Alison Kilgour caught up with him at a recent UK conference. Even at breakfast, in his hotel in Hatfield where he was based for the LibTech Conference , he drops easily into a fluent analysis of the goals of the Coalition for Networked Information, the organisation which he founded five years ago. The CNI was formed to promote the creation of networked information resources which will advance scholarship and intellectual productivity. It draws upon a task force consisting of universities, publishers, hardware and software companies and library organisations. Peters' primary vision of the CNI is as a facilitator.
Communication is the key.
At present, there is still a gulf between those who use networked services and those who provide them. The organisation aims to foster an environment which eases communication betweenthe two groups. This latter is achieved by commissioning issue papers whose main aim is to challenge and provoke. The kind of politics we are experts in are market place politics or organisational change politics. Turning to universities as a special network services consumer group, Peters is clear about the advantages which the Net has brought to researchers.