asfjp@acad2.alaska.edu (Fred Polsky V1.0) (06/01/91)
Just a collection of observations, however trivial... One thing I've noticed is that while we are having this movement to extend the net to just about everywhere, how many people are currently on the net? A couple hundred thousand, maybe? In a planet of 5 billion, that's a fairly small percentage... The importance of extending the net eludes me a bit... Here's a farfetched idea.. I'd like to see net access in every household (although something a bit more secure than the current net) in America, and have political debates and even voting over the computer.. Eliminate Congress, and have a true democracy via computer. Someday, perhaps, assuming we don't follow the current line toward Orwellian fascism... Old phone exchanges: Yeah, in my naughty days, I had the privilege of living in a #4 crossbar area.. I got to do all sorts of fun stuff that today's hacks just don't get to do. I've since outgrown that... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your net.dollars at work, propogating the mindless drivel of Frederick J. Polsky aka Jabberwokky or Mordecai on IRC.. Flames to asfjp@acad2.alaska.edu...
trifid@agora.rain.com (Roadster Racewerks) (06/03/91)
Hmmm... Why connect up if only a "couple hundred thousand" are on the nets? Well, I don't know how it is elsewhere, but around here, I keep and make printouts of newsgroup articles for many of my friends who aren't connected. They tell me their concerns and interests, and if I run across their "pet topic" I capture it for them and surface mail it, or give it to them next time we meet. When you see something interesting here, don't you share it with anyone? I am also currently getting some software sent from Ireland for a friend who wants a program not available in the US, and trying to track down a rule in a club I belong to for a member I hardly know, from the club headquarters many states away. I don't know anyone, however reclusive, who hasn't done this at least once in a while. I find it hard to conceive of a village site refusing to help a mother get a message to her son in a university overseas, or vice-versa. And that brings up the remark that only homesick profs and businessmen send email. I find, by reading a lot of the soc.culture newsgroups, that it's quite the reverse. Homesick students are continually asking "is there a site in XXX that can relay a message to my aunt...." soc.culture.soviet has someone trying to set up email sites where letters can be transmitted, and then their journey completed by local land mail, this probably being faster (maybe even more reliable) than mailing it the entire distance. This was also done for US troops during the recent war. As to the lack of administrators, I think there is a software revolt at hand. One of my favorite local BBSs is (maybe tonight!) going Fidonet. Fidonet allows use of regular (Very user friendly) BBS software to interface with the network. The software she uses (QuickBBS and D'Bridge) do her netmail calls automatically on a regular basis. All she attends to are power failures, system breakdowns, and system upgrades. She's online 24hrs a day, and some months puts in *no* involuntary time on the system. Her computer is a clone that she has slowly built from re-conditioned components, and although she is not a computer tech, she runs the system gratis, as a hobby. She isn't at all wealthy, but she enjoys the interaction, and helping others so much that it doesn't seem like a sacrifice to her. She's going Fido because she *hates* unix, and has never quite gotten the hang of it (she has an account on this system she hardly uses except to read news). She is not a computer genius, just motivated. Her motivation may not be what business and university admins envision at all. She learned all her skills hands-on as events required, with the coaching of tech friends. Don't be afraid to look in unusual places for the people to do this. Give up preconceived notions. There must be librarians in many African cities. And doctors. These would have their own, built-in motives to want to connect. Who knows who else? As for the people in the countryside, well, our countryside isn't all connected up yet, but every BBS-fan who moves back to the farm dreams of opening a local system. Sometimes they even find users out there. That part will grow naturally, no matter where. Just get people online in the cities, city folk don't exist in a cultural vacuum.... Suze Hammond trifid@agora.rain.com
billy@vaxb.acs.unt.edu (06/03/91)
