Netizens-Digest Monday, March 7 2005 Volume 01 : Number 538 Netizens Association Discussion List Digest In this issue: [netz] about research on transatlantic internet [netz] FCC Internet History Exhibit [netz] A netizen honored Re: [netz] A netizen honored [netz] Interesting article about E-democracy and its problems in Germany [netz] Future Generation Internet Architecture papers [netz] about netizens and the wsis meeting ongoing now [netz] Crisis in the US Media and the 2004 Election [netz] Missed Lessons of the Dean Campaign - the Need for a Netizen Press ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 20 Jun 2004 14:07:57 -0400 (EDT) From: Subject: [netz] about research on transatlantic internet Hi all I wonder if there has been any research done on the early history of the Internet, especially the early 70- and 80-ties? Focus on the international (trans-Atlantic) collaboration is of special interest. Do anybody know of research on the development of the governance of the Internet infrastructures, away from control of the researcher communities and towards control by private entities? Away from *public* US control towards private US control. We are also interested in the previous and future role for netizens in the governance process. The reason why I ask is that myself and Ronda Hauben, co-author "Netizens" want to make a proposal to do this research and we are interested in knowing more what has been done and of others who may be interested. If you are interested, please send Ronda an email. Anders Ronda ronda@panix.com ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 22:15:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Jay Hauben Subject: [netz] FCC Internet History Exhibit June 10, 2004 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: News Media Contact: Audrey Spivack 202-418-0512 FCC INTRODUCES NEW EXHIBIT ON HISTORY OF THE INTERNET Washington, D. C. -- The FCC today introduced the third in a series of exhibits on the history of various communications technologies. The new exhibit focuses on the history of the Internet, including the communication technologies used to access the Internet. Although the popular perception is that the Internet is a relatively new phenomenon, its roots go back to the early 1960s. It was in 1966 that the FCC first indicated its interest in the emerging integration of computers and communications with a Notice of Inquiry commonly called Computer 1. This, and the subsequent Computer II and Computer III proceedings, established the distinction that remains today between regulated telecommunications services and unregulated information services. Nearly forty years later, market forces have driven the Internet's growth, and the FCC played an important role in carving out a deregulatory environment in which the Internet could flourish. The new web site (http://www.fcc.gov/omd/history) briefly covers the public needs that led to the development of the Internet, the common standards that underpin the Internet, and the underlying communications that made the Internet possible. From the web site, pictures of the related exhibit and display cases found in the FCC's headquarters building can also be accessed from the web site. The exhibits, displays, and web site of the FCC's history project are designed to highlight the rich technological heritage that underlies today’s vibrant communications marketplace. Office of Managing Director contact: Karen Wheeless 202-418-2910 or Renee Licht at 202-418-2604. - -FCC- ===== ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2004 23:05:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Jay Hauben Subject: [netz] A netizen honored Hi All, This year, 2004, Columbia University in NYC is celebrating the 250th anniversary of its founding as King's College in 1754. As part of the celebration, nominations were solicited honoring alumni whose contributions were before their time. Michael Hauben was nominated for his research and writings concerning netizens and the Internet. The nomination was chosen for display on the website commemorating the 250 years of Columbia University. It can be accessed at: http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/your_columbians/michael_hauben.html The text at that website reads: Michael F. Hauben Columbia College 1995 Teachers College 1997 Internet Pioneer, Author Michael F. Hauben (1973-2001) While the prevalence and universality of the Internet today may lead some to take it for granted, Michael Hauben did not. A pioneer in the study of the Internet's impact on society, Hauben helped identify the collaborative nature of the Internet and its effects on the global community. Credited with coining and popularizing the term netizen (net + citizen), Hauben, with his mother, Ronda, co-wrote the seminal Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet (IEEE Computer Society Press, 1997), which outlined the growth and role of the medium in the world and was published in both English and Japanese. Born on May 1, 1973, in Boston, Michael Hauben was an early participant in electronic bulletin boards. He graduated from Columbia University in 1995 with a bachelor's