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]



For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/