The CONFER experience of the Merit Computer Network (abstract only)
Authors: Wendt Christine 
Published: April 2007

CONFER emerged from a concern with small group governance in
both its communications and decision making dimensions. This
context will be described as well as the principles operationalized
in the CONFER system: individual equality, freedom, privacy and
flexibility, and the facilitation of individual participation.
CONFER is based on the proposition that effective communication is
an active process for all concerned. This activity is strongly
encouraged in CONFER through a number of mechanisms designed to
facilitate interaction between the user and the CONFER system, as
well as interaction among all the users of the system. As well,
growth of the system over time is promoted by interaction of the
system designer with the user community.

The development of Merit's use of CONFER was aided greatly by
our continuing close relationship with Dr. Parnes and by the
participation of many members of the Merit staff in the CONFERence
for CONFER development that he eventually began. As we identified
new aspects of CONFER use, we usually also were able to think of
changes to CONFER that would facilitate them. For example, as we
began to realize how important was the general conversation among
our users--a critical need for the isolated user in particular--we
led the lobbying effort for changes to make the voting structure
more interactive. In response, CONFER over the years has radically
altered the default form of participant comments from its original
formal and anonymous style to a conversational model. Similarly, as
CAUCUS grew to enormous size we asked for (and got) aids in
managing, and then in re-starting, large Conferences. In a
remarkably short time, CAUCUS became a general meeting place for
many who were not Merit users at all, simply because it offered a
place for users to meet one another and share problems and
solutions. Eventually CAUCUS gave birth to a general-purpose
CONFERence for users of one of the host systems--an idea that has
since been implemented elsewhere as well.

The growing use of CAUCUS as a communications medium for Merit
staff eventually resulted in the birth of a CONFERence for that
specific purpose. Before the use of CONFER there had been
relatively little communication between the staff members at the
central site and those located at the host computing centers except
for occasional face-to-face meetings that were largely reportorial
in content. Once CAUCUS showed the staff that network issues could
be discussed in real time and that input from the host staffs could
have weight, the pattern of decision-making began to change. With
the inception of the MNET:STAFF CONFERence, and the resulting
privacy for internal discussions, the role of the staff
members--both centrally-located and at the hosts--continues to grow
as we expound, lobby, and negotiate on network issues while (or
even before) they are happening.

It is no exaggeration to say that we members of the Merit staff
could not do the job we do without CONFER. Merit's primary goal is
to facilitate the use of remote computer resources for a
heterogeneous and dispersed community of users. Without CONFER we
would be working harder to accomplish much less of this
objective.