Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: bad memory IP post
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 11:16:41 -0500
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 08:52:17 -0500 From: Charles Brownstein <cbrownst () CNRI Reston VA US> My take is that the Internet came of age and (is dragging) everything with it. For example: 1) Internet ran over the opposition of GSA and technophobes on the Hill when it: - took off in the press (eg., became real to non techies such as members and most constituents) - Executive branch use got a push from the National Performance Review, (embarrassing eh Legislative Branch - The National Library of Congress (which services this activity) gained the experience and confidence to buy into the Internet 2) there was sharp bias against the Internet by the OSI promoters at NIST that was finally beat down by the Federal Networking Council and ARPA/NSF persistence All of the above got momentum due to a) HPCC- Internet technology emerged with benifits of virtually guranteed service performance due to NSFnet ease use due to Mosiac, and b) personal information processing capability improvment due to faster/cheaper PCs). There is still a long way to go- Even now, if you try to contact the members of the House listed as participating in the congressional experiment with E-mail, you only get a canned response and a promise that IF you are a constituent, the message will be passed on. Attitude and organization needs adjusting! Worse, there remains debate about the most efficient way to give the public the information that they pay agencies to produce in the first place. Many intermediaries (firms) massage bits and sell products for large profits - some even have contractual monopolies (vis flap on SEC's EDGAR/NSF/West Publishing). Politics and economics collide. Any progress is progress however, so I applaud and push forward. Contituent interest is the MOST powerful force, and once the gates are open, many things will be possible. Just watch out for the moves that can close the gates- via attempts to control, and worse, by accident when the bathwater is let out! At 6:49 PM 1/6/95, Harry J. Saal wrote:
On Fri, 6 Jan 1995 15:59:57 -0500 David Farber wrote:Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 14:05:22 -0500 From: Charles Brownstein <cbrownst () CNRI Reston VA US> Dave- planning for this "overnight Gingrich innovation" of congress business on line began in 1987 when Gorden Bell participated in laying out an architecture for information systemsfor the House and Senate. It got a big boost last year when many members went on line,Would you care to quantify "many"? (The old joke is 1,2,many afterall.) My impression is that it is a rather small minority of the full membership of the House. (I don't have an idea about the Senate, but I have seen only private Senatorial e-mail addresses published.) Mind you, I am very supportive of the concept and the vision. But it truly appears to be more show than reality. On the other hand,... and now that mostExecutive branch agencies and White House have active Web sites,This is a large, pervasive and vibrant activity. It was non-existant just over a year ago. So why does it take the House and Senate 5 years to get from Gordon Bell's plan to what is still a mere wisp of a reality? ============================================================ Dr. Harry J. Saal, President & CEO, Smart Valley, Inc. http://www.svi.org/ gopher://gopher.svi.org E-mail: HSaal () svi org Voice: 415-843-2102 FAX: 415-843-2222 ============================================================
Charles N. Brownstein Executive Director Cross-Industry Working Team Corporation for National Research Initiatives 1895 Preston White Drive Suite 100 Reston, VA 22091 Tel: (703) 620-8990 Fax: (703) 620-0913 Internet: cbrownst () cnri reston va us On the Web: http://www.cnri.reston.va.us:3000/XIWT/public.html
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