[11624] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
CPSR conference schedule
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (CWHITCOM@bentley.edu)
Mon Apr 11 22:41:20 1994
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 1994 15:38:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: CWHITCOM@bentley.edu
To: com-priv@psi.com
X-Vms-To: IN%"com-priv@psi.com"
PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE (4/10/94)
DIAC-94:
Developing an Equitable and Open Information Infrastructure
April 23-24
Cambridge, Mass.
MIT Room 10-250
Sponsored by
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR)
Information:
Coralee Whitcomb
Conference Co-Chair
(617) 356-4309
email: cwhitcomb@bentley.edu
Hans Klein
Conference Co-Chair
email: hkklein@mit.edu
===== PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE FOR SATURDAY (Day 1) =====
Location: MIT Building 10-250 (large conference room)
Registration (8:30 - 12:00)
The Promise and Problems of the NII (9:00 - 9:30)
A small window of opportunity is now open for the public's input
to the design process. This talk will give an overview of the
issues at stake and the potential to influence NII development
for the common good.
Beverly Hunter of Bolt, Beranek, and Newman (BBN)
Break
Directing Technical and Social Change Through Public Policy
(9:45- 11:15)
Communications technology is not autonomous, but is shaped by
political and economic forces. Topics include the relationship
between media ownership and editorial control, government
regulation of communications, and libraries.
Patrice McDermott, Policy Analyst of OMB Watch
Stan Kugel, General Manager of Pilgrim Telephone
Jamie Love, Director of Taxpayers Assets Project
Speaker (11:15 - 12:00)
Herbert Schiller, Author of Who Knows: Information in the
Age of the Fortune 500
Lunch (12:00 - 1:00)
Keynote (1:00 - 2:00)
Benjamin Barber, Author of Strong Democracy: Participatory
Politics for a New Age
Perspectives on Technology and Information Content (2:00 - 3:30)
The NII may allow for increased public access to communications.
This could multiply the diversity of viewpoints in political
discussion and improve the quality and variety of cultural
offerings. Topics here include community cable TV, news in the
future, and alternative wire services.
Tony Lewis, Executive Director, Alliance for Community Media
Walter Bender, MIT Media Lab, News of the Future Group
Jeff Chester, Co-Director of The Center for Media Education
Break
Grassroots Initiatives in Community Networking (3:45 - 5:00)
A look at independent computer network projects around the U.S.
serving communities through freely accessible systems.
Tom Grundner, President of The National Public Telecomputing
Network
Antonia Stone, Founder of Playing to Win
Joyce Freeling, Founder of the Legacy Project
DIAC-94
DEVELOPING AN EQUITABLE AND OPEN INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
April 23-24
Cambridge, MA
MIT Building 10-250
Info: (617) 356-4397, cwhitcomb@bentley.edu , hkklein@mit.edu
===== PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE FOR SUNDAY (Day 2) =====
================================================================
THEMATIC STREAMS AND LOCATIONS (A-H)
Stream A: Room 2-131 NON-PROFITS
Stream B: Room 2-132 ACCESS/OUTREACH
Stream C: Room 2-135 POLICY
Stream D: Room 2-136 CYBERSPACE
Stream E: Room 2-139 RHETORIC AND METAPHOR
Stream F: Room 2-142 CULTURE
Stream G: Room 2-143 FREE SPEECH
Stream H: Room 2-146 CONSTITUENCIES
TIME PERIODS (1-5)
Period 1 9:00 - 10:30 (Morning Plenary Session in 10-250)
Period 2 10:45 - 12:15
Period 3 1:15 - 2:45
Period 4 3:00 - 4:30
Period 5 4:45 - 6:15
================================================================
=================== THEMATIC STREAMS (A-D) =====================
| A. | B. | C. | D. |
TIME | NON-PROFITS | ACCESS | POLICY | CYBERSPACE |
PERIODS | (2-131) | (2-132) | (2-135) | (2-136) |
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Period 1 | A1. | B1. | C1. | D1. |
9:00 - | | Intro to | | |
10:30 | | Internet | | |
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Period 2 | A2. | B2. | C2. | D2. |
10:45 - | Non-Profit | The Rest | Measuring | Collaboratv|
12:15 | Nightmare? | of Us | the NII | Info Retrvl|
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Lunch |
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Period 3 | A3. | B3. | C3. | D3. |
1:15 - | Public | Public | Policy for | Decision |
2:25 | Access TV | Policy | Global GII | Making |
