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Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!nuchat!steve
From: steve@nuchat.UUCP (Steve Nuchia)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Sammie's data
Message-ID: <425@nuchat.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Oct-87 22:38:40 EST
Article-I.D.: nuchat.425
Posted: Mon Oct 26 22:38:40 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 28-Oct-87 07:12:30 EST
References: <8710220138.AA09366@bu-cs.BU.EDU> <8710220524.AA12093@bu-cs.BU.EDU>
Organization: Public Access - Houston, Tx
Lines: 44
Summary: introducing people to networking

In article <8710220524.AA12093@bu-cs.BU.EDU>, dm@BFLY-VAX.BBN.COM writes:
> I think computer networks and bulletin boards are going to REALLY get
> going with all the nation's colleges being wired, and every college
> student having a PC wired into the college network.  Let's face it:
> almost the only people who know about computer networks today are us
> computer weenies.  With the wiring of colleges, the word will get
> spread outside our narrow confines to the population as a whole.

I have tried to be a kind of evangelist for online conferencing.  There
is a widespread response to any new gizmo that can be paraphrased
"I've done fine without it so far, it can't be too important".

I've been amazed, sometimes _very_ amazed, at the kinds of people
who know absolutely nothing about electronic communications.  I'm
not talking about blue collar types (nothing against them, but I
don't expect them to be in the front row) but professionals in all
kinds of fields.  When the usenet comes up in conversation I usually
have a _lot_ of explaining to do.  The hardest part for them to
deal with is often not the technology but _why_ one would want to
exchange these notes.

I guess it shouldn't surprise me but it does.  Most people have
a vague idea that electronic mail is possible and perhaps even
desirable in someone else's situation.  Some of them have heard
of BBSs, and the sharper ones are capably of dredging up the
fact that they have been associated with credit card and/or
telephone fraud.  That's about it.  The minority who have used
Compuserve at least have some idea what conferencing can do,
but most never though about what it can do within their
organization.    sigh.

I'm sure that wiring the colleges is helping, in much the same
way that using UNIX in schools in the late 70's made it essential
in 82-84 and brought about its wide commercial availablity.
The problem is that the same people who pay for hardware print
spoolers, TSR programs, and modems with builtin mailboxes while
professing to have no use for multitasking systems don't realize
that it could be working for them _now_.  I'd rather not have
to be patient.  I will if I have to, but I'd rather not.

-- 
Steve Nuchia	    | [...] but the machine would probably be allowed no mercy.
uunet!nuchat!steve  | In other words then, if a machine is expected to be
(713) 334 6720	    | infallible, it cannot be intelligent.  - Alae}, and mor shr