.
The pioneer spirit has always been focused on positive change.
Most of us can accept that change is necessary if the quality of
our lives is to get better. This year we've seen our students
change in new and exciting ways.
In our rapidly changing world it is becoming increasingly
important to keep up with the changes that are occurring around
us, if for no other reason than to protect ourselves from
potential dangers of those changes.
We seek the wisdom to know what should change and what
shouldn't. We do need better economic conditions but there are
many aspects of the rural lifestyle that we want to preserve and
not change. Education itself can be described as the process of
acquiring the knowledge and skills for creative adaptation to
change. If change results in better opportunities for our kids'
success, then it is generally welcomed.
Change can be a threat to our independence. A hundred years ago,
there was a self-sufficient rancher who laughed at the
suggestion that he might benefit from a new technology called
the telephone.
With a successful ranching operation underway, in an
understandable common sense sort of way he reasoned; why would
he possibly need to talk to someone a hundred miles away? What
effect could that have on his ranching and, why change if the
ranch is successful?
Eventually, the rancher's first benefit from use of the
telephone might have been checking auction prices in Billings.
This eventually came to be viewed not as a dependency, but as an
economy enhancing additional freedom, literally another tool in
the rancher's toolbox. Today we use the telephone without giving
it a second thought, and without worrying if we understand the
details of how the phone company makes it work. The same is true
for the microcomputers. We need to know only how to put these
tools to work for our benefit.
This (hold up laptop) has introduced change in my life. As a
former roughneck, carpenter, and duderancher who never touched a
computer before the age of 30, this notebook-sized microcomputer
has given me access to worldwide information. This "laptop" is a
new way to gather economic and educational information from any
location, at any time I might find convenient.
Telecommunications technologies hold great promise for allowing
rural communities to enhance their economic options while
preserving the cherished rural lifestyle. Big Sky Telegraph at
Western Montana College, is a rural education project funded by
the M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust and the Mountain Bell
Foundation of Montana.
Using modems, microcomputers and common phonelines, select rural
educators are able to access educators statewide and exchange
written information at a rate of four pages per minute, ten
times the information possible via a voice call. This is the
most efficient and cost effective means of resource and
information sharing available in Montana.
Four teachers from right here in Wisdom, more than in any other
single community in the Montana, have volunteered to pioneer a
new trail toward Montana's educational frontier using this new
form of communication. They have established a link from Wisdom
to WMC to provide Wisdom students with access to over $10,000
worth of quality educational software. In addition, they have
established fingertip access to the librarians and resources of
the WMC library, all for as little as $5.00/week.
Just last week pen pal messages between Wisdom students and
students from Deep Creek School near Glendive,(600 miles away)
on the other side of the state, were exchanged electronically
via the Big Sky Telegraph system. We have only scratched the
surface of the potential benefits to Wisdom residents using
telecommunications. These teachers and students saw the
benefits to the community of beneficial change.
Montana is faced with the realities of an increasingly global
economy. The independence of Montanans, with new communications
tools can bring benefits from far away to those here at home.
Global marketing information and contacts have the potential to
breath new life into Montana's ranching businesses. Talented
business and resource persons across Montana now have the
potential to better share ideas and strategies despite distance
or schedules.
Your kids will soon be the ones to use these tools to create a
brighter future for residents of the Big Hole Valley.
This short speech will be sent electronically to networks on
both coasts this evening to share the word that the trail to the
future of education in this country is being blazed by the
teachers and students here in Wisdom, Montana, as much as
anywhere else.
In a world that is changing more all the time, our students bear
the promise that what we all value most, the opportunity for a
quality education, will not change.
Thank you.
----------------------------------
The four teachers were Wanda Valeska, Patti Monaco, Cathy
Nickish, and Gloria Reed. Pioneer women of the New West! I guess
Frank's comments to a graduation of two 8th Graders is as useful
a graduation speech to read as any of the tens of thousands
being delivered across the nation this spring! - Dave Hughes
4 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:05 Eastern (7777 characters)
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 4 (June 1988)
DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER CONFERENCING MODERATOR EDITORIAL TEAM
by Griff Wigley
Introduction
============
Computer conferencing literature abounds with articles on the
role of the moderator. But little has been written on the
development of a team of moderators which functions as the
editorial component of a computer conferencing network. On MIX
(the McGraw-Hill Information Exchange for educators) moderators
ARE the editorial team, as concerned and invested in the
development of the whole network as they are in the success of
their own particular conferences. Here's what we've done to
develop the skills of individuals to work as a team.
Recruitment
===========
Like many networks, MIX recruits moderators among its
subscribers. This is not only convenient, but it has proven
vastly more reliable than face-to-face recruiting. It's too
difficult otherwise to predict a person's online personality,
habits and reliability. Potential MIX moderators are either
selected from the group of hosts (previous subscribers given
free time in exchange for welcoming newcomers) or they are first
asked to be hosts for a few months so we can watch their
interactions with others.
