July 1982 RAIN Page 5 workshop. As new information and communication technologies develop, groups can find more and better ways to reach these people. For example, a computerized mailing list can be sorted by keywords indicating the areas of interest of persons on the list. Thus it becomes possible to focus a mailing on a fairly specific group. Countless other examples come to mind of ineffective processes which may have underlying solutions in effective use of the new technology. For example, an inordinate amount of staff time and meager resources can be taken up with attending meetings and conferences. Although not satisfactory as a replacement for all meetings and conferences (which have their own raison d'etre in human contact) new forms of computer conferencing systems such as EIES — the Electronic Information Exchange System (see box) present us with some alternatives. Groups that need to keep in touch with like-minded groups around the country could develop on-going meetings via computer where no one would arrive late and no one would need to be responsible for keeping the minutes — the computer would do it. Lawyers and other individuals who provide technical assistance to small organizations could also use computer-mediated communication systems to good advantage. A model can be seen in Manfred Kochen's description in Information for the Community of a “referential consulting network" for libraries which would allow geographically dispersed librarians to assist each other with library patron information needs. An electronic commons, or bulletin board space, would be created where libraries could post information requests which could be read by other librarians and responded to at their convenience. A database of answers to inquiries might also be stored on-line, indexed, and made available to the rest of the network. These answers could be used as “canned" responses when similar questions were received in the future. They could be easily written up and incorporated into a response sent on-line or through the mails. Another underlying information expense ot small organizations is in continuing education for staff. Effectiveness, for example, in monitoring a policy issue and researching the possible alternatives and consequences demands a lot of time, especially in today's information- glutted world. The plight of the individual in a small organization is much like the situation of the modem scientist: In the world as a whole there are now more than 50,000 journals pouring through university and academic presses every year. They are increasing in size at a compound rate of four percent a year. It is common for journals to double their size every five years . .. Ifa scientist spends a given proportion ofhis time catching up with his field and continues dedicating the same proportion for twenty years, he will clearly acquire knowledge over a rapidly decreasing proportion of the necessary and relevant material. If he increases the proportion of his time dedicated to scanning the outpouring of the field, he will have no time for anything else. There are clear and painful mathematical constraints that must begin to operate. — Goodbye Gutenberg. On-line databases, such as offered through the DIALOG system, may abstract only a thin slice of the information a community organization desires. For example, very few databases contain information on what librarians call "fugitive literature": material prepared by non-standard publishers, such as community groups themselves. With good microcomputer technology and relatively inexpensive ways to communicate data, community groups could become providers for a database, working by themselves or in a consortium with others. Again, all through the electronic medium. An organization involved in publishing could obviously benefit by using a microcomputer or stand-alone word processing equipment. The group might also discover, as newspapers have, that the information it produces (once it has been made machine readable) can be reproduced in a variety of formats, all of which may serve as a commodity in addition to the original publication. It will be easy to update and (through selective keyboard retrieval) endlessly tailormade to the user's parhcular need. Clearly, community organizations can profit in many ways from using the new forms of electronic technology. Small organizations facing the financial crunch will need to examine their underlying information base and communication efforts. Learning how to use a computer is a good avenue to finding out about and participaHng in the electronic revolution, but important issues raised by that revolution must also be kept in mind: the control of distribuhon of knowledge; the social and environmental consequences (both good and bad) of the evolution of computer and telecommunication technology; questions of privacy; and societal vulnerability in an over-centralized, computer- managed society. As community groups improve their own "computer literacy" they will benefit by monitoring the information and communication industty, whose influence is spreading through direct control of vital resources and whose capacity is increasing to lead us into either an electronic nightmare or a fundamental transformation. Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz, who work with computer and telecommunication technology to develop humane social structures for community groups and others have expressed their vision of the future of social networks mediated by the new technology in this way: Decentralized interdependent networks are the backbone of the social and political movements of the 1980s. A richly interconnected web is emerging of local, regional and national
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