Volume 2, Number 6 ---CONTENTS--- June 1, 1986

1 Masthead and Index

2 ENA UPDATE ................................ by Lisa Kimball
(2323 char)
Members of ENA sign the papers for incorporation in
Pennsylvania at an informal get-together in Philadelphia.
More regional meetings are planned.

3 SIX WEEKS ON THE ROAD: Presbyterians Move Into A New House
by Rev. Lewis L. Wilkins, Jr. (7604 char)
Describes the start-up of a new network for the Presbyterian
Church which opened on April 1st, using eForum. 400 IDs have
already been issued and discussion is moving fast.

4 ECONET ...................................... by George Por
(5529 char)
Information about this network for people and organizations
interested in ecological issues. Started with an Apple
Computer grant to the Farrallones Institute, it is now the
home of discussion about forming an Electronic Peace Corps.

5 EMCA'S GEMSERVICE ....................... by Tom Miezejeski
(2884 char)
This service, run by the Electronic Mail Corporation, seeks
to link all public and private networks through an
integrated store-and-forward system which can deal with many
standards.

6 TWICS BEELINE: From BBS to "BEE JIMA" by Jeffrey Shapard
(9390 char)
Based in Tokyo, this international conferencing system was
started to meet the growing demand in Japan. It's known as
TWICS BeeLine, a name which was selected to reflect
"traveling somewhere together" and "quick access."

7 A DESIGN STYLE FOR THE INFORMATION AGE .... by Lisa Kimball
(7016 char)
The Memphis design movement which began in Milan, Italy
reflects many characteristics of the information age. This
"just for fun" article suggests some ways in which "Memphis"
may be the design style for our time.

8 TELELAW UPDATE ... by Peg Rossing, Netweaver Telelaw Editor
(5458 char)
This article covers the Electronic Communications Privacy
Act, which would extend to electronic communication the same
protections now given first class mail. Also covered is the
Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Florida Computer Porn
Bill.

TELELAW UPDATE
Electronic Privacy and Computer Fraud Acts Pass From Committees
by Peg Rossing, Netweaver Telelaw Editor


The purpose of this column is to digest current developments in
Congress, courts and state legislatures that affect ENA members.
There is a lot going on in Congress right now! I have identified
one source of up-to-date information in this area and am in need
of suggestions for other resources, including online news
services, journals and newsletters. If you read something of
interest let me know where I can find it! Comments and
suggestions about what Netweaver and ENA should be doing in the
way of a telelaw information clearinghouse are also welcome. I
can be reached on Unison (PEG ROSSING) or CompuServe
(75166,310).

Electronic Communications Privacy Act
=====================================

On May 15, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Civil
Liberties and the Administration of Justice unanimously approved
HR 3378, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. The bill,
introduced by Rep. Robert Kastenmeier (D-Wis.), a companion to
the Leahy bill in the Senate, would extend to electronic
communications the same protection now given first class mail.

The bill would prohibit eavesdropping on electronic
communications, including computer message and data
transmissions, electronic fund transfers and cellular telephone
conversations. (Cordless telephones are not protected.) Federal
agencies would have to obtain a warrant to gain access to
electronic mail systems within six months of a message's
creation, and a subpoena after that. There are civil and
criminal penalties for violations.

The bill is supported by the Justice Department, the American
Civil Liberties Union, and the computer and communications
industries. Senator Leahy's bill in the Senate is expected to
pass out of subcommittee soon as well.

Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
============================

In the past month, identical bills titled The Computer Fraud and
Abuse Act have been introduced in both the House and Senate,
making it likely that the 99th Congress will approve new laws
against computer crime.

In the House, The Counterfeit Access Device and Computer Fraud
Act (HR 1001) is now numbered HR 4718 following the addition of
some minor amendments. The new bill, sponsored by Rep. William
Hughes (D-N.J.), has been approved by committee and sent to the
full House. The committee added one amendment that would extend
the same protection to systems run by the brokers and dealers
regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission as to banks.

Sen. Paul Trible (R-Va.) compromised his earlier bill, The
Computer Systems and Protection Act (S 440) to introduce S 2281.
According to Trible, the new bills are more narrowly focused
than those introduced earlier in the session.

The new measure would establish:

1) a new felony for trespassing into federal interest
computers, those run by or for the federal government,
banks, or states. Offenders would face five-year
prison terms.

2) a second felony for "maliciously trespassing" into a
federal interest computer and causing more than $1,000
in damage.

3) a new category of federal misdemeanors involving the
use of illegal BBSes to post private information, such
as credit card data, phone account information, and
passwords.