A team of moderators is then assigned to interview the candidate
via e-mail, with carbon copies of all exchanges sent to the
editor. Not only does this provide more information about the
candidates, it gives the candidates a better understanding of
who we are and of the level of commitment expected if they join
the moderator team. It also reinforces ownership among the
moderators; they help make the decision about who joins them and
whether that person will contribute as they do.
Compensation
============
Like many startup networks, we initially gave moderators free
time in exchange for moderating conferences. Most were new to
conferencing and were delighted with this arrangement. During
the second year, we paid each moderator a monthly stipend,
allowing a more formal contractual arrangement with each of
them. As online traffic increased and more conferences were
needed, it became clear that moderator interest and energy were
quite variable from month to month and that a different
compensation system was needed.
The moderators were adamantly opposed to being paid on a
commission basis as is commonplace on other commercial
networks. There was considerable fear that commissions would
create a competitive atmosphere which would destroy the team
feeling we had developed. For example, whenever moderators
prepare to open a new conference, they post an invitation in the
moderators conference asking for help in designing it.
Typically, a half dozen or more colleagues respond. We needed a
compensation plan which would not be a disincentive to this kind
of activity. In January 1988, moderators began receiving a
monthly retainer fee for participating in the moderators'
conference, plus a flat fee for each "task" they perform
each month. Moderating a conference is considered a task, as is
preparing to open a conference, helping another moderator design
a conference, writing an article or proposal, hosting newcomers,
monitoring the system during off hours, preparing for an
upcoming presentation and so on.
The advantage of this approach is that it allows moderators to
be paid more equitably based on their desired workload from
month to month. Yet it does not diminish their interest and
incentive to see other moderators' conferences succeed. This
arrangement promotes continued development of the "editorial
moderator team" which, given a small editorial staff, is crucial
to determining overall direction of MIX's online content. This
"lean" operation clearly has contributed to creating a sense of
ownership among the moderators. They share the common vision
that MIX can play an important role in education, and they know
that its success or failure depends heavily on them. Our
arrangement is distinctly different from being "hired"
by a corporation and paid a flat rate or commission to perform a
task. As long as moderator compensation keeps increasing
commensurate with the success of the network, we will probably
continue this approach.
Professional Development and Supervision
========================================
Because ours is a small and growing network, we must develop our
moderators in ways that can impact both editorial and marketing.
For example, we pay the travel and expenses for MIX moderators
to make presentations about educational telecommunications at
national conventions. Writing and speaking on their current
interest areas promotes individual professional growth while
giving MIX additional exposure.
We pay the online fees for moderators to explore other networks.
This broadens their experience and interest areas, increasing
their ability to criticize and improve MIX. It also expands
their circle of contacts, which in turn enhances awareness of
MIX.
We bring all the moderators together once a year for a three-day
evaluation and planning session affectionately known as the
"blowout." The overall editorial direction for the year is
established, based on our collective observations of the
failures and successes of the previous year. But more
importantly, the blowout is an important part of the development
of the group. Face-to-face celebrating, social activities, and
opportunities to relate to individuals in a different context
from the online work environment add immeasurably to the
richness of our relationships to each other.
We do not do any moderator training in a formal sense. We do
have moderating guidelines and a collection of articles on
moderating skills (many of them from back issues of NETWEAVER)
which people are expected to read. But it is basically a
self-directed learning environment.
We have recently added the expectation that each moderator
submit a short evaluation and planning statement every 6
months. This includes a review of their overall performance
from the previous period, a goal related to one of their tasks,
a goal relating to their professional development as a
moderator, and any optional plans for promotion, making
presentations at other conferences, using other electronic
networks, writing for magazines or journals and the like.
Next Steps
==========
Having worked with the moderators on the wording of their
planning statements,.we then informally observe, teach and give
feedback on their performance by e-mail, phone and
face-to-face. This level of individual supervision is a needed
additional step to create a working environment which allows for
individual growth within a team framework. We will also need to
develop a process for each individual to receive feedback from
the entire team, not just the editor. Every individual's work
on the system involves at least one other moderator, frequently
several. So it's critically important for moderators to receive
their peers' observations if the feedback is to be of high
quality.
Conclusion
==========
While this paper defines nothing new in the way of team
development, individual motivation and professional development
in a traditional work environment, it confirms the premise that
such a an environment can indeed exist electronically. Look for
an update on the process next year.
----------
Griff Wigley is editor of MIX, an electronic computer
communications network for education, now two years old. It
serves educators at primary, secondary and vocational levels.
He can be reached at (800) 622-6310, in MN and outside the U.S.
at (612) 829-8200, as gwigley on MIX and BIX, and 72007,24 on
CompuServe. Mailing address: EMS/McGraw-Hill, 9855 West 78th
St., Eden Prairie, MN 55344.
5 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:07 Eastern (9932 characters)
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 5 (June 1988)
Keynote Address to the Electronic Networking Association
Part I
by Mike Greenly
Good afternoon.
I've given a fair number of speeches, especially in my former
corporate days. But this talk will include comments that are
far more personal than I've shared in public before.
