From: hauben@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Michael Hauben)
Subject: Comments wanted on submitted NEH Younger Scholars Grant
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 04:15:55 GMT

The following is the proposal I submitted to the NEH Younger
Scholars Grant for Summer research. I would appreciate any
comments on the proposal, or on any additional secondary sources
that would be useful in my research. 

Thanks in advance,
	-Michael

          The Political Theories of Paine and Rousseau
                     Applied To Usenet News
 
I. History and Definition of the Project
 
A) Definition of the Project
 
     I have long been interested in participating in the use of 
computers to facilitate communication and discussions. Usenet 
News is a currently developing worldwide conferencing system. My 
project will analyze the democratic impact of the marriage of 
computers and telecommunications by applying the theories of 
democracy of Thomas Paine and Jean Jacques-Rousseau to Usenet 
News. In particular I will study Paine's Common Sense and The 
Rights of Man and Rousseau's The Social Contract. I will compare 
the approaches to democracy in these works with the current 
interactive participation that is exemplified by Usenet News.  
 
     Computer communications currently represents a little 
studied and under-used resource. Hopefully in the future there 
will be greater utilization. To study Usenet News, I will use the 
Usenet News History Archives accumulated by Bruce Jones, and two 
secondary texts, Technologies Without Boundries by Ithiel de Sola 
Pool and "The Information Technologies and East European Soci
eties" by Gary L. Geipel, A. Tomasz Jarmoszko, and Seymour E. 
Goodman, analyzing the development and importance of computerized 
communications.
 
     By this research, I hope to answer the question whether the 
present telecommunications revolution is a democratic development 
in the tradition of Paine and Rousseau.
 
B) History of the Project
 
     On the subject of computers and democracy, I wrote a paper 
last year, entitled "The Computer as a Democratizer". That paper 
compared James Mill's theory of a free press in "Liberty of the 
Press" to the contemporary possible free press in today's Usenet 
News. "The Computer as a Democratizer" represents a basis for the 
further research into the theory of democracy, and how today's 
computer communications technologies represent a new manifesta
tion of these theories. My project represents the next step in my 
analysis of the telecommunications revolution and democracy.
 
     I am on the trail of the effect on society of computers, or 
basically how the advances in technology are contributing to our 
society. This project will allow me to produce an intellectual 
second step in this process. My paper on Mill and Democracy 
represented a glimpse into this field, and this project will 
allow me to make a second step into this study. It will ground me 
in the theory of democracy and help further my intellectual 
development. 

II Work Plan, Methodolgy, and Schedule
 
     I will carefully study three pertinent works on democracy by 
Thomas Paine (Common Sense and The Rights of Man) and Jean-
Jacques Rousseau (The Social Contract). 
 
     For the contemporary Usenet News, I plan to make reference 
to on-line reference sources - the Usenet News History Archive 
via anonymous FTP.
 
     I will utilize the great connectivity afforded me by the 
computer communciations network. Usenet News provides a body of 
people with whom I will interact in order to learn more of how 
Usenet News is facilitating democracy. 
 
Methodology:
 
     I plan to carefully read through my primary sources and make 
a set of organized notes. I will connect to Usenet News in order 
to post the questions and thoughts from my study. In this way I 
will research and explore the democratic activity computer com
munication is making possible. I will meet with my advisor on a 
weekly basis in order to report on the status of my research and 
also to discuss my reading and study with him. 
 
     I am able to access Usenet News and other resources on the 
Internet from my home. 

                          Bibliography
 
Primary Sources
 
1. Paine, Thomas, Common Sense in The Complete Works of Thomas 
Paine Vol 2, The Freethought Press Association, New York, 1954
 
     This will be a helpful text because it presents reasons why 
it was necessary for the American Colonialists to split from 
England. It will be interesting to apply Paine's contribution to 
the beginnings of American Democracy to current developments in 
telecommunications.
 
2. Paine, Thomas, The Rights of Man in The Complete Works of 
Thomas Paine Vol 2, The Freethought Press Association, New York, 
1954
 
     The Rights of Man presents an interesting defense of the 
egalitarian principles behind the French Revolution. 
 
3. Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, The Social Contract and Discourse on 
the Origin of Inequality, ed. Leslie G. Crocker, Washington 
Square Press, New York, 1967
 
     Rousseau writes about the importance of the participation 
and debate of the citizens of a state for there to be good 
government.
 
4. Usenet News History FTP Archive, weber.ucsd.edu
 
     Material there will speak to the question of the original 
purpose of Usenet News.
 
Secondary Sources
 
1. Pool, Ithiel de Sola, Technologies without Boundaries, ed. Eli 
Noam, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1990
 
     Pool writes of the marriage of computers with communications 
to create "the largest machine man has ever constucted."
 
2. Gary L. Geipel, A. Tomasz Jarmoszko, and Seymour E. Goodman, 
"The Information Technologies and East European Societies" in 
East European Politics and Society, Vol.5 No.3 (Fall 1991), 
University of California Press
 
     This journal article analyzes the link between technology 
and democratic change.


 
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