Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!patth From: patth@dasys1.UUCP (Patt Haring) Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: NetWeaver - June 1988 issue Keywords: networking in education Message-ID: <6560@dasys1.UUCP> Date: 20 Sep 88 14:08:08 GMT Organization: The Big Electric Cat Lines: 1430 ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 1 (June 1988) Welcome to NETWEAVER Welcome to NETWEAVER! The interactive, intersystem newsletter of the Electronic Networking Association "Our purpose is to promote electronic networking in ways that enrich individuals, enhance organizations, and build global communities." _______________________________________________________________ Volume 4, Number 6 June 1988 Copyright(c) by Electronic Networking Association (ENA), 1988 NETWEAVER is published electronically on Networking and World Information (NWI), 333 East River Drive, East Hartford, CT, 06108 (1-800-624-5916) using Participate (R) software from Network Technologies International, Inc. (NETI), Ann Arbor, MI. Managing Editor: Lisa Carlson Contributing Editors: Mike Blaszczak Linda Nicholson Stan Pokras George Por Tom Sherman Philip Siddons (Ms) Gail S. Thomas ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: NETWEAVER is available via NewsNet, the world's leading vendor of full-text business and professional newsletters online. Read, Search or Scan all issues of NETWEAVER as TE55 in NewsNet's Telecommunications industry category. For access details call 800-345-1301. In PA or outside the U.S., call 215-527-8030. :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: We *welcome* anyone interested in joining the Netweaver staff! The deadline for articles for the next issue is the 15th of the month. KUDOS to the "porters," unsung heroes of the Network Nation! One of them has brought this issue to you. --------------------------------------------------------------- Volume 4, Number 6 ---CONTENTS--- June 1988 1 Masthead and Index 2 ENA UPDATE ................................ by Lisa Carlson ENA names new Moderator and President and presents its first awards for contributions to creativity in the medium and building global communities. 3 GRADUATION SPEECH FOR THE INFORMATION AGE ...by Frank Odasz Share this inspiring look at the present and the future with the 8th grade graduating class of Wisdom, Montana. 4 DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER CONFERENCING MODERATOR EDITORIAL TEAM .............................by Griff Wigley Development of a team of moderators which functions as the editorial component of a computer conferencing network on MIX, the McGraw-Hill Information Exchange for educators. 5 KEYNOTE ADDRESS to the Electronic Networking Association May 13, 1988 Part I .......................by Mike Greenly The world's first interactive online journalist shares his insights about the contribution of this medium to the future of organizations AND society. 6 KEYNOTE ADDRESS to the Electronic Networking Association May 13, 1988 Part II.......................by Mike Greenly 7 SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT: CHOOSING CONFERENCING TO RUN ON A MINICOMPUTER ....................By Gordon Cook A look at criteria and considerations for evaluating choices for computer conferencing host software. 8 UPDATE ON THE INSTITUTE FOR NETWORKING DESIGN by Izumi Aizu Find out what's happened for IND since our last ENA conference in November, 1985. Networking is growing fast in Japan! 9 The LAN Wo/Man Cometh ............by Donald L. (Skip) Conover There's a lot of talk about "networking" by major vendors these days - but *this* medium is usually left out of the conversation. Do these folks realize the human implications of networking technology? 10 ENA Membership Form Join us! 2 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:02 Eastern (3480 characters) ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 2 (June 1988) ENA UPDATE by Lisa Carlson The Electronic Networking Association (ENA) conference in Philadelphia last week was a great success. More than 200 networkers participated in sessions about applications of networking for business, education, nonprofits, and individuals. People came from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, and the Soviet Union. As usual, the connections being made in the halls were as important and interesting as the formal program and numerous plans for future collaborative projects were hatched. It will be a challenge to maintain good communication across all the participating networking systems world-wide. To facilitate that process, ENA needed someone to serve as a point of contact for people initiating ENA activities and coordinate our complex communication system. ENA needed a MODERATOR! We're happy to announce that the ENA MODERATOR is now >>>>>>> Jeffrey Shapard Most of you probably know Jeff - though you may be more familiar with him as JEFU, the moderator of "Japan Talk" and other interesting topics. He has made many significant contributions to the medium including directing operations on TWICS, the networking system based in Tokyo. Jeff will serve as MODERATOR *and* President of ENA until our next f-t-f conference. Congratulations Jeff! ENA also gave out its first awards at this conference. An award for "Contributions to Creativity in the Medium" was established and named after the late David Rodale who contributed so much to us online. This year, ENA gave out two awards in this category to: MIKE GREENLY - the world's first interactive online journalist for his pioneering work covering everything from computer shows to toy shows, from the political conventions to aids; *and* PHIL MOORE AND SHERWIN LEVINSON - for their teamwork during the creation of the NWI system and their involvement of the user community in its design and implementation. David's parents attended the Sunday awards program during which we remembered and honored David and talked about what he meant to us. In addition, ENA presented an award for contributions to "Building Global Communities" to IZUMI AIZU for his efforts to use the medium to create electronic bridges across the world. Congratulations to all the award winners! Next year's conferences are already in the planning stages and it looks like we may be offering an international conference in Japan as well as a meeting in the U.S. If you would like to participate in ENA and its activities, use the membership form here in NETWEAVER or call NAN HANAHUE who is our membership coordinator (215-821-7777). There are lots of new plans for NETWEAVER in the works - including printed highlights and availability via disk. We also have some new editors and are looking for more! In this issue, you can read Mike Greenly's stunning keynote speech to the ENA conference. There are also reports from sessions on evaluating computer conferencing software and how the marketing of LANS relates to what we're doing in this medium. Read an update on what our colleagues in Japan have been up to since the ENA conference in 1985 and get advice on supporting moderators from a system supporting the educational community. You can also read a graduation speech from the director of Big Sky Montana which will make you optimistic about the future. Enjoy! 