From: hauben@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Michael Hauben)
Subject: Re: Help needed with Communications and Computers
Summary: Proposal for term paper
Reply-To: hauben@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Michael Hauben)
Organization: Columbia University
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 03:56:35 GMT

I am taking a Computers & Society class and the following is the
proposal I handed into my teacher. I appreciate if anyone has any
comments on it. Or can help me with references and / or a better
clarification or sharpening of a topic.
  Thanks,
 -Michael

             Computers & Society Term Paper Proposal

     Computers and concurrent technologies have had a significant
impact on communications. I am interested in writing on the
impact that this combination is having and will have on people's
lives. The combination of computers and communications has led to
enormous networks that transmit and carry numerous different
types of information and data. In Computers, Communications and
Society,  Murray Laver wrote

     "Cost apart, territorial distances are no longer a barri-
     er...If the present trend continues, then by 1980 more than
     90% of the world's computers would be linked to communica-
     tion systems. This combination promises to be exceptionally
     important because its effect will not be confined to one
     section of technology, nor to technology alone. The collec-
     tion and exchange of information underlies all that we do,
     and the structures and functions of industrial society
     depend absolutely on its prompt and ample supply. A major
     change in information techniques is bound to affect every
     aspect of out lives - economic, social, political and domes-
     tic - and we need to be alert and aware of what is happening
     if we aspire to direct its course." (Oxford, 1975, p 1)

     This flow of information can selectively be accessed,
allowing the individual to make the information suit him or her.
This is a fundamental change from the traditional mode of the
mass media making the individual conform to it. The world is
becoming more accessible while at the same time growing in size.
New international communities are forming (based on common inter-
ests, backgrounds, and abilities.)

     The combined efforts of people interested in communication
has led to the development and expansion of the global communica-
tions system. Ithiel de Sola Pool in Technologies Without Bound-
aries wrote:

     "The system becomes part of the largest machine that man has
     ever constructed - the global telecommunications network.
     The full map of it no one knows; it changes every day."
     (Cambridge, 1990, p 56)

This system has grown because of the interest people have in
communicating with the world outside of themselves. The voluntary
nature of this system has lead to an enormous collection of
generally helpful resources in other people and collections of
information. 

     A current material example of the fundamental powers of this
communications and information revolution is Eastern Europe. Much
of the changes there were assisted through the opening up of
information and communication. The organized form of Usenet News
assists in the connections. This example might possibly serve as
a foundation for my premises. A useful pointer is the following
quote from "The Information Technologies and East European
Societies" in East European Politics and Societies:

     "The perception of serious technological backwardness, and
     the desire to end it, lie at the heart of Eastern Europe's
     economic, political, and social upheaval...The computer and
     its related technologies have contributed most to the indus-
     trial world's rapid economic restructuring and have high-
     lighted Eastern Europe's economic deficiencies most clear-
     ly." (vol 5, no 3, Fall '91, p. 394)

     My research will consist of materials from books and my
personal experiences. Along with this, I will interact with the
Net and think of interviewing people involved with the develop-
ment of various parts of the global communications network, along
with personal observations from people who participate in Usenet.

     As an example of the helpful resources, I posted a message
in several newsgroups to gain help in figuring out a useful and
interesting topic. In response I received over 10 email responses
from around the world offering help.