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