Before I discuss how computer conferencing has affected my
life, though, let's talk about the larger picture, the
business environment in which this still-new medium can
transform possibilities much more significant than my own.
Conferencing, after all, is its own medium, a relatively new
way of communicating, which can have a great and positive
impact on both individual flexibility and business
productivity.
If I were trying to "sell" you computer conferencing, I would
mention the time it can save busy people ... the speed with
which decisions can be made among those who use it ... the
rapidity with which it can disseminate global information.
Or maybe the savings it offers in travel costs and hassle, or
its help in implementing projects among people with very
different locations and schedules.
All of those are important benefits, nice and practical: you
can measure speed; you might quantify days or hours saved, or
the hotel expense and airfare you didn't need to pay for.
But there is another, less obvious asset intrinsic to
"electronic meetings": the value placed directly on ideas
themselves ... not the surface style, physical appearance, or
cultural trappings of the person expressing them. In other
words, factors that can very much affect what we think and
what we conclude in a face-to-face setting are typically
absent in electronic communication. Electronic meeting
participants often concentrate much more clearly on an idea
itself, not on its human "packaging."
Have you ever watched television with the sound turned
completely off? If you haven't in a while, try it! Take
away the sound from your TV picture, and suddenly you notice
what was there all along -- revealing gestures and body
language, props that indicate character, visual details you
don't normally perceive. That's an analogy for what can
happen with electronic meetings ... when you read someone's
thoughts, you're not distracted by your own prejudice as you
can be face to face: I hate his necktie. I wish she'd lose
some weight. He's so Jewish with his gestures. He's black;
I wonder how he feels about Jesse Jackson. She's pretty, I
wonder if she fools around. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
The medium takes away -- it has no room for -- that little
voice in the back of your mind that is always making private
judgments on the side, judgments that can distract you from
the worth -- or lack of it -- of ideas being expressed.
Iconferencing, you might actually find
yourself paying attention more to substance than style.
Now, don't misunderstand. Learning to communicate
effectively is just as important online as face-to-face.
And in some ways, the skills are different. I'm not saying
style doesn't matter ... but I know that one of the values of
electronic dialogue is the freedom it gives us from "normal"
face-to-face ways of judging ... ways in which we screen out,
consciously or not, the available contributions of people who
are "different" than we are.
Different! Computer conferencing can help us leap over 13the
gaps that prejudice and judgments automatically create. It's
as close as we get today to direct, mind-to-mind
communication. And, frankly, more than ever before, we need
to be able to look past surface difference ... in a society,
a country, indeed a globe that is filled with more diversity
than ever before.
Consider with me, for a moment, a growing challenge for
today's corporations -- at least, here in America -- an issue
sometimes referred to as the "Management of Diversity."
Think: who were the original founders of most of today's
businesses?
Some of their names are virtual icons of history: Henry Ford,
Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Walt Disney. IBM's
Thomas Watson. McDonald's Ray Croc. For every single such
celebrity, there are thousands of lesser known founders of
today's major businesses.
The vast majority of these American corporate founders have
these traits in common: most of them were Caucasian. Most of
them were Protestant. Most of them were male.
Now consider that the culture and personality of a company
often reflects, even after many years, the initial personal
values of its creator. The process is automatic. The
company says to the employee -- though not always overtly --
THIS is the way we behave here. THIS is our mode. If you
wish to succeed, then be like the rest of us.
It used to be, of course, much easier for companies to expect
similarities of style among employees wanting to succeed in
management. For starters, after all, it was understood that
to even BE a management candidate, you'd be well advised,
yourself, to be white, Protestant, and male. With those
basic givens, it was not such a leap to uphold a corporate
culture often fondly described as "tradition."
But it's much harder, today, for the original corporate
culture to remain as its founder conceived it.
The Civil Rights and Women's Lib movements, among others,
pressured corporations to accept people into management ranks
who -- in personal style and cultural background -- were
really quite different from their management peers. Companies
have been *forced* to change -- from social pressure,
political pressure, and the realities of the modern work
force.
The increasing internationalism of today's American
business,with German or French or Japanese ownership of the
company, is another new factor cracking the foundation and
changing the business culture that was originally envisioned
by many companies' founding fathers.
The changes in corporate culture are many:
Like the way of conducting a meeting. Some of today's
employees demand much more consensus than used to be
permissible when the "the boss was always right."
Or, the way of showing appreciation. Women in management
may be less inhibited than men, in what they expect to
receive as feedback on a job well done, or what they're
able to express, themselves, in thanking an employee.
They often give feedback differently than a macho
traditionalist.
Or, the increasing importance of day-care centers,
on company premises for the working parent's children ...
Or, the morning exercise class for workers in a company
newly purchased by a Japanese firm.
The flavor of day-to-day work experience, in many small but
pervasive ways, is inevitably under pressure to change ...
even as policy manuals and management mind-sets may still be
reflecting the OLD way, the way that always used to motivate,
the way that used to work for everyone.
