[722] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
What's Going on Here?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (David Tyckoson)
Mon Jul 13 09:35:59 1992
Date: Mon, 13 Jul 1992 08:31:56 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
From: David Tyckoson <DT673%ALBNYVMS.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@ricevm1.rice.edu>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
I am very disturbed by two announcements that came in yesterday's
PACS-L mail. Maybe it's just my end-of-the-week blues, but I think that we
are seeing a subtle shift in the status and value of the Internet. The
two messages to which I am referring are: 1. That the back issues of
PACS-L Review have just been published in print form, and 2. That the
next edition of Zen and the Art of the Internet has just been published
in PRINT form ONLY! What's going on here?
To my mind, this sends some messages about the use of the networks
that I find disturbing. First, the publication of PACS-L Review in print
form says that this journal has enough useful material that it can now be
published in a "real" format. While the editors state that this publication
makes the journal available to a wider range of readers, I see it as
undermining the electronic nature of the journal. PACS-L Review is one of
the best of the electronic journals, publishing referreed articles by some
of the most forward-thinking people in our field. It did not need print
publication to authenticate its status as a leading journal in our field.
Fortunately, it will still be published electronically. I just hope that
libraries do not back out of obtaining electronic journals by waiting for
the print form.
An even more threatening statement is the publication of Zen in
print only. What this says to me is that some publishers have found out
that there is money to be made on them thar networks, so they are going to
try to make us pay for information that has been available "free" to
everyone in the past. I have thought of the Internet as one of our best
efforts at distributing information to anyone in the world on an equal
basis, but publishing guides to this system on a "for sale" basis will
erode the democracy of the system. I have no problem with documents such
as the ARL list of electronic serials, which are published both in print
and at an ftp site. I hope that this publication of ZEN is not an
indication of future privatization of the Internet.
At the risk of writing an overly long note, I must also comment
on an even more distrubing message that arrived after the first two. At
least one nation (Chile) seems to have put a high "tax" on the use of the
electronic networks. If this should spread, the network will become the
domain of those who can afford high payments for their information, seriously
eroding access by individuals to the information they need.
I hope that someone can tell me that I am only being pessimistic
and that my fears are undeserved. If not, July 10, 1992 may have marked
the beginning of the end of free access to electronic information through the
Internet.
David Tyckoson
SUNY-Albany