The Department of Justice offered qualified support for the
bill. DOJ wants amendments that would make any computer
trespassing a crime, even if information was not actually
obtained, and a provision which would require a convicted
defendant to forfeit his or her computer to the federal
government.

Florida Computer Porn Bill
==========================

A bill that would outlaw use of computers for distribution of
pornography unanimously passed the Florida House May 20 and went
to the state Senate, but not before it picked up some additional
legislative language. As introduced, the bill dealt only with
computer pornography, and prohibited the use of computer
bulletin board systems for information about child pornography.
The amendments define obscenity according to the standards which
have been developed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Other Bills
===========

The Telecommunications Equity Act (S 2362), introduced by Sen.
Albert Gore, Jr. (D-Tenn.) would specifically allow the seven
regional phone companies to provide information services and
manufacture telecommunications equipment. This is the same bill
which would direct the FCC to study the effectiveness of the
long distance access charges. The bill has been referred to the
Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

A Senate bill (S 665) introduced by Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) would
amend the Fair Labors Standards Act of 1938 to facilitate
industrial homework. The original regulation arose out of
legitimate concern over garment industry sweatshops and piece
labor and gives the Secretary of Labor the power to make
regulations concerning any industry. Under the Hatch Act, the
Secretary would not be able to issue federal rules stating which
industries were permitted to offer employment in the home. This
bill is seen by both labor and "work at home" people as a
prelude to the battle for the rights for computer home labor.

-----

Author's Note: Peg Rossing is an attorney in Duluth, Minnesota.

A DESIGN STYLE FOR THE INFORMATION AGE
by Lisa Kimball


The first thing I noticed was the fabric: crazy bright designs
in clashing colors splashed across the pages of trendy
magazines. Then I saw a picture of Michele de Lucchi's "Lido"
sofa which combines lacquered wood, metal, and fabric in a toy-
like combination of shapes and colors. I noticed an ice bucket.
That in itself got my attention, since ice buckets are rarely
something you notice one way or another. It was a *great*
looking box with blazing color and innovative handles. I started
noticing more and more objects and furniture and fabric which
looked... *different*. Something about design was changing...

It's sometimes hard to tell when a new genre of DESIGN is going
to make a significant difference. Is the "new look" a passing
fad or will it become associated with the consciousness of a
generation, an epoch, or "period" to be studied in the future?

Since 1981, a new approach to style has been emerging from
Milan, Italy. I think it is one of the most significant *human*
developments of the "information age" because it represents the
DESIGN response to many aspects of our current culture and
consciousness. I also *love* it!

It's called.......

>>>>> MEMPHIS <<<<<

Yes, MEMPHIS. I'm not kidding.

The name itself reflects some of the qualities of the designs
themselves by combining a large dose of whimsy with thoughtful
overtones. It was inspired by Dylan's "Stuck outside of Mobile
with the Memphis blues again" which was playing on the radio
when plans for a new design collaboration were hatched. In
retrospect, the idea of combining the "high" culture of the
ancient capital of Egypt with the "low" culture of Elvis
Presley's birthplace seems appropriate since the juxtaposition
of contrasting elements is a key characteristic of the Memphis
style.

Memphis is a drastic change from the Modern and Post-Modern
designs, which have pretty much defined the "look" of our
contemporary culture for several decades. Memphis is new (and
sometimes crazy looking) shapes, wild use of color, clashing
patterns, and the combination of previously never-combined
materials. Memphis designers are known for what we now call
"intermedia synergy" in that they often participate in
performance events and political activities-- something
previously outside the Italian norm.

In a book on Memphis design by Richard Horn (Simon & Schuster,
1986), a quote by Memphis designer Andrea Branzi describes the
aims of the design movement which became Memphis (my comments
about possible information age parallels in parentheses):

1. Putting behind the myth of the "unity" of a project
and concentrating on a free discontinuity of parts
with respect to the whole. (The proliferation of PC
based technology.)

2. The search for a new linguistic "expressive" quality
as a possible solution to the enigma of design and as
a possible new meaning. (The invention of new language
idioms for use online and the use of computer
metaphors for cognitive experience.)

3. Recycling all possible idioms now in circulation
within the experience of our lives. (New applications
of technology to familiar forms, e.g. support groups,
publishing, associations.)

4. Recuperating decoration and color as signs of freedom
and nobility of creative invention. (The reintegration
of graphics with text made possible by the Macintosh
and related technology.)

