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Subsections
Electronic lists and newsgroups make it possible for cyber-naut
citizens from around the organization, country, or globe to join in
discussions on a moment's notice. Every conversation mentioned in the
preceding pages brought people from more than a thousand miles away
together to share information and thought on an important
topic. I believe the electronic arena is the ideal format for the
important issues being raised on CWIS-L, PACS-L, and
alt.culture.usenet.
A literature search can provide answers to simple RTFM
questions or give someone good background information on an important
issue. An electronic discussion of the same important issue may yield
a full spectrum of opinions from working experts in the field,
including the living authors of relevant literature. Many electronic
messages are `signed' with a `signature' message that includes a phone
number and invites further communication. With respect to the
`Invisible College,' information in some fields is outdated before it
ever meets the printed page, and electronic serials are an ideal means
of distribution and keeping peripheral scholars `in-the-know.'
Carefully prepared and moderated conference programs can (and do) take
place on exactly the same topics I've selected for this report. In a
formal conference, only `important' people are asked to give
presentations and share their thoughts. In an electronic discussion
group, a precocious ten-year-old can participate as equally as any
esteemed professor. There is no direct expense to the user who
participates in an electronic discussion, while the prohibitive
user-cost of plane tickets and hotel accommodations makes the formal
conference option a `disappearing' arena.
Great, especially in the case of the Usenet topic. BUT, where else can
you hold an informal conversation in which you assemble 42
people representing unique viewpoints and levels of expertise from all
over the world? How can the participants in an informal conversation
have on hand and in mind in all of the inspiration and resource they
can easily put into a composed electronic message that they produce at
an ideal time and knowledge-state? How will the important suggestions
of the shy or quiet be shared in an informal gathering?
Not likely. People are too lazy these days. With the effort required
to compose, address, and post one letter by hand, A person could
easily distribute the same message electronically and instantaneously
to hundreds of readers around the world.
For each electronic serial discussion evaluated in this assignment,
the electronic media distinguished itself from all other
communications arenas by its tendency to equalize participants,
its ability to involve national and international participants
on short notice, its absence of cost to the end users, and the
speed with which it can bring information to people interested or
involved with the automation of library processes. That's why I use
it, every day!
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sean dreilinger