scratch@psuvax1.cs.psu.edu (Steven J Owens) (04/13/89)
I'm doing a paper for a mass-media class on the possibilities of a national
computer network accessible by anybody... sort of like Usenet with a lot more
support and cash flow, I suppose.
I'd appreciate any suggestions or information for this paper, as well as
suggestions of where I could _look_ for information :-). One person I asked
said he recalled a post somewhere/somewhen that gave estimates of how much
a nationally available, non-commercial computer network would cost. Does
anybody remember that? Are the figures still available?
I'll outline some of the stuff I'm thinking about below, but if you don't want
to read it, please don't let that stop you from replying right now! (I know
I get longwinded sometimes :-)
I'm sort of basing my paper on the French Minitel computer network. In case
you've never heard of it, a quick summary:
France had a minor problem with their telephone directories. They
were becoming outdated as fast as they were printed and distributed. So, in
order to correct the problem, they set up a national computer network and
gave EVERYBODY who had a phone a computer terminal. The terminals weren't
fancy, and they couldn't do a lot, but they were produced at rock bottom
price and distributed at cost (about $165, I think, with the price taken in
phone bills in small chunks...)
As anybody who's ever used compuserve or the source, or other computer
services could predict, it wasn't long before the services available via
terminal "mushroomed" into areas like newsgroups, etc.
Naturally, this is all very inaccurate on my part, esp. since most of
it's based on a few magazine articles about Minitel. Does anybody know more
about this? Does anybody know how quickly and/or easily it could be done here?
And how much it would cost if the target was NOT an attempt to suck as much
cash off of the customers as possible?
I was thinking that the advantages of a really professionally supported
network with commercial interests added would outweigh the costs. If that
great "evil", advertising, was used, much of the network would pay for itself.
I'm not talking about heavy advertising, but would you mind living with maybe
one thirty second commercial per hour of online use in order to get the
service free? It should work, since the network could "narrowcast" commercials
to only those who would have an interest (thus thirty year old black females
wouldn't get suntan oil and kiddie-toy commercials, for example).
Any ideas?
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Steven J. Owens | Scratch@Pittvms | Sjost1@Pittvms | (UUCP? Good question.)
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"Not to say I didn't like this story (and other Brunner works); just
that a Brunner story is usually not exactly a ray of sunshine in your
day. Unless he's talking about the hole in the ozone layer..."
- Larry Wake, rec.arts.sf-lovers, McGuffin Discussion
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