5. Going beyond ergonomic limits and concentrating on an
affective relationship between man and his things.
(Invention of porting, blinking, and other innovations
to transcend current technical limitations.)

There are a number of other parallels between aspects of Memphis
school design and some of the implications we have thought about
for the information age.

* Memphis designers would describe their work as moving
toward a NON-HIERARCHICAL use of material and design
subjects e.g. the mixture of costly wood with plastic
laminate and colored lights or the design of a zany
sideboard for the living room which was previously the
most "serious" room in the house.

* Memphis designers create "metaphors" for contemporary
life. According to architectural critic Richard Horn,
"Their busy patterns, myriad colors, and combinations
of unlikely elements mirror the hyperactivity, variety
and unpredictability of the GLOBAL VILLAGE in this
ELECTRONIC AGE." Memphis designer George J. Sowden
says, "The decorative belongs to the electronic world
just as the functional belonged to the machine."

Some have described Memphis design as "dizzying" and unsettling.
This approach to design could thus be considered less "lasting"
than others. According to one of the founders, this is very
appropriate. Ettore Sottsass comments: "If a society plans
obsolescence, the only possible enduring design is one that
deals with that obsolescence, a design that comes to terms with
it, maybe accelerating it, maybe confronting it, maybe ironizing
it, maybe getting along with it..."

This comment made me think of some of our online discussions
about the translation of conferences to the print medium. They
always seem to lose something in the more "enduring" medium;
their real power is in the experience of the rolling present.

Memphis design reflects a lot of the paradoxes we've identified
in computer networking. For one thing, it has remained elitist
because the products are labor intensive and have not been
designed for mass production. In a sense, Memphis is a protest
against mass culture in a way which may be similar to our
concerns about television and other media. Looking at and
thinking about Memphis design requires processing huge amounts
of information inherent in the patterns, the shapes, the
materials, and the new design ideas. One could easily experience
the design equivalent of information overload yet, at the same
time, it can be addictively intriguing to imagine new
combinations. Its look is somewhat "strange" to eyes used to
more traditional design, and the thinking behind it is somewhat
revolutionary. Memphis design is, therefore, a *challenge* to
our way of looking at design, and acceptance could be slow.
There is definitely a leading edge design and consumer group who
has embraced it though, and there is increasing evidence of the
influence of the Memphis "look" on less innovative products.

Could Memphis be the design for the information age? It's fun to
wonder about whether future historians will identify the
parallel developments of Memphis design and computer technology
as part of the evolution of our future culture. Hmmmmmmm......

-----

Author's note: Lisa Kimball has been busy "Memphisizing" the
living room office at Metasystems Design Group, Inc., the home
of the Meta Network.

TWICS BEELINE
From BBS to "BEE JIMA"
by Jeffrey Shapard


TWICS BeeLINE is a public computer conferencing and electronic
communication system operating in Tokyo, Japan. About half of
the subscribing members are Japanese, with the rest from a
variety of other cultural backgrounds. The friendly local flavor
has an international aroma. Most communication is in English,
which provides a window out for the Japanese users, and a window
in for those who would like to communicate with people in Japan.
The BeeLINE is connected to the world through various modems on
standard telephone lines for local access, and through NTT's
DDX-P packet switched data network for global access.

TWICS means "Two-Way Information Communications System", and
comes originally from a collaboration of ideas between two men,
Toshiaki Tanaka, the entrepreneurial president of Sakako Co.,
Ltd. (a shrimp import and seafood sales enterprise), and David
G. Fisher, a far-sighted faculty member of the International
Education Center (IEC, a non-profit educational organization
specializing in language education and cultural exchange
activities). Tanaka-san was interested in micro-to-mainframe
data communications and Mr. Fisher was interested in the
educational applications of communicating via computer. The
TWICS BeeLINE systems have been designed and developed by, and
are operated by, Makoto Ezure from Sakako and me, Jeffrey
Shapard from IEC.

Tanaka-san and Sakako have provided most of the financial
support for developing the system, as well as the bee logo.
Sakako's main product is Honeymoon brand frozen shrimp, and the
biggest customers are in the wedding industry. Weddings lead to
honeymoons, bees make honey, and shrimp makes nice food for a
happy wedding reception. The BeeLINE name is a combination of
this registered corporate logo, the second syllable of "online",
the idea of traveling somewhere together (such as on an air, sea
or train line), and the idea of quick and direct access, as in
"make a beeline" for the information. (Recently, though, Joichi
Ito ported in a little note from George Por about the universal
implications of bees and cross-pollination, and this adds
another dimension to the logo and the role of TWICS BeeLINE.)

