The World of Computer Software/World_Of_Computer_Software-02-387-Vol-3of3.iso/t/thinknet.zip/THINKNET.003

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-----------------------------------------------------------------
AUGUST 1992           ISSUE  003              VOLUME 1   NUMBER 3
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 Thinknet is a newsletter about cooperative philosophical
thought in cyberspace, both on BBSs and on the networks.

 *CONTENTS*
 THINKNET PUBLICATION DATA
 THINKNET ESSAY & DISCUSSION CHANNELS - a thoughtSource
 A HOME FOR THINKNET ON THE WELL      - a thoughtSpace
 VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY                   - an idea whose time may come
 POST MODERN CULTURE                  - an electronic journal
 EJOURNAL                             - excerpt from a meta-electronic journal
 NET JAM                              - making music on the networks
 BOOK REVIEW: CYBERSPACE: First Steps
 ESSAY: On Thought Capsules K.D. PALMER

Issues three and four are a back-to-back double issue with the same number.
The overflow material is contained in issue four. It has sections on
Resources and Feedback. If you do not have issue four you are
missing the some of the content of this pair of newsletters. Please
have a look at that second issue as well. Separating the two issues
maintains a reasonable file size and makes it easier for the reader
to refer to the main contents of the newsletter.

<<<<<<Thinknet Electronic Newsletter (c) 1991 Kent Palmer.>>>>>>>

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THINKNET PUBLICATION DATA                                     kdp
----------------------------------------------------------------

 *Scope*

 Thinknet is a review of philosophical debates and discussions
that are ongoing and enabled by computer mediated
communications.  Any meta-theoretical exchanges that border on
philosophy or Systems Theory that are carried out on the
global networks or Bulletin Board Systems are of interest. All
thoughtful discussions within the cyberspace medium are
considered relevant, especially those with an inter-, multi-, or
transdisciplinary character.

 *Sources, Subscriptions & Submissions*

 Thinknet is an occasional publication available in both
electronic and hard copy versions.

 Thinknet is available electronically from the following:

        The WORLD BBS Online Book Initiative Directory

        To access ftp world.std.com
        {telnet address: 192.74.137.5}

        Once connected then login as anonymous,
        use any password (though an e-mail address as a
        password is the custom). Once in just "cd obi"
        (or, specifically for thinknet stuff,
        "cd obi/NewsLetters/Thinknet").

        ....................................................

        The WELL BBS Thinknet Conference
        27 Gate Five Road
        Sausalito, CA 94965
        modem 415-332-6106        voice 415-332-4335

        Must register as a user to gain access. Once on system
        you can look in the phi (philosophy) conference for
        the thinknet topic. For newsletter issues see the thinknet
        conference. Send an email message to the host using
        'mail thinknet' to gain entrance. Once you have been
        let in then look in '/well/info/thinknet' for thinknet files.

        ....................................................

        GEnie BBS
        (Religion and Ethics Bulletin Board -- Philosophy category)
        GEnie Client Services 1-800-638-9636
           The RELIGION BBS has been revamped and the thinknet
        topic there has been eliminated. From now on thinknet
        issues will be uploaded into the library associated
        with the Religion BBS. Look for a file with name
        thinkxxx.zip where 'xxx' is the issue number. For example,
        think003.zip.

        ....................................................

        COMPUSERVE
         Electronic Frontier Foundation reportedly has
         copies of this newsletter in their directory.

        ....................................................

         ALT.CYBERSPACE
         Some one seems to be posting the whole newsletter to
         ALT.CYBERSPACE usenet newsgroup. If this continues you
         may pull it off the net directly.

 You may subscribe electronically to Thinknet by e-mailing to
the following address:

        [e-mail]

 Use the following message format:

        SENT THINKNET YourFullName [e-mail]


 Hardcopy subscriptions are available at a nominal cost to
cover photocopying, postage and handling.  Write the editor for
the current rates at the following address:

        Kent Palmer
        PO BOX 8383
        ORANGE CA 92664-8383
        UNITED STATES

 Thinknet invites individuals to submit information, articles,
and news for possible inclusion.  Send submissions to the same
electronic or postal addresses that appear immediately above
for subscriptions.

 If you would like to become a correspondent reporting on
developments on a particular mailing list or bulletin board
please apply.  We would like to provide summaries of ongoing
developments from time to time.

 Thinknet will mention items it receives that are within its
scope and when appropriate, review them.  Electronic
newsletters, BBS services, books, mailing lists, works in
progress, are all of interest.

 Individuals interested in participating in the preparation
and dissemination of this journal are encouraged to apply to the
Thinknet address above.

 We are a particularly interested in identifying Bulletin
Board systems where philosophical discussion is carried out in
a focused manner, i.e. where philosophy has its own category.
Inspiration for the format and design of this electronic journal
is taken from the ARTCOM electronic art's related newsletter
located on the WELL.

 Thinknet may be distributed freely in electronic form.  It
should be considered as shareware.  Thus the copyright notice
must be preserved and the text copied in its entirety without
changes.  It is not allowed for anyone to charge for Thinknet
newsletter except the original producer.

 Thinknet newsletter copyright 1992 Kent Palmer.  All rights
are reserved.  It may be not be distributed in paper form
without permission of the copyright holder.  Single paper
copies for personal study are allowed to be printed.

 *Staff*

 EDITOR

 Kent D. Palmer   -> [e-mail]

 CORE GROUP

 Peter Cash        -> [e-mail]
 Stephen Clark     -> [e-mail]
 Richard Coburn    -> [e-mail]
 Richard Dunn      -> [e-mail]
 Lance Fletcher    -> [e-mail]
 Brent J. Krawchuk -> [e-mail]
                      [e-mail]
 Elan Moritz       -> [e-mail]
 Mark Peterson     -> [e-mail]
 Frank Schroth     -> [e-mail] (copy editor)
 Bruce Schuman     -> [e-mail]
 Jeff Dooley       -> [e-mail]

There are over 2100 subscribers to thinknet newsletter.
Thanks for your patience and continued support.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
 THINKNET ESSAY & DISCUSSION CHANNELS                        kdp
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 The changing focus of Thinknet will be reflected in the
opening of a few associated mailing lists. These mailing lists
will concentrate on the promotion of philosophical discussion
on various topics by changing the normal mailing list format.
Instead of a single mailing list which bears all traffic there
will be several related mailing lists called

       [e-mail]
     [e-mail]
 [e-mail]
     [e-mail]
     [e-mail]
   [e-mail]
    [e-mail]
    [e-mail]

 These are several related channels for information exchange.
The essay channel is moderated and edited, by Brent J.
Krawchuk, and will be a medium for the publishing of quality
essays on any philosophical, systems theoretical,
interdisciplinary, or meta-theoretical topics. In order to
submit an essay for dissemination the author sends it to
submissions@world for consideration. When it is approved it
will be published to the list essay@world. Associated with
this essay channel will be a separate discussion channel in
which the essays or other related topics may be discussed.
When conversation becomes intense on a particular subject then
the participants may request being moved to one of the
talk@world channels to continue their discussion.

 The concept behind the structure of the lists is that good
conversation on the internet is limited by having single
channels devoted to particular subjects. So all messages come
down that single channel in a Hodge Podge which is difficult to
keep track of. Many different conversations are mixed up and and
it is difficult to concentrate on a particular subject that
only a few people are interested in. In order to achieve depth,
the essay channel supports long posts that are vetted for both
form and content. The criteria for publishing essays will evolve
with the list but at first the filtering will be minimal. The
point of the essay list is to get people to consider internet
as a medium for publishing their ideas in a rough form for
comment by others. That commenting occurs on the discussion
channel. That channel may carry multiple interleaved
conversations of different essays or topics that are brought up
for discussion by the list members. These discussions will be
unfiltered. But as happens with all lists, certain discussions
will take-off. In that case there are the talk channels for
these indepth conversations to move to in order not to take up
the band width of the main discussion list. If one of these
side conversations becomes very long lived I will set up a
special list for them to continue on.

So what you see here is an experiment in the medium of
cyberspace. It is based on the observation of many different
mailing lists in action while attempting to understand
what prevents good conversation form occurring. The answer
formulated here is that one channel is doing the work of several
specialized but related channels. The thinknet channels will
attempt to remedy this problem with this set of interrelated
mailing lists dedicated to thoughtful conversation in
cyberspace. Hope you will join the experiment and help us
discover whether this or some other solution is the answer.

 If you would like to join this venture send me your name and
address with the message:

 ESSAY & DISCUSSION YourFullName <[e-mail]>

 Give a short biography and list of interests to introduce
yourself.

 You can join just the essay channel if you wish.

 If you want to make a submission send it to [e-mail].
You can request guidelines for essays from that address as well.

 The essence of the internet is personal publishing. The thinknet
channels make it possible for you to publish your working
papers or polished essays and get feed back from a group with
a broad range of interests. However, some attempt will be made
to assure the quality of materials published in order to
make it possible for others to rely on the quality of
information they will receive from this information source.
Thus if you have important things you would like to say and get
a well considered response the thinknet channels are the place.