3 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:03 Eastern (6533 characters) ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 3 (June 1988) Graduation Speech for the Information Age by Frank Odasz [Note from Dave Hughes: Below was the brief "Commencement Address" by Frank Odasz, Assistant Professor of Computer Education of Western Montana College at the one-room Wisdom Montana K-8 School, Friday night, May 27th, 1988. There were exactly 2 graduating 8th graders in this tiny town of less than 75 in the middle of remote ranching and farming country in extreme southwest Montana. Over 100 parents, grandparents, school board members (of the 5 Kindergarteners also 'graduating' to 1st grade) showed up. The faces in the audience were right out of Norman Rockwell. Frank was invited to speak by three teachers, and one assistant teacher (she played the piano), of the school who had all logged onto Big Sky Telegraph from their one Apple Computer and taken the teacher recertification course entirely online from Western Montana College February to April, 1988. Knowing these facts, the name of the town and school - Wisdom - is more than ironic.] GRADUATION SPEECH Good evening, I'm Frank Odasz, director of Big Sky Telegraph at Western Montana College. It is an honor to share in the celebration of the achievement of Wisdom's student pioneers of the future. The pioneer spirit has always been focused on positive change. Most of us can accept that change is necessary if the quality of our lives is to get better. This year we've seen our students change in new and exciting ways. In our rapidly changing world it is becoming increasingly important to keep up with the changes that are occurring around us, if for no other reason than to protect ourselves from potential dangers of those changes. We seek the wisdom to know what should change and what shouldn't. We do need better economic conditions but there are many aspects of the rural lifestyle that we want to preserve and not change. Education itself can be described as the process of acquiring the knowledge and skills for creative adaptation to change. If change results in better opportunities for our kids' success, then it is generally welcomed. Change can be a threat to our independence. A hundred years ago, there was a self-sufficient rancher who laughed at the suggestion that he might benefit from a new technology called the telephone. With a successful ranching operation underway, in an understandable common sense sort of way he reasoned; why would he possibly need to talk to someone a hundred miles away? What effect could that have on his ranching and, why change if the ranch is successful? Eventually, the rancher's first benefit from use of the telephone might have been checking auction prices in Billings. This eventually came to be viewed not as a dependency, but as an economy enhancing additional freedom, literally another tool in the rancher's toolbox. Today we use the telephone without giving it a second thought, and without worrying if we understand the details of how the phone company makes it work. The same is true for the microcomputers. We need to know only how to put these tools to work for our benefit. This (hold up laptop) has introduced change in my life. As a former roughneck, carpenter, and duderancher who never touched a computer before the age of 30, this notebook-sized microcomputer has given me access to worldwide information. This "laptop" is a new way to gather economic and educational information from any location, at any time I might find convenient. Telecommunications technologies hold great promise for allowing rural communities to enhance their economic options while preserving the cherished rural lifestyle. Big Sky Telegraph at Western Montana College, is a rural education project funded by the M.J. Murdoch Charitable Trust and the Mountain Bell Foundation of Montana. Using modems, microcomputers and common phonelines, select rural educators are able to access educators statewide and exchange written information at a rate of four pages per minute, ten times the information possible via a voice call. This is the most efficient and cost effective means of resource and information sharing available in Montana. Four teachers from right here in Wisdom, more than in any other single community in the Montana, have volunteered to pioneer a new trail toward Montana's educational frontier using this new form of communication. They have established a link from Wisdom to WMC to provide Wisdom students with access to over $10,000 worth of quality educational software. In addition, they have established fingertip access to the librarians and resources of the WMC library, all for as little as $5.00/week. Just last week pen pal messages between Wisdom students and students from Deep Creek School near Glendive,(600 miles away) on the other side of the state, were exchanged electronically via the Big Sky Telegraph system. We have only scratched the surface of the potential benefits to Wisdom residents using telecommunications. These teachers and students saw the benefits to the community of beneficial change. Montana is faced with the realities of an increasingly global economy. The independence of Montanans, with new communications tools can bring benefits from far away to those here at home. Global marketing information and contacts have the potential to breath new life into Montana's ranching businesses. Talented business and resource persons across Montana now have the potential to better share ideas and strategies despite distance or schedules. Your kids will soon be the ones to use these tools to create a brighter future for residents of the Big Hole Valley. This short speech will be sent electronically to networks on both coasts this evening to share the word that the trail to the future of education in this country is being blazed by the teachers and students here in Wisdom, Montana, as much as anywhere else. In a world that is changing more all the time, our students bear the promise that what we all value most, the opportunity for a quality education, will not change. Thank you. ---------------------------------- The four teachers were Wanda Valeska, Patti Monaco, Cathy Nickish, and Gloria Reed. Pioneer women of the New West! I guess Frank's comments to a graduation of two 8th Graders is as useful a graduation speech to read as any of the tens of thousands being delivered across the nation this spring! - Dave Hughes 4 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:05 Eastern (7777 characters) ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 4 (June 1988) DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER CONFERENCING MODERATOR EDITORIAL TEAM by Griff Wigley Introduction ============ Computer conferencing literature abounds with articles on the role of the moderator. But little has been written on the development of a team of moderators which functions as the editorial component of a computer conferencing network. On MIX (the McGraw-Hill Information Exchange for educators) moderators ARE the editorial team, as concerned and invested in the development of the whole network as they are in the success of their own particular conferences. Here's what we've done to develop the skills of individuals to work as a team. Recruitment =========== Like many networks, MIX recruits moderators among its subscribers. This is not only convenient, but it has proven vastly more reliable than face-to-face recruiting. It's too difficult otherwise to predict a person's online personality, habits and reliability. Potential MIX moderators are either selected from the group of hosts (previous subscribers