------------------------------------------------------------------------ December, John. Voyage to the Internet World. Global Network Navigator News, December 20, 1993. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEW YORK (December 7th, 1993) More than seven thousand people flowed through the Internet World '93 Conference this past December 7th and 8th. They came from many backgrounds: entrepreneurs, teachers, librarians, executives, journalists, researchers, students, and engineers. Held at the Javits Center in New York City, the conference allowed the participants to attend presentations, share Internet experiences, and discover new ways to use the Internet. During the conference, speakers gave presentations on a range of Internet topics, including commercialization, ethics, the culture of cyberspace, community networks, network information retrieval, copyright, and investment. The exhibition and conference dramatized how the confluence of new and old communities on the Internet produces new tensions as well as new opportunities. Keynote Address: Commercial Coexistence In his keynote address, Peter Deutsch, developer of archie and president of Bunyip, echoed the twin themes of conflict and opportunity when he said, "the Internet is open for business." Although Deutsch acknowledged the disdain many might feel for Internet commercialization, he pointed out that the Net need not remain "pristine and pure," but can respond in a realistic way to the information needs of its users. Commercial providers of Internet services, according to Deutsch, must acknowledge and be aware of Internet culture, and coexist with communities that have not seen much commercial activity. Deutsch advised that although opportunities for commercialization are great, service providers should create services to meet perceived needs in an incremental fashion. Meeting these perceived needs includes giving something back to "the commons" -- the infrastructure of information and services that commercial providers and users share. Culture Clash The theme of commercial coexistence with existing Internet culture also came up in a session on the commercial uses of the Internet. Bill Washburn of the Commercial Internet Exchange (CIX) described how CIX member organizations use the CIX routers to exchange information with the global Internet. With this type of connectivity, the issue is not appropriate use of the Internet, but effective use. With a commercial exchange service, member organizations can potentially send mass mailings over the Internet with no marginal increase in cost for volume. However, such mass mailing would not be productive for the commercial provider, as many people in the Internet community would take offense at unsolicited electronic mail. Again, the issue is not how one can become connected to the Internet, but how a commercial provider can coexist with an established information and communication community. Exhibitors' Reactions The exhibit area of Internet World demonstrated just such a confluence of communities. While over two thousand people attended conference sessions, more than seven thousand visited the exhibit area, which was open to visitors for just $10. Ed McGettigan, at the booth for the Institute for Scientific Information, said he was "absolutely stunned" by the response from the attendees. His company delivers documents and will soon announce an Internet connection for this service. Many visitors to his booth, although savvy in the ways of the Internet, still needed help understanding how the pricing structure for the document delivery service will work. Matthew Sheasby of Online Access magazine, said that the quality of the attendees was "fantastic" and they were interested in that magazine's October 1993 all-Internet issue, the best selling issue in the magazine's history. He characterized his customers, and the other attendees at the conference, as active people ready to go online and interact. Phyllis Black, at the Panix (a public-access Internet service in New York City) booth, said the response of the crowd was "incredible." A former theatrical agent, Black was a user of Panix for several years before she joined the company to help with new user support. She said the conference attendees were extraordinarily interested in the Internet and were standing in front of her booth four deep at one time. Karen Mattadeen, at the neighboring booth for the Internet Business Report, said she ran out of information brochures. Thorolese Hunt, of Sprint Telemedia, said she was "bombarded" with interest and ran out of literature about her company's products for information delivery. Graphics Hot The exhibitors who had visual demonstrations of products enjoyed even more attention from the attendees. Gina Blaber, Managing Editor of the Global Network Navigator, was at the O'Reilly & Associates booth handing out information about their Internet-based Information Center. Blaber explained to attendees the layers of Internet services and applications involved in the Global Network Navigator. Although frustrated by the lack of an Internet connection -- the show's outside Internet connection for the vendors was not working -- Blaber was impressed by the enthusiasm of attendees when viewing the GNN interface on the computers. Likewise, the nearby Spry, Inc. booth, caught the attention of many attendees with its graphical interface to Internet applications. Publishers in Evidence Also at the exhibition, publishers sought to connect with their readers. The O'Reilly booth was rapidly selling its nutshell handbooks. The McGraw-Hill bookstore was selling autographed copies of some Internet books. Maurice Sanchez, of the New York Metro Computer Press, found they were able to connect with readers. Their publication, a local computer magazine, is a forum for advertisers and readers to come together to discover how to use the Internet. The users at the exhibition were interested in information about local BBS's, local computer shows, and computer activities, products, and