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Period 4 | A4. | B4. | C4. | D4. |
3:00 - | S. African | Playing | Public | Democracy |
4:30 | Press | to Win | Services GII| Cyberspace |
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Period 5 | A5. | B5. | C5. | D5. |
4:45 - | Higher Educ | Community- | Public or | "Serious" |
6:15 | Professions | Wide Service| Private? | MUDS |
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
=================== THEMATIC STREAMS (E-H) ======================
| E. | F. | G. | H. |
TIME | RHETORIC | CULTURE | FREE SPEECH | CONSTITUEN |
PERIODS | (2-139) | (2-142) | (2-143) | (2-146) |
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Period 1 | E1. | F1. | G1. | H1. |
9:00 - | Post-Modern | | Free | |
10:30 | View | | Speech | |
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Period 2 | E2. | F2. | G2. | H2. |
10:45 - | Metaphors | Parent-Child| Intro to | Indiv's w. |
12:15 | | Partnerships| Internet | Disabilit's|
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Lunch |
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Period 3 | E3. | F3. | G3. | H3. |
1:15 - | Rhetorical | Culturally | Crimes and | Gender |
2:25 | History | Appropriate | Liabilities | Gridlock |
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Period 4 | E4. | F4. | G4. | H4. |
3:00 - | Political | Network | Copyright | Ethics |
4:30 | Rhetoric | Personality | | Case Study |
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Period 5 | E5. | F5. | G5. | H5. |
4:45 - | Broken | Ethnic | No Free | Ethics, Edu|
6:15 | Promises | Identity | Lunch | Entertainmt|
---------+-------------+-------------+-------------+------------+
Stream A: NON-PROFITS (Room 2-131)
A1. ---
A2. NAVIGATING THE NET: A NON-PROFIT NIGHTMARE??
- Philippa Gamse, Terry Grunwald
Electronic networking should be a perfect medium for nonprofits.
It offers broad and timely access to information; efficient tools
for communication and dissemination; and increased opportunities
for collaboration.But those of us who have struggled to translate
this vision into reality have learned that this is very tough
work. This workshop will focus on the issue of how to protect
non-profit agencies from being stranded on the Information
Superhighway.
A3: PUBLIC ACCESS TELEVISION / MEDIA ARTS CENTERS:
MODELS FOR COMMUNITY ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION
INFRASTRUCTURE
- Rika Welsh, Susie Walsh, Abigail Norman,
Susan Fleischmann, Cambridge Community Television
Public access television began 20 years ago, the result of hard
work of activists concerned with some of the same issues being
addressed at this conference: With the advent of emerging
technologies, how do we ensure that those who do not have access
to traditional, mainstream media and technologies are provided a
forum to express themselves, their cultures, political and social
beliefs, and to communicate and interact with others? We will
seek to learn from participants how access television might work
with computer professionals to ensure that the communities that
we now serve will have comparable access to the emerging
communications technologies.
A4. MISANET: THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN PRESS ON THE NET
- Philip Machanick, Ronnie Apteker, Philip Green, Thomas
McWalter
University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
The purpose of this workshop is to illustrate how relatively
low-cost technologies can be used to set up a news infrastructure
for a group of newspapers. By way of example, services being set
up by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa; the services
are collectively called MISANET) are described. Our role in this
is technical facilitation (first author) and providing
infrastructure (other authors); Misa is an initiative of the
independent papers of Southern Africa.
A5: INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY:
A ROAD MAP FOR HIGHER EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS
Melissa Lee Price, Morris College
The purpose of this workshop will be to explore and make
recommendations on how to disseminate information concerning the
potential of the Information Superhighway to higher education
academics who are involved in the distance learning process. It
will further discuss ways to equip these higher education
professionals with the skills needed to become proficient users
of the technology involved.
