Newsgroups: bit.listserv.commed
Date:         Fri, 18 Dec 1992 10:49:00 EST
From:         Comserve Support Staff <SUPPORT@RPIECS.BITNET>
Subject:      Announcements of general interest in the Comserve community ...

Six items in this important issue, distributed jointly over INTERCOM
and NEWSLINE (some hotline subscribers may receive two copies).

  1.  Comserve Moves to New Computer; Service Interruptions Possible


      ----> NOTE:  RPICICGE address will no longer be supported. <-----
      ---->        Use new addresses (RPITSVM  & Vm.ITS.Rpi.Edu) <-----
      ---->        as of 12/21/92                                <-----


  2.  Change of Computers Will Impact Staff Support of Comserve

  3.  Call for Papers: Semiotics Division of Speech Comm. Association

  4.  Call for Papers: Society for Disability Studies

  5.  Leaving the Net at Term's End?  Please Cancel Your Hotline
      Subscriptions

  6.  Comserve Unattended Dec. 22 - Dec. 27

NOTE:  Please do not use a "reply" function to respond to an item in
this file.  If you wish to respond, leave your mail reading software and
address your message explicitly.  For example, if you wish to send a
command to Comserve, leave the environment of your mail reading software
and address your message by hand to Comserve@Rpiecs (Bitnet) or
Comserve@Vm.Ecs.Rpi.Edu (Internet).

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

                         IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

      Comserve Moves to New Computer; Will Have New Net Addresses;
                     Service Interruptions Possible


Historical Background

    The Comserve system has operated continuously since August 1986 with
only brief interruptions.  It's first host was a small IBM mainframe
located in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Center for Interactive
Computer Graphics (CICG); its address then was Comserve@RPICICGE (a
Bitnet address).  In 1988 the CICG was reorganized into a new unit named
Engineering Computer Services (ECS) and the small mainframe was replaced
by a larger mainframe with connections to both the Bitnet network
(RPIECS) and the Internet (Vm.Ecs.Rpi.Edu).

    Comserve will change machines once more on Monday December 21, due
to further evolution in the organization of academic computing services
at RPI.  Comserve's new host will be a considerably larger IBM mainframe
maintained by RPI's Information Technology Services (ITS).  Comserve's
new addresses will become:

                            Comserve@Rpitsvm
and
                        Comserve@Vm.Its.Rpi.Edu

    Although the RPICICGE address expired officially years ago, RPI
continued to accept mail to that address due to the large number of
publications and documents that list that address for Comserve and for
its hotlines.  The RPICICGE address will finally become permanently
inoperative as of 12/21/92.  You *must* then switch to Comserve's new
address.  If your department has documents, posters, or brochures that
describe Comserve services, please help us all through this transition
by informing your colleagues of this change and removing or correcting
posters with out of date address information.


*** Hotline Addresses Will Change Too ***

    Mail sent to Comserve hotlines is presently addressed to either
RPIECS (Bitnet) or Vm.Ecs.Rpi.Edu (Internet).  As of Dec. 21, be sure to
switch to RPITSVM (Bitnet) and Vm.ITS.Rpi.Edu (Internet).  For example,
mail to Comserve's ComGrads hotline should be sent to ComGrads@Rpitsvm
(Bitnet) or ComGrads@Vm.ITS.Rpi.Edu (Internet).


*** Service Interruptions Possible Following Computer Change ***

    It is possible that Comserve may be off line for brief periods during
the shake out period following the transition.  This is a substantial
transition and some adjustment may be necessary before Comserve is fully
adapted to its new host computer.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

                     Computer Change Will Increase
                Difficulty of Staff Support for Comserve

    Outside of the address changes, most Comserve users should not
experience any changes in Comserve access or use.  However, diminishing
support for Comserve's host operating environment (IBM VM/SP CMS) on the
RPI campus will negatively impact Comserve's staff, making it more
cumbersome to support the service.  Unfortunately, the problem is
serious.  Staff support of Comserve's user community requires 10 to 15
hours every day.  If you haven't required any personal assistance using
Comserve, the chances are good that the staff has helped other students
or faculty at your institution.  Human support is needed to answer
questions, write documentation, develop database materials, organize and
support educational and scholarly projects, etc.

    It is clear that the future of Comserve requires the acquisition of
a computer system that can become the property of Comserve's own user
community.  Such a system could be optimally configured to make it
easier for the staff to provide support and new resources and to provide
a stable environment for Comserve's further technical evolution.
$30,000.00 is needed to purchase and configure a suitable system.  This
money must come from Comserve's users and from the institutions from
which Comserve is used.  If you want Comserve to continue to provide
students and faculty at your institution with an online center for those
interested in the study of human communication, now is the time to make
a small contribution.

