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From: carm@tove.cs.umd.edu (Richard Chimera)
Newsgroups: comp.groupware
Subject: Re: soliciting ideas for a network event
Message-ID: <26022@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 14 Aug 90 22:12:35 GMT
References: <1990Aug4.145827.7722@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> <2108@runxtsa.runx.oz.au> <7769@aggie.ucdavis.edu>
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Reply-To: carm@tove.cs.umd.edu (Richard Chimera)
Organization: U of Maryland, Dept. of Computer Science, Coll. Pk., MD 20742
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In article <7769@aggie.ucdavis.edu> cckweiss@castor.ucdavis.edu () writes:
>I'm part of a committee charged with devising an electronic event for
> ....
>We are trying to demonstrate the power of a wide are network for
>educators. The participants in this conference are mostly community
>
>Ken Weiss
>cckweiss@castor.ucdavis.edu

I think that any hands-on activity you put together would take away from
the true value of the Internet connection.  Such an activity would surely
only be a "toy", and some may walk away saying to themselves that only
toy things can be done.  

Perhaps a better approach would be to present some statistics.  Such as:
- how many different sites responded to any random article on a random bboard.
	Just on comp.groupware people have responded from Australia, Italy,
	and all over the US and Canada.
- point out the number of active bboards.  Inactive ones get removed, so a
	comprehensive list of bboards are the active ones.
- look how much net traffic gets generated.
- tell anecdotes about some people getting so caught up in bboard/news, that
	they spend *-LITERALLY ALL DAY-* reading and responding to news.
- mention how I can get a colleague's response in a matter of minutes to an
	important questions whose supporting material is best represented in
	online/electronic form (rather than trying to describe a graphic or
	how a program executes, for example).
- ALL the nifty responses you'll surely get to this one message you posted!!

Though a hands-on activity is tempting, I really think you should think about
whether such an activity can truly do justice to the Internet WAN.

-Rick