degree in computer science; following that, he entered the program Communication, Computing and Technology at Teacher's College and received a master's degree in 1997. Of particular interest to Hauben was understanding the democratization of the Internet and the participation of netizens in the global community to build the Net. He viewed the Internet as a reflection of democracy at work. An editor of the online newsletter "The Amateur Computerist," Hauben gave talks on the Internet in locales ranging from Beppu, Japan, to Corfu, Greece, to Montreal, Canada, to the Catskills region in New York. After sustaining injuries resulting from an accident in December 1999, when he was hit by a cab, Hauben died in June 2001. A champion of the Internet, he truly was a netizen. "I like to think of you as a netizen." http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/ http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/IEC/pioneers.html - -------- I hope if others are honored for their role as a netizen that such honors are announced here on the netizens mailing list. Take care. Jay ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 02 Aug 2004 13:10:14 +0200 From: Dan Duris Subject: Re: [netz] A netizen honored I've published a notice on this on my blog http://www.ambience.sk (in Slovak) Dan Jay Hauben wrote: > Hi All, > > This year, 2004, Columbia University in NYC is celebrating the 250th > anniversary of its founding as King's College in 1754. As part of the > celebration, nominations were solicited honoring alumni whose > contributions were before their time. Michael Hauben was nominated for his > research and writings concerning netizens and the Internet. The nomination > was chosen for display on the website commemorating the 250 years of > Columbia University. It can be accessed at: > > http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/your_columbians/michael_hauben.html > > The text at that website reads: > > Michael F. Hauben > Columbia College 1995 > Teachers College 1997 > Internet Pioneer, Author > Michael F. Hauben (1973-2001) > > While the prevalence and universality of the Internet today may lead some > to take it for granted, Michael Hauben did not. A pioneer in the study of > the Internet's impact on society, Hauben helped identify the collaborative > nature of the Internet and its effects on the global community. Credited > with coining and popularizing the term netizen (net + citizen), Hauben, > with his mother, Ronda, co-wrote the seminal Netizens: On the History and > Impact of Usenet and the Internet (IEEE Computer Society Press, 1997), > which outlined the growth and role of the medium in the world and was > published in both English and Japanese. > > Born on May 1, 1973, in Boston, Michael Hauben was an early participant in > electronic bulletin boards. He graduated from Columbia University in 1995 > with a bachelor's degree in computer science; following that, he entered > the program Communication, Computing and Technology at Teacher's College > and received a master's degree in 1997. Of particular interest to Hauben > was understanding the democratization of the Internet and the > participation of netizens in the global community to build the Net. He > viewed the Internet as a reflection of democracy at work. An editor of the > online newsletter "The Amateur Computerist," Hauben gave talks on the > Internet in locales ranging from Beppu, Japan, to Corfu, Greece, to > Montreal, Canada, to the Catskills region in New York. After sustaining > injuries resulting from an accident in December 1999, when he was hit by a > cab, Hauben died in June 2001. A champion of the Internet, he truly was a > netizen. > > "I like to think of you as a netizen." > http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook/ > http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/IEC/pioneers.html > -------- > > I hope if others are honored for their role as a netizen that such > honors are announced here on the netizens mailing list. > > Take care. > > Jay > > > ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2004 12:18:34 -0400 (EDT) From: Ronda Hauben Subject: [netz] Interesting article about E-democracy and its problems in Germany For those who can read German or who want to try to use an online translator to read an interesting German article: There is an interesting article in Telepolis about a study in Germany on whether e-government initiatives in Germany are helping to spread citizen participation in government The article explains that: "The requirement of good eGovernments lies in the fact that citizens require more of their government than multicolored Websites and on-line forms for the tax declaration." The study, however, finds that the local governments ignore the political participation possibilities that the new media makes it possible to increasingly use in the society. The url is: http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/te/18264/1.html Breite Burgerbeteiligung durch das Internet noch nicht in Sicht The study is: http://www.initiative-eparticipation.de/index.html It is good to see that there is some effort to suggest that it is a problem that government is ignoring the increased participation with citizens that the Internet makes possible, and instead focusing on how citizens can pay tax online. Ronda ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2004 07:12:30 +0000 From: Greg Skinner Subject: [netz] Future Generation Internet Architecture papers Available at http://www.isi.edu/newarch/ These are technical papers, however they touch on some issues discussed here over the years such as how network architecture impacts cost, competition, etc. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 22:07:19 -0500 (EST) From: Subject: [netz] about netizens and the wsis meeting ongoing now About netizens and WSIS "The International Origins of the Internet and the Impact of this Framework on its Future" http://umcc.ais.org/~ronda/new.papers/nov4talk2.doc The above is a written version of a talk I gave in early November describing the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) activities and some of the issues that are being raised. With the exception of those participating in this activity, there seems little knowledge or discussion about the UN activities with regard to the governance of the Internet and its future. This week they are having the first meeting of the Working Group on (Nov 22, 23, 24) with the purpose "to investigate and make proposals for action, as appropriate, on the governance of Internet by 2005." The WGIG is asked to present the result of its work in a report "for consideration and appropriate action for the second phase of the WSIS in Tunis 2005." There appears to be an important contest going on in connection with the present ands future of the Internet, yet few seem to have a way to know what is going on or to participate in it. It would be good if there were a means of having input and participation from a broader strata of the online community, particularly from netizens. Cheers Ronda ronda(at)panix.com co-author "Netizens: On the History and Impact of Usenet and the Internet" http://www.columbia.edu/~hauben/netbook ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2005 11:55:05 -0500 (EST) From: Ronda Hauben Subject: [netz] Crisis in the US Media and the 2004 Election I have been working on an article about the crisis in the US media. The article has just been published in Telepolis. I compare the role of netizens and the professional media in the US and in Korea during the recent elections. Here is the url for the article. I welcome comments and further thoughts on this issue as it is an important one for netizens in the US, and also for netizens around the world to understand how to deal with. - -- "The Crisis in the US Media and the 2004 Election" by Ronda Hauben "Without a press that can function independently of government the public is left disarmed" A critical question raised by the 2004 election in the US is the role played by the media. http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19296/1.html - ------------- The article was written before the recent inauguration which was but another example of the problem. There was very little press coverage of the protest and the protest events, giving a one sided view of what is happening in the US not only to the public in the US, but also to the public worldwide. with best wishes Ronda ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 20:40:24 -0500 (EST) From: Ronda Hauben Subject: [netz] Missed Lessons of the Dean Campaign - the Need for a Netizen Press Joe Trippi gave a talk last Tuesday about the lessons of the Dean campaign and the potential of the Internet for politics. Here's an article I wrote about the talk which appears in Ohmynews. Ronda - ----- Missed Lessons From the Dean Campaign Joe Trippi may see the Net's political force, but he has yet to see the potential of a netizen press by Ronda Hauben A talk given by Joe Trippi on March 2, 2005 at Columbia University provides some insight into why the campaign by Howard Dean for the Democratic Party presidential nomination failed. (1) Trippi described how he became interested in the potential impact the Internet could have on politics. In the mid 1990's he had participated in an online site where computer games were discussed. When one of the most influential members of the online gaming community died at age 31, Trippi was amazed to see the impact of this loss on his online community. Among other responses, some people took up to raise money to set up a scholarship fund for the children of their deceased friend. Trippi's experience online stimulated him to understand that people could learn to know and care about each other in an online community in a more significant manner than usually occurs with one's neighbors or other acquaintances. As Howard Dean's campaign manager, he set out to utilize the online connection to build an offline community of people working for Dean. The campaign would utilize the email contacts they had to inform people in a city that Dean would be making an appearance. Trippi would be astounded when he found that the people they informed would meet together, plan how to prepare for the Dean appearance, and work together to leaflet and