The TWICS founders spent more than a month meeting during early
spring in 1984 laying out a system philosophy of open
communication and participation and a goal of quick and easy
access. Both philosophy and goal were general enough to allow
flexibility in evolving, yet solid enough to serve as a basis
for development. Also, a decision was made to build the first
system by hand, to reinvent the wheel, as an educational
exercise. It was an exercise, and it was educational, but it
cost a lot of time.

The first TWICS BeeLINE went online in September 1984, with a
lot of menus leading nowhere except to the private messaging
facility. The pioneer users were about 35 members of a monthly
meeting of telecom enthusiasts called TokyoNet, and they
contributed greatly to the development of the BeeLINE through
their scathing criticism. This first system only had one
telephone line and a 300 baud modem, and it eventually supported
four bulletin boards, E-mail, a hierarchical reading library,
and about 100 people with passwords, only a dozen or so of whom
were very active. Early growth was slow.

TWICS had no one working full time on system development and
operation until July 1985, when IEC made this possible for me,
who had by that time become fervently convinced that Japan had a
need for, and was ready for, a multiuser computer conferencing
system.

The second TWICS BeeLINE went online in September 1985, and by
the end of March 1986 it supported six dial-up modems at a
variety of speeds and more than 350 people with passwords, about
100 of whom were active. Features included E-mail, real-time
messaging, hierarchical reading libraries, games, a member
directory, and around 30 bulletin board areas. While some of the
BB areas had the standard broadcast message function of a BBS,
others developed distinct atmospheres. Groups formed around
them, and the interaction became conversational, with flow and
cohesion to the discourse. The topics ranged from the never-
ending talk about modems on BB TNET to discussion on aspects of
human language on BB GAIGO.

This system was a great hacker's environment (MC68000-based
supermicro running under a UNIX System V port), but a sysop's
nightmare. It was slow, there was no hardware or software
support from the OEM, and a range of serious technical problems
surfaced which kept us, the sysops, so busy that we had no time
to continue development the multi-BBS program into the homegrown
conferencing system it was becoming. Despite this, new members
kept coming in, and they deserved better. So, TWICS decided to
quit reinventing wheels and go out and get a car, and Sakako
agreed to finance it until subscription and usage fees could
make it into a self-sufficient operation.

The third TWICS BeeLINE went online in April 1986 on a fast
little DEC MicroVAX II, 16 access ports, and the first full
PARTICIPATE conferencing system in Asia. E-mail, real-time
messaging, private file directories, download libraries, and a
member directory are also supported. "BEE JIMA" is the metaphor
for our online island community, and is used as a basis for


organizing the public side of PARTI/bee.

Japan is an island nation, full of communities in villages,
towns, and cities squeezed in between the mountains and the sea,
with ports of various sizes and shapes through which
communication flows between communities. So, our own online
community is organized in the same terms, an island community
"BEE JIMA" (Bee Island), with our village ("MURA"), a port
("MINATO"), and our very own volcanic mountain ("YAMA"). In the
village, there is a village office ("YAKUBA"), a community
meeting place ("YORIAI"), a high-tech corner ("AKIHABARA") named
after the famous electronics district in Tokyo, a health center
("EMEDICA"), a place to hang around and read things ("HON YA"),
a school ("GAKKOU"), and a market ("ICHIBA"). The port has
holding areas and leads to other parts of Japan ("NIPPON") and
the world ("SEKAI"), and, of course, the "ENA". The mountain has
a hot springs ("ONSEN") recreational area, and a wooded brush
area ("YABU") for semiprivate meetings.

To help you visualize our island community, Ezure-san of TWICS
drew a map (based on an original sketch by Kiyoshi Yoneda):

The overall atmosphere on TWICS BeeLINE is informal, and since a
high percentage (as of this writing) of the user community lives
in the Tokyo area, new online relationships often lead to face-
to-face meetings. Our core user community ranges in age from
late teens to late sixties, from students to people near
retirement, from corporation office workers to freelance
journalists, and includes people from Japan, other parts of Asia
and the Pacific, Europe, and North and South America.

For information on rates, membership terms and conditions, and
how to sign up, please access TWICS, hit [RETURN] a couple times
to get the username prompt, and login as "GUEST".

International access via packet network:

4401-357-1125

Domestic (Japan) access via DDX-P:

163-060-357-1125

Direct phone via modem:

300 (CCITT v.21):
03-433-3281
03-433-1520

300/1200/2400
(103/212a or v.22/v.22bis):
03-433-0824
03-433-0679
03-432-9552

(Set as 8 bit data, 1 bit stop, no parity, X-on/X-off enabled.)