Stream B: ACCESS/OUTREACH (Room 2-132)
B1. INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNET
- Michael Barrow, Boston Computer Society
The Internet is a powerful communications facility that
interconnects users from all over the world. You'll find out what
the Internet is in detail, how it works, what services it
provides and how it can be valuable to you.
B2. THE NII AND THE REST OF US
- Jim Davis, CPSR
This workshop will provide a forum for representatives from
sections of our population that have been invisible or largely
ignored in the NII debate to articulate their perspective on the
NII, to suggest a broader definition of "universal access", and
to link the push for a national information infrastructure to the
need for a functioning national social infrastructure.
B3. [PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC POLICY]
B4. PLAYING TO WIN AND THE COMMUNITY COMPUTING CENTER MOVEMENT
- Antonia Stone and Peter Miller
The growth of the community computing center movement--low-income
neighborhood centers which provide computer training, access and
integration into community programs--is one response to the
presuppositions of taking a democratic NII seriously.
B5. THE GREATER BOSTON COMMUNITY-WIDE EDUCATION AND INFORMATION
SERVICES ORGANIZING PROJECT (CWEIS)
- Marlene Archer, The Boston Computer Society
This workshop is an excellent opportunity for the CWEIS
Organizing Committee to help define the Boston community on-line
service, gain suggestive feedback and insights, and make useful
in-person contacts and connections.
Stream C: POLICY (Room 2-135)
C1. ---
C2. MEASURING THE NII
- Richard Civille, Ann Bishop
This workshop will introduce participants to issues and
techniques related to collecting data on NII use and impacts.
Participants will also contribute to the development of
appropriate measures and methods for assessing the effectiveness
and equitability of NII implementation and outcomes.
C3. POLICY FOR THE GLOBAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE (I)
- William Drake, UCSD, with Herbert Schiller
The first workshop session will analyze global and national
policy challenges to equitable information infrastructure
development. The role of international institutions;
intellectual property in a globally networked environment; the
role of community networks, and National Information
Infrastructure (NII) technology policies will be emphasized.
C4. PUBLIC SERVICES FOR THE GLOBAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
(II)
- Lee McKnight, MIT
The second workshop session will present concrete examples of
prototypical NII services along with future application areas.
Through dialog and interaction with workshop participants, it is
hoped that critical variables for NII public policies can be
identified in their global context.
C5: NII: PUBLIC OR PRIVATE? DEFINING RESEARCH PARAMETERS
Sherwood A. Dowling
The immediate purpose of the workshop is to introduce
participants to the economic concepts of public goods,
privatization and externalities in the context of government
information. The ultimate purpose of the workshop will be the
definition of one or more testable hypothesis, recognition of
policy option points, determination of potential policy impacts,
identification of prospective survey participants or other data
sources, and enumeration of possible evaluation criteria.
Stream D: CYBERSPACE (Room 2-136)
D1. ---
D2: COLLABORATIVE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL:
COMBINING TALKING AND SEARCHING
- Larry Masinter, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center
This workshop is to explore applications of combining online
information retrieval systems (such as Gopher and World Wide Web)
with online conferencing systems (such as MUDs and IRC) in a
unified system. The presenter will survey existing technology and
lead a discussion of current and possible applications. This is
primarily of interest to system administrators who are already or
want to support a community with both online information access
and interactive talk facilities.
D3: DECISION MAKING ON THE INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
- Craig Smilovitz, Analog Devices
The workshop will explore the dynamics of decision making over
the net. This is electronic democracy in the small. We will
look at the processes involved when a committee or small group
tries to hammer out a decision while meeting over the net. Our
assumption will be that in this small-committee model, the
decisions trying to be reached focus more on the practical than
the broad philosophical. And while hierarchical models will be
touched upon, we will concentrate on non-hierarchical models such
as concensus.
D4. DEMOCRACY IN CYBERSPACE
- Amy Bruckman, MIT Media Lab
How is cyberspace to be governed? Commercial service providers
require new members to agree to a set of "terms of service" which
establishes standards for appropriate conduct. More democratic
methods of governance are possible.