given free time in exchange for welcoming newcomers) or they are first asked to be hosts for a few months so we can watch their interactions with others. A team of moderators is then assigned to interview the candidate via e-mail, with carbon copies of all exchanges sent to the editor. Not only does this provide more information about the candidates, it gives the candidates a better understanding of who we are and of the level of commitment expected if they join the moderator team. It also reinforces ownership among the moderators; they help make the decision about who joins them and whether that person will contribute as they do. Compensation ============ Like many startup networks, we initially gave moderators free time in exchange for moderating conferences. Most were new to conferencing and were delighted with this arrangement. During the second year, we paid each moderator a monthly stipend, allowing a more formal contractual arrangement with each of them. As online traffic increased and more conferences were needed, it became clear that moderator interest and energy were quite variable from month to month and that a different compensation system was needed. The moderators were adamantly opposed to being paid on a commission basis as is commonplace on other commercial networks. There was considerable fear that commissions would create a competitive atmosphere which would destroy the team feeling we had developed. For example, whenever moderators prepare to open a new conference, they post an invitation in the moderators conference asking for help in designing it. Typically, a half dozen or more colleagues respond. We needed a compensation plan which would not be a disincentive to this kind of activity. In January 1988, moderators began receiving a monthly retainer fee for participating in the moderators' conference, plus a flat fee for each "task" they perform each month. Moderating a conference is considered a task, as is preparing to open a conference, helping another moderator design a conference, writing an article or proposal, hosting newcomers, monitoring the system during off hours, preparing for an upcoming presentation and so on. The advantage of this approach is that it allows moderators to be paid more equitably based on their desired workload from month to month. Yet it does not diminish their interest and incentive to see other moderators' conferences succeed. This arrangement promotes continued development of the "editorial moderator team" which, given a small editorial staff, is crucial to determining overall direction of MIX's online content. This "lean" operation clearly has contributed to creating a sense of ownership among the moderators. They share the common vision that MIX can play an important role in education, and they know that its success or failure depends heavily on them. Our arrangement is distinctly different from being "hired" by a corporation and paid a flat rate or commission to perform a task. As long as moderator compensation keeps increasing commensurate with the success of the network, we will probably continue this approach. Professional Development and Supervision ======================================== Because ours is a small and growing network, we must develop our moderators in ways that can impact both editorial and marketing. For example, we pay the travel and expenses for MIX moderators to make presentations about educational telecommunications at national conventions. Writing and speaking on their current interest areas promotes individual professional growth while giving MIX additional exposure. We pay the online fees for moderators to explore other networks. This broadens their experience and interest areas, increasing their ability to criticize and improve MIX. It also expands their circle of contacts, which in turn enhances awareness of MIX. We bring all the moderators together once a year for a three-day evaluation and planning session affectionately known as the "blowout." The overall editorial direction for the year is established, based on our collective observations of the failures and successes of the previous year. But more importantly, the blowout is an important part of the development of the group. Face-to-face celebrating, social activities, and opportunities to relate to individuals in a different context from the online work environment add immeasurably to the richness of our relationships to each other. We do not do any moderator training in a formal sense. We do have moderating guidelines and a collection of articles on moderating skills (many of them from back issues of NETWEAVER) which people are expected to read. But it is basically a self-directed learning environment. We have recently added the expectation that each moderator submit a short evaluation and planning statement every 6 months. This includes a review of their overall performance from the previous period, a goal related to one of their tasks, a goal relating to their professional development as a moderator, and any optional plans for promotion, making presentations at other conferences, using other electronic networks, writing for magazines or journals and the like. Next Steps ========== Having worked with the moderators on the wording of their planning statements,.we then informally observe, teach and give feedback on their performance by e-mail, phone and face-to-face. This level of individual supervision is a needed additional step to create a working environment which allows for individual growth within a team framework. We will also need to develop a process for each individual to receive feedback from the entire team, not just the editor. Every individual's work on the system involves at least one other moderator, frequently several. So it's critically important for moderators to receive their peers' observations if the feedback is to be of high quality. Conclusion ========== While this paper defines nothing new in the way of team development, individual motivation and professional development in a traditional work environment, it confirms the premise that such a an environment can indeed exist electronically. Look for an update on the process next year. ---------- Griff Wigley is editor of MIX, an electronic computer communications network for education, now two years old. It serves educators at primary, secondary and vocational levels. He can be reached at (800) 622-6310, in MN and outside the U.S. at (612) 829-8200, as gwigley on MIX and BIX, and 72007,24 on CompuServe. Mailing address: EMS/McGraw-Hill, 9855 West 78th St., Eden Prairie, MN 55344. 