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.

Usenet helped bring Licklider and Taylor's vision of "cooperative modelling" and "intelligence amplification" to life by facilitating global user discussion and collaboration on themes of common interest.
This satisfies their concept of cross-distance problem solving and global communication.
However, Usenet doesn't have the intelligent computational assistance or interactive, real-time collaboration they had in mind.
Licklider saw computers as actively aiding the intellectual process in addition to facilitating communication, while Usenet acted mostly as a passive bulletin board system.
Furthermore, as technology grew more widely available and less expensive, the issues of affordability and accessibility that they raised changed in unique ways.