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.

The two authors Licklider and Taylor did manage to predict some features of Usenet in their book
“The Computer as a Communication Device”, and these are:
- The use of a store-and-forward system service, as users could retrieve articles and content whenever they wanted.
- An early implementation of an experimental network of computers
- The fostering of a digital community geographically distant, but intellectually close.

On the other hand, some of their predictions were also inaccurate:                                                      - From the social perspective, they did not foresee the rise of spams and other bad agents, while greatly exaggerating   the social benefits (such as the disappearance of unemployment).
- Furthermore, more interactive communications through images and other dynamic medium were still not possible in
Usenet, so the “cooperative modelling” described in the book will be achieved only later.
- From the technical point of view, the multiaccess systems capabilities (which were allegedly capable of running
programs, managing files, and interacting with remote systems at the same time) were greatly overestimated,
and were not realised with Usenet.
- Finally, from an economical standpoint, the cost of the system was exaggerated.

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