 Lists of thinknet essays will be offered in subsequent
versions of the Thinknet newsletter. So those who do not want
to subscribe to yet another mailing list will from time to
time get updates of the essays published since the last
issue. However, the essays will no longer be fresh and the
discussion will probably have been long finished.

 Essays of particularly high quality or intrinsic interest may
be published to the thinknet subscription list as a whole. This
makes your audience quite large. So if you are looking for an
audience for your ideas then please consider the thinknet essay
and discussion channels as a place to start that search.


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 A HOME FOR THINKNET ON THE WELL                              kdp
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 Thinknet now has a BBS home on the WELL in San Francisco. Our
home is a new category dedicated to thinknet alone. Previously we
have posted the newsletter to a topic in the philosophy
category. That will continue for the foreseeable future. But in
addition we will now have our own place to work on future
issues and to hold discussions. Essays and discussions from the
thinknet channels will be archived in the file space associated
with the new category. Also other materials of interest will be
maintained there for your access if you are a member of the
WELL. If not, it is a good investment as it is one of the the
pre-eminent BBSs in the country. It has very active
discussions in many different fields. One of those fields is now
also thinknet.

 The thinknet category on the WELL functions as a workspace for
the CORE group to discuss upcoming issues. Materials that have
been sent in to thinknet will be accessible there which may or
may not find their way into the newsletter. It will give a
historical record of the development of the newsletter and the
discussions among the CORE group that result in each issue.

 Beyond the production of the newsletter, the category is
also a place for indepth discussions modeled on seminars. Each
topic will have its facilitator (or host) and will be geared
toward serious discussions of any topic related to the scope of
thinknet. At the moment the only active seminar under way is on
self-organizing systems. But we are open to new members of the
category and new seminar ideas. So bring your friends and get
ready for some good study and conversation in our new category.

 In order to join you must become a member of the WELL. This
costs about $14 per month and $2 per hour. You can save on long
distance connect charges if you can access the WELL using
telnet. Otherwise the connect charges are extra and can run
anywhere from $1 to $4 per hour. Once you are a WELL member
then send me a letter asking to gain admittance. Thinknet
conference is private so only members can gain access. Mail the
following message:

ENTER THINKNET CONFERENCE YourFullName

to 'thinknet'. Once I send you a reply which says you are
admitted then you type 'g thinknet' at the prompt. When you
enter the conference you will see the following menu:

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< W E L C O M E  T O   T H I N K N E T>>>>>>>>>>>>>

First topic 1, last 14

 Topic - Number of responses - Header

  1   3 ANNOUNCEMENTS
   <topic is frozen>
  2   2 INTRODUCTIONS
  3   5 CORE GROUP TALK
  4   0 READER FEEDBACK
  5   1 INFORMAL CONVERSATION
  6   1 COOPERATIVE THINKING IN CYBERSPACE
  7   0 ESSAY CHANNEL
   <topic is frozen>
  8   0 DISCUSSION CHANNEL
   <topic is frozen>
  9   0 ITEMS OF INTEREST
 10   1 SEMINAR: Emergent Systems Process Philosophy
 11  31 SEMINAR: Self-organizing Systems
 12   7 SEMINAR: Ontology
 13  17 SEMINAR: Epistemology
 14  10 Metatopic: Improving discussion in the Thinknet
Conference

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< L E A V I N G  T H I N K N E T>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 Introduce yourself in the INTRODUCTIONS topic so we can get
to know each other. Then type 's n' in order to see all posted
messages. If you want to limit your exposure you might try
'fixseen' and 's n -1' instead.

 I hope you will join us there for serious discussions of your
favorite subject. Bring your philosophically inclined
cyberspace friends. And please mention that you are joining the
WELL in order to participate in thinknet when you join so that
they know that you are interested in keeping this small private
conference going for thoughtful conversations in cyberspace.



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 VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY                                           kdp
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 I would like to breach a subject I have been thinking of for
some time. It is the concept of setting up a virtual university
(VU) in cyberspace. It strikes me that it is possible to do
almost all the functions of a university in the cyberspace
medium. Distance Learning is being explored by many different
institutions. Electronic mail is being used for communications
between students and teachers and between researchers with the
same interests. So slowly this new medium is being incorporated
into the everyday transactions of many universities, colleges
and other institutions of learning. But it seems to me that a
fundamental opportunity is being missed. That is to create a
new institution which is adapted to the cyberspace medium.

 What would a Virtual University be like?
 Who would it serve and how would it work?
 Would it have a football team?

 The Virtual University is a global institution. It serves
students from all over the world and might be patterned on the
External Degree system of the University of London. In as
much as it would offer degrees to students widely dispersed
without their having to physically attend classes. Then again it
might be patterned on Alternative Universities such as those
that grew up in the Sixties. In that it is more open and fluid
an organization than traditional universities.

 Let's sketch out what such an institution might look like.
First the Virtual University is different from other
Universities in that it is not divided into specialist
departments. Its goal is to produce generalists not specialists
and is dedicated to interdisciplinary studies. In this way it
compliments existing university structures which are fractured
by specialization. The virtual university is made up of
research teams. Each team has members of different specialties
on it and has a particular subject it is studying in an
interdisciplinary manner. The research team is made up of at
least three scholars with Ph.D.'s in different disciplines. Teams
are probably no larger than ten scholars. Each team takes on a
number of graduates and undergraduates. Graduates must have a
Bachelors degree. Undergraduates do not yet have Bachelors
degrees. Thus the ranking of members is dependent on their
external specializations. The graduate and undergraduate students
participate in the research of the core scholars. In the
process, they are assessed based on their contribution and when
a sufficient amount of original contributions are made. The
student is then given a virtual degree. The virtual degree indicates
participation in the ongoing interactive interdisciplinary
research. It does not replace the specialized degree but is an
enhancement of that degree which shows the student interacted
with scholars from many different disciplines and was able to
learn from them and even perhaps teach them in turn as part of
his contribution.

 The Virtual University is merely a network of these
interdisciplinary research teams. The Virtual University serves
as a means for teams to share their results. Each research team
has a representative on the Assembly of the Virtual University.
The Assembly votes on the policies and standards for the whole
of the Virtual University. Each team has one vote. The team
must reach a consensus on how to cast their vote. The central
function of the University is the archiving and dissemination
of team results. It acts as a clearing house for setting up
teams and connecting people who are interested in research in
the same subject. It administers the records of the students
who participate.

 The Virtual University is really like a switchboard connecting
scholars in all the Universities of the World encouraging them
to work together in interdisciplinary ways and to breakdown the
barriers between specialties. But the Virtual University is
not tied to the Universities of the world either economically
or institutionally. It would not be fulfilling its role if it
were merely an arm of the existing University structure.
Instead, the Virtual University is a catalyst for change within
the world by connecting scholars throughout the world many of
whom are not affiliated with any University or College. It is a
mediator between the independent scholars and the academic
community.

 It is a little known fact that in the beginning anyone who had
a Ph.D. was able to grant a Ph.D. to someone else. Thus, the heart
of the Virtual University is the independent research team which sets
up its own research program and decides what requirements the
students have to fulfill as they are participating in that
program in order to get a degree. The virtual degrees are
really signs of the students ability to network and participate
in the research of the scholars who are working together. It is
really just a means for others to get involved in the ongoing
research of scholars who are actively working together.

 Today many scholars communicate over E-mail. But few actually
carry out their research with others using this medium. The
fact that people scattered all over the world can coordinate
their work and work together using mailing lists and e-mail
means that the ecology of scholarship is broken. The fact that
each Real University can only have a few specialists in a
certain area does not matter because these specialists can have
their own forum. A research team has the whole world to search
for people interested in the same subject from different
disciplines. Once those few people have been located then it is
just a matter of setting up the proper mailing lists or BBS
forum for the work to proceed. For instance, thinknet core can be
seen as a nascent research team. The topic of thinknet is
cooperative thinking in cyberspace. Like thinknet the research
team would set up its newsletter to publish partial results.
Like thinknet the research team might have their BBS category
on some home system to act as an archive. It might also have
its associated cluster of Mailing lists some for general
discussion others for special topics. The virtual university
would collect the newsletters and reports from the team and
route these to all the other teams on the network. What is
missing from thinknet is the relation of student to teacher
that is envisaged as a key ingredient of the virtual university.

The Virtual University may be seen as the lost heart of the
academic world. The academic world is lost in specialization.
Real degrees do not mean much when the different specialists
who possess them cannot talk to each other or cooperate. Virtual
degrees signify the ability to learn to talk to different
specialists and cooperate with them in mutual research. Virtual
Post-doctorates result from this cooperative research when
other teams review the results of the cooperative work of one
particular team. Virtual doctorates and masters, as well as
bachelors result from the participation of undergraduates and
graduates in the interdisciplinary research. Virtual degrees
enhance Real degrees. They exist in a dimension orthogonal to
that of the real degree. It is the dimension of cooperative
thought, interdisciplinary research, and meta-disciplines like
general systems theory and philosophy.

Welcome to the Virtual University. Welcome to the network of
nodes that are the intersections of all the specialties. Classes
will begin when you realize the possibilities of this new medium
for bringing people together who normally would never hear of each
other isolated each in their own socio-ecological niche.