tips. Academia, Too Not all the exhibitors were commercial organizations. The academic community was represented by Barbara Settle, Assistant Dean of the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University. Settle described the response of people to her school's program as "unbelievable." The undergraduate and graduate programs in information studies provide training in information management, research, and telecommunications. Settel pointed out that the content of their program prepares students with an integrated set of experiences. The students in the Syracuse program study how people use and manage information -- an essential aspect of Internet activity. Cyberspace for All Another organization seeking to educate people about the Internet is the Society for Electronic Access (SEA). SEA hopes to make the world of cyberspace "open to everyone." Working in the New York City area, SEA provides free introductory classes about the Internet. Steven Cherry, a manager of publishing technologies for Elsevier Science Publishing, donates part of his time to SEA programs. SEA will present an introduction to the Internet in Greenwich Village in January. The class, free and open to anyone, will help people learn about the Internet, electronic mail, Usenet, and using communication services. Cherry described this class in terms of SEA's philosophy to help give access to people who might not otherwise have the opportunity or awareness to use the Internet. Internet Villages SEA's program to help people learn about the electronic village of the Internet demonstrates how the issues involved in Internet development often involve the concept of a community. In response to suggestions by conference presenters, Meckler conference management added a track to the conference (about a month before the start of the conference) entitled "Internet Village Track." One speaker in this track, Mary Riendeau of Software Tool and Die, was startled at the large number of people at her presentation. She described the presentation as "humanistic" and perhaps distant from the more technical or commercial-oriented sessions. Riendeau presented her view of the cultural phenomenon of Internet communication. She described who is on the Internet and what they are doing. The impetus for her company's Internet access service, The World, came from the growing numbers of people who, having been given a taste of the possibilities for communication on the Internet through their school or employer, wanted to keep or expand their Internet connections. Before Software Tool and Die's The World, an individual could not easily buy a way onto the Internet. Now, there are many ways that communities can connect to the network, meaning the Internet is not a closed set of people anymore. Riendeau pointed out that the explosion in Internet growth, combined with the emphasis on the national information infrastructure by President Clinton, has created a new outlook. While three years ago, "no one knew what it [Internet] meant," today there is increased cultural and press awareness: New York Times coverage, Wired magazine, New Yorker cartoons ("On the Internet, no one knows you are a dog"). Also, the Internet has an increased business presence through commercial enterprises such as the Online bookstore, MSEN career center online, Clarinet Communications, and the Electronic Newsstand. The world of the Internet has changed, from a world shut off to access, to one in which people can participate on the Internet for personal or commercial reasons. CompuServe's Mail Gateway CompuServe's experience with creating an Internet electronic mail gateway illustrated how academic, commercial, and network communities can associate on the Internet. Dave Bezair of CompuServe described the complications and successes of the joining of these communities. The gateway began as a grass-roots project by students in the Computer Science Department of The Ohio State University who felt that an exchange between the commercial online service and the Internet should be possible. Rigged together with limited resources, the gateway created by the students was workable, but not easy to use nor reliable. CompuServe, after becoming aware of the service, wanted to use the gateway to benefit its customers, the Ohio State students, and the Internet community as a whole. There was no precedent at that time for such a connection, so the rules for this interchange and compensation for Ohio State and others had to be negotiated. CompuServe improved the technical aspects of the gateway, and today CompuServe's email connection to the Internet has grown from a small service to one that is used by increasing numbers of CompuServe customers. Virtual Love While many connections in the Internet world are commercial and technical, others can be closer to human emotion. Walt Howe was at the Delphi booth with his wife, Hope Tillman. Howe runs the Delphi Internet Special Interest Group and is co-author of a recent book about the Internet. Tillman is the author of a recent book on the use of the Internet by special librarians. They "met" seven years ago on The Source, an online computer service. After several months of email and conferencing, they decided to meet. After a date in Mystic, Connecticut, they established a relationship and were later married. Brought together by a network, they now both work exploring and explaining how it is used. Net Withdrawal The exhibit hall was crowded late in the day, and people lined up two and three deep at the complimentary Internet access computers. They logged into their home accounts to check their email or to show a fellow attendee a gopher server or an Internet service that they knew about. The Internet World '93 conference and exhibition involved more than just the physical connections that make the Internet. The conference and exhibition demonstrated how the Internet transforms human communication, joining communities of information and people in ways that cannot be predicted. Keywords: Internet, conference, commercial, communities