Now consider projected changes in employees themselves. In
the 15-year span between 1985 and the year 2000, we'll see an
increase of only 15% in U.S.-born White Men in the work
force, while U.S.-born White WOMEN will increase almost three
times as much, up 42%. Every new American day, in fact,
brings more women, more minorities, and more handicapped
individuals into the mainstream of the work force than ever
before. By the year 2000, 80 percent of entry-level
employees will be women, or women and men who were immigrants
to this country. Homogeneous organizations are giving way to
a mix of races, a balance of genders, and a multitude of values.
What does it mean when management and labor change from
mostly white, male, Protestant, married, and suburban to a
fragmented patchwork of different ethics, expectations,
priorities, and lifestyles? What does it mean to coordinate
a group of employees who, only the night before, absorbed
entirely different messages, one from the other, via cable TV
or a satellite dish in the yard? One watched his favorite
show, broadcast in Spanish, Italian, or Japanese. One
followed a program on local black politics. One watched a
show on the Gay Cable Network. One watched music videos on
MTV.
As employees and as consumers, it's rare anymore that there's
just one "market" or group. We are now a mixture of market
segments. We follow different interests and different
beliefs. The so-called "nuclear family" -- Mama, Papa, and
Baby -- is already a minority lifestyle. By 1990, in fact,
only 15% of U.S. Households will fit that traditional
pattern.
So any manager who still perfectly reflects the hallowed
values of the company's founder must look up from his desk
and realize that "they" are different now than "we" used to
be ... both inside the company, and in the company's markets.
How does one manage diversity where there used to be
consistency? Difference where there used to be sameness?
Multiple, separate cultures where there used to be one?
At Avon Products, where I worked as an Officer less than five
years ago, the company has moved from virtually mandatory,
all-male management retreats for poker and fishing at a
hunting lodge ... to a much more diverse way of interaction
among employees. In that company there is now an active
Women's employee group, a Black employee Group, an Hispanic
employee group, and an Oriental employee group. Members
within each group help one another on business presentations
while they network informally on issues, people, and
opportunities for advancement.
>From any company's point of view, as the population in this
country shifts, who can bring better insights into marketing
to Hispanics, Orientals, or working women than the Hispanics,
Orientals, or working women themselves? And surely an urban,
single professional would have valuable perspective on
expanding the company's sales into metro markets ...
perspective that most suburban husbands and fathers couldn't
themselves offer alone.
[continued]
6 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:10 Eastern (10510 characters)
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 6 (June 1988)
Keynote Address to the Electronic Networking Association
Part II
by Mike Greenly
So we are talking about a need for managing a rapidly
changing mosaic of people and lifestyles within a corporation
and marketing to that diversity in the population as a whole.
To achieve such a task with optimum success will require an
intellectual flexibility, openness, and mental agility that
certainly wasn't needed when we were all, in America, much
more like each other than we will ever be again.
And that ... the need for openness to new ideas and
flexibility in the ways we think ... brings me back to
computer conferencing.
Now please don't misunderstand me. As much as I believe in
the value of this new way of communicating, and as much as I
believe in its importance and its power to change the planet,
I am NOT here to tell you that computing at your terminals
will bring harmony and success to all beings in the universe.
It is still not easy enough to use a computer in the first
place -- not for most people, anyway. It's not easy to get
people to change even their brand of toothpaste, let alone
the way they communicate. And I'm certainly not here to say
that discovering computer conferencing will let managers
across the globe solve all the problems and seize the
opportunities of ever more diversity in the work force and
consumer base.
BUT ... I will say this: anything that encourages a
thinking person, whether an executive in a corporation or a
citizen of the world ... anything that encourages us to look
beyond our surface judgments and evaluate ideas for the worth
of the thinking itself ... that can only be a force for good.
For finding the best solutions to our problems. And for
getting the best contributions from people ... from all
people, in a world of increasing diversity.
Computer conferencing does do that ... does jump beyond some
surface ways of responding to thinking ... can give voice --
electronic voice, anyway -- to someone with an idea which
might otherwise be overlooked.
I know first-hand about the power of this medium to expose
one to new ideas, and to get one beyond one's self. Starting
even in my earliest days of discovering computer
conferencing, the dialogues I enjoyed with people I'd never
met -- some of whom I still haven't met in person -- were one
of the reasons I found the courage to start my own business.
I had never thought to do that. I'd expected to remain at
Avon for two more decades of hard work and success in
corporate life.
Not that computer conferencing turns corporate citizens into
entrepreneurs ... don't worry! But the easy contact with
other ways of thinking lets one evaluate more choices to see
what's really right for one's self.
I know this: if I had remained as an Officer at Avon, I
would have that corporation actively using computer
conferencing now. I would have, and I could have, because
I'd have been a relentless champion. And that, I believe, is
still what it takes: a champion, a sponsor, a believer to
nourish the seed of change. Planting alone doesn't guarantee
a harvest. I was lured away from Avon by my personal
opportunities before I had the chance to cajole, teach,
train, inspire, and prove the productivity that conferencing
could provide. As long as change is hard -- any change, even
a new telephone system in the company, or a new way of
scheduling products, let alone computer conferencing -- as
long as change is hard, a motivated leader is required to
help it happen.
