ECONET
by George Por


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

"Can the Atlanta engineer somehow help his counterpart abroad?

"... An Electronic Peace Corps could bring these two together
and offer the Third World some of the best American technical
expertise via computer networks."

(from David Rothman's article published electronically on
EcoNet, Feb. 8, 1986)

Rothman, author of The Silicon Jungle (Ballantine, 1985), is one
of the most vocal proponents of the Electronic Peace Corps
concept. He is also among the movers and shakers of EcoNet, a
low-cost electronic messaging system that connects
ecologically-oriented individuals and organizations world-wide.
EcoNet uses personal computers and existing telephone lines to
link together people working on a wide variety of projects on a
regional, national, or global scale.

The Farallones Institute started EcoNet in 1983 with an
electronic networking grant from Apple Computer Inc. The grant
included computers with modem, software, and 100 hours paid
connect time on OnTyme, Tymnet's electronic mail service. "We
used up our 100 hours very quickly," says Christian Stalberg of
Farallones, manager/system operator of EcoNet, "and went on to
make a separate arrangement with McDonnell-Douglas (the parent
company of Tymnet) to continue EcoNet. Today EcoNet has 220
members and is always growing."

The net hosts a variety of special interest bulletin boards and
conferences, of which the one discussing international
development issues is the largest. That group includes Public
Service Satellite Consortium, United Nations University (Tokyo),
British Computer Society, Clearinghouse on Development
Communications, International Telecommunications Union, OECD, a
number of universities and colleges, as well as consulting firms
involved with development work.

"The predominant activity on EcoNet these days centers on
international development as it pertains to informatics and
environmental protection," says Stalberg. "A lot of work
conducted over EcoNet is having to do with extending
communications routes into less developed countries. India and
Sri Lanka seem to be the areas of focus at the moment."

To describe the network's public posting ability, Rothman wrote
in his Electronic Peace Corps Proposal: "The people helping a
planned computer net in Sri Lanka, for instance are spread out
all the way from California (home of Christian Stalberg, the man
running the network) to North Carolina (home of Jeff Fobes, an
expert on international communications policy) to Texas (home of
John Oeffinger, an official with a Baylor University medical
research foundation) and Canada (home of Dan Kolis, an expert on
satellite dishes). And yet when the Sri Lankans join the net,
they'll be able to send questions to everyone at once. For the
moment the questions will relate to the establishment of cheaper
communications between the Sri Lanka and the U.S. But in the
future, they'll directly address agricultural and medical
matters and other Third World concerns and elicit answers from
appropriate experts."

My own (limited) experience with the software supporting the
EcoNet activities is satisfactory. It's a souped-up messaging
system more suitable for one-to-one than for true group
communications, without the sophisticated conferencing features
of a PARTI or a CONFER. On the other hand, its menu-driven user
interface deserves an A+ in ease-of-use.

Among the global nets, EcoNet has one of the lowest rates for
international electronic messaging. The price of a private
message from anywhere to anywhere in the participating
countries is twenty-five cents, and that's for any length (no
extra fee per character or per word). Unlimited usage of public
message boards, file storage, and discussion groups is included
in the $15 monthly subscription fee.

(Editor's note: The cost of sending messages from outside the
U.S. is greatly increased by the access costs that each country
exacts. ECONET and TymeNet costs are covered by the twenty-five
cents per message, but that amount may be small in comparison to
the character or time charges imposed in the country of
origin.-- Stan Pokras)

With such a price structure The Farallones Institute would
probably not be able to maintain the network if it wasn't
subsidized by McDonnell-Douglas. That's a neat example of how a
high-tech megacorporation can win cheers from high-touch, value-
oriented nonprofits.

For further information about EcoNet, contact: Christian
Stalberg at The Farallones Institute, 15290 Coleman Valley Road,
Occidental, CA 95465. Phone: (707) 874-3060.

--------

Author's note: George Por is director of H i g h L i g h t s
Electronic & Desktop Publishing, division of Metasystems Design
Group, Inc., telecom editor of Computer Currents, and co-founder
of the Electronic Networking Association. Address correspondence
to H i g h L i g h t s , 3051 Adeline St., Suite E, Berkeley, CA
94703. Phone: (415) 548-8213. Via modem: The Source (BDB404),
Unison (George Por), The WELL (george), and The Meta Network
(George Por).