Date: Thu, 5 May 94 00:39:05 EDT
To: hauben@columbia.edu (Michael Hauben)
Subject: Re: Defining Current Net Community for NII Policy Initiative Project
Newsgroups: comp.society

In article <19940504.064424.937952.NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU> you wrote:
[...]
> as it is a very broad and diverse community. I would appreciate
> people's opinions on how to define at least your part of the
> community in reference to the following topics:

>         - Implementation Strategies
>         - Functionality (standard operating ability and/or regulations)
>         - Privacy
>         - Intellectual Property
>         - Equity / Access Issues
[...]
> example, personally I do not feel that privacy and intellectual
> property are the correct "characterizations" of these issues. As
> for the Netnews community, and ftp/gopher/web/etc openness for
> communication would be (in my personal opinion) a higher priority
> than intellectual property, and cooperation more important than
> privacy. However, I would like to hear from others about their
> thoughts on these matters.

My "community" on the net is very much a research-oriented one; as
such, my personal opinions regarding the importance of cooperation
and collaboration echo yours. Privacy and IPR aren't much of an issue
when you are deliberately using the net to reach as many people as
possible, to disseminate an idea as widely as possible, and to solicit
as much feedback as possible.

I attended the NII meeting of February 10, and was somewhat amazed that
so little discussion was dedicated to the real-world, right-now
research capabilities that the Internet provides. At least in molecular
biology, there's been an explosion of network services, ftp/gopher sites,
web pages, you name it, over the past year. I know of no-one in my field
(under the age of 40 ;-) who does not use the resources available via the net.

When you are considering the specifications for a next-generation
information resource, shouldn't one begin with a thorough examination
of the first-generation resource?

My apologies, I'm a little far afield of your original topic. I just hope
that those who make the policy decisions regarding the NII are supplied with
an accurate and complete picture of the utility of Internet for research.
We don't want to lose any of the capabilities that we currently have!

Best regards,

National Center for Biotechnology Information
National Institutes of Health