DANJ@jhuhyg.bitnet (DAN) (10/22/90)
----------------------------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.
kristoff@genbank.bio.net (David Kristofferson) (10/23/90)
Dan, I still fondly recall talking to the head of a mol. biol. department on the phone about BIONET (the former timesharing service, not the newsgroups) and being told about computer users that "There is always someone in every lab that would rather !@#$%^&*$ around with computers than work." This person was in a position to influence expenditures on computer systems too unfortunately. In so far as some people do use computing as an "escape," there might be a germ of truth in what he said, but this germ unfortunately develops into a pandemic of computer avoidance in all too many cases. Arguing about the benefits of computers with someone who hates them (regardless of their age) may as fruitful as discussing religion with someone of a different, but strongly held faith. My advice is to try to get something concrete from the network which benefits your experimental work. The METHODS-AND-REAGENTS newsgroup (bionet.molbio.methds-reagnts) is probably the most likely spot to begin. If you can find something there that your advisor was not aware of and which also helps you in your experiments, you might have a convert. You also note correctly that an extended discussion of this topic is probably not appropriate for the Genome newsgroup. I would continue on either BIO-MATRIX (bionet.molbio.bio-matrix) or on BIONAUTS (bionet.users.addresses). -- Sincerely, Dave Kristofferson GenBank Manager kristoff@genbank.bio.net