If you are interested in participating in a inter-, multi- or
trans-disciplinary research team then contact us at thinknet.

.................................................................

NOTE: After writing this I was lucky enough to see what Jyrki Kuoppala
is doing with the new groups alt.uu.xxxxxx. Clearly he has a similar
idea and he has started to put his idea into action by setting up
the Usenet University. I wish him well and though the effort
seems somewhat disorganized right now it is perhaps a beginning
of exactly the kind of organizaion I was alluding to above. Here
is his FAQ on his efforts

.................................................................
Xref: world alt.uu.announce:2 alt.config:9078 alt.education.
      distance:327 misc.education:5252 comp.edu:3376 alt.education.
      disabled:206 sci.edu:1757 alt.culture.usenet:167
Path: world!eff!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde
      !gatech!bloom-beacon!eru.mt.luth.se!lunic!sunic!mcsun!fuug!funic
      !nntp.hut.fi!usenet
From: [e-mail] (Jyrki Kuoppala)
Newsgroups: alt.uu.announce,alt.config,alt.education.distance,misc.
      education,comp.edu,alt.education.disabled,sci.edu,alt.culture.usenet
Subject: ADMIN: DOC: What's Usenet University; the current list of UU groups
Keywords: self, distance, education, uu, volunteer
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 2 Aug 92 15:08:37 GMT
Sender: [e-mail] (Usenet pseudouser id)
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Jyrki Kuoppala)
Followup-To: alt.uu.future
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
Lines: 294
Nntp-Posting-Host: laphroaig.cs.hut.fi

[Followups directed to alt.uu.future]

Contains the "what-is-uu" document
(nic.funet.fi:/pub/doc/uu/what-is-uu) and a current list of UU groups
(nic.funet.fi:/pub/doc/uu/newsgroups).

----------------------------------------
What is UU?

Contents:

1. What is Usenet University?
2. What the name means and how to participate in UU
3. Goals and principles
4. Administration
5. Copyright on the articles and learning material
6. Technology
7. Disciplines or division of topics
8. Practical steps


1. What is Usenet University?

Usenet University, or UU (not to be confused with Uppsala University)
is, or more accurately will be, a society of people interested in
learning, teaching or tutoring.  There is no formal organization or
funding at least as of yet, and the concept exists currently mostly in
the newsgroup alt.uu.future which was created on June 12, 1992.  It is
the group for discussing the future of Usenet University, and
discussions on alt.uu.future will to a large extent shape what the UU
will become.  Many people have already participated in the discussion
and influenced the shaping of this document.  (If you do not get
alt.uu.future, contact your news administrator for more information if
it's a problem with the propagation or some other reason - the
administrator often can provide a newsgroup when requested).


2. What the name means and how to participate in UU

"Usenet" refers to the global conferencing network used as a media or
one of the medias for Usenet University, as well as the "spirit" of UU
- UU is open to anyone who can access it, free for expressing ideas,
is quite a bit anarchistic in nature, and thus as Usenet newsgroups UU
will be what the participants cause it to be.

"University" refers to the "community" aspect of UU, not so much to
"university level" or "academic discipline", neither does it mean that
there are specific plans for UU to become a university where you can
get a certificate from.  This doesn't mean to say that certificates or
recgonition of Usenet University by accepted academic would be
unthinkable, just that it isn't central to the concept of UU at least
at this point in the development.  Certificates and recognition
probably will come via cooperation with existing organization if they
will.

For now, Usenet Univesity will operate under the "alt" hierarchy, as
"alt.uu.*".  It would be desirable to later move to a separate
distribution, out from under alt when there will be numerous
newsgroups for various areas of learning.  Thus, there would be a
separate distrubution and hierarchy like (just an example)

uu.future
uu.lang.esperanto.beg
uu.lang.esperanto.material
uu.lang.esperanto.exercises
uu.comp.lang.pascal.env.gnu
uu.comp.lang.pascal.beg

However, "uu" is already taken by Uppsala University.  Alternative
names possible for the distribution are World University (wu),
Planetary University (pu), Virtual University etc.  There will be time
to discuss and decide this when the change to a separate distribution
and hierarchy is made - for now the name is Usenet University and the
hierarchy is alt.uu, ie. the hierarchy will be something like the
above list with "alt." prepended.


3. Goals and principles

One primary goal of UU is to use Usenet communications to offer
participants possibilities to learn things, to educate themselves, to
teach others, to exchange information on learning materials, tools and
techniques as well as publish learning material itself.  In this
respect UU will aim to become a kind of "place to learn".

Connected with this, a primary principle of UU is openness, to stay
open for anyone passing by just willing to learn, with little formal
qualifications or requirements.  To try to commit to this principle
much of the activity will happen on open newsgroups.  It probably will
be desirable to have some kind of classifications in some of the
groups for "beginner" and "advanced" topics to avoid problems of
participants having very different vocabularies, concepts, levels of
expertise etc. and thus communications problems.  To implement
classification and make groups more worthwhile with moderated
newsgroups, a possibility would be to have a matching unmoderated one
from which "the cream" will be replicated on the moderated group.

One important goal is to offer several alternative ways for learning.
People learn best with different ways - some learn by reading books on
their own, some by browsing around and experimenting, some prefer
tutors or close teacher/student relationships, some prefer
lectures/classes with strict structure, some learn by doing.  All
these should be provided with an opportunity to learn with the style
they prefer - it might mean there would be several groups for one
topic, using different methodologies.

One goal is to create, organize and offer references to learning
material, to maintain lists of literature, Usenet newsgroups, ftp
sites and services, libraries and so on relevant to fields

One goal is to offer discussion groups for students who learn by
tossing ideas around and discussing them, asking each other and
helping each other out.

One possible goal is to create and archive learning material
(tutorials, exercies) itself.

One possible goal is to offer possibilites for tutors and students to
find each other for email teaching.


4. Administration

There are decisions to be made concerning the process of creation of
newsgroups, possible moderation of them, how to divide topics and
disciplines, how to handle possible (probable) flame wars and other
possibly destructive phenomena, and so on.  Some kind of a
decision-making process will need to be established for these.  To be
compatible with the goals and principles of UU, some kind of a
groupware decision-making support system would be useful to help the
process.

To better classify information exchange and to provide feedback for
participants, some kind of accreditation / peer review system is
desirable.  Here again groupware mechanisms and tools would be useful
for being compatible with the openness principles, dividing work and
avoiding single point of failure.


5. Copyright on the articles and learning material

According to the Berne convention, the author has the copyright on his
or her work.  If a base of learning material is created, copyright is
a relevant issue - should a "Usenet University" trust be created which
holds the copyright, should the authors have the copyright with some
kind of a GNU-like copyright, should the authors have the copyright
and give other only the right to copy the documents in the UU context,
should the created documents be put in the public domain.  There are
lots of possibilities and at least if the aim is to create a big base
of material some guidelines need to be established.


6. Technology

Technology which people os Usenet have varies widely.  Many have
text-only 80 x 24 character displays, while many have workstations
with big graphics screens with perhaps also color and sound, and
software for multi-media email.  This needs to be addressed - for
topics like learning to speak languages, for example sound can be an
essential part and transmitting sounds on UU would be very beneficial.

Besides the capabilites of the media, access to on-line resources such
as ftp servers, archie, www, wais servers, newsgroup archives and
other services on the Internet varies.  Some only have a Usenet feed
with little possibility to access on-line services, some have very
fast lines to the rest of the world and some are in between.

These differences probably will divide discussions a bit - for
learning of languages for example it could be useful to have a
separate group for those who have sound capabilities, to avoid
frustration on the part of those with no such access.


7. Disciplines or division of topics

There are several possibilities for how to divide topics handled in
UU.  There is the discipline division of the scientific community,
there are various classifications used by libraries, there is the
Usenet newsgroup division, etc.  It probably is not wise to use
strictly just any one of these divisions, but it would seem useful to
borrow from many of them.

This is an issue which needs discussing.


8. Practical steps

To get things rolling, we should discuss some suggestions for topics
you think would be good as "prototype topics", with suggestions for
group names.  These topics should be ones for which there are enough
people interested on to reach "critical mass".  One possibility would
be to take a topic for which there already is reference material for -
some newsgroups on Usenet have excellent FAQs with literature
references, answers to many questions, hints from old-timers etc.
which could offer a good start for a tutorial on the topic.

It probably will be desirable to have a few groups for each topic.  An
example division would be to have one group for generic discussions
and one for material references / exercises / other
"carefully-written" articles standing on their own.  Alternatively a
system of keywords in the Subject field could be adopted (like used in
sci.virtual-worlds) to mark the type of each article, but for
unmoderated groups it would be hard to maintain the practice.
----------------------------------------
Current newsgroups

These new groups (created 22 July 1992) are part of the Usenet
University.  For futher information on UU, see directory pub/doc/uu on
the machine nic.funet.fi.