5 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:07 Eastern (9932 characters) ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 5 (June 1988) Keynote Address to the Electronic Networking Association Part I by Mike Greenly Good afternoon. I've given a fair number of speeches, especially in my former corporate days. But this talk will include comments that are far more personal than I've shared in public before. Before I discuss how computer conferencing has affected my life, though, let's talk about the larger picture, the business environment in which this still-new medium can transform possibilities much more significant than my own. Conferencing, after all, is its own medium, a relatively new way of communicating, which can have a great and positive impact on both individual flexibility and business productivity. If I were trying to "sell" you computer conferencing, I would mention the time it can save busy people ... the speed with which decisions can be made among those who use it ... the rapidity with which it can disseminate global information. Or maybe the savings it offers in travel costs and hassle, or its help in implementing projects among people with very different locations and schedules. All of those are important benefits, nice and practical: you can measure speed; you might quantify days or hours saved, or the hotel expense and airfare you didn't need to pay for. But there is another, less obvious asset intrinsic to "electronic meetings": the value placed directly on ideas themselves ... not the surface style, physical appearance, or cultural trappings of the person expressing them. In other words, factors that can very much affect what we think and what we conclude in a face-to-face setting are typically absent in electronic communication. Electronic meeting participants often concentrate much more clearly on an idea itself, not on its human "packaging." Have you ever watched television with the sound turned completely off? If you haven't in a while, try it! Take away the sound from your TV picture, and suddenly you notice what was there all along -- revealing gestures and body language, props that indicate character, visual details you don't normally perceive. That's an analogy for what can happen with electronic meetings ... when you read someone's thoughts, you're not distracted by your own prejudice as you can be face to face: I hate his necktie. I wish she'd lose some weight. He's so Jewish with his gestures. He's black; I wonder how he feels about Jesse Jackson. She's pretty, I wonder if she fools around. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. The medium takes away -- it has no room for -- that little voice in the back of your mind that is always making private judgments on the side, judgments that can distract you from the worth -- or lack of it -- of ideas being expressed. Iconferencing, you might actually find yourself paying attention more to substance than style. Now, don't misunderstand. Learning to communicate effectively is just as important online as face-to-face. And in some ways, the skills are different. I'm not saying style doesn't matter ... but I know that one of the values of electronic dialogue is the freedom it gives us from "normal" face-to-face ways of judging ... ways in which we screen out, consciously or not, the available contributions of people who are "different" than we are. Different! Computer conferencing can help us leap over 13the gaps that prejudice and judgments automatically create. It's as close as we get today to direct, mind-to-mind communication. And, frankly, more than ever before, we need to be able to look past surface difference ... in a society, a country, indeed a globe that is filled with more diversity than ever before. Consider with me, for a moment, a growing challenge for today's corporations -- at least, here in America -- an issue sometimes referred to as the "Management of Diversity." Think: who were the original founders of most of today's businesses? Some of their names are virtual icons of history: Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Walt Disney. IBM's Thomas Watson. McDonald's Ray Croc. For every single such celebrity, there are thousands of lesser known founders of today's major businesses. The vast majority of these American corporate founders have these traits in common: most of them were Caucasian. Most of them were Protestant. Most of them were male. Now consider that the culture and personality of a company often reflects, even after many years, the initial personal values of its creator. The process is automatic. The company says to the employee -- though not always overtly -- THIS is the way we behave here. THIS is our mode. If you wish to succeed, then be like the rest of us. It used to be, of course, much easier for companies to expect similarities of style among employees wanting to succeed in management. For starters, after all, it was understood that to even BE a management candidate, you'd be well advised, yourself, to be white, Protestant, and male. With those basic givens, it was not such a leap to uphold a corporate culture often fondly described as "tradition." But it's much harder, today, for the original corporate culture to remain as its founder conceived it. The Civil Rights and Women's Lib movements, among others, pressured corporations to accept people into management ranks who -- in personal style and cultural background -- were really quite different from their management peers. Companies have been *forced* to change -- from social pressure, political pressure, and the realities of the modern work force. The increasing internationalism of today's American business,with German or French or Japanese ownership of the company, is another new factor cracking the foundation and changing the business culture that was originally envisioned by many companies' founding fathers. The changes in corporate culture are many: Like the way of conducting a meeting. Some of today's employees demand much more consensus than used to be permissible when the "the boss was always right." Or, the way of showing appreciation. Women in management may be less inhibited than men, in what they expect to receive as feedback on a job well done, or what they're able to express, themselves, in thanking an employee. They often give feedback differently than a macho traditionalist. Or, the increasing importance of day-care centers, on company premises for the working parent's children ... Or, the morning exercise class for workers in a company newly purchased by a Japanese firm. The flavor of day-to-day work experience, in many small but pervasive ways, is inevitably under pressure to change ... even as policy manuals and management mind-sets may still be reflecting the OLD way, the way that always used to motivate, the way that used to work for everyone. Now consider projected changes in employees themselves. In the 15-year span between 1985 and the year 2000, we'll see an increase of only 15% in U.S.-born White Men in the work force, while U.S.-born White WOMEN will increase almost three times as much, up 42%. Every new American day, in fact, brings more women, more minorities, and more handicapped individuals into the mainstream of the work force than ever before. By the year 2000, 80 percent of entry-level employees will be women, or women and men who were immigrants to this country. Homogeneous organizations are giving way to a mix of races, a balance of genders, and a multitude of values. What does it mean when management and labor change from mostly white, male, Protestant, married, and suburban to a fragmented patchwork of different ethics, expectations, priorities, and lifestyles? What does it mean to coordinate a group of employees who, only the night before, absorbed entirely different messages, one from the other, via cable TV or a satellite dish in the yard? One watched his favorite show, broadcast in Spanish, Italian, or Japanese. One followed a program on local black politics. One watched a show on the Gay Cable Network. One watched music videos on MTV. As employees and as consumers, it's rare anymore that there's just one "market" or group. We are now a mixture of market segments. We follow different interests and different beliefs. The so-called "nuclear family" -- Mama, Papa, and Baby -- is