    Please ask your institution to become a Comserve/CIOS Institutional
Affiliate, and please make a personal donation to Comserve by
becoming an Associate member of the Communication Institute for Online
Scholarship, Comserve's non-profit (U. S. Federal Tax Code 501(c)(3)
parent organization).  There are a number of attractive benefits within
Comserve for Associate and Institutional members and the contribution is
tax deductible for those who pay U.S. taxes.

    To receive information about the institutional affiliates program,
send this message to Comserve:

                         Help Topics Affiliates

    To receive information about benefits for Associate members of the
CIOS, send this message to Comserve:

                         Help Topics Associates

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

               Call for Papers/Abstracts for SEMCOM/SCA
          Submitted by: Alan Harris <VCSPC005@VAX.CSUN.EDU>

    The Commission on Semiotics and Communication of the Speech
Communication Association (SEMCOM/SCA) invites completed papers,
detailed abstracts, and proposals for program sessions for the next
national meeting of the SCA in Miami, Florida, 18-21, November, 1993.
All should relate to issues concerning semiotics and human
communication.  The Commission welcomes both theoretical and applied
work.  Of particular interest are papers, extended abstracts, and
proposals which examine the relation between semiotics and other areas
of study in the communication discipline.  Submitted papers and detailed
abstracts should include a separate title page with a 50-75 word
abstract and author identification.  No other references to the author
should appear in the paper or detailed abstract.  Program proposals
should include a title, statement of purpose, rationale, names of
participants, with addresses and affiliations, and a 50-75 word abstract
for each paper.  Send five (5) copies of paper, abstract, or proposal to
Program Coordinator, Professor Jacqueline Martinez, History and Society
Division, Babson College, Babson Park, MA 02157-0310.  For additional
information or questions, contact Jackie Martinez (Martinez@Babson.
bitnet) or 617-239-5570.  Direct all other inquiries or submit addresses
for our mailing list to Commission Chair, Professor Alan Harris, SPCH,
CSUN, Northridge, CA 91330 (AHARRIS@VAX.CSUN.EDU).  Submissions MUST be
received by February 15, 1993.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

            CALL FOR PAPERS: SOCIETY FOR DISABILITY STUDIES
           Submitted by: John Seidel <0004898223@mcimail.com>

    The Society for Disability Studies (SDS) will hold its sixth annual
convention, June 17-19, 1993 in Seattle, Washington.

    SDS is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization
established to promote interdisciplinary research on humanistic and
social scientific aspects of disability and chronic illness.

TOPICS

  This announcement solicits abstracts for individual paper
  presentations or panels.  A wide range of topics are relevant
  to disability studies as approached from a variety of
  disciplines and perspectives, including: policy, history,
  media, communications, literature, teaching, statistics, data,
  research, methods, gender, self image, perceptions, attitudes,
  advocacy, activism, culture, sexuality, ADA, law, civil
  rights, family, social integration, and more.

ABSTRACTS

  To have your paper or panel considered, please submit a 1-2
  page developed abstract including author(s), affiliations(s),
  mailing address(es), title of paper or proposed panel.
  Abstracts will be refereed.  Abstracts will only be accepted
  by snail mail, postmarked by *January 30, 1993*.

  Send abstracts to:

  Mitchell P. LaPlante
  ATTN: SDS Annual Meeting
  Institute for Health and Aging
  University of California
  201 Filbert Street, Suite 500
  San Francisco, CA 94133

  Please include a stamped self addressed envelope for reply.

QUESTIONS OR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

  For queries you may send e-mail to LAPLANTE@UCSFVM.UCSF.EDU or
  call (415)788-8915 or Fax (415)362-0258.  All presenters will
  be expected to pre-register for the conference.

+----------------------------------------------------------------------+

               Network Address Expiring? Leaving the Net?
                Please Cancel Your Hotline Subscriptions

    If your network address will change or you are leaving the network
at the end of the term, please remember to cancel your hotline
subscriptions before your computer account expires.

    To review the status of your subscriptions, send this command to
Comserve:

                            Show subscriptions

    To cancel one hotline subscription, send this command to Comserve:

                   Dropout place_name_of_hotline_here

     for example:

                            Dropout InterPer

    To cancel all your subscriptions at once, send this command to
    Comserve:

                              Dropout All

    For more information about commands and functions related to
    Comserve's hotline system, send this message to Comserve:

                          Help Topics Hotlines

    Remember: Do not use a "reply" function to send these messages to
              Comserve.  Leave your mail reading software and address
              your message explicitly. Comserve's address was given at
              the start of this issue.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

                  Comserve Unattended Dec 22 - Dec 28

    Comserve will be unattended from December 22 to December 28, though
Comserve will continue to operate during this period.  Mail to
Comserve's staff will be processed starting on Dec. 28 on a first in,
first out basis.  Happy Holidays!

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU