DANJ@jhuhyg.bitnet (DAN) (10/22/90)
----------------------------Original message---------------------------- ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Hi, My adviser recently questioned the value of my being invoved in such things as the BIONET. Somewhat stunned I stammered something about the value of being in contact with hundreds (thousands?) of other bio-scientists and the help theref ore available. Since then I've thought of a few better arguments but his initi al reaction was to say the least - unimpressed. This brings me to my question to all my fellow netters out there - What do we say to those who are unitiated in the world of electronic communication and lack the grand vision (ie BIO-MATR IX type stuff) that many netters seem to have? How do we impress upon those ho stile elements of bio-society that computer nets have value and that the time s pent learning how to use them is indeed time well spent? I'm sure there are others out there who have had experiences similar to mine. I'm pretty new to this whole business so I have much to learn about BIONET, BIT NET etc..., however if this becomes a confrontational issue with my adviser I will have to withdraw somewhat from my use of the networks. What I suppose is most disturbing about this is that my adviser is quite young so that he has th e capability to discourage many, many students from net use. TO all students and faculty members who have had or know of similar incidents or are concerned net-users - PLEASE comment - maybe with an eclectic collection of arguments I may be able to convince said adviser to support my use of the net. I am sending this out to a number of bboards and realize that I may be stepping across traditional boundaries in doing so, however I will gladly accept the sh ift of this discussion to the appropriate board (as may be advised by the *powe rs* that be...David?). I also realize that this may be an old fight for many o f you however if graduate students are being quashed by new faculty the future of the net is not a bright one. Hoping for advice. Sincerely, Dan Jacobson Johns Hopkins University DANJ@JHUHYG Disclaimer: I have no financial interests in anything associated with the netw orks, or more appropriately (being a student) I have no finances.
goldman@mbcl.rutgers.edu (10/27/90)
In article <9010211837.AA21273@genbank.bio.net>, DANJ@jhuhyg.bitnet (DAN) writes: > ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- > > > ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- > Hi, > My adviser recently questioned the value of my being invoved in such things as > the BIONET. Somewhat stunned I stammered something about the value of being in > contact with hundreds (thousands?) of other bio-scientists and the help theref > ore available. Since then I've thought of a few better arguments but his initi > al reaction was to say the least - unimpressed. This brings me to my question > to all my fellow netters out there - What do we say to those who are unitiated > in the world of electronic communication and lack the grand vision (ie BIO-MATR > IX type stuff) that many netters seem to have? How do we impress upon those ho > stile elements of bio-society that computer nets have value and that the time s > pent learning how to use them is indeed time well spent? > Dan, I would argue that in the strictly scientific world, you learn about fixes to programs, many of which are posted here. You want to find out if there's a bug in the FASTA routine in GCG? Post it here. Find out how to use the GenBank FASTA server? Post it here. The reason for this is the same reason that it makes sense to talk to colleagues anywhere. He wouldn't consider it wrong if you wandered down the hall and talked to another graduate student about a problem you were having. Why is it wrong to wander across to Australia and ask someone there? In fact, in some ways NEWS and electronic mail are better than colleagues at the end of the hall or the telephone line. With electronic messaging, the people you want to communicate will definitely get your message. And - though he doesn't realise it - the activation barrier is MUCH LOWER to replying to electronic mail. (Witness this reply.) I don't think I'm alone in finding electronic mail a MUCH lower activation barrier to reply to than phones or paper mail. Because with phones, you may end up playing telephone tag, and with mail, you have to write an envelope (even if you have a wordprocessing program to do the letter). And you have to find a postage stamp and post the bloody thing. that's my 2 cents. Adrian Goldman Assistant Professor, Rutgers University (goldman@mbcl.rutgers.edu) but then I'm a crystallographer, and crystallographers have tended to be at the forefront in computing in biology.... If I have a crystallographic problem (I'm an x-ray crystallographer) then I can phone my friend at Northwestern, but, like as not, we'll end up playing telephone tag.