Re: CS-234 Discussion

CS234 <cs234@lhmerino.dont-email.me> wrote:

This thread is intended for the students of CS-234: Technologies for democratic society
 
How does Usenet fit into the vision presented by Licklider and Taylor in
"The Computer as a Communication Device"?
 
Reflect on:
- Which aspects of their vision are realized through Usenet?
- What aspects have evolved differently from what they imagined?
 
Feel free to respond to comments made by your classmates as well.

According to Licklider and Taylor in "The Computer as a Communication Device", the development of computers would allow people to communicate outside of a face-to-face
interaction by exchanging digital messages. This was the main feature of Usenet, allowing the sharing of information and ideas relatively fast no matter the distance,
which would have taken significantly longer using classical modes of communication.
Furthermore, Licklider and Taylor predicted that this facilitation of communication would create communities based on shared interests rather than geographical proximity.
This is directly seen in Usenet which is organized in a hierarchy of topics to which the user can subscribe, which greatly facilitates discussion and the building of
collaborative knowledge. The authors also mention the direct access to resources through computers, for which Usenet is a great example of since it allowed its users
to share information regarding a topic, that anyone having access to the technology could read, thus promoting collaborative learning.

However, Licklider and Taylor also envisioned features that are not seen in Usenet, such as real-time interaction and communication, whereas Usenet only allowed
asynchronous communication, and users responded whenever they wanted. For the same reasons, collaborative work sessions imagined by the authours were not possible in
Usenet, since it had no real-time features allowing interactive meetings. Another point of their visions that is not reflected in Usenet is the concept of OLIVER,
a personal assistant managing information and tasks on behalf of the user. Usenet didn’t provide any of these features since users had to manually sort through
messages and manage their engagement with newsgroups.