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 fits with parts of Licklider and Taylor’s vision from “The Computer as a Communication Device” by allowing global, user-driven communication between people who are far apart. This reflects their idea of creating “interactive communities” where users could share knowledge and collaborate​. Usenet’s discussion forums are similar to their idea of cooperative modeling, where people work together to exchange and build on ideas​. However, some things turned out differently. Licklider and Taylor imagined more real-time communication, while Usenet is mostly asynchronous. They also envisioned communication that would include multimedia and visual models, not just text​. Usenet stayed mostly text-based and didn’t have the kind of interactive, graphical systems or fast decision-making they thought computers would help with​.