A "material" group means that the group exists for postings of
course material, announcements, pointers to material and resources,
essays, etc. relevant to the "department" of the group and/or the
topic.  This group is for one-time articles / posts - discussions are
_not_ suitable for this newsgroup but should instead be held in a
corresponding .misc group.  Followups should be directed and posted
there.  On some UU groups (where there is a volunteer teacher /
teachers) the material will be mostly for course-like work, on others
for self-study, on others the main info will be something else.  The
conventions will form as time passes and while there are none, a wide
range of relevant postings will appear.  Later, different styles of
learning will perhaps spin off different newsgroups.

A "misc" group exists for discussions on learning, followups on the
"material" group articles, and other discussion relevant to the
department or topic.

For all departments / topics, there are as of yet no "material" groups
but instead only .misc groups - in that case, articles fitting in the
material group should be posted with "MATERIAL" as the first word in
the Subject: field of the article.

The following groups have been created 1992, July 22nd:

alt.uu.lang.misc    Language department of Usenet University

This is a group for the "language department" of UU.  This is the
"main group" for learning languages, linguistics etc. - later there
will be more specific groups for different topic in the field.

alt.uu.math.misc    Math department of Usenet University

This is a group for the "math department" of UU.  This is the
"main group" for learning mathematics - later there
will be more specific groups for different topic in the field.

alt.uu.comp.misc    Computer department of Usenet University

This is a group for the "computer department" of UU.  This is the
"main group" for learning things to do with computers - later there
will be more specific groups for different topic in the field.  Both
"computing science" and "using computers as tools" topics are suitable
under this department, at first at least.  Some of the computing
science topics perhaps will fit better under math - the choice is left
to each participant.

alt.uu.lang.esperanto.misc    Study of Esperanto in Usenet University

This is a group for learning Esperanto.  This is the
"main group" for learning Esperanto - later there
will be more specific groups for different topics in the field.

alt.uu.misc.misc    Misc. department of Usenet University

This is a group for learning about topics not suitable for other
groups of UU.  This is the "catch-all" group, "misc department" of UU.

alt.uu.virtual-worlds.misc    Study of virtual worlds in Usenet University

This is a group for learning about virtual worlds or virtual reality.

alt.uu.tools        Tools for Usenet University and education

This is a group for discussing tools useful in UU and self-education /
distance education, what tools are recommended to be used with UU,
what tools are helpful, where to get such tools, etc.  Examples of the
tools include machinery for viewing languages other than English on
computers, possible UU "courseware" (for studying UU course pacakges) etc.

alt.uu.announce        Announcements of Usenet University

This is a group for announcements of UU.

alt.uu.future        Planning the future of Usenet University

This functions as a group to discuss the future of UU, and currently
also as a "misc" group in which generic meta-discussions of UU take
place.  The first UU group, created in June 1992.

----------------------------------------

Feel free to start using the UU groups!

//Jyrki


-----------------------------------------------------------------
 POSTMODERN CULTURE                                           pmc
-----------------------------------------------------------------

                        A CALL FOR PAPERS


 POSTMODERN CULTURE is a peer-reviewed        Editors:
 electronic journal of interdisciplinary      Eyal Amiran
 criticism on contemporary literature,        John Unsworth
 theory, and culture.  It is distributed
 internationally, free of charge, as          Book Review Editor:
 electronic mail; it is also available on     Jim English
 disk and microfiche for a nominal sub-
 scription fee.  PMC invites submission of    Editorial Board:
 works in progress, book reviews, scripts,    Kathy Acker
 poetry, fiction, and essays.                 Sharon Bassett
                                              Michael Berube
                                              Marc Chenetier
 -----------------------------------------    Greg Dawes
 | PMC ELECTRONIC TEXT AWARD: Each June, |    R. Serge Denisoff
 | the editorial board of _Postmodern    |    Robert Detweiler
 | Culture_ will select an outstanding   |    Henry L. Gates, Jr.
 | critical or creative work from that   |    Joe Gomez
 | volume-year for the PMC electronic    |    Robert Hodge
 | text award, which carries a prize of  |    bell hooks
 | $500.                                 |    Susan Howe
 -----------------------------------------    E. Ann Kaplan
                                              Arthur Kroker
                                              Neil Larsen
 PMC also publishes free notices of events,   Jerome J. McGann
 and carries notices for other publications   Larysa Mykyta
 on an exchange basis. Send submissions by    Chimalum Nwankwo
 electronic mail to                           Phil Novak
                                              Patrick O'Donnell
      Bitnet:   PMC@NCSUVM                    Elaine Orr
      Internet: [e-mail]        John Paine
                                              Marjorie Perloff
 Hard copy and disk submissions are also      Mark Poster
 accepted and should be mailed to:            Carl Raschke
                                              Mike Reynolds
      Postmodern Culture                      Avital Ronell
      Box 8105                                Andrew Ross
      Raleigh, NC  27695-8105                 Jorge Ruffinelli
                                              Susan M. Schultz
 Disk submission should be in ASCII text      William Spanos
 or in WordPerfect; if this is not            Tony Stewart
 possible, please indicate the operating      Gary Lee Stonum
 system and word-processing program used.     Chris Straayer
 We look forward to hearing from you.         Paul Trembath
                                              Greg Ulmer

 ................................................................

 Date:         Fri, 31 Jan 1992 20:26:33 EST
 Sender: Postmodern Culture <[e-mail]>
 From: Editors of PMC <[e-mail]>
 Subject:      CONTENTS 192
 To: Multiple recipients of list PMC-LIST <[e-mail]>

 POSTMODERNCULTUREPOSTMODERNCULTURE
 P       RNCU   REPO   ODER       E            P O S T M O D E R N
 P  TMOD RNCU  U EP S  ODER  ULTU E               C U L T U R E
 P       RNCU  UR  OS  ODER  ULTURE
 P  TMODERNCU  UREPOS  ODER  ULTU E          an electronic journal
 P  TMODERNCU  UREPOS  ODER       E           of interdisciplinary
 POSTMODERNCULTUREPOSTMODERNCULTURE                criticism

.................................................................
 Volume 2, Number 2 (January, 1992)             ISSN: 1053.1920
.................................................................


                SPECIAL BOOK-REVIEW ISSUE

 Editors:                              Eyal Amiran
                                       John Unsworth

 Book Review Editor:                   Jim English, Issue Editor

 Managing Editor:                      Nancy Cooke

 List Manager:                         Chris Barrett

 Editorial Assistant:                  Mina Javaher
.................................................................

                            CONTENTS
 AUTHOR & TITLE                                              FNFT


 Masthead, Contents, Abstracts,                       CONTENTS 192
      Instructions for retrieving files

 Roger Berger.  Review of Adam, Ian, and
     Helen Tiffin, eds.  _Past the Last Post:
     Theorizing Post-modernism and Post-
     colonialism_.  Calgary: U Calgary P,
     1990.  Reviewed by Roger Berger.                  BERGER 192

 Chris Connery.  Review of Chow, Rey.
     _Woman and Chinese Modernity: The
     Politics of Reading Between West and East_.
     Minneapolis: U Minnesota P, 1991.                CONNERY 192

 Clifford L. Staples.  Review of hooks, bell.
     _Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural
     Politics_.  Boston: South End Press, 1990.       STAPLES 192

 Douglas A. Davis.  Review of Cixous, Helene.
     _"Coming to Writing" and Other Essays_.
     Ed. Deborah Jenson.  Trans. Sarah
     Cornell, Deborah Jenson, Ann Liddle, Susan
     Sellers.  Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1991.             DAVIS 192

 Roe Norman.  Review of Code, Lorraine.  _What
     Can She Know?  Feminist Theory and the
     Construction of Knowledge_.  Ithaca: Cornell
     UP, 1991.                                         NORMAN 192

 Susan Ross.  Review of Flax, Jane.  _Thinking
     Fragments: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, and
     Postmodernism in the Contemporary West_.
     Berkeley: California UP, 1990.                      ROSS 192

 John Batali.  Review of Nye, Andrea.  _Words
     of Power: A Feminist Reading of the History
     of Logic_.  London: Routledge, 1990; Gross,
     Alan G.  _The Rhetoric of Science_.  Cambridge:
     Harvard UP, 1990.                                 BATALI 192

 Robert C. Holub.  Review of Norris, Christopher.
     _What's Wrong With Postmodernism?  Critical
     Theory and the Ends of Philosophy_.
     Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1990.               HOLUB-1 192

 Robert C. Holub.  Review of Koelb, Clayton, ed.
     _Nietzsche as Postmodernist: Essays Pro and
     Contra_.  Albany: SUNY P, 1990.                  HOLUB-2 192

 Sharon Bassett.  Review of Desmond, William.
     _Art and the Absolute: A Study of Hegel's
     Aesthetics_.  Albany: SUNY P, 1986;
     _Desire, Dialectic, and Otherness_.  New
     Haven: Yale UP, 1987; _Philosophy and Its
     Others: Ways of Being and Mind_.  SUNY P,
     1990.                                            BASSETT 192

 Renate Holub.  Review of Norris, Christopher.
     _Spinoza and the Origin of Modern Critical
     Theory_.  Cambridge: Basil Blackwell, 1991.       RHOLUB 192

 Neil Larsen.  Review of Jameson, Fredric.  _Late
     Marxism: Adorno, or the Persistence of the
     Dialectic_.  London: Verso, 1990.                 LARSEN 192

 Joseph Dumit.  Review of Penley, Constance, and
     Andrew Ross, eds.  _Technoculture_.
     Minneapolis: Minnesota UP, 1991.                   DUMIT 192

 Lisa M. Heilbronn.  Review of Kinder, Marsha.
     _Playing With Power in Movies, Television,
     and Video Games; From Muppet Babies to
     Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_.  Berkeley:
     California UP, 1991.                            HEILBRON 192

 James Morrison.  Review of Horton, Andrew, ed.
     _Comedy/Cinema/Theory_.  Berkeley:
     California UP, 1991.                            MORRISON 192

 Susan Schultz.  Review of Ashbery, John.
     _Flow Chart_.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf,
     1991; Bronk, William.  _Living Instead_.
     San Francisco: North Point Press, 1991.          SCHULTZ 192


 POPULAR CULTURE COLUMN

 Melynda Huskey, "Pee-Wee Herman and the
     Postmodern Picaresque"                          POP-CULT 192


 ANNOUNCEMENTS                                        NOTICE-1 192
                                                      NOTICE-2 192

..............END OF CONTENTS 192 FOR PMC 2.2.................