But I didn't stay to cultivate the Avon garden. I quit, after
20 years in three corporations, not actually knowing what I would do.
I'd had the chance to be the company's VP of Latin America. Quiero
practicar mi espanol, pero ... (I'd like to practice my
Spanish, but...!) it was the right opportunity to quit before
getting started.
Instead, I took the chance to see -- a discovery that is
still going on for me -- how computer conferencing could
open choices for the entrepreneur ... could connect me to a
diversity of people, opportunities, and experiences I would
not otherwise have known.
During the past five years, for example, I've obtained a half
a dozen clients for my marketing consulting business that I
would never have achieved without an active presence on
computer conferencing networks. If I'm a successful
marketing consultant today, I owe a substantial amount of
credit to the medium that helped me be more than the limits
of my time or geography.
And ... I've had the pleasure and excitement of helping
create a new form of reportage -- interactive electronic
journalism -- covering computer shows, toy fairs, the
Hollywood Oscars, the political conventions, and, yes, AIDS.
That latter experience was remarkable. I found myself being
encouraged by readers on several different networks to
interview people on the subject of AIDS long before it became
the awful household word it is now. The responsiveness of
readers, their eagerness for more, their contributions to the
process -- readers in other countries, other lifestyles, with
other views -- that's what drove me to the quest that became
a book. They became my motivation to interview priests,
prostitutes, politicians, married bisexuals with double
lives, doctors and nurses caring for the desperate.
I've mentioned examples of what computer conferencing has
given to me -- financial opportunity for my business, growth
and satisfaction for my interest in being a writer.
What I haven't yet acknowledged is the transformational power
of this form of communication ... the change it has brought
to my life, and how that enhances my ability to be who I am.
You have to understand, to get the context of my change, that
I come from an island of only 5,000 people in the South.
Fitting in -- not being different -- was the essence of
living on the island. Being more true to the values around
you than your own, individual spirit.
But how can people be their most or give their best if they
cannot first, themselves, know who they are? Creativity and
new achievement spring more readily from freedom to think
than from conforming.
I left that tiny island for the country of New York City.
But many of us carry our own islands with us, not daring to
leave the shore, afraid of the waters beyond.
I do not exaggerate, in telling you what conferencing has
unlocked for me, that I was not only exposed to and
influenced by a diversity of thinking I would normally not
have known up close ... I also gained the strength to be able
to express my own difference ... making, I hope, my own
better contributions.
I grew up Jewish on an island heavily Southern Baptist ...
with swastikas on my locker at school, and "Jew Boy" called
at me in the halls.
And I grew up gay ... fearful of knowing know the truth of my
own identity, afraid to even *know* the difference of who I
am.
I would like to live in a world where that issue is NOT
important, where people are accepted for the goodness of
their hearts. But as long any of us maintain our pre-
conceived notions -- what Jews are like, what the Japanese
are like, what blacks are like, what WASPs are like, what
women are like, what gays are like -- as long as we limit our
thinking to the boundaries of our personal islands, and as
long as we fear our differences ... then such an issue does
matter.
And whatever small steps can move us beyond the limiting
judgments we've learned to harbor about one another (or about
ourselves), well, those are steps worth taking.
Finally, at last, in terms of my own "difference" from the
majority as a whole -- finally and at last, I no longer hold
myself back, am no longer too afraid to acknowledge my part
of the diversity. This speech, here at ENA, is in fact the
first public occasion in my life when I have acknowledged
that personal "detail" to the world: I am a homosexual.
Soon, these words will be transmitted online via "Mike
Magazine" on electronic networks.
Could I have taken this step if I had never discovered
computer conferencing? Would I? Not now, anyway. Not yet.
Maybe not ever. But my world has been expanded forever ...
and my sense of who, personally, I can be.
Some of my growth, as I've said, has come from interaction on
public conferencing systems ... sharing ideas with a
journalist in Japan, a software scientist in California, a
priest in Western Canada, a 15-year-old boy in Ohio, an
automobile dealer in France. Some of these people I might
not have given a chance, even if I'd met them in person. The
15-year-old boy wrote like a man in his 30's, and I was
taking him seriously *before* I discovered he was a teen.
Computer conferencing within a corporation, however, doesn't
have to offer such distant locations or such a range of
lifestyles to give us the value of gaining from diversity.
When a junior Manager can send an idea to the Department
Director just by saying "dot-S" at the end of a note ... when
inter-departmental managers, assigned to work together as a
team, can reflect on the written word BEFORE challenging a
new thought in haste ... when consideration of a proposal can
be freed from calendar hassle or face-to-face political
protocol ... those times have the makings of helping *any*
organization discover and compare the best ideas the fastest,
and of helping its people contribute their most.
