The owner of a specific group communication facility, such as a private conference, should make clear to the members of that conference all policies relating to rights of ownership, privacy of message communications, and censorship. For peer groups operating a group communication facility, this might require a group meta-discussion, that should take place among the group in order to remove any uncertainties.
If communications are public, such as in a public conference, the operators should state clearly what, if any, are the policies on censorship of the material. On material that is not subject to censorship, the operators should recognize individual rights of ownership to individual entries.
Operators of a system should commit to the privacy of non-public forms of communication (private messages and private conferences).
Operators of group communication services should waive ownership of any private communications (message or private conference) flowing through their systems.
[E-learning] is a technology that people should master at an early age … This technology offers an opportunity for dramatic improvement in the educational process. If there is a metaphor to be used in this context it is the view of educational networking as a new type of public library facility for any one who wishes to learn or to be trained, regardless of age or economic condition. This is perhaps the area where the most can be accomplished with public funds in the shortest space of time.
One of the greatest potential benefits for the future lies in putting personal computers and networking in the hands of public-school-age students … The teacher becomes a facilitator to other worlds of knowledge. In order for educators to make use of this technology, specialized communication facilities are needed for the teacher to play the role of facilitating education … In order to accomplish effective use of the technology for learning, the teacher must undertake to learn new methods of teaching. This a generalization that applies to almost any area of network application.
The digital network completely eliminates the classical model of a newspaper. If one considers newspapers, magazines, and publishing as the “warehouse” function of information flow, then digital networking is likely to do the same thing to this industry that computer-based inventory systems did to the manufacturing warehousing industry in this country. That industry, today, is only a shadow of what it once was. There will be roles for individuals and small organizations that act as information “gatekeepers” and “brokers.” Those who are able to organize and filter information for the benefit of others will take on the functions of what newspapers and magazines provide today.
The cost of distributing information will become much less than the cost of creating it. The value of fixed information will decline greatly. Those individuals and organizations that are responsible for creating the information will have more direct control over the distribution and obtain a greater share of the value. The cost of distribution will become less than the cost of production of the information … In the near future there will be a new cottage industry in the creation, organization, and distribution of information.
The technology offers the opportunity for group facilitators and information brokers to be able to sell their talents … We have the opportunity for new human roles in the process of group efforts and in synthesizing information resources. In order to realize such a potential, software has to be designed and implemented which provides individuals the ability to take on coordination and regulation roles in a group process … There is a host of new professional jobs possible in this environment and it is impossible to predict them all at this time.
In an open electronic marketplace, where any buyer can be an information provider, we can go a long way toward eliminating problems having to do with the free flow of information … Electronic marketplaces open to the public will be one of the biggest societal applications of this technology at some point in the future … New products could be brought to market for far less than is now possible, and without the large marketing budgets that only very large organizations can afford. Electronic Marketplaces offer the opportunity to lower the entry barriers to small-scale entrepreneurship, and to reverse the trend of greater concentration of wealth in fewer and larger organizations.