reverend@pro-exchange.cts.com (Mitchell L. Silverman) (11/06/90)
This is strange, I know. But could all the people who post messages to the TELECOM Digest take a second to make sure that they have a geographical address in their signatures? I ask this for two related reasons. First: I (and, I assume, other TELECOM Digest readers) are curious to know the geographic span of messages posted here. Long-time computer users (myself included) sometimes get jaded about what their toys can do, but surely the thought that this Digest enmeshes such a large part of the globe and connects such a geographically diverse group, must occasionally instill a sense of wonder in its readers? Second (and, I admit, my real motive :) ): I am taking a computer art class, and, rather than sketching pretty pictures using PixelPaint, I am exploring the wild world of conceptual art. I was inspired to do an electronic mail piece by a cutting-edge conceptual piece done in 1969, called "Trans VSI Connection NSCAD-NETCO Sept. 15-Oct 5, 1969." That conceptual artwork involved, as the book that records the installation tells, "... an exchange between the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and Iain Baxter's N. E. Thing Co., Ltd.[in Vancouver, British Columbia], via telex, telecopier and telephone. The N. E. Thing Co. initiated propositions and the college community responded with some appropriate activity. The transmissions from the exhibition are arranged chronologically, with evidence of response following each." Now telex, facsimile and phone were fine 21 years ago, but this is the 90s, after all. I did an installation in which I asked users of a local BBS to send me a word of their choice, then took their email and some maps and whipped up an interactive conceptual art installation using HyperCard. And THAT is what I'd like to do with the Digest -- conceptual art. Readers, PAT, what do you think? UUCP: crash!pro-exchange!reverend | Mitchell L. Silverman ARPA: crash!pro-exchange!reverend@nosc.mil | P.O. Box 25607 INET: reverend@pro-exchange.cts.com | Tamarac, FL 33320-5607 Disclaimer? Why would I need a disclaimer? I speak for no one. [Moderator's Note: I must say, yours is a very interesting request. You make an interesting observation on the far-flung nature of TELECOM Digest. We have about 40,000 daily readers on Usenet alone, via the comp.dcom.telecom newsgroup in about a dozen nations of the world, but the bulk of that is of course in the USA. The mailing list version reaches a couple thousand more readers. Telenet's Net Exchange BBS has quite a few readers of the Digest, and there are numerous Fidonet participants. PAT]
peter@ficc.ferranti.com (peter da silva) (11/10/90)
The locations of most users can be found by examining comp.mail.maps: the location of most sites are given, with street address and latitude and longitude. These maps are updated and posted monthly. Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. peter@ferranti.com
dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com (David Tamkin) (11/12/90)
Peter da Silva wrote in volume 10, issue 606: | The locations of most users can be found by examining comp.mail.maps: | the location of most sites are given, with street address and latitude | and longitude. These maps are updated and posted monthly. Well, that probably holds for .edu sites, but you're best off checking Organization: lines or .signatures. There are people who have remote logins to machines at the home office, and those of us who use the net on our own time actually place TELEPHONE CALLS (shock!) to *other* locations (fright!) to use a computer that is on the net rather than sitting at a terminal that is hard-wired to one. I have submitted to this forum from machines in Washington, D.C. and Cupertino, California. I could submit from one in Columbus, Ohio, and until a couple weeks ago could have used one in Sparkill, New York. Until last April I could have subscribed to DASNet and posted from a system in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Where I really am located in northeastern Illinois, there are three in Chicago, one in Villa Park, one in Palatine, and this one I am currently using in Wheeling. For nostalgia's sake, I'll include a defunct machine in Homer Township, Will County, Illinois, from which I used to submit. If by "most" Peter means "strictly more than 50%" I guess he's right, but as a mapping algorithm I don't think it will be correct often enough. Anyone mapping by that theory, please pretend that I always post from gagme; you'll be off by a negligible quarter-mile. David Tamkin Box 7002 Des Plaines IL 60018-7002 708 518 6769 312 693 0591 MCI Mail: 426-1818 GEnie: D.W.TAMKIN CIS: 73720,1570 dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com
peter@ficc.ferranti.com (peter da silva) (11/15/90)
I have often considered combining the Usenet locations with the messages and putting up a map of the Usenet world. For each message in the spool, I'd pulse all the systems it went through to get to me, translating the net into a softly glowing, pulsating, galaxy ... flaring up at high traffic periods, perhaps watching the night (hacker time, when one expects most messages get posted) sweep across the globe... Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. peter@ferranti.com
carroll@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Jeff Carroll) (11/20/90)
In article <14462@accuvax.nwu.edu> reverend@pro-exchange.cts.com (Mitchell L. Silverman) writes: >This is strange, I know. But could all the people who post messages >to the TELECOM Digest take a second to make sure that they have a >geographical address in their signatures? I ask this for two related >reasons. This seems to run counter to Our Fabled Moderator's desire to minimize the size of .sigs. Would PAT care to enunciate official TELECOM Digest policy regarding this request? >First: I (and, I assume, other TELECOM Digest readers) are curious to >know the geographic span of messages posted here. Long-time computer >users (myself included) sometimes get jaded about what their toys can >do, but surely the thought that this Digest enmeshes such a large part >of the globe and connects such a geographically diverse group, must >occasionally instill a sense of wonder in its readers? I generally refrain from posting more than my name and my email address because (a) email is generally the simplest and most reliable way for people out of town to reach me; (b) I change offices, and hence mailing addresses, frequently; (c) I generally assume that most people know that almost all of Boeing is in Seattle; (d) I think long ostentatious .sigs are tacky. On the other hand, I do get a kick out of receiving email and downloading anonymous FTP from places I've never been, such as Oz. >conceptual art installation using HyperCard. And THAT is what I'd >like to do with the Digest -- conceptual art. Readers, PAT, what do you >think? I don't understand this at all, but then I was too busy between majoring in engineering and minoring in beer to take any art :^> Jeff Carroll carroll@atc.boeing.com [Moderator's Note: I'm not sure I understand it entirely either, but assuming the original author knows what he is talking about, here is my .sig policy: Name, email address and US Mail address are allowed, as is a disclaimer message when required. Cute sayings, borders, stars, dashed line, graphics and similar are all removed. I used to allow full .sigs, but found that as the Digest traffic got quite heavy I was able to free up ten to fifteen percent of the space in each issue by eliminating the aforementioned. There are technical considerations: The Digest gets along best with the mailers enroute if the maximum size is around 16-17 K. It <can> be larger, but I get more complaints of duplicate deliveries and missed deliveries when they are. If I can recover a thousand bytes by deleting the dashes around your .sig, that's enough room for another message. Then too, dash marks (-----) have a particular significance to the digesting/undigesting software, particularly when they are flush with the left side of the file. Likewise, the word 'From', or any word at the left margin followed by a colon is significant. I was leaving a few small .sigs in for awhile, then there were complaints of favoritism from the folks whose (much larger, garish) .sigs got removed. So now I just remove them all. After all, the more .sigs I remove, the more Moderator's Notes I can add with ease! :) PAT]