IP: Ronda Hauben * Usenet and the Usenet Archives * W4:15-5:30 Gates B03

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

>         Computer Systems Laboratory Colloquium
>            4:15PM, Wednesday, May 23, 2001
>     NEC Auditorium, Gates Computer Science Building B03
>
> Topic:          Usenet and the Usenet Archives: The Challenges of Building
>                 a Collaborative Technical Community
>
> Speaker:        Ronda Hauben
>                 ronda () panix com
>
> About the talk:
>
> In 1981, Mark Horton, one of the early developers of Usenet,
> wrote that "USENET exists for and by the users, and should
> respond to the needs of those users."
>
> Almost twenty years later, in the Fall of 2000, almost 4000
> people signed a petition directed to Deja.com asking them to
> either maintain the archives online that they had compiled of
> Usenet posts, or to transfer it to someone who would continue to
> keep it online and to provide it with an appropriate home.
>
> These two events, separated by almost twenty years, help to
> highlight an important achievement and yet a significant
> challenge for our times. Usenet was created as a users's network.
> What are the implications of this design principle on the
> continuing development and scaling process of Usenet?
>
> How do the contributions and collaborative efforts by the users
> affect Usenet's continued development? The technical
> collaboration and support that Usenet provides for people around
> the world is valued, as reflected by the petition to Deja.com.
> Yet there are problems that develop as Usenet develops, such as
> the problem of archiving Usenet and maintaining that archive and
> access to it in a way that recognizes the concerns of the online
> community and provides a means to respond to these concerns.
>
> As Usenet scales new problems develop. But so too does the body
> of experience of how to understand and approach these problems.
>
> Usenet is not only about open source and user developed content.
> It is also an example of user involvement in the administration
> and developing architecture of the network itself. As such,
> Usenet is a working model of grassroots development. What are the
> implications of this model toward the broader challenge of the
> continuing development of a collaborative technical community?
> Although focusing on Usenet and its development, this talk will
> also explore the implications of this model toward the general
> problem of the need for the continued development of a
> collaborative technical community.
>
> About the speaker:
>
> Ronda Hauben is a researcher and writer who has spent the past
> nine years studying, writing and participating in Usenet and the
> Internet. She has her BA from Queens College in NYC and an MA
> from Tufts University. She is co-author of Netizens: On the
> History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet published by the
> IEEE Computer Society in 1997, and online in a draft form at
> http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/ She is also a
> founding editor of the Amateur Computerist newsletter and
> writes about the social and cultural aspects of Internet
> developments for Telepolis and other publications. She is
> currently working on a new book about the Information Processing
> Techniques Office (IPTO) and the Birth of the Internet.
>
> Contact information:
>
> Ronda Hauben
> ronda () panix com
> ronda () ais org
> http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook
> http://www.ais.org/~ronda/new.papers
> Telepolis, http://www.heise.de/tp/english/
> Amateur Computerist, http://umcc.ais.org/~jrh/acn/[10]



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