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.

Hello,

One of the important points considered by Licklider and Robert W. Taylor is the fact of externalizing one's communication model in order
to communicate more efficiently, notably thanks to communication devices.

Usenet satisfies several of the points put forward in this paper: firstly, the ability to communicate, interact and exchange ideas on a subject
over long distances (“On-line interactive communities”).
In addition to this, their vision of a network of interconnected computers is what Usenet relies on to function.

However, their vision of “communications devices” was very advanced, with talk of simulations, data visualization and so on.
Unfortunately, this is not the way we communicate on Usenet, but rather with a simple, colorless interface in a terminal.

One of their chapters deals with “face to face through a computer”, showing just how useful communications devices can be as interactive, real-time tools.
Although the Usenet has contributed a little to this, it's not its strong point. On the contrary, the way people communicate today has greatly evolved:
today's social networks and other types of messaging are much more spontaneous, interactive, easy and convenient to use than the Usenet.

Finally, I think it's fair to say that the Usenet has contributed a great deal to the Internet as we know it today,
just as much as Licklider and Taylor's paper was avant-garde and good on many points!