FURTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT NETIZENS
Community Networks allow citizens of a community to connect to the
global computer communications network. This enables community members
to communicate with others in their community and with the world. In
addition, community networks often facilitate communications and
distribution of information between citizens about their local and
national governments. In democratic countries, this might facilitate a
greater role for citizens in the governmental process. Community
network access should be available for those in the public sector who
are acting as representitives of themselves and their ideas. Community
network access should only be available for those of the private
sector who are contributing to the education or research of the whole
network. Those in the private sector who are only interested in
advancing their own profits should gain access to the Network via
other avenues.
Netizens are Net Citizens who utilize the Net from their home,
workplace, school, library, etc. These people are among those who
populate the Net, and make it a resource of human beings. These
netizens participate to help make the Net both an intellectual and a
social resource.
The concept of community networking would enable people from around
the world to connect to the Net, and in the process connect to other
citizens from around the world. This in turn would help further the
growth of the Net by connecting a diversity of people who have various
opinions, specialties and interests. This worldwide connection of
people and other information resources of different sorts will help
the world move forward in solving different societal problems.
Paper commenting on Netizens and the diversity of uses people have
found for the Net and how it was affected their lives: "The Net and
the Netizens: The Impact the Net has on People's Lives" by Michael
Hauben available at a gopher site and at a FTP site.
Vision Behind the Concept of Global Community Networking
A Net which will grow to encompass all possible resources. In order to
facilitate the free flow of information sharing.
Netizen's community suggests that we use the current state (circa
1994) of the Internet/NSFnet/Usenet/etc as a model for the upcoming
NII. In order to do this, it is necessary to be aware of the history
of the Net. Various texts for this exist:
NSFNET Acceptable Use Policy or here at the end of the article.
- Helpful regulation which helps define the NSFnet (backbone of USA
Internet) to be for sharing via an educational orientation (as opposed
to profit making orientation). This regulation has helped the Net to
grow.
The Netizens and the Wonderful World of the Net: An Anthology
Gopher Site: gopher.cic.net
FTP Site: wuarchive.wustl.edu
CHAPTERS OF PARTICULAR HISTORICAL INTEREST
Chapter 1 - ARPAnet History
Chapter 3 - ARPA & Usenet History
Chapter 4 - ARPA & Usenet History
Chapter 6 - ARPAnet and NWG History
Chapter 9 - Historical Connection to the Printing Press
- An Anthology of historical perspective and social context needed to
understand the advance represented by the global telecommunications
network. This net-book is for those who want to contribute to the care
and nurture of the Net.
The Origins of RFCs by Stephen D. Crocker
excerpted from larger RFC 1000 - RFC Reference Guide
rfc1000.txt - the full text, INDEX of rfcs included (LARGER)
Usenet History Archives are accessible via anonymous FTP at
weber.ucsd.edu in the directory /pub/usenet.hist
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Usenet - Helpful
description of how Usenet is defined.
History of the Internet - Directory of Internet History Texts at the
InterNIC
Netnews Newsgroups of Interest
alt.culture.internet
The culture(s) of the Internet.
alt.culture.usenet
The USENET community.
news.future
The future technology of network news systems.
alt.current-events.net-abuse
Discussion about what constitutes "net abuse"
alt.internet.media-coverage
Discusion about the mass media's coverage of the Internet.
comp.infosystems.interpedia
The Internet Encyclopedia.
alt.uu.future
Teaching and learning in the Usenet University.
news.misc
Discussions of USENET itself.
news.admin.policy
Policy issues of USENET.
comp.society
The impact of technology on society (Moderated).
comp.society.cu-digest
The Computer Underground Digest (Moderated).
comp.society.development
Computer technology in developing countries.
comp.society.folklore
Computer folklore & culture, past & present (Moderated)
alt.folklore.computers
Stories & anecdotes about computers. historical disc.
comp.society.futures
Events in technology affecting future computing.
comp.society.privacy
Effects of technology on privacy (Moderated).
alt.politics.datahighway
Discusion about the present and future of the "data highway"
Non-electronic Reference Sources
Bellovin, Steve M. and Mark Horton, "USENET - A Distributed
Decentralized News System," an unpublished manuscript, 1985.
Heart, F., A. McKenzie, J. McQuillan, and D. Walden, Arpanet
Completion Report, Washington, 1978.
Woodbury, Gregory G. _Net Cultural Assumptions_
Vision Texts
The Editors Scientific American. _Information_ W. H. Freeman Comp. San
Francisco 1966 (In particular the articles "Time Sharing on Computers"
Fano and Corbato, and "Information" McCathy)
Kenemy, John. _Man and the Computer_. Charles Scribner's Sons NY, 1972
Licklider, J.C.R and Albert Vezza, "Applications of Information
Systems", Proceedings of the IEEE, Nov 1978
Licklider, J.C.R. and Robert Taylor, "The Computer as a Communication
Device" from "In Memoriam: J.C.R. Licklider 1915-1990," Aug. 7, 1990,
p. 40; reprinted by permission from Digital Research Center;
originally published as "The Computer as a Communication Device," in
"Science and Technology", April, 1968, pg. 40
Hauben, Michael,
"The Social Forces Behind the Development of Usenet News.", _The
Netizens and the Wonderful World of the Net_, unpublished off-line.
Antonoff, Michael, "Fighting City Hall at 2400 Baud", Personal
Computing, October 1989, (Special Issue "Computing in America IV"),
pg. 170-172
_________________________________________________________________
Michael Hauben / hauben@columbia.edu