Interesting People mailing list archives
Women's Information Resource and Exchan
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Sat, 2 Oct 1993 08:26:25 -0400
Posted-Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1993 07:29:26 -0400 (EDT) From: Mike Godwin <mnemonic () eff org> Subject: Women's Information Resource and Exchange (fwd) To: farber () central cis upenn edu (David Farber) Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1993 07:29:26 -0400 (EDT) Forwarded message:
From verve () well sf ca us Fri Oct 1 02:49:33 1993
Subject: Women's Information Resource and Exchange From: "Eric S. Theise" <verve () well sf ca us> To: jacked-in () well sf ca us Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1993 23:36:10 -0700 X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3test PL45] Message-Id: <93Sep30.233610pdt.14525-4 () well sf ca us> Hi everyone; here's a hot bit of news from the electronic frontier. WIRE will be demoed as part of our women's night at Modern Times on November 21st. Hope to see you before then, Eric = = = = = WIRE: WOMEN'S INFORMATION RESOURCE & EXCHANGE OPENS ONLINE DOORS -- 500 Founding Subscribers To Gain Access to New Information and Conferencing System for Women -- SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., October 1, 1993 -- Women's Information Resource & Exchange (WIRE), the first international, interactive computer network dedicated to women, today opened its gateways to Founding Subscribers, defined as people actively interested in building this electronic frontier community. "More demographic balance in the online world is crucial," commented Cliff Figallo, online communications coordinator of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and former general manager of the WELL. "WIRE is providing a vital information clearinghouse and an easy-to-use networked meeting place for the half of our population that has, until now, been vastly underrepresented and underserved in the online world. By offering a safe and welcoming haven where women can assemble and learn, WIRE will help seed the world network with net-savvy females and bring the electronic community more in balance with Real World demographics." WIRE provides women with an easily accessed centralized source of women-oriented information and conversation. For the first time, individuals and organizations can quickly and easily access up-to-date databases, discussions, alerts, abstracts, resources and experts on health, politics, career, finance, technology, parenting, education, lifestyle and many other issues of interest to women. Women and men can log onto WIRE and discuss topics of interest with each other, network to solve problems, instantly access information, keep in touch with family and friends via email, and participate in newsgroups and mailing lists from other systems on the Internet. "We think WIRE will be a great new destination on the information superhighway," explained Ellen Pack, co-founder and president of WIRE. "There's a wealth of information for women to tap into -- health studies, tips on starting a business or traveling alone, parenting stories, legislative updates, funding sources, and discussions about art and literature. WIRE is excited to bring resources and dialog directly to people's home and office computers. WIRE is providing a place for women around the world to get connected to what's happening and to each other." WIRE Founding Subscribers will be limited to 500 people who want to be early influencers committed to actively developing the online community. The Grand Opening for WIRE is scheduled for early 1994. "We want to foster diversity," says Pack. "In Founding Subscribers, we are looking for people with something to contribute, personally, intellectually or through their involvements. While many subscribers will already be familiar with computer conferencing, our goal is to make it so easy to get around online that it's completely unnecessary to be technologically sophisticated." "WIRE's interface uses familiar desktop conventions with some nice extensions -- a most refreshing alternative to the usual tangle of Unixoid arcana," said Dr. Brenda Laurel, researcher at Interval Research "The big news with WIRE, however, is the content -- the pump is primed with topics and points of view that invite women-centered discourse and community building. I'm looking forward to living with WIRE. It seems like the right place to introduce my daughters (ages 5 and 8) to the wonderful world of networking, too." USING WIRE IS EASY The point-and-click, graphical user interface makes it especially easy for people to find the information they want and reduces the learning curve required to use the system. The graphical user interface is currently available for Mac and Windows computers, with a DOS version to be announced within a few months. A command line interface is also currently available. WIRE ENCOURAGES CALLS TO CUSTOMER SUPPORT A friendly customer support team is available to users at no charge. "Part of our mission is to introduce more women to computer networking which involves friendly and consistent user support."said Nancy Rhine, co-founder and development director of WIRE. "We want people to ask questions! We even hold face-to-face workshops at our offices to demo the how-tos of exploring the online world. At WIRE there is no such thing as a 'stupid question'." ACCESS TO THE VAST WORLD OF THE INTERNET Currently, WIRE offers Internet email, mailing lists, UPI Newswires, and Usenet newsgroups. Subscribers can telnet to WIRE using either the vt-100 based command line interface or the Mac GUI supporting color, sounds, and pictures. "Along with all the really juicy information available on WIRE, we want to encourage women to access other information resources out there on the Internet. We are working towards providing the full range of popular applications available via the Internet, including gopher, WAIS, archie, ftp, and others", said Rhine. "WIRE will be rolling out technical tools one-at-a-time, both to ensure technical quality and to provide the appropriate customer support. We think focusing on quality is the only proper way to keep up with the latest and greatest tools available." WIRE NETWORKS, INC. WIRE is an international, interactive, computer network serving the information and networking needs of women. WIRE's management and support office is located in South San Francisco. WIRE's computer hardware is located and supported around the clock by Pandora Systems of San Francisco. WIRE is available today to founding subscribers at a cost of $15/month which includes 2 free hours of online time, additional hours cost $2.50/hour. For long distance users, access is available thru SprintNet at an additional cost, which varies according to time of day. WIRE is also available via telnet from a remote Internet site. Discounts are available for groups. Gift certificates are also available. For more information contact WIRE at 415/615-8989 or send email to info () wire net. Press contacts: Naomi Pearce (415/615-7914) or Nancy Rhine (415/615-8989)
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- Women's Information Resource and Exchan David Farber (Oct 02)