On 3 Dec 96 at 9:40, William J. Hobler, Jr wrote:
I don't know any of the answers, I only know that I become sceptical
at hearing that others thing they do -grin-
> I am very uncomfortable with the notion that American or international
> business can build an infrastructure for civilization.
>
> I would rather turn the development of the internet to the same kind of
> community that built the first one.
The problem is that the "orginators" had, in a sense, a different task
than that which exists now. They were not developing a mass media, which
is what the internet is being promoted as...the difficulties in my view
are not technical, but social.
I see the internet as facing the same issues that faced early television.
The major issues will be about control, who owns the medium, and who
decides how it is used. The major difference is that the internet already
exists, while tv grew slowly enough to develop some form of structure for
it, before it got into every home. There are fundamental dilemna here,
ones that will determine whether the internet becomes yet another mass
medium with little social or learning value, or whether it becomes a new
mass medium with positive social and learning impact.
> The business community does not have a collaborative ethic, nor does a
> large government program that is in the public limelight. Perhaps the
> current Internet II effort underway in universities should be allowed to
> show the way to develop a more competent network resource.
I am not familiar with this...I would be curious if this will result in a
parallel, restricted system vs the present mass medium.
Robert Bacal, Bacal & Associates, rbacal@escape.ca
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--"Robert Bacal" <rbacal@escape.ca>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>