D5. "SERIOUS" USES OF MUDS?
- Amy Bruckman, MIT Media Lab
The term "MUD" stands for "Multi User Dungeon." In the 1990s, a
number of research projects have begun to explore the potential
"serious" uses of MUDs. Are these experiments working? Are
people getting "real work" done? This raises the question, what
is "real work" anyway? In this workshop we will try to view
these experiments critically.
Stream E: RHETORIC AND METAPHOR (Room 2-139)
E1: A POSTMODERN VIEW OF NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE
- Dr. Bob Barbour, The University of Waikato, New Zealand
The purpose of the workshop will be to identify the possible
future consequences of applying a postmodernist view to
Information Technology practice as it relates to NII. The central
focus of the workshop will be to consider how NII can contribute
to or inhibit discourse.
E2. METAPHORS ALONG THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY
- Mark Ackerman, University of California Irvine
It is absolutely essentially that the metaphors of use
surrounding the NII and its component services be examined
critically. The descriptions and explanations of the NII and its
component services will affect the societal debate around
implementation and social impacts. The goal would be to develop
an understanding of how the terms used to describe the NII and
its services effect the policy debates and even the technical
characteristics.
E3. THE RHETORICAL HISTORY OF NII
- Steve Fuller, University of Pittsburgh
We will consider how various people have been rhetorically
constructing the history of NII to convey the impression that it
must inevitably develop in a certain direction, if it is to
realize its mission of creating a "knowledge-intensive society."
We will demonstrate how this rhetoric can be criticized, thereby
enabling the discussion of alternative future trajectories for
NII.
E4. THE POLITICAL RHETORIC OF NII
- Steve Fuller, University of Pittsburgh
We will consider the rhetoric used to knit together various
constituencies that are needed to get behind the development of
NII -- and then examine the extent to which these constituencies
(which include the President, Congress, the military, big
business, universities, and "ordinary folks") are likely to
benefit from it.
E5. DUPED AGAIN? LEARNING FROM BROKEN PROMISES
David Levinger, John Monberg, and Steve Pierce
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Are you tired of hype and tacky metaphors? Wary of
government-industry coalitions pleading "Trust Us" with their
utmost sincerity? This workshop will explore experiences of
living through the shiny predictions of the future based on
marvelous new technologies. Most of us experience technological
disappointment and disillusionment at one time or another. This
workshop aims at harvesting these experiences to yield practical
recommendations and shield us from dystopian outcomes.
Stream F: CULTURE (Room 2-142)
F1. ---
F2: EMPOWERMENT AND INTERGENERATIONAL BILINGUAL LITERACY:
PARENT-CHILD PARTNERSHIPS IN LONG-DISTANCE NETWORKS
- Dennis Sayers, New York University
This presentation will describe an effort to foster
intergenerational bilingual literacy by setting up
network-mediated partnerships between parents working with their
school-age children and other parents, over long distances. This
partnership of three after-school programs in which parents and
their school-age children played the central role in organizing
on-line activities exemplifies the potential of computer-based
telecommunications to build "learning bridges" across
generations, cultures, and borders.
F3: CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE SOFTWARE
- Dr. Bob Barbour, The University of Waikato, New Zealand
The workshop will invite, with reference to an illustrative
example from New Zealand, an exchange of views on language
preservation issues for indigenous peoples faced with NII. The
goal will be to pass the views of the workshop participants on to
the United Nations Working Group WG20 Internationalisation of
Application Software.
F4. NETWORK PERSONALITY
- Ted Gaiser
As we log into Cyberspace, we might ask ourselves: Who are we?
What do we become? How do we perceive those we encounter? How
do we perceive ourselves? Do we act differently in Cyberspace?
Do we need to learn new ways to communicate? How? Are there
pre-established social 'norms' of behavior? Should there be
social norms of behavior? Do we think we know what they are, or
should be? The purpose of this workshop will be to evaluate and
explore the development of "network identity." We will consider
what it means to learn a new mode of communication, how we
acquire our on-line voice, and what questions are raised for us
as individuals, virtual communities and society.