already a minority lifestyle. By 1990, in fact, only 15% of U.S. Households will fit that traditional pattern. So any manager who still perfectly reflects the hallowed values of the company's founder must look up from his desk and realize that "they" are different now than "we" used to be ... both inside the company, and in the company's markets. How does one manage diversity where there used to be consistency? Difference where there used to be sameness? Multiple, separate cultures where there used to be one? At Avon Products, where I worked as an Officer less than five years ago, the company has moved from virtually mandatory, all-male management retreats for poker and fishing at a hunting lodge ... to a much more diverse way of interaction among employees. In that company there is now an active Women's employee group, a Black employee Group, an Hispanic employee group, and an Oriental employee group. Members within each group help one another on business presentations while they network informally on issues, people, and opportunities for advancement. >From any company's point of view, as the population in this country shifts, who can bring better insights into marketing to Hispanics, Orientals, or working women than the Hispanics, Orientals, or working women themselves? And surely an urban, single professional would have valuable perspective on expanding the company's sales into metro markets ... perspective that most suburban husbands and fathers couldn't themselves offer alone. [continued] 6 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:10 Eastern (10510 characters) ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 6 (June 1988) Keynote Address to the Electronic Networking Association Part II by Mike Greenly So we are talking about a need for managing a rapidly changing mosaic of people and lifestyles within a corporation and marketing to that diversity in the population as a whole. To achieve such a task with optimum success will require an intellectual flexibility, openness, and mental agility that certainly wasn't needed when we were all, in America, much more like each other than we will ever be again. And that ... the need for openness to new ideas and flexibility in the ways we think ... brings me back to computer conferencing. Now please don't misunderstand me. As much as I believe in the value of this new way of communicating, and as much as I believe in its importance and its power to change the planet, I am NOT here to tell you that computing at your terminals will bring harmony and success to all beings in the universe. It is still not easy enough to use a computer in the first place -- not for most people, anyway. It's not easy to get people to change even their brand of toothpaste, let alone the way they communicate. And I'm certainly not here to say that discovering computer conferencing will let managers across the globe solve all the problems and seize the opportunities of ever more diversity in the work force and consumer base. BUT ... I will say this: anything that encourages a thinking person, whether an executive in a corporation or a citizen of the world ... anything that encourages us to look beyond our surface judgments and evaluate ideas for the worth of the thinking itself ... that can only be a force for good. For finding the best solutions to our problems. And for getting the best contributions from people ... from all people, in a world of increasing diversity. Computer conferencing does do that ... does jump beyond some surface ways of responding to thinking ... can give voice -- electronic voice, anyway -- to someone with an idea which might otherwise be overlooked. I know first-hand about the power of this medium to expose one to new ideas, and to get one beyond one's self. Starting even in my earliest days of discovering computer conferencing, the dialogues I enjoyed with people I'd never met -- some of whom I still haven't met in person -- were one of the reasons I found the courage to start my own business. I had never thought to do that. I'd expected to remain at Avon for two more decades of hard work and success in corporate life. Not that computer conferencing turns corporate citizens into entrepreneurs ... don't worry! But the easy contact with other ways of thinking lets one evaluate more choices to see what's really right for one's self. I know this: if I had remained as an Officer at Avon, I would have that corporation actively using computer conferencing now. I would have, and I could have, because I'd have been a relentless champion. And that, I believe, is still what it takes: a champion, a sponsor, a believer to nourish the seed of change. Planting alone doesn't guarantee a harvest. I was lured away from Avon by my personal opportunities before I had the chance to cajole, teach, train, inspire, and prove the productivity that conferencing could provide. As long as change is hard -- any change, even a new telephone system in the company, or a new way of scheduling products, let alone computer conferencing -- as long as change is hard, a motivated leader is required to help it happen. But I didn't stay to cultivate the Avon garden. I quit, after 20 years in three corporations, not actually knowing what I would do. I'd had the chance to be the company's VP of Latin America. Quiero practicar mi espanol, pero ... (I'd like to practice my Spanish, but...!) it was the right opportunity to quit before getting started. Instead, I took the chance to see -- a discovery that is still going on for me -- how computer conferencing could open choices for the entrepreneur ... could connect me to a diversity of people, opportunities, and experiences I would not otherwise have known. During the past five years, for example, I've obtained a half a dozen clients for my marketing consulting business that I would never have achieved without an active presence on computer conferencing networks. If I'm a successful marketing consultant today, I owe a substantial amount of credit to the medium that helped me be more than the limits of my time or geography. And ... I've had the pleasure and excitement of helping create a new form of reportage -- interactive electronic journalism -- covering computer shows, toy fairs, the Hollywood Oscars, the political conventions, and, yes, AIDS. That latter experience was remarkable. I found myself being encouraged by readers on several different networks to interview people on the subject of AIDS long before it became the awful household word it is now. The responsiveness of readers, their eagerness for more, their contributions to the process -- readers in other countries, other lifestyles, with other views -- that's what drove me to the quest that became a book. They became my motivation to interview priests, prostitutes, politicians, married bisexuals with double lives, doctors and nurses caring for the desperate. I've mentioned examples of what computer conferencing has given to me -- financial opportunity for my business, growth and satisfaction for my interest in being a writer. What I haven't yet acknowledged is the transformational power of this form of communication ... the change it has brought to my life, and how that enhances my ability to be who I am. You have to understand, to get the context of my change, that I come from an island of only 5,000 people in the South. Fitting in -- not being different -- was the essence of living on the island. Being more true to the values around