 Date:         Sat, 30 May 1992 17:04:54 EDT
 Reply-To: Editors of PMC <[e-mail]>
 Sender: Postmodern Culture <[e-mail]>
 From: Editors of PMC <[e-mail]>
 Subject:      CONTENTS 592
 To: Multiple recipients of list PMC-LIST <[e-mail]>
 Status: OR

 POSTMODERNCULTUREPOSTMODERNCULTURE
 P       RNCU   REPO   ODER       E            P O S T M O D E R N
 P  TMOD RNCU  U EP S  ODER  ULTU E               C U L T U R E
 P       RNCU  UR  OS  ODER  ULTURE
 P  TMODERNCU  UREPOS  ODER  ULTU E          an electronic journal
 P  TMODERNCU  UREPOS  ODER       E           of interdisciplinary
 POSTMODERNCULTUREPOSTMODERNCULTURE                criticism

.................................................................
 Volume 2, Number 3 (May, 1992)                    ISSN:1053-1920
.................................................................


                            CONTENTS

 AUTHOR & TITLE                                              FNFT


 Masthead, Contents, Abstracts,                       CONTENTS 592
 Instructions for retrieving files

 Russell A. Potter, "Edward Schizohands:                POTTER 592
     The Postmodern Gothic Body"

 Fred Pfeil, "Revolting Yet Conserved: Family            PFEIL 592
     %Noir% in _Blue Velvet_ and _Terminator 2_"

 Tessa Dora Addison and Audrey Extavasia,              ADD-EXT 592
     "Fucking (With Theory) for Money: Toward
     an Interrogation of Escort Prostitution"

 Rochelle Owens, "Drum and Whistle" and                  OWENS 592
     "Black Stems," Two Poems from _LUCA:
     Discourse on Life & Death_

 Donald F. Theall, "Beyond t Orality/Literacy         THEALL 592
     Dichotomy: James Joyce and the Pre-History
     of Cyberspace"

 Walter Kalaidjian, "Mainlining Postmodernism:        KALAIDJI 592
     Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, and the Art
     of Intervention"

 Paul McCarthy, "Postmodern Pleasure and              MCCARTHY 592
     Perversity: Scientism and Sadism"


 POPULAR CULTURE COLUMN:

 Cathy Griggers, "Lesbian Bodies in the Age of        POP-CULT 592
     (Post)Mechanical Reproduction"


 REVIEWS:

 Terry Collins, "The Vietnam War, Reascendant         REVIEW-1 592
     Conservatism, White Victims," review of
     _The Vietnam War and American Culture_, ed.
     John Carlos and Rick Berg, and _Fourteen
     Landing Zones: Approaches to Vietnam War
     Literature_, ed. Philip K. Jason.

 Michael W. Foley, review of _Post-Modernism          REVIEW-2 592
     and the Social Sciences: Insights, Inroads,
     and Intrusions_, by Pauline Marie Rosenau.

 Ursula K. Heise, "Becoming Postmodern?"              REVIEW-3 592
     review of _Sequel to History: Postmodernism
     and the Crisis of Representational Time_, by
     Elizabeth Deeds Ermarth.

 Edward M. Jennings, "The Text is Dead; Long          REVIEW-4 592
     Live The Techst," review of _Hypertext: The
     Convergence of Contemporary Literary Theory
     and Technology_, by George P. Landow.

 Matthew Mancini, review of _Thinking Across          REVIEW-5 592
     the American Grain: Ideology, Intellect,
     and the New Pragmatism_, by Giles Gunn.

 Meryl Altman and Keith Nightenhelser, review of      REVIEW-6 592
     _Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks
     to Freud_, by Thomas Laqueur.

 Mark Poster, review of _Michel Foucault_, by         REVIEW-7 592
     Didier Eribon.

 Linda Ray Pratt, "Speaking in Tongues: Dead          REVIEW-8 592
     Elvis and the Greil Quest," review of
     _Dead Elvis: A Chronicle of a Cultural
     Obsession_, by Greil Marcus.

 Rei Terada, "The Pressures of Merely                 REVIEW-9 592
     Sublimating," review of _American Sublime:
     The Genealogy of a Poetic Genre_, by Rob
     Wilson.


 Announcements and Advertisements                      NOTICES 592


...............................................................
                            ABSTRACTS

 Russell A. Potter, "Edward Schizohands: The Postmodern Gothic Body"

          ABSTRACT:  In the conjunction between the gothic body
     of Edward in Tim Burton's film _Edward Scissorhands_ and the
     anti-Oedipal Body without Organs in Deleuze and Guattari's
     _Anti-Oedipus_, this essay posits a common machine, that of
     the fragmentary, persecuting Gothic body.  Whether in James
     Whale's 1931 film _Frankenstein_ or in 1991's _Body Parts_,
     the partial body appears again and again as the persecuting
     agent of a society founded upon the monolithically Oedipal
     nuclear family.  This constitution of this body, with its
     scars and sutures, is in fact fundamentally Anti-Oedipal;
     when organs do not stay in place, where is an erogenous zone
     to go?  This essay thus offers a reading not only of _Edward
     Scissorhands_ and its filmic and novelistic precursors,but
     also of the postmodern suburbanity which beings from
     Frankenstein to Edward continue to invade.  --RAP


 Fred Pfeil, "Revolting Yet Conserved: Family %Noir% in _Blue
     Velvet_ and _Terminator 2_"

          ABSTRACT:  In the new Hollywood, quintessential site of
     the intersection between the flexible specialization of
     post-Fordist production and the free-floating
     ideologemes-turned-syntax of postmodernism, the
     transgressive energies and subversive formal practices that
     first animated and defined %film noir% may be most alive and
     well in a new and even perverse combination with other
     similarly deracinated formal and thematic elements from
     other ex- genres of film.  In contrast to classic %noir%,
     which was non- or even anti-domestic, this newer %noir%
     includes, and indeed is centered on, home and family, even
     as it decenters and problematizes both.  Through a look at
     two successful recent films, _Blue Velvet_ and _Terminator
     2_, I mean to show how home and family are being
     destabilized, "%noir%-ized" in both--dissolved into a semic
     flow or play of boundaries from which, paradoxically, those
     same categories re-emerge with renewed half-life.  --FP


 Tessa Dora Addison and Audrey Extavasia, "Fucking (With Theory)
     for Money: Toward an Interrogation of Escort Prostitution"

          ABSTRACT:  This essay is intended as an introductory
     interrogation of the terrain of escort prostitution,
     mobilizing terms from both _The Telephone Book_ by Avital
     Ronell and _A Thousand Plateaus_ by Gilles Deleuze and Felix
     Guattari.  --TDA & AE


 Donald F. Theall, "Beyond the Orality/Literacy Dichotomy: James
     Joyce and the Pre-History of Cyberspace"

          ABSTRACT:  _Finnegans Wake_ articulates a radical
     modernist or postmodernist theory of poetics and
     communication, based on gesture and tactility, essential to
     understanding cyberspace and the limitations of the
     orality/literacy dichotomy.  Joyce's impact upon theorists
     like Derrida, Eco, or McLuhan contributes to understanding
     the development of VR out of electromechanical technologies
     and high modernism.  --DFT


 Walter Kalaidjian, "Mainlining Postmodernism: Jenny Holzer,
     Barbara Kruger, and the Art of Intervention"

          ABSTRACT:  Taking up the "new times" of postmodernity,
     this essay considers the political resources and limits of
     cultural critique afforded by Kruger's appropriation of
     advertising signage and Holzer's work in light emitting
     diode board technology, both within museum culture and at
     street level.  The essay compares their interventions to the
     more communal, socioaesthetic praxes of Greenpeace and ACT
     UP.  --WK


 Paul McCarthy, "Postmodern Pleasure and Perversity: Scientism
     and Sadism"

          ABSTRACT:  The project of this essay is to provide a
     theoretical basis for ethical-political resistance to
     postmodern perversity.  Through a comparison of Deleuze &
     Guattari's (1987) _A Thousand Plateaus_ to de Sade's
     prototypical deconstructionism, this essay traces the nature
     and consequences of the circulation of desire in a
     postmodern order of things (an order implicitly modeled on a
     repressed archetype of the new physics' fluid particle
     flows), and it reveals a complicity between scientism, which
     underpins the postmodern condition, and the sadism of
     incessant deconstruction, which heightens the intensity of
     the pleasure-seeking moment in postmodernism.  --PM


................................................................
 TO RETRIEVE SINGLE ITEMS LISTED ABOVE, send a mail message to
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its one and only line the command

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 ................................................................
 COPYRIGHT: Unless otherwise noted, copyrights for the texts
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their authors.  The compilation as a whole is Copyright (c)
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the written consent of the editors of _Postmodern Culture_.
 .................END OF CONTENTS 592 FOR PMC 2.3.................

