ciaraldi@cs.rochester.edu (Mike Ciaraldi) (06/30/87)
In response to several requests, here is some information on National Public Data: NPD is a brand-new not-for-profit organization. Its purpose is to gather and distribute data that will be freely available to the general public. What sort of data? Anything in the public domain, e.g. classics of literature, government reports, census data, and so on. It will also generate its own information, such as a continuously-updated dictionary and encyclopedia which will expand (under the control of an editor) as users make requests for entries and contribute the answers. How will it be distributed? NPD expects to derive its funding from grants and other donations. It will send its data to local affiliates who will handle distribution via electronic bulletin board or other means. It will generally charge only a nominal handling fee to send this data to the local affiliates, and will require that they not charge the public for access to the data. For more information, contact Max Lent, founder of NPD, at P.O. Box 11442, Rochester NY 14611. Apologies to Max if I messed anything up in this posting. Mike Ciaraldi