ELECTRONIC SOCIALIZATION
by Andy Abramson

Are you an electronic communications junkie? If you are reading this, then to some extent you are. Maybe you just use Parti on Unison or on The Source. Perhaps you take a dip in "The WELL" or open your EIES on the NJIT system. But all in all you *do* use the networks for some purpose.

But what are those purposes? Is it for professional use? Personal knowledge? Recreation? Does the concept of "electronic socialization" appeal to you?

It is part of human nature to socialize with others. Not all socializing has to be face to face. It can be electronic. The concept of electronic socialization is most evident in both conferences and in using CHAT on The Source, CB or CONFERENCE on Compuserve, SPEAKEASY or PHONE on Unison, or just "chatting" with a sysop on a local bulletin board system.

What does electronic socialization do for you? For starters, it lets you make new acquaintances. This leads to new business and personal relationships, maybe friendships, and possibly partnerships. Through these social encounters you are able to develop a wider field of understanding of others. You also have the occasion to speak/type your mind and distribute these thoughts via the electronic media at you disposal.

Anybody out there remember the party line telephone and the news that could get passed via that medium? What about CB radio and that '70s craze? All day and all night people interacted with one another on matters that interested one another.

With electronic socialization at our disposal, we have the ability and the desire to help one another and help ourselves. We have the ability to communicate to diverse groups through networking. Our "Porters" are being challenged because they are also serving as editors, gate keepers of information that can be moved from system to system. But in doing so, they are establishing new links along the information chain. Links which will bring together many individuals who, without this medium, would not know of one another.

As the medium grows and expands, and we learn how to utilize what is available, "electronic socialization" will make many new friends for the global community of networkers.