-----------------------------------------------------------------
 ELECTRONIC JOURNAL
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 Date:          Fri, 12 Jun 1992 18:56:00 EDT
 Sender: Electronic Journal for Humanists
 From: [e-mail]
 Subject:       _EJournal_ Volume 2 Number 2

          _______   _________                                         __
         / _____/  /___  ___/                                        / /
        / /__         / / ______  __  __  __ ___  __ ___   _____    / /
       / ___/   __   / / / __  / / / / / / //__/ / //__ \  /___ \  / /
      / /____  / /__/ / / /_/ / / /_/ / / /     / /   / / / /__// / /
     /______/ /______/ /_____/ /_____/ /_/     /_/   /_/ \___/_/ /_/

 June, 1992               _EJournal_  Volume 2 Issue 2
 ISSN# 1054-1055
                       2545 Subscribers in 37 Countries

            An Electronic Journal concerned with the implications
                      of electronic networks and texts.

              University at Albany, State University of New York
                            [e-mail]

                      There are 760 lines in this issue.

 CONTENTS:

  Editorial 1:  Should we say goodbye to "text"?

  Editorial 2:  Writing as reward, not punishment

  LITERACY FOR THE NEXT GENERATION: Writing Without Handwriting
     by David Coniam  Chinese University of Hong Kong

 DEPARTMENTS:

  Summary of Network Commands
  Letters   (policy)
  Reviews   (policy)
  Supplements to previous texts   (policy)

  About _EJournal_

 PEOPLE: Board of Advisers, Consulting Editors             [l. 39]

 ..................................................................
 This electronic publication and its contents are (c) copyright
1992 by _EJournal_.  Permission is hereby granted to give away
the journal and its contents, but no one may "own" it.  Any and
all financial interest is hereby assigned to the acknowledged
authors of individual texts.  This notification must accompany
all distribution of _EJournal_.
 .................................................................
 Editorial 1 - Should we say goodbye to "text"?

 _EJournal_ began as a strictly "text" journal, but the nature
of text is changing.  _EJournal_ started out to be a place
where people could discuss the kinds of changes in "writing"
that the electronic screen would encourage.  Even though we
expressed interest in text "broadly defined," we were still
thinking mostly in images of "words on a page."  We also wanted
to sidestep as many print-journal conventions as we could.
There would be no deadlines set by printers' schedules, no
straightjackets of layout or "making up a book" or formatting.
Why accept the constrictions imposed by a superseded delivery
mechanism?  So we worked with one essay per issue, a
publish-when-ready approach, and plain-vanilla ASCII.

 Now, however, ASCII and the connotations of "text" are
beginning to constrict our perception.  "Text" is linked too
closely with "print" and "printing" to suit the scope of
electronic display.  Even "hypertext," in so many ways properly
dislocating and descriptive, (i. e., the three-dimensional
image embedded in "hyper"), is somewhat limiting now that sound
and motion can be included in what we transmit and display.
What then should we call that stuff, those sequences of
phosphor images and digitized wave forms that we are
transmitting and receiving and messing around with in the
Matrix?

 I propose "display" as a useful term.  If its appearance
didn't make you blink and back up in the second sentence of the
paragraph above, then it might serve until a more obvious
replacement slides into general use.  Perhaps some analogue of
"recording" will eventually dominate, but for now "display"
seems suitable even though it privileges the visible over the
audible.

 In any case, even if we don't dismiss the outmoded word "text"
all at once, _EJournal_'s commitment to challenging inky-paper
conventions continues.  We look forward to opportunities to
experiment with essays (and make-believe) that contain
a-textual displays, and to essays addressing the ramifications
of such a change in the distribution of imagination and
information.

 Ted Jennings                                             [l. 81]

.................................................................

[NOTE: MATERIAL DELETED FROM EJOURNAL HERE, SUBSCRIBE TO SEE IT ALL]

.................................................................
................................ Departments ....................
.................................................................
 SUMMARY OF NETWORK COMMANDS:

 To accomplish (for example):    Send to:                This message:

 Getting Contents/Abstracts      [e-mail]    GET EJRNL INDEX
 Getting a *list* of all files   [e-mail]  INDEX EJRNL
 Getting Volume 1 Number 1       [e-mail]  GET EJRNL V1N1
 Subscribing to _EJournal_       [e-mail]  SUB EJRNour Name
 Mailing to our "office"         [e-mail]  Your message...

...................................................................
 About letters:

 _EJournal_ is willing publish letters to the editor.  But at
this point we make no promises about how many, which ones, or
what format.  Because the "Letters" column of a periodical is a
habit of the paper environment, we can't predict exactly what
will happen in pixel space. For instance, _EJournal_ readers
can send outraged objections to our essays directly to the
authors.  Also, we can publish substantial counterstatements as
articles in their own right, or as "Supplements."  Even so,
there will probably be some brief, thoughtful statements that
appear to be of interest to many subscribers.  When there are,
they will appear as "Letters."

..................................................................
 About reviews:

 _EJournal_ is willing to publish reviews of almost anything
that seems to fit under our broad umbrella: the implications of
electronic networks and texts. We do not solicit and cannot
provide review copies of fiction, prophecy, critiques, other
texts, programs, hardware, lists or bulletin boards.  But if
you would like to bring any publicly available information to
our readers' attention, send your review (any length) to us, or
ask if writing one sounds to us like a good idea.         [l. 673]
 .................................................................
 About "supplements":

_EJournal_ plans to experiment with ways of revising,
responding to, re- working, or even retracting the texts we
publish.  Authors who want to address a subject already
broached --by others or by themselves-- may send texts,
preferably brief, that we will consider publishing under the
"Supplements" heading.  Proposed "supplements" will not go
through full, formal editorial review.  Whether this
"Department" will operate like a delayed-reaction bulletin
board or like an expanded letters-to-the-editor space, or
whether it will be withdrawn in favor of a system of appending
supplemental material to archived texts, or will take on an
electronic identity with no direct print- oriented analogue,
will depend on what readers/writers make of the opportunity.
..................................................................
 About _EJournal_:

 _EJournal_ is an all-electronic, Bitnet/Internet distributed,
peer-reviewed, academic periodical.  We are particularly
interested in theory and practice surrounding the creation,
transmission, storage, interpretation, alteration and
replication of electronic text.  We are also interested in the
broader social, psychological, literary, economic and
pedagogical implications of computer-mediated networks. The
journal's essays will be available free to
Bitnet/Internet/Usenet addresses.  Recipients may make paper
copies; _EJournal_ will provide authenticated paper copy from
our read-only archive for use by academic deans or others.
Individual essays, reviews, stories-- texts --sent to us will
be disseminated to subscribers as soon as they have been through
the editorial process, which will also be "paperless."  We
expect to offer access through libraries to our electronic
Contents, Abstracts, and Keywords, and to be indexed and
abstracted in appropriate places.

 Writers who think their texts might be appreciated by
_EJournal_'s audience are invited to forward files to
[e-mail] .  If you are wondering about starting
to write a piece for to us, feel free to ask if it sounds
appropriate.  There are no "styling" guidelines; we would like
to be a little more direct and lively than many paper
publications, and less hasty and ephemeral than most postings
to unreviewed electronic spaces.  We read ASCII; we look
forward to experimenting with other transmission formats and
protocols.

 Back issues of _EJournal_ are available from a Fileserver at Albany.

 A Table of Contents listing, along with abstracts, can be
obtained by sending the message  GET EJRNL INDEX  to the *LIST*
address:  [e-mail].

 To get a specific back issue, note its filename and send the
message GET <filename>  to the *LIST* address:
[e-mail].

 [Note: Sending the message "index ejrnl" to the List address
will call forth an unhelpfully crude listing of all the issues
by volume and issue number.]

