Memes (12/88)
MEMES by Howard Rheingold [note: This piece from _BRAINSTORMS: Ideas, Opinions, and Speculations from the Mind of Howard Rheingold_ was identified by Howard as a "free flow" piece meaning that readers are encouraged to copy it and pass it along ... with attribution of course.] Memes are units of meaning that leap from mind to mind - little semantic passengers that ride words and music and symbols and make themselves at home in your thoughts. They can travel via any communication medium from anthems to prayer books. This newsletter is a means of delivering memes from my mind to...

Etiquette Online: A Rand Report (7/86)
ETIQUETTE ONLINE: A Rand Report by Lisa Kimball Shapiro, Norman Z. and Robert H. Anderson, TOWARD AN ETHICS AND ETIQUETTE FOR ELECTRONIC MAIL, Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, 1985. Purpose of the Report ===================== According to the authors of this report, which was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Rand Corporation: Electronic mail and message systems are playing an increasing role in the work we perform. The effects, and side-effects, of this new communication medium can be substantial... By presenting some initial guidelines for [these systems], the authors hope to accelerate the process by which social customs...

An Interview with Wendy Woods (7/86)
AN INTERVIEW WITH WENDY WOODS, EDITOR OF NEWSBYTES by Hank Mishkoff This two-part interview with Wendy Woods, originator and editor of Newsbytes, was conducted in Parti on The Source in late May and early June 1986. Newsbytes is a weekly electronic newsletter that offers "byte- size" chunks of timely information about the microcomputer industry worldwide. Wendy initiated Newsbytes three years ago as a "user-publishing" feature on The Source (user-publishers receive royalties based on the size of their readership). Newsbytes is the first user-publishing effort to become a regular "information provider" feature of The Source; you can read a new...

A Design Style for the Information Age (6/86)
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...

Teen Room (2/86)
TEEN ROOM by Mike Blaszczak "TEEN ROOM". An interesting conference; it's strange, it's offbeat, and it works. The door swings open easily. Orange peels, straws, beer cans, atmosphere. There is a small group huddled around a sad excuse for a table in one corner. One person is talking slowly, then others seem to be injecting ideas or suggestions. You feel totally uninhibited, without a care in the world. Your normal, social "caste" is totally shattered; you realize that this is an elbows-on-the-table, eat-with-yer-fingers bunch. Before the night ends, you've discussed a few problems that you're having as a teen....

The Screen Personality (12/85)
THE SCREEN PERSONALITY by Robert Harper Everyone who works hard at conferencing tends to develop a character that is ON all the time, a SCREEN personality. For some people it is not sufficient to have the *ONE* SCREEN personality. Depending on their mood, or the things they have been reading lately, they display multiple SPLIT SCREEN personalities. The discrepancy between the SCREEN personality and the REAL personality is a manifestation that confronts anyone who uses CC systems regularly. Both writers and readers soon come to recognize that a person's ID will usually give a clue to what he will...

Online Jargon or Hyperlanguage (8/85)
ONLINE JARGON OR HYPERLANGUAGE? Edited by Stefanie Kott, Researched by Roger Bunting