Conferencing can help build bridges -- fast, easily travelled
spanners -- linking our separate islands, whether inside a
company or without. More than 350 years ago, John Dunne, the
English poet wrote about our interconnections:
No man is an island,
entire of itself;
every man is a piece of the Continent,
a part of the maine.
Computer conferencing -- he could never imagine it -- is
helping to make that more so. Expanding our thinking,
enhancing receptivity, strengthening our abilities to gain
the benefits of an increasingly diverse society. I am
experiencing it myself, on my own piece of mental geography.
And I've witnessed it in others, individuals and groups.
The exciting thing is: we've barely begun.
Today I strengthen a bit more the bridge that exists between
my personal island and yours ... a bridge so clearly enhanced
by what conferencing has helped it to be.
Do I have fears, still, on my island? Lingering doubts?
Of course.
But I am very glad to be expanding into new waters anyway.
And I am glad you are here.
Thank you very much.
7 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:12 Eastern (6842 characters)
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 7 (June 1988)
Some Things to Think About:
Choosing Conferencing to Run on a Minicomputer
By Gordon Cook
[presented at the ENA Conference, Philadelphia, PA May '88]
Every situation is unique, therefore these suggestions are
offered as guidelines in the hope that you will find them
useful. They are not meant to be applied across the board in a
mechanistic or rigid way. That is to say they are not meant to
apply to every system or every situation. They come from being
a conferencing user of EIES since 1980, Participate since 1986,
and Caucus since 1986. They also come from over two years as a
consultant to OTIS between 1985 and 1987 when I was involved
full time with the development and evaluation of EIES 2.0.
Finally they come from an evaluation of CoSy and Caucus under
VMS at the John Von Neumann National Supercomputer Center during
the final four months of 1987. These "guidelines" reflect my
own experience and opinion and are not necessarily endorsed by
the JVNC or Sterling Software ZeroOne Systems Group.
YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Begin by thinking at the most basic level: what RESOURCES do I
have to bring to this endeavor? Am I looking for a tool, a
utility that I can take off the shelf, plug in and run with
little or no effort at the systems support level? Do I want
conferencing to be a transparent means of communication and
problem solving? Do I want to apply my efforts to solving
problems that have nothing to do with conferencing per say?
OR...Do I want a product where I can get the source code and
experiment with tailoring the product at the source code level??
Do I have the technical support that will allow me to deal with
the system at the source code level? Am I interested in
experimenting with conferencing as the end goal. Do I want to
join the vendor in a mutual effort to improve the software? Am
I primarily interested in the application as a means of offering
a new means of communication to those who I serve? Therefore is
my focus more likely to be on the PROCESS of communication than
on the conferencing application as a tool to assist in solving
of already identified problems?
The first environment should not demand an increase in your
programing staff. The second environment almost certainly will.
If your programming resources are tight, ask questions designed
to find out how much support at this level the product requires.
BEFORE THE SALE
Is the vendor willing to discuss your environment and proposed
applications at a sufficient enough level of detail for you to
make the wisest choice from the range of the products he
offers? Or do you get the feeling that he'd like to sell you
more than you need?
Remember that a sale does not mean that the product is being
used six months or a year later. Therefore ascertain what kind
of contact with current licensees the vendor is either willing
or able to give. Is it the kind of free and uninhibited contact
that allows for some depth of exchange?
And remember that on a mini computer there may be a wide gulf
between the unsophisticated end user and the systems programmer
who may be working quite hard to see that things go smoothly for
the end user. Talk to those who support the product at the
technical level. This could be the only way to assure yourself
that you do have a plug-in-and-run product, if this rather than
software R&D, is your goal.
PRICE:
Don't view the license fee as your only cost. Your true cost is
the license fee PLUS whatever salary you have to pay for system
programmer support to keep the application running.
AFTER THE SALE
Administrative support:
Will you need to write your own billing software if you will be
charging users?
Will a system administrator have to add each user to the system,
or if this is a new application on a system with existing users,
can you post a headline telling users how they can add
themselves?
If users are hit by line noise or a power interrupt and knocked
off the system, can they log back on without having to have a
system administrator reset their flags?
If you wish to modify a system feature or add a new one, can
this be done by means of an operating system macro or must it be
done by changes to the source code?
System Resource Demands
If you are to run on a dedicated machine, sizing your
application so that you buy the right size machine can be a
tricky question.
If, on the other hand you run on a machine with other
applications, be careful, this is an application that can be
very hardware hungry! Talk to the techiest techies you can find
and ask lots of questions which may vary according to the
operating system you are running under.
A few questions that occur are:
Program size: How many disk blocks needed for installation?
Memory requirements and usage: does the program use memory
efficiently?
I/O; Does the structure of the program require unusually large
numbers of disk reads and writes.
File structure: the program's file structure can impact both
security and resource requirements. Is there anything about the
file structure that can make it necessary for system
administrators to raise normal user parameters such as the
number of locks on files that a user may have in place at one
time.?
SECURITY
Don't think of security JUST in terms of a password at log on.