you than your own, individual spirit. But how can people be their most or give their best if they cannot first, themselves, know who they are? Creativity and new achievement spring more readily from freedom to think than from conforming. I left that tiny island for the country of New York City. But many of us carry our own islands with us, not daring to leave the shore, afraid of the waters beyond. I do not exaggerate, in telling you what conferencing has unlocked for me, that I was not only exposed to and influenced by a diversity of thinking I would normally not have known up close ... I also gained the strength to be able to express my own difference ... making, I hope, my own better contributions. I grew up Jewish on an island heavily Southern Baptist ... with swastikas on my locker at school, and "Jew Boy" called at me in the halls. And I grew up gay ... fearful of knowing know the truth of my own identity, afraid to even *know* the difference of who I am. I would like to live in a world where that issue is NOT important, where people are accepted for the goodness of their hearts. But as long any of us maintain our pre- conceived notions -- what Jews are like, what the Japanese are like, what blacks are like, what WASPs are like, what women are like, what gays are like -- as long as we limit our thinking to the boundaries of our personal islands, and as long as we fear our differences ... then such an issue does matter. And whatever small steps can move us beyond the limiting judgments we've learned to harbor about one another (or about ourselves), well, those are steps worth taking. Finally, at last, in terms of my own "difference" from the majority as a whole -- finally and at last, I no longer hold myself back, am no longer too afraid to acknowledge my part of the diversity. This speech, here at ENA, is in fact the first public occasion in my life when I have acknowledged that personal "detail" to the world: I am a homosexual. Soon, these words will be transmitted online via "Mike Magazine" on electronic networks. Could I have taken this step if I had never discovered computer conferencing? Would I? Not now, anyway. Not yet. Maybe not ever. But my world has been expanded forever ... and my sense of who, personally, I can be. Some of my growth, as I've said, has come from interaction on public conferencing systems ... sharing ideas with a journalist in Japan, a software scientist in California, a priest in Western Canada, a 15-year-old boy in Ohio, an automobile dealer in France. Some of these people I might not have given a chance, even if I'd met them in person. The 15-year-old boy wrote like a man in his 30's, and I was taking him seriously *before* I discovered he was a teen. Computer conferencing within a corporation, however, doesn't have to offer such distant locations or such a range of lifestyles to give us the value of gaining from diversity. When a junior Manager can send an idea to the Department Director just by saying "dot-S" at the end of a note ... when inter-departmental managers, assigned to work together as a team, can reflect on the written word BEFORE challenging a new thought in haste ... when consideration of a proposal can be freed from calendar hassle or face-to-face political protocol ... those times have the makings of helping *any* organization discover and compare the best ideas the fastest, and of helping its people contribute their most. Conferencing can help build bridges -- fast, easily travelled spanners -- linking our separate islands, whether inside a company or without. More than 350 years ago, John Dunne, the English poet wrote about our interconnections: No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the maine. Computer conferencing -- he could never imagine it -- is helping to make that more so. Expanding our thinking, enhancing receptivity, strengthening our abilities to gain the benefits of an increasingly diverse society. I am experiencing it myself, on my own piece of mental geography. And I've witnessed it in others, individuals and groups. The exciting thing is: we've barely begun. Today I strengthen a bit more the bridge that exists between my personal island and yours ... a bridge so clearly enhanced by what conferencing has helped it to be. Do I have fears, still, on my island? Lingering doubts? Of course. But I am very glad to be expanding into new waters anyway. And I am glad you are here. Thank you very much. 7 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:12 Eastern (6842 characters) ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 7 (June 1988) Some Things to Think About: Choosing Conferencing to Run on a Minicomputer By Gordon Cook [presented at the ENA Conference, Philadelphia, PA May '88] Every situation is unique, therefore these suggestions are offered as guidelines in the hope that you will find them useful. They are not meant to be applied across the board in a mechanistic or rigid way. That is to say they are not meant to apply to every system or every situation. They come from being a conferencing user of EIES since 1980, Participate since 1986, and Caucus since 1986. They also come from over two years as a consultant to OTIS between 1985 and 1987 when I was involved full time with the development and evaluation of EIES 2.0. Finally they come from an evaluation of CoSy and Caucus under VMS at the John Von Neumann National Supercomputer Center during the final four months of 1987. These "guidelines" reflect my own experience and opinion and are not necessarily endorsed by the JVNC or Sterling Software ZeroOne Systems Group. YOUR ENVIRONMENT Begin by thinking at the most basic level: what RESOURCES do I have to bring to this endeavor? Am I looking for a tool, a utility that I can take off the shelf, plug in and run with little or no effort at the systems support level? Do I want conferencing to be a transparent means of communication and problem solving? Do I want to apply my efforts to solving problems that have nothing to do with conferencing per say? OR...Do I want a product where I can get the source code and experiment with tailoring the product at the source code level?? Do I have the technical support that will allow me to deal with the system at the source code level? Am I interested in experimenting with conferencing as the end goal. Do I want to join the vendor in a mutual effort to improve the software? Am I primarily interested in the application as a means of offering a new means of communication to those who I serve? Therefore is my focus more likely to be on the PROCESS of communication than on the conferencing application as a tool to assist in solving of already identified problems? The first environment should not demand an increase in your programing staff. The second environment almost certainly will. If your programming resources are tight, ask questions designed to find out how much support at this level the product requires. BEFORE THE SALE Is the vendor willing to discuss your environment and proposed applications at a sufficient enough level of detail for you to make the wisest choice from the range of the products he offers? Or do you get the feeling that he'd like to sell you more than you need? Remember that a sale does not mean that the product is being used six months or a year later. Therefore ascertain what kind of contact with current licensees the vendor is either willing or able to give. Is it the kind of free and uninhibited contact