F5: PRESERVATION OF ETHNIC IDENTITY THROUGH ELECTRONIC
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
- Louis LeRoy, Association of American Cultures
This panel would review the potential the National Information
infrastructure (NII) can offer ethnic communities in the
preservation and maintenance of their culturally specific
identities. Since the beginning of this nation, there has been an
attempt to erase the cultural origin of the first immigrants to
America. There is now a shift in emphases and sensitivity to the
cultural origins of people of color in America.
Stream G: FREE SPEECH (Room 2-143)
G1: INTELLECTUAL FREEDOM: PARKS, STREETS, SIDEWALKS AND
...CYBERSPACE? FREE SPEECH IN THE NEW PUBLIC SQUARE
- Anne Levinson Penway, ALA, Paul Vermouth, MIT
Librarians have long supported the principles of intellectual
freedom in defending library users' rights to have access to
ideas and information from all points of view without
restriction, including restrictions based upon the age of the
library user. How should these principles guide the development
of the national information infrastructure?
G2. INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNET
- Michael Barrow
The Internet is a powerful communications facility that
interconnects users from all over the world. You'll find out what
the Internet is in detail, how it works, what services it
provides and how it can be valuable to you. (Repeat of B1.)
G3: SECURING THE INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE: NEW CRIMES,
CRIMINALS, LOSSES, AND LIABILITIES IN THE POST-HACKER ERA
- Sanford Sherizen, Data Security Systems, Inc.
Less attention seems to have been raised about how to protect
information from a growing populations of "new" computer
criminals. In the Post-Hacker Era, they include competitors,
inside traders, governments, journalists, and "crackers"
While the Clipper controversy continues, this is only one of a
number of information security policy issues that will arise and
need informed resolution.
G4: COPYRIGHT ON THE ELECTRONIC FRONTIER
- Simson L. Garfinkel, NeXTWORLD Magazine
A growing number of major media outlets, including such
name-brand newspapers as The New York Times and The Christian
Science Monitor, refuse to pay their freelance writers extra for
the electronic rights to their stories. This panel discussion
will explore the how the issues of copyright plug-and-play in our
networked world, and will highlight a recent lawsuit filed
against the New York Times by ten members of the National Writer
Union.
G5. NO FREE LUNCH, EVEN IN THE DIGITAL AGE?
- Richard Lynch, Long Island University
This workshop will explore some of the micro level economic
forces which will influence the move to digital information
sources and access, and to understand how those forces will
transform some existing relationships and may lead to a
concentration of information providers that could influence the
possibilities for equitable access.
Stream H: CONSTITUENCIES (Room 2-146)
H1. ---
H2. PC's EMPOWER INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
- Joseph J. Lazzaro, Massachusetts Commission For The Blind
For persons with disabilities, the online community represents an
electronic bill of rights and a new found freedom. The workshop
will focus on how to adapt personal computers for individuals
with vision, hearing, and motor disabilities. Basic concepts of
computer modifications that are common across hardware platforms
will be highlighted.
H3: GENDER GRIDLOCK ON THE INTERNET SUPERHIGHWAY
- Sarah Douglas, Cheris Kramarae, Univ. of Illinois
This workshop will bring together people who are concerned about
the impact of the Information Superhighway on women and other
groups traditionally disenfranchised from the creation and
decision-making of computer-based technology.
H4. DEVELOPING COMPUTER ETHICS CASE STUDIES
- Heinz C. Luegenbiehl, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
this workshop is designed to help individuals without formal
training in ethics discuss ethical issues, in a productive
fashion, with a variety of audiences. The workshop serves as a
sample audience participation discussion of computer ethics.
H5. ETHICS, EDUCATION AND ENTERTAINMENT ON THE NII:
WHAT SHOULD RESEARCH PRIORITIES BE?
- Rachelle D. Hollander, National Science Foundation
The focus of this workshop is on developing research proposals to
the Ethics and Values Studies Program, National Science
Foundation. EVS is interested in supporting research on ethical
and value issues associated with high performance computing and
the national information infrastructure. But what topics should
have priority? And how should the research be done?
