Interesting People mailing list archives
IP: Column about IP and Farber
From: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 21:28:09 -0400
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1998 10:25:18 -0400=20 To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>=20 From: John Makulowich <makulow () cais com>=20 Net Log Column: The Data Doctors By John Makulowich =A9 1998 John Makulowich http://www.cais.com/makulow/ john () journalist com 31 March 1998 550 words A few years ago I adopted what amounts to an Internet ritual that I now follow religiously at the end of each month. It is to spend an hour or so poring over the potpourri of postings collected, filtered and distributed by David Farber. He=92s the Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Telecommunications Systems in Penn=92s School of Engineering and Applied Science and the man who serves as the moderator, or gatekeeper, of his own discussion group known as IP (for Interesting People). The URL for his home page is http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~farber/. It=92s a productive, efficient and effective way of keeping up on Internet policy issues as well as maintaining perspective as a trade journalist about what=92s happening of importance in cyberspace, both in the United States and beyond. It=92s also a fount of article ideas and resources, since many of the messages come to Farber from Internet cognoscenti across the globe. I=92m convinced that as more and more data populates the world and then find= s a home on the World Wide Web and the Internet, such moderated lists by what one might call Data Doctors, that is, multidisciplinary experts who combine a broad vision and a keen eye for details with a flair for the newsworthy, will become more critical to keeping an open and balanced viewpoint. It=92s akin to the role of the Cybrarian in Neal Stephenson=92s science fiction work, Snow Crash. These Data Doctors will harvest the antidote to the intellectual malady identified by the noted historian, Daniel J. Boorstin, in his book of essays, Hidden History: =93All of us are in danger of being suffocated by ou= r own tastes. Moreover, these devices [television, cellular phones, Walkman, cable stations] that enlarge our sight and vision in space seem somehow to imprison us in the present. The electronic technology that reaches out instantaneously over the continents does very little to help us cross the centuries.=94 What threads or themes appeared among the 83 messages distributed during March from IP? While there was, as expected, a heavy dose of policy (from position statements on supercomputers delivered by the President to protests about closed door meetings at the Justice Department from the Electronic Frontier Foundation), the e-mail ranges over the spectrum of the news. You find everything from Farber=92s diary notes on his recent trip to Tokyo and his comments on the latest computer technology from Sony to the perennial jokes about Microsoft and the eyewitness report, =93Computer Science and Engineering Research in Poland=94 from Bruce H. Barnes, Distinguished Visiting Research Professor of the Department of Information and Software Systems Engineering at George Mason University. Among the more memorable topics included in this month=92s e-mail bag was an item that my wife described as =93chilling my spine.=94 That dubious award w= ent to the post about The Hot Zone author, Richard Preston, and his article, =93The Bioweaponeers=94 that appeared in a recent issue of The New Yorker. I= t sparked a few other posts about bioweapons Web sites and commentary on its accuracy. ---------- You can send John e-mail at john () journalist com; his Web address is http://www.cais.com/makulow/.=20 John Makulowich [GMT -5] ................ <mailto:john () journalist com>=20 Sr. Writer, Technology ...... Post-Newsweek Business Information, Inc.=20 <www.cais.com/makulow/> ............. <www.cais.com/makulow/wt98.html>=20 Editor, WWWVL Journalism ............. <www.cais.com/makulow/vlj.html> WWWVL Journalism Discussion Forum ................. <www.trainer.com/>=20
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