SIX WEEKS ON THE ROAD
Presbyterians Move Into A New House
by Rev. Lewis L. Wilkins, Jr.


On April 1, computer communicators in the Presbyterian Church
moved into a new, denominationally sponsored network home.

The latest move comes at the end of a year of unusual activity,
initiated by the Communication Unit of the denomination's New
York-based Support Agency, aimed toward bringing comp comm into
the mainstream of the church's array of communication
technologies.

In June 1985, the Communication Unit offered any who would sign
up three months of fully underwritten use of a closed E-mail
system that used CompuServe facilities. When the coach turned
pumpkin at the end of August, 150 people had signed onto the
system. About 75 were using it regularly for mail and the
primitive conferencing allowed by the software available, and a
core group of 10 or 15 heavy-user "Presbynet pigs," for many of
whom the summer experiment was their first venture into comp
comm, had decided Presbynet was too important to let die.

This core group moved Presbynet to UNISON in September, joining
the already established United Church of Canada network there.
After initial shakeout-- about 20 people from "PNET 1" made it
to "PNET 2" on UNISON in the first month-- numbers increased
steadily. By Christmas, the number of regular users (on their
own nickel) was well above the level achieved in the
(denominationally subsidized) summer experiment.

Meanwhile, denominational staff conducted a thorough evaluation
of PNET 1. In January, a new two-year experiment was announced.
The new Presbynet 3 uses facilities of Network Technologies
International in Ann Arbor, MI (NETI). It offers NETI's eForum
(conferencing) and eMemo (mail) software, with Participate 4.5
promised later this year.

Administrative management of the system has been contracted with
the Networking Institute in Massachusetts.

Several innovative features are built into the network design to
encourage inclusive participation. Access is provided through
Autonet and, because Autonet's coverage is spotty, through
Telenet. For people who can get to neither, an 800-number also
is available, as well as voice-line access to reports on what's
happening on the system.

Initially, 250 partially subsidized accounts have been offered
to denominational offices (national and regional), to advocacy
groups of all kinds, and to offices in other denominations and
ecumenical agencies. Another 250 partially subsidized accounts
have been offered to individual members and ministers in the
Presbyterian Church. More than 300 of the initial offering of
500 accounts have been spoken for since the window opened on
March 1.

Over half of the signups have made it onto the system and left
tracks in the first six weeks. Provision of five hours free
prime connect time in the first month-- it drops to two per
month thereafter-- has encouraged users to get connected and
learn their way around the system.

To prepare for the opening on April 1, the heavy-user core group
from PNET 1 were trained as "meeting leaders" in the eForum
environment in early March, and given a month's pre-opening
access to the system, to hang wallpaper, put up pictures, and
get generally get ready for the crowd.

Meetings were set up to anticipate user needs and interests.
"Welcome" and "Help" provide social warmth and navigational
assistance for people trying, many of them for the first time,
to make the plumbing work online. A "Chatter" meeting serves as
a down-home kitchen table for wide-open discussion. "Meet-
leader" is where the leaders scratch their heads and try to keep
up with the troops.

"Sermon Workshop" continues a successful series of weekly
lectionary notes started last summer and continued on UNISON.
Early reports indicate that this may be the most active meeting
so far-- not surprising when you remember that Presbyterian
pastors have to preach a sermon every Sunday.

"News" makes available releases from the denominational
information service, as well as stories from Lutheran and other
denominations.

"Evangelism", "Theotelecom", and "Feminism" meetings offer
gathering spots around issues and concerns. "Sypres" has spawned
fifteen or twenty "discussions" (like "topics" in Parti) on
matters of interest to people who work in the church's regional
Synods and Presbyteries (structures between congregations and
the national agencies).

All of this structure was planned before an actual user
population showed up, and by planners whose experience with
eForum was limited.

Like plans always do, some parts of PNET 3 have worked better
than others.

In general, the planners have learned that eForum demands much
more focused, selective use of the system than the more free-
flowing style that works in Participate. It turns out to be
expensive (even with the denominationally subsidized connect
time) to browse and "stay in touch" with a lot of meetings.
Users seem to be settling in to one or two places of interest,
and skipping the rest.

An "Ecumenism" meeting and a "Lutheran-Reformed" dialogue
meeting have been very slow getting off the ground, simply
because it's hard to do much interdenominational or interfaith
conversation in a setting where non-Presbyterians are so few in
numbers, limited so far to a sprinkling of invited guests. The
meetings signal a Presbyterian desire to be ecumenically open
and connected, but also perhaps some naivete about how to do it.

Most of the traffic so far falls in the categories of "getting
acquainted" and "getting navigational help." The eForum
documentation is graphically superior, and on the surface looks
complete and clear. In use, however, when you are looking for
something with the clock running, it can be very hard to find.
It really is not much more than a pretty list of system
commands. There are a few shortcuts to using eForum efficiently,
but they're not pointed out in the documentation.

So the need for folk to help one another learn to use the system
is high and real. The support from NETI's online and 800-voice
problem-solving staff thus far has been unimpressive-- very
warm and friendly, but not immediately knowledgeable about the
problems presented, and not good about keeping promises to
"check with our tech people and get back this afternoon." Most
seriously, NETI seems to have no one in Ann Arbor who has used
eForum through a packet-switched network, and that is where many
user problems originate. (eForum has a crisp, quick, responsive
feel from a terminal in Ann Arbor; it turns to molasses on a
cold day when accessed through Autonet.)

In the last two weeks, users have begun to grumble about the
lack of substance, the predominance of chatter that scrolls
expensively by, and the constraints the system imposes on quick
searches for the information you want.

It probably is too early to evaluate how much of the PNET 3
community's experience thus far results from characteristics of
the eForum system, and how much from the rapid incorporation of
a new user population. Even users with extensive experience on
other networks have found eForum to require major new learning
in order to function at a minimally effective level.

Reporting from six weeks on the road with a new net for
Presbyterians, this is Lewis Wilkins. Peace.

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Author's note: This article is a product of networking! The
folks on PresbyNet read drafts and made comments. Then it was
ported to Lisa Kimball from PresbyNet to International Commons
to UNISON!