that allows for some depth of exchange? And remember that on a mini computer there may be a wide gulf between the unsophisticated end user and the systems programmer who may be working quite hard to see that things go smoothly for the end user. Talk to those who support the product at the technical level. This could be the only way to assure yourself that you do have a plug-in-and-run product, if this rather than software R&D, is your goal. PRICE: Don't view the license fee as your only cost. Your true cost is the license fee PLUS whatever salary you have to pay for system programmer support to keep the application running. AFTER THE SALE Administrative support: Will you need to write your own billing software if you will be charging users? Will a system administrator have to add each user to the system, or if this is a new application on a system with existing users, can you post a headline telling users how they can add themselves? If users are hit by line noise or a power interrupt and knocked off the system, can they log back on without having to have a system administrator reset their flags? If you wish to modify a system feature or add a new one, can this be done by means of an operating system macro or must it be done by changes to the source code? System Resource Demands If you are to run on a dedicated machine, sizing your application so that you buy the right size machine can be a tricky question. If, on the other hand you run on a machine with other applications, be careful, this is an application that can be very hardware hungry! Talk to the techiest techies you can find and ask lots of questions which may vary according to the operating system you are running under. A few questions that occur are: Program size: How many disk blocks needed for installation? Memory requirements and usage: does the program use memory efficiently? I/O; Does the structure of the program require unusually large numbers of disk reads and writes. File structure: the program's file structure can impact both security and resource requirements. Is there anything about the file structure that can make it necessary for system administrators to raise normal user parameters such as the number of locks on files that a user may have in place at one time.? SECURITY Don't think of security JUST in terms of a password at log on. Realize that such questions as the level of file access privilege can cause problems on a system run with both captive and non captive accounts. On a captive system make sure that it is not possible for a user to use an operating system specific editor to bring into his scratchpad a file that does not belong to him. On a non captive system be sure that users do not have the ability to leave the application, go to the operating system prompt, take a directory of the conferencing system files, and do a type of any that look interesting. USER FRIENDLINESS: Some Personal Opinions Does the software force the user to be known by and sign his or her items with the system name which is usually a last name? Does the software give the user the ability to start either a new conference or a new discussion item at will? Can a user ascertain when another user last signed into the system? Does the system send the user a receipt when his mail has been read by its recipient? MINI or NOT to MINI? In some cases, you will find that a mini computer is the ONLY way to go. You may however find it interesting to know that many of these issues disappear when you move to an AT or a 386 class super micro. In this arena hardware and software support is much LESS complex and less expensive. PCAT clones have successfully supported several hundred regular users. A 386 PC should support somewhere between 1000 and 2000 users, depending on usage patterns. 8 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:13 Eastern (6087 characters) ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 8 (June 1988) Update on the Institute for Networking Design, Tokyo by Izumi Aizu We have come a long way since we attended the Electronic Networking Association (ENA) conference in Washington, DC, November, 1985! The Institute for Networking Design was founded in April, 1986 by 6 members in Tokyo. Our business goal is to promote human networking among regional, institutional, educational and business communities throughout Japan (and beyond). Our speciality is the use of computer networks that help people communicate with each other beyond time, space, social or cultural limitations. We design software and applications for networks, consult to business and regional organizations to introduce networks, publish books and reports, write magazine articles, and organize seminars and symposia - all related to human and electronic networking. We have been pioneering the completely new field in Japan: designing human communication using latest technologies. Our concept is that systems and technologies should serve human beings rather than the opposite, and that this systems design work should be undertaken not just by engineers in the technical fields, but also by specialists who have a real understanding of human communications. IND Networking Projects ======================= COARA (Compunication of Oita Amatuer Research Association) A regional non-profit organization hosting a public computer conferencing system. COARA is pioneering the use of computer conferencing based on a local area (about 600 miles west of Tokyo) and has become Japan's most active and well-known online community to date. We helped them to design and implement original Japanese-language conferencing system. COMNET Sendai Located some 300 miles north of Tokyo, Sendai is the central city for Northern part of Japan. COMNET Sendai is a third-sector company established in December,1986 by Sendai City Government, Sendai Chamber of Commerce, Miyagi Prefecutral Government, local leading bank, electric power company and some 120 other major companies based in the region. COMNET is short for COMmunity NETwork, one of the first large-scale regional computer network service company backed by the local government in Japan. They started the network service in July 1987, with about 500 paid members, and are planning to install a new host system which will serve a couple of thousand members with computer conferencing, database and online transaction services. We have been consulting for marketing, design and introduction of network business. Recruit Corporation Japan's first intra-company communication network, 'Aishiteru I (I love you), was started last June. Recruit Corporation is one of Japan's largest information service companies. It publishes a number of recruiting and job finding magazines, real estate and tour info magazines. They are also very keen to diversify, already starting to penetrate the telecommunication market by re-selling dedicated telephone and data line networks to other companies. 