Realize that such questions as the level of file access
privilege can cause problems on a system run with both captive
and non captive accounts.
On a captive system make sure that it is not possible for a user
to use an operating system specific editor to bring into his
scratchpad a file that does not belong to him.
On a non captive system be sure that users do not have the
ability to leave the application, go to the operating system
prompt, take a directory of the conferencing system files, and
do a type of any that look interesting.
USER FRIENDLINESS: Some Personal Opinions
Does the software force the user to be known by and sign his or
her items with the system name which is usually a last name?
Does the software give the user the ability to start either a
new conference or a new discussion item at will?
Can a user ascertain when another user last signed into the
system?
Does the system send the user a receipt when his mail has been
read by its recipient?
MINI or NOT to MINI?
In some cases, you will find that a mini computer is the ONLY
way to go. You may however find it interesting to know that
many of these issues disappear when you move to an AT or a 386
class super micro.
In this arena hardware and software support is much LESS complex
and less expensive. PCAT clones have successfully supported
several hundred regular users. A 386 PC should support
somewhere between 1000 and 2000 users, depending on usage
patterns.
8 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:13 Eastern (6087 characters)
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 8 (June 1988)
Update on the Institute for Networking Design, Tokyo
by Izumi Aizu
We have come a long way since we attended the Electronic
Networking Association (ENA) conference in Washington, DC,
November, 1985!
The Institute for Networking Design was founded in April, 1986
by 6 members in Tokyo. Our business goal is to promote human
networking among regional, institutional, educational and
business communities throughout Japan (and beyond).
Our speciality is the use of computer networks that help people
communicate with each other beyond time, space, social or
cultural limitations. We design software and applications for
networks, consult to business and regional organizations to
introduce networks, publish books and reports, write magazine
articles, and organize seminars and symposia - all related to
human and electronic networking.
We have been pioneering the completely new field in Japan:
designing human communication using latest technologies. Our
concept is that systems and technologies should serve human
beings rather than the opposite, and that this systems design
work should be undertaken not just by engineers in the
technical fields, but also by specialists who have a real
understanding of human communications.
IND Networking Projects
=======================
COARA (Compunication of Oita Amatuer Research Association)
A regional non-profit organization hosting a public computer
conferencing system. COARA is pioneering the use of computer
conferencing based on a local area (about 600 miles west of
Tokyo) and has become Japan's most active and well-known online
community to date. We helped them to design and implement
original Japanese-language conferencing system.
COMNET Sendai
Located some 300 miles north of Tokyo, Sendai is the central
city for Northern part of Japan. COMNET Sendai is a third-sector
company established in December,1986 by Sendai City Government,
Sendai Chamber of Commerce, Miyagi Prefecutral Government, local
leading bank, electric power company and some 120 other major
companies based in the region. COMNET is short for COMmunity
NETwork, one of the first large-scale regional computer network
service company backed by the local government in Japan. They
started the network service in July 1987, with about 500 paid
members, and are planning to install a new host system which
will serve a couple of thousand members with computer
conferencing, database and online transaction services. We have
been consulting for marketing, design and introduction of
network business.
Recruit Corporation
Japan's first intra-company communication network, 'Aishiteru I
(I love you), was started last June. Recruit Corporation is one
of Japan's largest information service companies. It publishes a
number of recruiting and job finding magazines, real estate and
tour info magazines. They are also very keen to diversify,
already starting to penetrate the telecommunication market by
re-selling dedicated telephone and data line networks to other
companies.
'Aishiteru I' is installed to help employees communicate each
other, from top to middle to bottom and vice versa, trying to
improve communication efficiency inside their organization,
achieve more creative environment, gather knowledge and wisdom
beyond conventional organizational systems or regional barriers.
Upon the success of the first stage, the management decided to
provide 500 laptop computers for ALL the managers and will
expand the network this year.
AI Center Network
The AI Center is jointly established by ICOT (Institute for
Computer Technology), the key organization to Japan's 5th
generation computer development project, and JIPDEC, a
government affiliated organization for the promotion of
information processing industry.
AI Center Network links some 200-plus corporate and
institutional members of the AI center, most of them are heavily
involved in developing new Artificial Intelligence technology
and related products.
International Multi-media Conferences
In 1986 we organized two international conferences using latest
technology and networks. First was in cooperation with World
Future Society's annual general meeting in New York City,
connecting a number of U.S. and Japan's top economists.
The second was hosting regional communication connecting Tama
River Region in Tokyo and Silicon Valley in U.S. The subject
was "A week in the life." It was the first attempt to link
networks and people beyond Pacific, trying to promote
communication and understanding between the ordinary citizens in
both countries. More than 300 People from some 10 networks in
Japan and U.S. and other countries participated.
For both occasions we used computer conferencing, SSTV(Slow Scan
TV), Telephone conferencing and other media such as facsimile
and slides. This kind of use of multi-media network for
conferencing is very new and we experienced lots of problems as
well as benefits.
