INTERNATIONAL INFORMATICS ACCESS '87
by John C. Oeffinger and Tom Sherman

______________________________________________________

In a Chicago suburb a $50,000-a-year engineer spends
countless hours twiddling with his new IBM PC. The
technology engrosses him, but he lacks a sense of
purpose. In Southeast Asia, meanwhile, a young man
wrestles with calculations needed to build an
irrigation dam. He thinks his figures are correct but
isn't certain, and thousands of people will die if the
dam collapses.

Can the Chicago engineer somehow help his counterpart
abroad?

THE SILICON JUNGLE, David H. Rothman, Ballantine, 1985
______________________________________________________


Yes, the ability to establish global microcommunications is at
hand. So far, however, no reference has been developed to
outline the opportunities and obstacles, especially for
developing nations.

Moving toward that goal, a "thinktank" conference has been
scheduled next March at Baylor University Medical Center in
Dallas, Texas. This conference--INTERNATIONAL INFORMATICS ACCESS
'87--will focus on outlining a "roadmap" to help organizations
and individuals develop global microcommunications networks.

The major objectives of the conference are:

* To exchange policy information and establish a common
framework for initiating and implementing informatics
policy.

* To review current projects and share implementation
strategies; to address specific problems and their
solutions.

* To develop and disseminate a guide to the activities
of groups involved in the transfer of informatics
skills/technology to developing countries.


Both before and after the Dallas meeting, March 17-20, 1987,
conference participants will be able to share information
through ECONET--the conference's official international
electronic network. [see story, June NETWEAVER (Vol. 2, No. 6)]

International Informatics Access '87 will select four types of
participants:

* POLICY DELEGATES (12)--who make decisions about
informatics in developing countries.

* TECHNICAL DELEGATES (12)--who are expert in the
technical systems required to meet a developing
country's needs.

* NETWORK USER DELEGATES (26)--who are currently
involved in establishing or operating networks with
developing countries. Delegates are not expected to be
informatics specialists but rather to be involved in
using informatics processes as a tool.

* RESOURCE PARTICIPANTS (20)--selected from major
international organizations to provide information on
policy, technical and user issues.

Half of the 70 participants will be from developing countries,
insuring an exchange of information between developed and
developing countries. In support of this exchange, conference
planners are already at work on a monthly newsletter, a process
guide for the conference and a resource guide for developing
countries. A process to nominate delegates will be announced
shortly.

The conference Planning Council represents extensive experience
in international networking: John E. Fobes, N. Rao Machiraju,
Mark Vermilion, Jeff Fobes, Russell Havard, Christian Stalberg,
Tom Sherman, Jorge Litvak, Paul Chernoff, Harry Goodman, Karen
Schiller, Pam Nelson, Lynn Gibson, Richard Roa, Lanelle
Chancellor, Kathy Oeffinger, Jerry Polen, Bennett Stewart, Cliff
Thompson, Karen Ferrill, Lupe Garcia, and Conference Co-Chairman
Texas State Senator T. Chet Edwards.

A number of corporations, foundations and groups have already
donated or pledged support to this important conference. For
additional information or to be included on the conference's
mailing list, contact:

John C. Oeffinger or Karen P. Schiller
INTERNATIONAL INFORMATICS ACCESS '87
c/o Baylor Research Foundation
3600 Gaston Avenue
Dallas TX USA 75246
(214) 820-2687

You can reach the conference on the following networks:

GEnie -- OEFFINGER
ECONET -- APPCOMEO.BAYLOR
EMSAPPCOM -- APPCOMDT.CT/BRF1
UNISON -- SHERM
SOURCE -- CPA177
DELPHI -- SHERM

-----

Authors' note: John C. Oeffinger, Chairman of the IIA '87
Conference, is Vice President of the Baylor Research Foundation
and Project Coordinator for InterNet, a health network in Latin
America. He and Tom Sherman share SYSOP responsibilities for the
NonProfit Connection on GEnie. Tom, a member of the IIA Planning
Council, is a founding member of ENA, Contributing Editor of
Computing Today! and a communications consultant.