Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 13, 1990 TAG: 9005130109
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN MARKOFF THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
She responded with a computer quip of her own and the two, who were programmers at different campuses of the University of Maryland, struck up a friendship that went on electronically for weeks before they finally met.
Two years later, they were married.
"It's a fascinating way of making friends," Dear said.
The city of Santa Monica, Calif., opened a computer network last year so that people could weigh in, without charge, from computers in their homes or offices, with comments about local council meetings.
This electronic equivalent of an 18th-century town meeting has proved enormously popular.
"There would be a near-revolution if we thought about taking it down," said John Jalili, the city manager.
William H. Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., runs his company largely through a computer network that can be used by most of the software maker's 5,200 employees.
Decisions from product plans to changes in vacation policy are debated and then announced on the network.
Anyone is free to send a message to Gates, who receives and dispatches hundreds of electronic notes a day.
Within the next five years or so, he predicts, "most corporations will flip over to this kind of system."
The growth of computer networks is changing the way millions of Americans work, find friends, seek entertainment and even govern themselves.
Enthusiasts, like Ithiel de Sola Pool, the late Massachusetts Institute of Technology political scientist, have declared that "networked computers will be the printing presses of the 21st century."
Robert Lucky, executive director of research at Bell Laboratories, notes that computer networks often become electronic communities that give people thousands of miles apart the feeling of being connected in a small village, with all the intimacy and ease of communication that implies.
Known as "electronic bulletin boards," "computer conferences" or "electronic mail" exchanges, these networks are made up of computers linked by telephone lines and equipped with software that allows them to send and receive messages.
The programs permit a group of people to carry on an extended discussion by typing in messages that can be read by all members of the group.
The first computer networks appeared two decades ago.
But their rapid growth in recent years has magnified their impact, extending far beyond the scientists, engineers and amateur computer enthusiasts who were once the main users.
The broader use has been made possible by new software and the surge in personal computers in America, now estimated at 40 million, compared with less than 1 million in 1980.
Today, the many groups using computer networks are as diverse as the work forces of multinational companies like IBM, followers of the Grateful Dead rock band and Chinese students organizing protests against the Beijing government's crackdown on the democracy movement.
Indeed, thousands of specialized networks now cater to a huge variety of interests, including those of comedians, cooks, travelers, recovering alcoholics, sports fans, homosexuals, wine lovers, retirees and Go players.
Over the computer they get acquainted, trade anecdotes and exchange and debate ideas.
The growth of these electronic communities is difficult to measure precisely, but by all accounts the increase has been striking in the last few years.
At work or at home, several million Americans use computer networks of some kind, and their numbers continue to grow rapidly, computer specialists say.
There are large collections of computer networks, like the Internet, with an estimated 2 million members, and Usenet, with more than 1 million users, that now form the backbone of an emerging international system.
These big groupings are partly paid for with federal funds and fees paid by companies.
In addition, there are many commercial networks, which are typically linked to Internet and Usenet.
For example, Compuserve, a nationwide electronic conference and information service, now has 550,000 members and is adding 8,000 a month.
An independent network, Prodigy Services Co., a joint venture between IBM and Sears, Roebuck & Co., has grown from 160,000 subscribers last October to 381,000 today.
Besides the costs of a personal computer and telephone charges, subscribers often pay fees ranging from several dollars a month to several dollars an hour.
Networks advertise in computer magazines usually, but also in some newspapers.
Still, most people who join networks learn of them from friends or colleagues at work or school.
Users can sign up in a variety of ways, from writing in to calling a designated toll-free telephone number.
The sociological impact of computer networks is a matter of much debate, and the evidence so far is mainly anecdotal.
Still, it seems beyond doubt that the effect of this new generation of electronic communication will be significant.
Simply put, the computer network allows many people to communicate with many others who might be anywhere in the world.
It provides for participation quickly and easily in a way that letters, telephones and television do not.
Yet the spread of computer networks also raises troubling possibilities.
Some adolescents, for example, seem to find computer communication so easy and captivating that they spend hours a day at the keyboard, perhaps retarding the development of face-to-face social skills.
Computer networks can also pose ethical issues, especially in matters of personal privacy and access to a network.
These issues surfaced recently in a political dispute in Colorado Springs, Colo., after it was learned that the mayor had been reading the electronic messages that City Council members had been sending each other.
Still, the benefits of the electronic networks seem to ensure their continued growth.
by CNB