Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site qantel.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!think!harvard!seismo!umcp-cs!gymble!lll-crg!dual!qantel!stv From: stv@qantel.UUCP (Steve Vance@ex2499) Newsgroups: net.news,net.misc Subject: A USENET Competitor Message-ID: <481@qantel.UUCP> Date: Wed, 10-Jul-85 21:44:55 EDT Article-I.D.: qantel.481 Posted: Wed Jul 10 21:44:55 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 10:26:03 EDT Reply-To: stv@qantel.UUCP (Steve Vance@ex2499) Organization: MDS Qantel, Hayward, CA Lines: 140 Xref: watmath net.news:3627 net.misc:8221 San Francisco Examiner, July 8, 1985 (Posted to USENET with permission) TELECONFERENCING IS LIKE A BACK-FENCE CHAT By J.E. Ferrell, of the Examiner Staff When word spread that Wilbur and Orville Wright were soaring in a flying machine over North Carolina, people generally reacted by asking: What use is there for such a contraption? When the telephone was invented, people couldn't understand why anyone in Chicago would want to call someone in Detroit. What could you possibly have to say, after you inquired about the weather? So it is these days with teleconferencing networks, electronic back fences where people meet and chat with each other via their computers. What possible reason would one have to correspond with another person over a computer, when all you have to do is pick up a telephone, or chat face-to-face at the next PTA meeting? Stewart Brand, that bellweather of society, founder of the "Whole Earth Catalog," the "Whole Earth Review" (the continuation of CoEvolution Quarterly") and the "Whole Earth Software Catalog," knows the answer. And the answer--not to get too cute here--is in the WELL, or Whole Earth Lectronic Link. The WELL is the "kind of thing coffee shops were supposed to be about, but are pretty hard to find these days," says Brand, 46, as he leans back in a stuffed chair at this desk in a small second-story office in Sausalito. His computer is at the center of his desk; the telephone is to the right. Bookshelves and pictures of ships and the ocean surround him. Within the WELL, people can find that coffee-shop atmosphere "on-line with enormous convenience," says Brand. "People have very little time to get at each other. This medium has made that time getting at each other irrelevant." The WELL, so far, is 350 people in the Bay Area and growing. They include some well-known computer wizards such as Lee Felsenstein, designer of the Osborne Computer; and John Draper, a.k.a Captain Crunch, the phone phreak who designed the blue box used to make illegal and free long-distance telephone calls and more recently author of the popular EasyWriter word processing program. The group also includes avid auto mechanics, musicians, attorneys, health care professionals, writers... people from nearly any profession or lifestyle imaginable. They gather electronically to share information and ideas. The "garage conference" (conference is much too formal a word to describe this), for example, lists cars for sale by WELL subscribers, where to get used cars and parts, where to get appraisals and recommendations on repair shops. A "garage conference host"--not a member of the WELL staff--monitors the contributions and helps direct people to sources of information. In fact, only three people on the WELL staff, headed by system operator Matthew McClure, oversee the 32 conferences, which cover such topics as medicine, politics, science fiction, law, and, of course, computers. Their job is mainly to keep the computer running with a minimum of glitches. "The WELL is a utility," says Brand. "Not a publisher. The participants are responsible for their own words." Those words have been humming along on the WELL for the last couple of months now. This is how it works. By using a personal computer and a modem to hook into the WELL's computer by telephone, you drop in on a conference to see what people have been adding to a particular topic. You can type in your own comments, or just lurk about silently. On the medical conference the other night, for example, one subscriber dropped a question in the consumer advice sub-conference: where can I get information about contact lenses, and does anybody know an inexpensive place to get them? In the next couple of days, he received a passel of responses, including personal experiences with contact lenses, a name of a good consumers' guide to contact lenses, the name of a consumer health organization which provides information, and a couple recommendations on where to find reasonably priced lenses. Going to the WELL is similar to fishing: throw out your comment or question and you come back with an answer--or two or three--hooked to your electronic line. You can add your comments to any conference, or send personal messages to other WELL subscribers' mailboxes any time of the day or night. It costs $2 an hour and $8 a month, charged to your MasterCard or VISA. Any normal charges for telephone use also apply, and are duly noted by Pacific Bell. The WELL is rudimentary, still cranky (it wouldn't let me sign off last week) computer network. "Your readers should be warned that the system is still taking shape," says Brand. "The fun is getting to be a pioneer and taking part in its shape." But it is the seed of things to come. The WELL is to future computer networks what Omnibus or Playhouse 90 were to television: early forms that look quaint and old-fashioned now. So what will the future "Miami Vice" of computer networks look like? I'm not really sure, but I'm certain they'll be as invisible and as integral to our daily lives as the telephone is now. Imagine how computer networks might fit into education: When your daughter enters third grade, you and she will also enter the third grade network, where parents and teachers can "chat" daily about homework and school activities, and students can work electronically together on projects. When you move into a new neighborhood, you'll automatically join the neighborhood network to find schools, dry cleaners, libraries and be able to participate immediately in local concerns without having to search out groups or attend scores of drawn-out meetings. More immediately, Brand and McClure are looking into expanding the WELL into home banking; putting the Whole Earth Access Company's catalog on and letting people shop electronically; putting the Whole Earth Software Catalog on line; adding regional databases; and maybe even getting Ticketron on-line. "It's a thought," Brand mused. "We haven't talked to them yet. "The number of opportunities exceed the resources to pursue those opportunities," he said with his winsome smile. As he did with the "Whole Earth Catalog," Brand is providing the table and is letting others bring the vittles. "This is a place for entrepreneurs. We're putting out a medium where people can try all sorts of stuff. It's likely to grow at a pace that makes sense that way. Besides," he boasts proudly, "planning is a dirty word in my vocabulary." ------------------- [Note: for more information, you can call WELL at (415) 332-4335.] -- Steve Vance {dual,hplabs,intelca,nsc,proper}!qantel!stv dual!qantel!stv@berkeley Qantel Corporation, Hayward, CA