..................................................................
 Board of Advisors:
    Stevan Harnad, Princeton University
    Dick Lanham, University of California at Los Angeles
    Ann Okerson, Association of Research Libraries
    Joe Raben, City University of New York
    Bob Scholes, Brown University
    Harry Whitaker, University of Quebec at Montreal

 .................................................................
 Editor:               Ted Jennings, English, University at Albany
 Managing Editor:                  Ron Bangel,University at Albany

 State University of New York University Center at Albany
                   Albany, NY 12222  USA

-----------------------------------------------------------------
 NETJAM                                               Craig Latta
-----------------------------------------------------------------

     NetJam provides a means for people to collaborate on
musical compositions, by sending Musical Instrument Digital
Interface (MIDI) and other files (such X patchers and
notated scores) to each other, mucking about with them, and
resending them.  All those with MIDI-compatible (and other
interesting) equipment, access to emailing and compression
facilities and to the Internet (send mail as below for
details), and who are interested in making music are encouraged
to participate.

    All participant and composition information is documented,
and the most actions, such as subscription, submission,
translation, and information distribution, are automated.
NetJam is platform-independent, so users of Macintoshes, PCs,
Amigas, Ataris, and machines running UNIX-variants may all
communicate with each other. There are currently 74
participants, from all over the world.

    NetJam has branched out from its initial incarnation to
support {soft/hard}ware other than sequencers. For example,
many participants have access to several interesting sound
synthesis programs, like CSound for the NeXT. In addition,
NetJam archives sampler and MAX patcher data. Any data relating
to art and music is fair game.

    Most NetJam activity takes place via email, in which
participants collaborate at their own pace on works. Recently,
however, a Wide-Area MIDI Network was implemented, so real-time
interaction is now possible.

    Submissions, participant info, and other data is archived on
scam.Berkeley.EDU (128.32.138.1), where it is available via
anonymous ftp.  To receive the document from which this blurb
is extracted (and which explains NetJam at length) send mail to
netjam-request@xcf, with a subject line containing "request for
info". Articles about NetJam have also appeared in the Computer
Music Journal (15/3), and the Leonardo Music Journal (1/1).

    We look forward to hearing from you.

     Craig Latta     musician and moderator

-----------------------------------------------------------------
 BOOK REVIEW: CYBERSPACE FRIST STEPS                          kdp
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 CYBERSPACE: FIRST STEPS edited by Michael Benedikt
 Cambridge MA: MIT Press 1991
 91-27372; isbn 0-262-02327-X; QC173.59.S65C93

 Introduction -- Michael Benedikt
 Academy Leader -- William Gibson
 Old Rituals of New Space: Rites de Passage and William
      Gibson's Cultural Model of Cyberspace -- David Tomas
 Mind is a Leaking Rainbow -- Nicole Stenger
 The Erotic Ontology of Cyberspace -- Michael Heim
 Will the Real Body Please Stand Up?: Boundary Stories about
      Virtual Cultures -- Allucaquere Rosanne Stone
 Cyberspace: Some Proposals -- Michael Benedkt
 Liquid Architectures of Cyberspace -- Marcos Novak
 Giving Meaning to Place: Semantic Spaces -- Alan Wexelblat
 The Lessons of Lucasfilm's Habitat -- Chip Morningstar
      & F. Randall Farmer
 Collaborative Engines for Multiparticipant Cyberspace
      -- Carl Tollander
 Notes  the Structure of Cyberspace and the Ballistic Actors
      Model -- Tim McFadden
 Virtual Worlds: No Interface to Design -- Meredeth Bricken
 Corporate Virtual Workspace -- Steve Pruitt & Tom Barrett
 Making Reality a Cyberspace -- Wendy A. Kellog, John M.
      Carrol, & John T. Richards

 This book is an excellent introduction to the competing
concepts of cyberspace. It contains many points of view and
most of them are well articulated. Of special interest is
Michael Benedikt's 'Cyberspace: Some Proposals' which is a
fascinating tour of some possibilities for the development of
the architecture of the cyberspace realm. The book as a whole
reflects an emphasis on the viewpoint of Architects on the
potentials of cyberspace. However, these are not your run of
the mill architects. These are architects who have flown into a
new dimension. They are definitely visionaries. But the book is
not limited to this perspective. Michael Heim has a fascinating
essay in which he traces the roots of Cyberspace back to the
philosophy of Leibniz. I recommend this book highly for anyone
who has found most introductions to this new medium rather
shallow. This book is testimony to the fact that it is a
serious new discipline which some people are thinking hard
about.

.................................................................
 *COMMENTARY*

 Most of that thinking about cyberspace to date revolves around
the image of the cybernaut navigating through an information
rich world. Little thought has been given to the fact that
information is worthless unless it is understood. The emphasis
must switch from the concept of accessing and possessing
mountains of information to the work of understanding and
distilling this information into quality chunks that are
easily absorbed. This is where my own concept of the
thoughtSpace becomes germane. The thoughtSpace is all about mutual
understanding. Without that, mountains of easily accessible
information is useless. The thoughtSpace is the instantiation
of a Universe of Discourse. Within that realm a small group of
people interested in the same subject attempt to understand the
available information together. They produce digests,
compilations, summaries, and white papers which represent the
result of their mutual exploration of the information
landscape. Working together is dependent on thinking together.
Unless we learn to think together in this new medium our work
will be disjointed and the information will remain external to
ourselves. There is a big difference between information and
knowledge. Gaining information is easy compared with producing
knowledge within our selves through intensive thinking.
The thoughtSpace allows this to happen mutually so that the
information space becomes meaningful and the workspace produces
productive of significant advances in understanding as well as
efficiently producing normal products. The product of
knowledege workers is essentially different from information
processing. Information processing does not call for creative
transformation. Knowledge always involves going beyond the
information given. Knowledge workers are those who provide the
understanding of what the information means. When they work
together they build a thoughtSpace within a particular universe
of discourse.

 We need to begin to build these thoughtSpaces and the universe
of discourses that are their context. The thinknet essay and
discussion channels, the thinknet category on the WELL, and
the concept of the Virtual University each small steps in this
direction.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
 ON THOUGHT CAPSULES
-----------------------------------------------------------------

 What follows is a thought capsule about the concept of thought
capsules. It has been embedded within the newsletter with its
own start and end delimiters.

 =========================START==TCapsule.001=====================

------------------------------------------------------------------
 ------------------------   THOUGHT CAPSULE  ---------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------

 CAPSULE NAME: Thought Capsule about 'thought capsules'

 IDENTIFIER: THINKNET-apeiron-911209a-1.0

 AUTHOR: Kent D. Palmer Ph.D.
 E-MAIL: [e-mail] [or [e-mail]]
 REPLY TO: [e-mail]
 PHONE:
 ADDRESS: PO BOX 8383 Orange CA 92664-8383 USA

 DISCIPLINES:

 Philosophy, Communications, Interdisciplinary, Systems theory

 KEYWORDS:

 thought, idea, meme, concept, philosophy, electronic mail, networking

 SUBJECT:

 The thought capsule is a way to embody individual thoughts in
an electronic message form for personal publishing of ones
ideas in order to elicit responses of others and which creates
a permanent record which can be built upon in the future.

 CONTEXT:

 The thinknet project is experimenting with group thinking
processes in the electronic network medium.

 OVERVIEW:

 Thought capsules are a means of structuring information for
easy assimilation and reproduction. Thought capsules
communicate a single thought to those participating in
communal thought. It allows isolation of individual ideas for
easy absorption and well defined response. By this means the
dialectical discussion may be sharpened, and thought capsules
like comets will have their trail of messages which contain the
reactions to them by members of the group.

 EXPOSITION:

 I have been thinking about the problem of structuring thought
in cybertime [2]. It seems to me that we need some way of
organizing out thoughts so we can keep track of them and so we
can relate them to each other dialectically in order to build
on them. Having been introduced to the concept of Meme by Elan
Moritz I started thinking that perhaps what we need is an
electronic vehicle for single memes. So I come up with the idea
of a THOUGHT CAPSULE. A thought capsule is one way to embody a
Meme [1] adapted to the electronic text media. A thought
capsule will attempt to present a single Idea, or concept, or
theory in such a way that it is easily absorbed and reacted to
by its receivers on the network. The reaction would be in the
form of message trails to the thought capsule. A message trail
may either be unstructured reactions, structured reactions
using the thinknet protocol, or other though capsules. This
thought capsule is a meta-capsule as it is a though capsule
about though capsules.

 Thought capsules would strive for brevity and clarity of the
thought being expressed. That thought may be original or just
a representation of someone else's thought appearing in the
literature somewhere. But in the form of a thought capsule
that thought can be uniquely identified and compared to other
thoughts. It is possible for a thought capsule to be a building
block in a larger theoretical structure. A though capsule can
refer to other though capsules to form a hypertext network of
ideas such as that proposed by Cliff Josylin of the PRINCIPIA
CYBERNETICA PROJECT.

 Each though capsule will have a unique identifier like the
ISBN. Through this identifier the though capsule will be able
to be referred to uniquely for reference by other though
capsules. The identifier is constructed of the name of the
mailing list it is first published on; the authors initials or
special publication identifier; the date in YYMMDD form with
letter for each TCapsule published on that date; and a unique
number assigned by the author. The number assigned by the
author should contain a decimal to show the version number of
the particular thought packet which may be updated or rereleased
in some modified form. Each author keeps his own database of
thought capsules. If a person reading a recent though capsule
wants to see a referred to though capsule he can request it of
the author at the email address given by the author.
Eventually it would be interesting to have some archive of
though capsules besides the author's own archive for
posterity.

