NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/alt/comp/acadfre/talk/4020

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-25 | 8.6 KB

Xref: sparky alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk:4020 ucb.english:82 talk.environment:5732 comp.org.eff.talk:9206
Newsgroups: alt.comp.acad-freedom.talk,ucb.org.csua,ucb.org.ocf,ucb.english,talk.environment,comp.org.eff.talk
Path: sparky!uunet!gatech!asuvax!ukma!morgan
From: [e-mail] (Wes Morgan)
Subject: Re: [ucb.org.csua, et al.]  The Schedule of Classes
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Organization: University of Kentucky Engineering Computing Center
References: <[e-mail]>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 15:42:59 GMT
Lines: 167

I retrieved a copy of his announcement <which is mentioned in the posting>;
after reading it, I have a few comments.  I'll be including quotes from his
announcement......

>From: [e-mail] (Eric Hollander)
>
>Last semester, I wondered why the UC Berkeley Schedule of Classes was not
>available on the Internet.  I knew that it was kept at jasper.berkeley.edu,
>which is already on the net.  I asked the Office of the Registrar if they
>could mail me a copy so I could put it up for ftp.  It would have taken a
>system administrator less than one minute to type the required command:
>mail hh@soda < socfile.  They told me they could not do this.

They also told you why they could not do it.  Let's get some more information
from your statement:

hh>I listed many reasons why they should just mail me a
hh>copy of it; they told me that they were not yet ready to release it to the
hh>net.  They finally gave the reason that if they mailed it to me, it would
hh>not be updated, but people would assume that it was, so they would be
hh>misled.  Well, I've never seen a piece of paper update itself, and none of
hh>the computer users I know are so naive to think that files somehow magically
hh>update themselves, but this was their one and only reason.

It may only be one reason, but it's a darned good one.  We had a similar
situation here at UK.  The Registrar's Schedule of Classes is online via
the UK Prime and IBM 3090 systems; those copies are updated twice daily.
As an experiment, I grabbed a copy of it for my systems <with permission>
and put a VERY specific disclaimer at the top which stated that this was
a WORKING COPY, that NONE of the information was guaranteed, that it would
NOT be updated, that it did NOT reflect the actual course situations, and
that the students should verify the information with the updated versions
on the Prime/IBM and the printed copies before registration.

Needless to say, there were *dozens* of students who ignored that disclaimer,
created their schedules, and *then* found that sections were closed or dropped.
I took quite a bit of heat for that, despite my disclaimers; needless to say,
the experiment was considered a failure.

>I decided to do it myself.

You phrased it a bit differently at the time:

hh>So I decided that if they wouldn't give it to me, I would take it.

Forget their reasons, just do it?  Feh.

>The Office of the Registrar did not like what I did, and the week before the
>Spring Semester started I received the following letter from the Office of
>Student Conduct:
> [ ...letter deleted... ]

I can certainly understand their reaction; you were given a valid reason
NOT to do something, and you ignored it and went right ahead.

>I believe that computers exist to provide access to information.  Using a
>computer to give me this access can never be misuse.

Yes, but throwing information around with no regard to its relevance or
accuracy is a misuse of the information itself, isn't it?

Here are some excerpts from his announcement, with my comments:

hh>The data belongs to _us_.  We paid for it, we should have access to it.  I
hh>will not let them keep our data from us.  I believe that all information
hh>which is normally availble on paper should be free and available in
hh>electronic form.

Yes, but with information comes a responsibility to ensure its accuracy.
The Registrar handles that obligation in a proper manner; they have a sin-
gle online copy, accessible from <apparently> many campus locations, and
they don't have to worry about the problems inherent in maintaining mul-
tiple, physically separate copies.

By unilaterally releasing a copy WITHOUT accepting the obligation to keep
it current, you actually *hinder* their work.  If my experience was any
indication, I'm sure that the Registrar's office fielded quite a few ques-
tions about the discrepencies between their official updated copy and your
"off the cuff", one-shot deal.

hh>When our institutions are unable to serve us because they are afraid of
hh>change, it is our obligation to make the changes for them.

How does centralized control of a VERY important document (to students,
anyway) constitute a fear of change?  If they recognized that they could
not maintain adequate quality control of a gazillion copies, I'd call it
a good management decision.

hh>We should all write to our representatives, telling them that we want to
hh>have access to our laws and our legal records, on line.  After all, the
hh>representatives who make the laws and the judges who make the rulings are
hh>paid by the taxpayers.  The taxpayers have a right to that information.

We certainly do; for several reasons, that access is provided through
print media.  Isn't UC-Berkeley a Federal Depository Library?  UK is,
and I can get hard copy of almost any Federal publication within (usually)
48 hours.  If I want my own copy, I call my Congressman/Senator and get
one within 5 days.

Before you start crying for "online everything", you should consider the
cost of such an endeavor..........somehow, I don't think that the _Con-
gressional Record_ exists as PostScript in any stage of its life....

hh>Call your phone company.  Ask them why they are sending you paper mail.
hh>After all, the phone companies own the physical infrastructure of the net.
hh>They are in an ideal position to take advantage of it.  Take advantage of
hh>your phone company's 800 number.

Are you willing to entrust your personal information <phone bills, etc.>
to the currently really-seriously-insecure phone/data network?  Are you,
perhaps, expecting the phone company to devise/distribute some form of
encryption for this data?  Are you willing to pay higher phone bills to
get this service?

hh>Call your bank and ask them why they send you your bank statement on paper
hh>every month.  Banks are among the most networked institutions in the world.
hh>Why are they not applying their familiarty with networks and their existing
hh>network infrastructures to serve their customers and protect the environment?

If you would entrust your banking records to a publicly accessible net,
you're a braver man than I.

hh>Apple sends me (and presumably all of their other millions of registered
hh>customers) the Apple Catalog.  Other computer companies do similar things.
hh>When you receive a catalog such as this, take advantage of the companies 800
hh>number, and call and ask them why they are sending you an expensive,
hh>wasteful catalog, when they could save themselves money and send it over
hh>the net.

Quite frankly, I don't *want* my online mailbox(es) opened to every
junkmailing firm in the business.

hh>When you get mail from a company that talks about that company's
hh>environmental commitment, call them and tell them that you think it is
hh>hipocritical of them to print that kind of statement on paper.

Don't forget that the electricity that powers your online scenario comes
(in many, if not most, cases) from either fossil fuels or nuclear power;
those have their environmental downsides as well........

hh>To be fair, I must mention that the university is planning on making the SoC
hh>available on the internet soon.  But the net is already over two decades
hh>old.  This should have been done long ago.  Thousands of trees, dollars, and
hh>man-hours would have been saved already.

Apparently, they were already in the process of doing so; you merely took
it upon yourself to hasten the process.

hh>Disclaimer
hh>
hh>I am not acting or making these statements on behalf of the Computer Science
hh>Undergraduate Association or any other organization.  Also, this copy of the
hh>schedule of classes is not updated regularly. There may be errors or
hh>omissions.

I notice that you didn't include a disclaimer with the schedule itself; I
guess that all the folks who downloaded just the schedule never saw it,
eh?


--Wes

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MORGAN@UKCC         |       Wes Morgan       |        ...!ukma!ukecc!morgan
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