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########## ########## ########## | THE NET: WHAT'S IT GOOD FOR?|
########## ########## ########## | Three Personal Perspectives|
#### #### #### | |
######## ######## ######## | THE SUNDEVIL DOCUMENTS|
######## ######## ######## | CPSR'S FOIA Release|
#### #### #### | |
########## #### #### | ARE YOU AN INTERNET NERD?|
########## #### #### | Test Reveals Terrible Truth!|
|
EFF OPENS WASHINGTON OFFICE |
|
=====================================================================|
EFFector Online January 18, 1992 Volume 2, Number 4 |
=====================================================================|
PIONEER AWARD NOMINATIONS DEADLINE
Please note that the deadline for nominating a person or organization
for the First Annual EFF/Pioneer Awards will be February 15.
The Pioneer Awards will be made on Thursday, March 19,1992 at the
L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC, during the Second Computers,
Freedom and Privacy Conference.
Pioneer Awards are for distinguished contributions, innovations, or
service in the cause of advancing computer-based communications.
Anyone may be nominated for an award, except for EFF Staff members.
A nomination form can be found at the end of this issue of EFFector
Online. We have already received many nominations, but we need to hear
from you.
The EFF is looking for the real pioneers. Help us find them.
-==--==--==-<>-==--==--==-
In this issue:
"WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO USE A COMPUTER IN A LIBRARY?"
LIBERATION TECHNOLOGY
THE NET:WHAT'S IT WORTH?
SUN DEVIL DOCUMENTS RELEASED
WARNING - MICHELANGELO VIRUS (PC)
BERMAN TO HEAD NEW EFF WASHINGTON OFFICE
UPDATE ON EFF ACTIVITIES
ARE YOU AN INTERNET NERD?
-==--==--==-<>-==--==--==-
NET WORK:
Three Personal Perspectives on the Uses of the Net
[As the creation of the Net goes forward, and many issues of a
technical, legal or political nature surface, its easy to forget that
the Net is made to be used by people in ways that are neither technical
nor political. In various groups over the past few weeks, the question
of what the Net is "good for" has arisen in several guises. In this
edition of EFFector Online, we present three "answers". The first is
from a librarian, the second from a college professor, and the third
from an EFF staff member. Every so often, it helps to step back from
the wiring, planning, programming, and social engineering and reflect
on the ways in which humanity actually uses the tools it creates.]
-==--==--==-<>-==--==--==-
"WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO USE A COMPUTER IN A LIBRARY?"
by Jean Polly
(polly@LPL.ORG)
How does the INTERNET relate to the little guy?
[The previous posters] remarks remind me very much of the response
I got from computer dealers in 1980 when I was seeking advice about
acquiring a computer for public use at my public library.
"Why would ANYONE want to use a computer in a public library-- what on
earth would they use it for???" was the universal attitude, usually
accompanied by a guffaw or two.
Undaunted, I pressed ahead and by October of 1981 we had a 48K Apple II+
out where the Masses could touch it. (Now my kid has 48K on his watch...)
Ten years later, over 1,500 hours per month are reserved on the seven
public computers in our lab. 75% of the use is by adults, although we
have a percentage of families engaged in home-schooling their children
who also use the lab to advantage.
Our clients use the computers and laser printers for everything from
resumes to learning desktop publishing. They create church newsletters,
learn to use databases, practice languages, print mailing labels.
Last year we got an Apple Library of Tomorrow grant, which brought
interactive videodisc technology to our small village library. We have
just become one of 37 libraries nationally to beta-test the Library of
Congress' American Memory Project. This CD-ROM and videodisc archive
contains some 25,000 turn of the Century postcard views of American
landmarks, rare film footage from the 1901 Pan-American Exposition,
audio archives of great American speeches and their text, with photos of
the speakers, plus much more. Subsequent volumes will include Civil War
photos by Matthew Brady, folk songs from the California gold rush days,
oral histories from around the U.S. Everything in the collection is
searchable, much is printable.
And yes, we hope to offer INTERNET connectivity in our lab sometime in
the first half of 1992.
FCC and other government regulations strive to protect public interest
in, and access to, cable TV, radio, amateur radio and other
communications highways; likewise should we advocate public uses of
computer technology, and telecommunications.
Haven't you noticed that your colleagues and friends are quickly being
divided into "who's on email" and "who isn't". Don't you find yourself
talking to "connected" colleagues a lot more frequently than your offline
friends? This is Not a Good Thing. Institutionally. Nationally. Globally.
I have a dream and it's happening right now. Kids talking about their
lives, from Moscow to Mexico City, Cupertino to Halifax. People finding
out about their similarities rather than focusing on what divides them.
All possible on the net.
Gee, you don't need the NREN for just Email, I can hear you say. Right.
Not for text. What about when it includes video, color photos,
multimedia?
Gigabits you say. I don't know how much bandwidth I need to my house. In
1980, 48K did all I wanted, now my desktop takes 8 megs of RAM. I used to
do this at 300 baud, now 9600 seems slow.
You know Warhol's "everyone's famous for 15 minutes?" Once you are into
computers you are only satisfied with what you've got for 15 minutes!
("Faster, higher, stronger", the Olympic motto, could be appropriated by
how many of us, gazing into our CRTs...)
So, to cut to the chase, yes. The little guy not only needs to be
informed about What's Going on Out There, but he needs some way to Be Out
There. I guess you can either be a signpost, or a roadblock, or line
noise.
Jean Armour Polly "Don't postpone joy!"
Assistant Director,Public Services Liverpool Public Library
INTERNET: polly@LPL.ORG
-==--==--==-<>-==--==--==-
LIBERATION TECHNOLOGY
Equal Access Via Computer Communication
by Norman Coombs
(NRCGSH@RITVAX.ISC.RIT.EDU)
I am a blind professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology.As such I
use a computer with a speech synthesizer,and regularly teach a class of
students online with a computer conference. Most of these students have
no physical handicap. Some, however, are hearing impaired, and others
totally deaf. I have team-taught another course at the New School for
Social Research, some 350 miles away, with a teacher who is blind and
confined to a wheelchair. On the computer screen, our handicaps of
blindness and mobility make no difference.
One of the courses I teach online is African American history. In that
class, some students are White, some Black, others Asian, and still
others Native American. Obviously, some of the class members are male and
others female. All of these differences, like those of the handicaps
described above, become unimportant on the computer screen. It