 Notice that there are several ways to retrieve the thought
capsule which gives us access to the history of ideas under the
discussion:

 Author
 Date YYMMDDn
 Number of capsule n.m
 Name of Capsule
 Discipline
 Keywords
 Words in Subject
 All words in capsule
 By articles or books referred to.

 Thinknet will undertake to validate that the user initials or
special author's publishing identifier is never duplicated.
You can register your identifier by sending a message of the
following form to [e-mail]

 REGISTER listname-authorId FOR YourFullName <[e-mail]>

 Registration must be accompanied by a US mail postal address.

 There may be a nominal fee for this service. The point is that
there must be some name server to assure non-duplication of
identifiers. Perhaps in the future it could be done with a
listserv program. But until then as long as it is manually
maintained then a fee may be charged.

 If that combination has been taken by someone else that has
been registered then you will be notified. Basically this
creates a name space for the publication of thought capsules
which are unique. By registering your publication name wherever
you move people who find TCapsule on the networks can locate
the author and the thought capsules you refer to in your own
thought capsules.

 Thought capsules are a way for us to publish our thoughts one
at a time on the electronic medium in order to get reaction
from others while retaining the rights to our ideas. It
provides a way for us to think together by giving us a
permanent infrastructure to build on. I can refer to the
thoughts of others or my own individually and allow others to
do the same with my ideas. This makes my thoughts accessible
without giving them away. Creating a though capsule will allow
one to claim originality for an idea while showing it to others
without having to wait for it to appear in print. It allows a
personal publishing of ideas in an electronic form. The author
can publish a series of thought capsules and then take these
and republish them in print as they are or reweave the thoughts
into a paper or book as they like having already tested the
idea on others in electronic form.

 The comets trail of comments on a particular though capsule
should contain the following information.

 ORIGINAL AUTHOR: author's-name
 ORIGINAL ADDRESS: email-address
 ORIGINAL CAPSULE NAME: though-capsule-name
 ORIGINAL CAPSULE IDENTIFIER: thought-capsule-identifier
 RESPONSE AUTHOR: responder's-name
 RESPONSE ADDRESS: email-address
 RESPONSE SUBJECT: short-subject-name

 The comment should either be freeform or use the thinknet
protocol. It should be published on the same mailing list as
the author published his though capsule on. Or it could be sent
to the author as a direct comment and the author could keep all
the comments or republish them on the lists that he originally
published his thought capsule on. Thought capsules that respond
to or use other authors though capsules should identify them by
identifier in the TCLINKS section of the thought capsule.

 A though capsule allows ideas to persist on the network. They
may be recalled and reposted when appropriate. Now ideas are
embedded in freeform text and access to them after they are
first published is almost impossible. Thought capsules allow
direct dialectical exchange between those who are thinking
together on the network. They allow people to clearly identify
their ideas and post them in a form that is likely to be
absorbed and taken up by others into their own thought.

 Thought capsules allow allow us to see the evolution of our
thought and its interactions with the thoughts of others in an
explicit fashion. It allows us to think 'out loud' in a public
electronic arena and see the full scope of the market place of
ideas in action as we receive though packets of others and
react to them in our own thought. It gives us an atomic level
of organization to our group thinking processes and frees
thoughts from their normal position embedded in texts from which
they are difficult to extract. Thought capsules can be at any
level of abstraction. The thought capsules at the same level of
abstraction can be identified together and thus compared to the
same level of abstraction in other peoples hierarchy of thought
patterns.

 Thought capsules may function as working papers which go
through several versions as the idea, concept or theory is
honed and fine tuned through the interaction with others. As
with all working papers the whole point is to get the idea down
on paper and then to refine it through successive versions.
Therefore the author may publish different versions of the
same though capsule as important changes in the basic concept
occur. In that case there should be a section describing the
difference from the last version and the history of the
versions. It is also a medium in which several authors can
work together by producing some capsules in common and others
independently to fit into an overall theoretical structure.
Thought capsules can be thought of as conceptual building
blocks that snap together to form complex theoretical
structures built by one or more people.

 Though capsules may contain critique of others ideas, or be
summaries of sets of ideas from different disciplines. Though
capsules are a very flexible publishing form specifically
geared to the electronic medium. All thought capsules
concerning philosophy, systems theory, meta-theory within a
discipline or interdisciplinary studies can be published on the
essay channel which is a moderated mailing list
dedicated to deep thought in the cybertime environment.
[The address is '[e-mail]'.]


 DIAGRAM:

 {Diagram explanation goes here, actual system independent
graphics goes after restrictions as an appendix.}

 FURTHER WORK:

 There is a lot of work that needs to be done to make it
possible for deeper thought and discussion to go on in the
cybertime environment. This is only a first step. The THINKNET
newsletter will carry further updates on the experiments with
the discussion & essay mailing lists as well as other related
activities carried on Bulletin Board Systems and on internet matrix.

 You will notice that there is a diagram section for this
though capsule. This is one specific point where future work
needs to be done which will allow diagrams to be incorporated
into though capsules using some system independent graphics
standard.

 TCLINKS:

 None. {here links to other thought capsules would be made explicit.}


 NOTES:

 1) A 'meme' is an idea which replicates itself easily within
the cultural milieu.

 2) Cybertime is the complement to cyberspace. Even though cyberspace
does not exist for most of us the time we spend dealing with electronic
BBSs and networks can be called cybertime.

 3) For thinknet protocol see issue 1 of thinknet newsletter.

 REFERENCES:

 Princypia Cybernetica Project: Cliff Joslyn et al. -- newsletters 1 & 2

 Journal Of Ideas: Elan Moritz {concept of meme}

 {References may have the form:

 AUTHOR, A.N.; TITLE; SERIAL Volume (number) year; pages
 AUTHOR, A.N.; TITLE; (City: PUBLISHER; DATE)

 COMMENTS:

 {Comments of others might be directly incorporated into the
successive versions of the thought capsule.}

 ................................................................

 RESTRICTIONS:

 Copyright 1991 Kent Palmer. All rights reserved.

 This though capsule is conceptual shareware. It may be copied
in its entirety and distributed freely without change of form
or content on to any electronic text system. It may not appear
on paper or any other permanent media except as single copies
for personal study. It may not be sold except by the author.
The all rights to the idea contained in the though capsule if
original is retained by the author of the capsule. You are
welcome to use the idea as long as you attribute it to the
author by direct reference in a footnote in whatever you write
concerning that idea. If idea contained in the thought capsule
is not original with the author then direct attribution to the
original author should be made by anyone using the idea.
Permission to archive this thought capsule for longer than a
year from the identification date or keep it for reference in
a database must be obtained in writing from the author.

 The basic idea of conceptual shareware is the promotion of the
spread of ideas within the electronic network and Bulletin
Board medium by making them accessible, reproducible, and
free, but retaining the copyrights on all external other
mediums, such as printed paper, and for long term storage in
electronic systems. This makes thought capsules ephemera of
the electronic textual medium. The long term archival storage
of the text remains in the hands of the author. You can
request the text from the author at any time if referred to the
thought capsule by another source. The right to publish and
copy on all non-electronic textual media is retained by the
author. The intellectual property rights are retained by the
author. The write to sell the all derived works is retained by
the author. The author is basically lending the thought capsule
to others for a period of less than one year for them to
comment on and react to the contents of the thought capsule.
This is intended to promote the interchange of ideas within
the cyber-thoughtspace while still promoting intellectual
ownership rights.

 The identifier used to identify the author who has published
this thought capsule may be registered with thinknet. For
information send e-mail to '[e-mail]' or write
PO BOX 8383 ORANGE CA 92664 USA.
 ................................................................

 APPENDICES:

 APPENDIX 1 Glossary

   MEME -- a cultural artifact that is easily duplicated and spread.
   THINKNET -- A project to explore deep thought in cybertime.

 APPENDIX 2 Diagram {system independent graphics language code goes here}

 APPENDIX 3 Version History

   Version 1 -- original.

 APPENDIX N ????????

 =========================END==TCapsule.001=======================

 Note from Editor: I have started a series of thoughtCapsules on Emergent
 Systems Process philosophy which is posted in the thinknet conference on
 on the WELL. It is accessible to members in the directory  /well/info/thinknet
 which is accessible only to members of the thinknet conference.

 The thoughtCapsule is a proposed format for essays sent to the essay
 channel. It is just a suggestion.


|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||    THANK YOU FOR READING THE THINKNET NEWSLETTER   ||||||||
|||||||   ANY COMMENTS YOU MIGHT GIVE WOULD BE APPRECIATED ||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 All opinions expressed herein are purely those of the individual
 authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the Bulletin
 Board or Network Node on which they reside. Thinknet is not an
 organization but a network of people continuously communicating
 via electronic means. Join in. You are welcome to participate.
 Remember this is for fun. We won't take ourselves too seriously if
 you don't take us, or yourself, too seriously, either. In other
 words we will not participate in arguments and exchange of flames.
=========================END=OF=THINKNET=FILE======================