[12992] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Re: Public Access Computer Systems
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Public-Access Computer Systems For)
Tue Jun 29 20:07:42 1999
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 13:50:51 -0600
From: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <LIBPACS@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU>
To: PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@LISTSERV.UH.EDU>
Message-Id: <0FE3000D4R49U2@Post-Office.UH.EDU>
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2 Messages; 75 Lines
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From: Jack Kessler <kessler@well.com>
Subject: Re: Public Access Computer Systems
I agree with Bernie and others here that PACS-L could stand some
rejuvenation. I used to enjoy the discussions which took place
here and have grown tired of mere announcements -- discussions
provoke interest, and participation, and give readers the idea
that there is more going on than the mere sales - hype which
makes up so much of what is online nowadays.
Let me plead, therefore, for some re - dedication to the first
two words in the PACS-L title -- "public" and "access". I
personally am very interested in both, and I find neither
particularly well - addressed in the other online resources which
I can reach. I can get to a great deal of "technical help"
elsewhere, and a lot about "computers" and "systems", but not to
too much about either the "public" or their "access", nowadays.
Charles Bailey's original idea for PACS-L, as I remember, was to
address the concerns of those of us charged specifically with
delivering "access" to the "public", i.e. as opposed to those of
us just talking shop among ourselves about computers and systems,
for which there was plenty online then and still is now. "Public
access" was a new idea, back when PACS-L started, and libraries
then were in the forefront in providing it.
And as far as I myself can tell, "public access" still hasn't
gotten too far, lo these many years later -- I don't consider
"information overload" or "infotainment" to be "access", although
these are primarily what the general "public" now gets online --
and libraries still can be in the forefront in "public access",
if they still wish to be, because the increasingly - dominating
news media and entertainment industries definitely are not.
So I myself would like to see more here on PACS-L specifically
about "public access": news and announcements and discussion and
debate, but all of these focussing more on the general public and
its access to information than PACS-L has been recently -- items
on "filtering" and "censorship" and "child safety", for example,
and "information 'haves' versus 'have - nots'", and "library
participation in the information revolution and / or library
exclusion from it", and what we all think about these things and
what we and others are doing about them -- I can't get any of
this anywhere else so easily, myself, as I can get it on PACS-L.
Jack Kessler, kessler@well.sf.ca.us
On Mon, 28 Jun 1999, Sloan, Bernie wrote:
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From: morganj@iupui.edu
Subject: Re: Public Access Computer Systems
I was also an early contributer to the list, and even put an article in
the Pacs-l journal. However I agree with Bernie that the list is
essentially dead.
One of the liveliest topics on the original list was technical questions
and solutions, but after it became a moderated list, that topic was deemed
out of bounds. Technical questions were only posted with "reply to
author" notes. So those topics have largely moved to web4lib and to
specialty lists, even when they concern public-access computing in
libraries.
Based on the traffic for the past few years, I'm not sure what subjects
would be considered "on-topic". It seems to have become a list for
occasional job-postings that are often present in other lists as well.
Jim Morgan
morganj@iupui.edu