-----

Author's note: Jeffrey Shapard is a Montanan (U.S.) now living
in Machida, a green suburb of Tokyo. He is a guitar picker and
manual laborer turned linguist turned English teacher turned
telecom fanatic and sysop of TWICS BeeLINE. He can be reached as
"JEFU" on TWICS, Unison and POTS, as "BDQ389" on STC, and as
"73117,1601" on CIS. Yoroshiku and howdy!

EMCA'S GEMSERVICE
A New Approach to Incompatibility and Complexity
by Tom Miezejeski
(from a discussion in the ENA Business Cluster)


To get things started I would like to tell everyone here about a
company that I discovered since I made my original comment about
the problem of incompatibility and complexity (in sending E-mail
and in conferencing on multiple systems).

I called on the Southern New England Telephone Co. in an attempt
to interest them in offering CC as one of the their
Teleconferencing services, since SNET has always been one the
most innovative operating companies in the Bell system. In our
discussions I learned that they have a distribution/marketing
agreement with Electronic Mail Corporation of America (EMCA). At
their suggestion I met with EMCA's president Robert Momon. Here
are some of the key items:

EMCA was started about six years ago, but only started offering
its services about 18 months ago. The first four years were
spent on R&D.

To date they have spent about $7 million on R&D. Mr. Momon was
very proud of how small this number was in relation to what
others have spent developing electronic mail, etc.

EMCA is focusing on large groups with a common interest. This
could include Fortune 500 Companies but not exclusively.

While I hesitate to use the word "simply," simply stated, EMCA
links all networks public and private. This service is called
GEMSERVICE.

GEMSERVICE accommodates all line types, line speeds from 50 to
19200 bps; character sets of ITA#2, ASCII, and EBCDIC; link
level protocols of X.25, X.75, HDLC, 2780, 3780, 3270; and the
spectrum of asynchronous protocols. The networks available
include AT&T, MCI, GTE, SBS, RCA, United Telecommunication,
McDonnell-Douglas, Western Union, and the telex service
providers. They do all this through a network control facility
located in their office in Connecticut.

If you want to deliver a message to someone that does not have a
computer or terminal connected to any of the above they will
send the message via mail or courier service, depending on the
priority.

As you might guess, they accomplish all this by storing all the
communication parameters needed to get from one point to another
in a database. They have also created all the electronic bridges
from one system to another by establishing their own mail box or
boxes on all the systems. Their customers then use a menu driven
system to send a message to someone, and all they have to
specify is who the message goes to and the priority.

The way that I understand the system, I could upload and
download from this conference, but unfortunately I could not
work with the note database online. On the other hand it looks
like we are a lot closer to the global network that is easy to
use.

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).

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.

-----

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!

ENA UPDATE
by Lisa Kimball


ENA members who could get to Philadelphia for a Memorial Day lunch
had a special treat. In addition to good fellowship and a lively
exchange of ideas, we finally signed the papers to incorporate the
organization in Pennsylvania. We have more organizational work to be
done to satisfy the Internal Revenue Service and complete our
planning for the next couple of years-- but this is an important
start! One of the other outcomes of this meeting was our feeling
that more informal f-t-f get-togethers would be valuable. ENA members
are invited to express their interest in joining up for regional
meetings.

Members on UNISON have been engaged in some soul searching about
ENA's organizational structure and whether or not it needs to be
revised to make it easier to achieve our goals. Some feel a
traditional hierarchical structure would clarify roles and help get
more done. Others want to continue to experiment with a more
network-like structure and work to improve the current leadership
mechanisms instead. In the course of the discussion, many excellent
ideas have emerged and work is underway on several initiatives
including "spring cleaning" of ENA's database on UNISON, the
development of a clearer set of *basic* informational notes, and
some new ideas about how we can share the information we generate.

We'll be experimenting here in NETWEAVER with some ideas which
resulted from this discussion. One idea we're considering is
instituting an ENA Journal which could publish some of the more
theoretical material about the medium so we can make NETWEAVER's
focus more on applications and other material of interest to users.
Your feedback about this would be appreciated! Please take a close
look at the Table of Contents in this issue-- we're trying out a new
way to help readers select articles of interest to them and manage
their information more easily.

In this issue you can read about a new network for Presbyterians, a
continuation of our coverage of Telelaw issues, ECONET, a special
network linking service on GEMSERVICE, the TWICS network in Japan,
and a design movement which shares some characteristics of the
information age. We hope you *enjoy* it!