inform people of the planned event. He described how early in the campaign Dean was planning to make an appearance in Austin, Texas. The Dean campaign emailed the 400 contacts they had in Austin. The Austin contacts held meetings and worked together to leaflet and spread the word about the Dean visit. When Dean gave his talk, Trippi was surprised that over 3200 people attended. Over and over again, the Dean campaign was surprised by the large number of interested people attending Dean campaign events made possible by the campaign relying on local email contacts to meet in person and organize effectively for the event. Trippi focused on the ability of the Internet to make it possible for people in a community to meet in person and to open their houses to others in their community. He proposed that the significant achievement of the Dean campaign was that the Internet helped to facilitate offline collaboration and cooperation among Dean supporters. In his talk, Trippi also referred to the novelty of using the Internet to raise a large amount of campaign funding from multiple small donations made online. He didn't refer to the online discussion among the Dean campaign workers and the effect of this process to invigorate the campaign. Nor did Trippi consider the problem of the mainstream US media and its negative effect at crucial periods in the Dean campaign like the Iowa primary. Unlike the online political campaign in South Korea to elect a President who was relatively unknown, the Dean campaign did not set out to create a press that would challenge the corporate media. In South Korea, Oh Yeon Ho created OhmyNews. This online newspaper helped the Korean netizen movement to topple the conservative President and replace him with a more progressive though unknown politician, Roh Moo-hyun, in the 2002 election. (2) When asked whether he felt there was a need for a similar force in the US to challenge the US mainstream media, Trippi said no. His assessment of the weakness in the Dean campaign was the inexperienced nature of those who campaigned for Dean, and Dean's own lack of experience running for office. Trippi did not consider the failure of the campaign to support the creation of a progressive online press like OhmyNews which would welcome broad rangingnetizen journalist contributions. (3) Though Trippi agreed that the mainstream media in the US was a problem for the Dean campaign, he didn't see the need to analyze how a newspaper like OhmyNews in Korea could be critical in helping to counter the negative impact of the mainstream media on the Dean campaign. Trippi believed that the Dean campaign was but the "tip of an iceberg" in demonstrating the impact that the Internet will have on US politics. He compared the experience of the 2004 Presidential campaign with the early impact of radio and then TV on politics. He proposed, however, that the impact of the Internet on future campaigns would be even more profound. Trippi suggested that new technical developments would provide some of the tools needed by Internet based political campaigns. He referred to new entrepreneurial ventures and support for new technologies like podcasting, as the form that a new media would take in the US, rather than a form that welcomed broad ranging discussion and articles from netizen reporters like OhmyNews. Trippi's talk was helpful to consider the need to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the Dean candidacy in 2004. The talk didn't provide any indication, however, that Trippi or the Democratic Party could recognize the power of the press and of the public opinion that is created by a press in a political campaign. Trippi was concerned about the growing power of Republican politicians in the executive, judicial and legislative branches of the US government. Nevertheless he did not believe there was a need to counter the power of the mainstream media.(4) Trippi may have seen a tip of the Internet iceberg, but he was blind to the potential power of netizen journalism and a netizen press. - ------------ Notes: (1) Joe Trippi, "Trippi Says Dean's 2004 Run Just the Beginning", Columbia Spectator, Thursday, March 3, 2005, p. 1 http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/03/03/4226d05ebfee9?in_archive=1 (2) Korean Netizens Change Journalism and Politics The text of OhmyNews founder Oh Yeon Ho's Harvard Internet and Society Conference Dec. 11 address http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?article_class=8&no=201423&rel_no=1 (3)Will the Internet and Netizens Impact the 2004 US Presidential Election? Online discussions in China and the netizens movement in South Korea have demonstrated the power of the internet http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/16/16613/1.html (4) The Crisis in the US Media and the 2004 Election http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/19/19296/1.html Published in OhmyNews, March 6, 2005 http://english.ohmynews.com/ArticleView/article_view.asp?menu=A11100&no=214130&rel_no=1&back_url= - --- http://wwww.ais.org/~jrh/netizens.news ------------------------------ End of Netizens-Digest V1 #538 ******************************