In article <1991Jun1.103409.6738@ims.alaska.edu>, asfjp@acad2.alaska.edu (Fred Polsky V1.0) writes: > > One thing I've noticed is that while we are having this movement to extend the > net to just about everywhere, how many people are currently on the net? A > couple hundred thousand, maybe? In a planet of 5 billion, that's a fairly small > percentage... The importance of extending the net eludes me a bit... > The latest USENET estimate is 1.4 million USENET readers with over 6 million accounts on these machines. Of course, you have several things to consider like users with more than one account, those who rarely read news, and that USENET is not the whole net. I think saying that 2 million people are actively involved in the USENET/Internet/BITNET lists would be an accurate number. This still amounts to .04% of the world population, but it is rapidly growing. ================================================================================ Billy Barron Bitnet : BILLY@UNTVAX VAX/Unix Systems Manager THENET : NTVAX::BILLY University of North Texas Internet : billy@vaxb.acs.unt.edu SPAN : UTSPAN::UTADNX::NTVAX::BILLY ================================================================================
cmf851@anu.oz.au (Albert Langer) (06/04/91)
In article <1991Jun3.112925.18607@agora.rain.com> trifid@agora.rain.com (Roadster Racewerks) writes: >As to the lack of administrators, I think there is a software revolt at hand. >One of my favorite local BBSs is (maybe tonight!) going Fidonet. Fidonet allows >use of regular (Very user friendly) BBS software to interface with the network. >The software she uses (QuickBBS and D'Bridge) do her netmail calls automatically >on a regular basis. All she attends to are power failures, system breakdowns, >and system upgrades. She's online 24hrs a day, and some months puts in *no* >involuntary time on the system. Her computer is a clone that she has slowly >built from re-conditioned components, and although she is not a computer tech, >she runs the system gratis, as a hobby. She isn't at all wealthy, but she enjoys >the interaction, and helping others so much that it doesn't seem like a >sacrifice to her. She's going Fido because she *hates* unix, and has never quite >gotten the hang of it (she has an account on this system she hardly uses except >to read news). She is not a computer genius, just motivated. Her motivation may >not be what business and university admins envision at all. She learned all her >skills hands-on as events required, with the coaching of tech friends. Don't be >afraid to look in unusual places for the people to do this. Give up preconceived >notions. There must be librarians in many African cities. And doctors. These >would have their own, built-in motives to want to connect. Who knows who else? >As for the people in the countryside, well, our countryside isn't all connected >up yet, but every BBS-fan who moves back to the farm dreams of opening a local >system. Sometimes they even find users out there. That part will grow naturally, >no matter where. Just get people online in the cities, city folk don't exist in >a cultural vacuum.... I strongly agree with the thrust of your approach, that there are people out there in developing countries who can be motivated to provide the administration required. But that is only true WITH the "software revolt" you mention as being "at hand" (by no means complete). People with the motivation and attitudes and skills to be able to pickup how to run a Fido BBS with a little help from their friends are much more readily found in developed countries than in developing countries. They are a PRODUCT of "development". They still have to spend a LOT of time on their BBSes, which may not even be noticed because it overlaps with time they spend as users, but has a different significance when competing with other priorities for a librarian or doctor in a developing country. Running a Fido BBS is still a MAJOR undertaking, even though less so than administering a unix system. But the amount of skill and work required HAS been reduced, and CAN be reduced much further, if we put our minds to it. I don't believe anybody has really sat down and done a proper software engineering requirements analysis on what would be needed to make email and news a mere extension of wordprocessing. It hasn't been necessary because email and news are mainly used in either university/research or computer hobbyist environments where people willing to learn how to edit complex configuration files are readily available. I believe it is necessary for take off in developing countries and dramatically wider access in developed countries. We should go systematically through what is REQUIRED for email and news to be accessible to any developing country librarian or doctor that has access to a wordprocessor and telephone. Then prepare proper SPECIFICATIONS and then DESIGN and BUILD (in stages) a system that meets those requirements. Neither FidoNet nor USENET were designed to meet developing country or mass access requirements, but what they have accomplished can be made use of if the additional requirements are kept firmly in mind. (I believe the OSI X400 and X500 specs for corporate email and SNMP/CMIP for network management will prove even more useful). -- Opinions disclaimed (Authoritative answer from opinion server) Header reply address wrong. Use cmf851@csc2.anu.edu.au