'Aishiteru I' is installed to help employees communicate each other, from top to middle to bottom and vice versa, trying to improve communication efficiency inside their organization, achieve more creative environment, gather knowledge and wisdom beyond conventional organizational systems or regional barriers. Upon the success of the first stage, the management decided to provide 500 laptop computers for ALL the managers and will expand the network this year. AI Center Network The AI Center is jointly established by ICOT (Institute for Computer Technology), the key organization to Japan's 5th generation computer development project, and JIPDEC, a government affiliated organization for the promotion of information processing industry. AI Center Network links some 200-plus corporate and institutional members of the AI center, most of them are heavily involved in developing new Artificial Intelligence technology and related products. International Multi-media Conferences In 1986 we organized two international conferences using latest technology and networks. First was in cooperation with World Future Society's annual general meeting in New York City, connecting a number of U.S. and Japan's top economists. The second was hosting regional communication connecting Tama River Region in Tokyo and Silicon Valley in U.S. The subject was "A week in the life." It was the first attempt to link networks and people beyond Pacific, trying to promote communication and understanding between the ordinary citizens in both countries. More than 300 People from some 10 networks in Japan and U.S. and other countries participated. For both occasions we used computer conferencing, SSTV(Slow Scan TV), Telephone conferencing and other media such as facsimile and slides. This kind of use of multi-media network for conferencing is very new and we experienced lots of problems as well as benefits. Networking Forum In 1987 we organized two symposia, one in Tokyo and another one in Oita. Both centered around the application and use of networks by business and regional development as well as educational and other social purposes. And in April, 1988, based on the success of two previous Forums, Networking Forum '88 was held with strong support from two Government agencies, MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) and MPT (Ministry of Post and Telecommunications). Over 30 companies including all major network services and computer manufacturers joined this event as exhibitors. The Forum included a 2-day symposia with three plenaries and five concurrent sessions which drew some 2,500 attendees, making this Forum the first and the biggest event of networking in Japan. Thanks to the success of the conference and exhibition, we are looking forward to having an international conference sometime next year in Japan. ----------- note: Institute for Networking Design 2-17-12-502 Higashi, Shibuya, Tokyo 150 JAPAN Phone 03-797-2900 Facsimile 03-797-2988 9 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:14 Eastern (3218 characters) ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 9 (June 1988) The LAN Wo/Man Cometh Donald L. (Skip) Conover [presented at the ENA Conference, Philadelphia, PA May '88] "Connectivity" is this year's buzzword in the office automation industry. The convergence of computer, telecommunications and office automation technologies has vastly increased the importance of understanding what hardware, software, and people networking can mean for the firm. But it seems to me that, for many, gaining that understanding is harder than passing the bar exam. Law firms are besieged by an army of local area network (LAN) vendors and consultants, to name just one relevant product category. Have you heard a sales pitch? One favorite tactic this year is to sell fear, and to obfuscate. Rather than explain the costs, benefits, and organizational implications of their products and services, a common approach is just to say, in effect, "We know everything, or at least more than you can hope to know, so just rely on us to make your LAN decisions." Have you seen some of the recent advertisements? A two-page number in the May 9, 1988, issue of _Network World_ (pp. 24-25) depicts a phonied up photograph of a manager flying out of an office window, his suit in flames, an apparent scream emanating from his mouth. The caption reads, "Rare photo of manager leaving work after discovering the LAN gateway he bought won't adapt to the future." Yes, it is funny at first, until one considers the implications. The copy for the same advertisement is a study in obfuscation. Here is just one paragraph, to establish the flavor: "For example, we've designed new LAN-to-mainframe products that take advantage of IBM's 3174, 3725/20 and new 3745 controllers with direct LAN attachments. Whether you're using Token Ring (TM), Ethernet (R), or other compatible LANs, our IRMALAN (TM) workstation and gateway software gives your LAN users IRMA (TM) familiarity, APA host graphics, API support, Mods 2-5 emulation and up to five host sessions." The biggest problem with the scare and obfuscate approach is that it does not address the issues of organizational change and individual behavior, which are left after the new system is installed. I recently visited a sizeable Washington firm, which has a LAN installed. A review of its electronic mail records showed that a majority of those assigned user access had never used the electronic mail system, and most of the rest had not been on the system for more than 3 days. This is not "shift[ing] the focus from personal to organizational productivity," as Peter Keen would have it in his 1986 book, _Competing in Time_. This is "paving over the cowpath," to quote a recent _Wall Street Journal_ article, which described the failure of many computer systems to live up to their promised productivity gains. What do you think? [note: a group of ENAers will be attending the "Enterprise Networking" conference on connectivity in Baltimore in June with Skip to pursue this idea.] 10 (of 10) ENA EDITOR June 2, 1988 at 0:14 Eastern (2016 characters) ENA NETWEAVER Volume 4, Number 6, Article 10 (June 1988) MEMBERSHIP FORM On April 14, 1985, at the closing of The First Intersystem Electronic Networking Symposium, a new organization came into being: the Electronic Networking Association. The purpose of this association is to promote electronic networking in ways that ENRICH individuals ENHANCE organizations and BUILD global communities. You are invited to become a member. Please complete (download) the form below and _mail_ to: Nan Hanahue, Membership Coordinator Electronic Networking Association c/o Executive Technology Associates, Inc. 2744 Washington Street Allentown, PA 18104 (215) 821-7777 Enclose a check or money order made payable to the Electronic Networking Association. Be sure to include your network affiliations and online addresses so that you can be informed of the location of NETWEAVER and ENA activities on _your_ system. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ENA Membership Form NAME: _________________________________________________ ORGANIZATION: _________________________________________________ ADDRESS: _________________________________________________ _________________________________________________ NETWORKS _________________________________________________ AND BULLETIN _________________________________________________ BOARDS (INCLUDE _________________________________________________ IDS, IF NECESSARY) _________________________________________________ Amount Enclosed: _____________ ($50 - Professional membership $20 - General membership) Is this a new membership? _________ Net or BBS where you received this form: _____________________ Welcome! -- Patt Haring {sun!hoptoad,cmcl2!phri}!dasys1!patth -or- uunet!dasys1!patth Big Electric Cat Public Access Unix (212) 879-9031 - System Operator "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way." Jessica: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?