Science
University Daily Kansan / Thursday, November 9, 1989
9
Usenet friendly
Conversing by computer
Story and Graphics by Travis Butler
In the beginning, there was the computer. And the computer did number crunching, and it was good.
A questionnaire was sent out on Usenet to gather information for this story. Responses were received from the states and countries highlighted.
Then, there came word processing. Graphics appeared, and today many professional artists use computers.
But would you expect to see the Beatles discussed on a computer screen?
"Of the Beaties-related publications to come out during the last couple of months, two intrigue me . . ." said D.L. Maclaughan, of Redondo Beach, Calif. "I think 'Beaties' 64: A Hard Day's Night in America' by A.J.S. Rayl and Curt Gunther, Doubleday 1989, has the most relevance to American fans . . ."
Usenet is a computer-based message system, with 539 discussion groups. Groups are named by subject; the Beatles group is called rec.music.beatles, for example. Participants post messages in the newsgroup of their choice, often in response to previous messages. The messages flow through a set of computer networks that stretch across the country — and around the world.
Welcome to the Usenet computer network.
"It's a new kind of society—virtual personalities, just minds with no bodies," said Amos Shapir, a systems programmer from Semiconductor division, are people that I talk to, shout at, love, hate, laugh with and share experiences; yet I have no idea of their age, sex, position or even physical location! That should be fascinating to any social scientist."
To keep the volume of messages in a newsgroup to a manageable level, each group is supposed to be devoted to a single subject. Group subjects range from postmodernism art to astronomy and technology to skiing and beyond. Each group becomes an independent discussion forum.
"I use it to exchange ideas, and conduct meaningful discussions and debates," said Paul D. Bartholomew, a software engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "This may seem trivial, but it's surprising to me how few people I know really like to sit down and talk. When I party with friends, we go to a bar or nightclub — we don't have political or scientific discussions. When I read and post to the newsgroups, I'm exchanging ideas with other generally intelligent, generally articulate individuals."
Tim Lee, a student at the University of California, Berkeley, said, "In many ways, this news system is a much better freedom of speech/press medium than more traditional methods." Compared with vocal
Netters, or those who use the network, are judged less on things
like race, sex, etc. and more on their ideas because they cannot be seen.
► A reader can 'hear' what is going on without speakers shouting at each other and drowning each other out.
► There are better thought-out replies, due to the ability to read the whole argument before responding.
And, it is harder to quote out of context, he said.
Usenet makes some unique relationships possible. The ability to talk to people around the world lets people form new friendships and keep old ones alive.
"There are a number of people I conversed with over the net," said Michael Pearce at Claris Corp., Santa Clara, Calif. "One in particular comes to mind. I was contacted by a person in Holland. We conversed for some time. I was bound for Amsterdam and thought I'd ask that person what the weather was like. This person replied I ought to bring an umbrella! I did. And it was much needed when I arrived there the next day . . ."
Jeff Adams, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley said. "I have acquired several pen pals, especially through rec.music.gaffa, the Kate Bush newgroup. I was also able to find an old friend from first grade, honesti, who I had been looking for years, through this group soc.net-people."
Entertainment and socializing are not the only purposes of the network. Usenet has a serious side.
Douglas Scott, Miller, a graduate student at the University of California, Davis, said, "I talk to old college roommates, and friends met when working at other places. My finance and I are probably still together because although we were separated during the first year we knew each other, we were able to send each other electronic mail easily over the net. Those little five line messages, a few each day, kept our relationship going."
Adams said, "I had to teach a math class to gifted high school students over the summer. I needed to come up with interesting topics that would
"Without Usenet, there is no place to discuss Chinese culture, or whatever interests you, with numerous knowledgeable and interesting people," said Phillip Windley at the University of California, Davis. "Let me give-you one example. Within days of the cold fusion announcement, there was a newsgroup set up and functioning to discuss the information. Scientific articles relevant to the announcement were posted on the net, disseminating them more widely than they would have been otherwise. The level of discussion was high quality and greatly contributed to the general understanding of the event. National Public Radio quoted postings from the group on at least one occasion."
be easy enough for the students to handle, but interesting, and preferably unsolved, so they would get the idea that math is a changing and dynamic field. A lot of mathematicians know about one or two of these kinds of problems, so I posted a plea for suggestions. I got lots of responses and put together a list of several dozen problems which my students worked on. This would not have been possible any other way, I think."
This illustrates one of the more interesting aspects of the network. With such a large potential audience, almost any question can be answered.
"The key thing here is critical mass," Adams said. "Here, if I have a bizarre question, the kind only one in a hundred people might be able to answer, I can ask it and someone will probably know the answer."
But the huge number of people using Usenet has also led to some complaints.
"There's too high of a signal-to-noise ratio," said Charles Evan Jones a supervisor at AT&T. "Too much flame and not enough content.
That is to say, the useful information is greatly outweighed by the garbage."
Some fear the sheer volume of electronic mail, or E-mail, will overwhelm the capacity of the network.
"The growth rate of Usenet concerns me," said Gordon Vickers, an engineer at Signetics, a Philips, N.V. company. "Usenet now attracts a larger percentage of non-professional types who tend to be more careless of what they say and more wasteful of the bandwidth. At least one backbone site now prohibits passing E-mail through it. As Usenet traffic increases, others may be forced to limit E-mail passage . . . I fear that Usenet's existence may soon be in jeopardy as it struggles through its growing pains."
But despite its problems, few would like to see Usenet die.
"A lot of people center a good part of their social life around the net," Miller said. "There have been romances that culminated in marriage over the network, persons offended, delighted, insulted, and sometimes even educated a little tiny bit by the network."
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