NPR Meets the Internet

[Carl Malamud <carl@malamud.com>]

Station: Internet Multicasting Service
Channel: Internet Town Hall
Program: National Public Radio meets the Internet
Release: May 31, 1993 (Recording Date 5/21/93)
Content: Talk of the Nation: Science Friday

Thanks to the kind assistance of Frank Christel of KWGS at the University
of Tulsa, we are pleased to release a rebroadcast of the May 21 edition
of NPR meets the Internet.  This historic program combined the Internet
Town Hall with Talk of the Nation: Science Friday.  Live national radio
met the MBONE, allowing people sitting in front of computers to ask
questions of host Ira Flatow.  The MBONE gateway was operated by Ron
Frederick and his able assistant Steve Deering, both of Xerox's Palo
Alto Research Center.

In addition to the MBONE gateway, the program featured an Internet
Treasure Hunt, designed by Rick Gates of the University of California
at Santa Barbara.  Things were hectic enough in the studio that we
didn't get to read the questions and answers on the air, but we hope
that those of you that participated in the hunt enjoyed the experience.
Write to Rick at lb05gate%ucsbuxa@hub.ucsb.edu to join in the monthly
treasure hunts he produces.

Live audio coming in from the Internet was one of the demonstrations
on the show, but we also wanted to show that you can participate in the
Internet Town Hall with a simple 2400 bps modem.  E-mail accounts were
set up for Ira Flatow and we received record numbers of messages.
During the one hour of the show, Ira received over 150 messages in the
studio on a RadioMail terminal.  

Internet Town Hall includes regular rebroadcasts of the National Press
Club Luncheon series plus special events.  Each special event brings
together a broad consortium from government and business to help show
the world what the Internet is and how it can be used.  Previously, we
helped coordinate the Global Schoolhouse Project which allowed students
around the U.S. and England to brief government officials on the results
of their research into the environment.

The next Internet Town Hall special event will take place on July 26
when we help coordinate the first-ever Congressional Hearings to be
held over the Internet.  Witnesses testifying before the House 
Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance will be remotely 
located, testimony will be placed in WAIS databases, special Gopher 
menus will be constructed, e-mail addresses will be opened, and a 
variety of other tools will be used to show how to apply the Internet 
to the process of government.  The subject of these hearings will be 
"The Role of Government in Cyberspace" and the hearings will be 
headquartered in the Grand Ballroom of the National Press Club, one 
of the project sponsors.

Support for NPR Meets the Internet was furnished by O'Reilly & Associates,
Sun Microsystems, WAIS, Inc., and Xerox PARC.

Network connectivity for the Internet Town Hall is provided by UUNET 
Technologies.


Internet Town Hall Program Files

Size           Name                      Description
12,823,486     053193_spec_01_HALL.au    NPR Meets the Internet, Part 1
13,616,639     053193_spec_02_HALL.au    NPR Meets the Internet, Part 2
               053193_spec_HALL.readme   (This File)

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