Networking Forum
In 1987 we organized two symposia, one in Tokyo and another one
in Oita. Both centered around the application and use of
networks by business and regional development as well as
educational and other social purposes.
And in April, 1988, based on the success of two previous Forums,
Networking Forum '88 was held with strong support from two
Government agencies, MITI (Ministry of International Trade and
Industry) and MPT (Ministry of Post and Telecommunications).
Over 30 companies including all major network services and
computer manufacturers joined this event as exhibitors. The
Forum included a 2-day symposia with three plenaries and five
concurrent sessions which drew some 2,500 attendees, making this
Forum the first and the biggest event of networking in Japan.
Thanks to the success of the conference and exhibition, we are
looking forward to having an international conference sometime
next year in Japan.
-----------
note: Institute for Networking Design
2-17-12-502 Higashi, Shibuya, Tokyo 150 JAPAN
Phone 03-797-2900 Facsimile 03-797-2988
9 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:14 Eastern (3218 characters)
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 9 (June 1988)
The LAN Wo/Man Cometh
Donald L. (Skip) Conover
[presented at the ENA Conference, Philadelphia, PA May '88]
"Connectivity" is this year's buzzword in the office
automation industry. The convergence of computer,
telecommunications and office automation technologies has vastly
increased the importance of understanding what hardware,
software, and people networking can mean for the firm. But it
seems to me that, for many, gaining that understanding is harder
than passing the bar exam.
Law firms are besieged by an army of local area
network (LAN) vendors and consultants, to name just one
relevant product category. Have you heard a sales pitch?
One favorite tactic this year is to sell fear, and to
obfuscate. Rather than explain the costs, benefits, and
organizational implications of their products and services, a
common approach is just to say, in effect, "We know
everything, or at least more than you can hope to know, so just
rely on us to make your LAN decisions."
Have you seen some of the recent advertisements? A
two-page number in the May 9, 1988, issue of _Network World_
(pp. 24-25) depicts a phonied up photograph of a manager
flying out of an office window, his suit in flames, an
apparent scream emanating from his mouth. The caption
reads, "Rare photo of manager leaving work after discovering
the LAN gateway he bought won't adapt to the future." Yes,
it is funny at first, until one considers the implications.
The copy for the same advertisement is a study in
obfuscation. Here is just one paragraph, to establish the
flavor:
"For example, we've designed new LAN-to-mainframe
products that take advantage of IBM's 3174, 3725/20 and
new 3745 controllers with direct LAN attachments. Whether
you're using Token Ring (TM), Ethernet (R), or other
compatible LANs, our IRMALAN (TM) workstation and gateway
software gives your LAN users IRMA (TM) familiarity, APA host
graphics, API support, Mods 2-5 emulation and up to five host
sessions."
The biggest problem with the scare and obfuscate approach
is that it does not address the issues of organizational change
and individual behavior, which are left after the new
system is installed. I recently visited a sizeable Washington
firm, which has a LAN installed. A review of its electronic
mail records showed that a majority of those assigned user
access had never used the electronic mail system, and most of
the rest had not been on the system for more than 3
days. This is not "shift[ing] the focus from
personal to organizational productivity," as Peter Keen
would have it in his 1986 book, _Competing in Time_. This is
"paving over the cowpath," to quote a recent _Wall Street
Journal_ article, which described the failure of many
computer systems to live up to their promised productivity
gains.
What do you think?
[note: a group of ENAers will be attending the "Enterprise
Networking" conference on connectivity in Baltimore in June
with Skip to pursue this idea.]
10 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:14 Eastern (2016 characters)
ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 10 (June 1988)
MEMBERSHIP FORM
On April 14, 1985, at the closing of
The First Intersystem Electronic Networking Symposium,
a new organization came into being:
the Electronic Networking Association.
The purpose of this association is
to promote electronic networking in ways that
ENRICH individuals
ENHANCE organizations
and BUILD global communities.
You are invited to become a member.
Please complete (download) the form below and _mail_ to:
Nan Hanahue, Membership Coordinator
Electronic Networking Association
c/o Executive Technology Associates, Inc.
2744 Washington Street
Allentown, PA 18104
(215) 821-7777
Enclose a check or money order made payable to the Electronic
Networking Association.
Be sure to include your network affiliations and online
addresses so that you can be informed of the location of
NETWEAVER and ENA activities on _your_ system.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
ENA Membership Form
NAME: _________________________________________________
ORGANIZATION: _________________________________________________
ADDRESS: _________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
NETWORKS _________________________________________________
AND
BULLETIN _________________________________________________
BOARDS
(INCLUDE _________________________________________________
IDS, IF
NECESSARY) _________________________________________________
Amount Enclosed: _____________ ($50 - Professional membership
$20 - General membership)
Is this a new membership? _________
Net or BBS where you received this form: _____________________
Welcome!
--
Patt Haring {sun!hoptoad,cmcl2!phri}!dasys1!patth
-or- uunet!dasys1!patth
Big Electric Cat Public Access Unix (212) 879-9031 - System Operator
"I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way." Jessica: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?