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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 8, 1995)
Internet may be damaged by ignorance of users « >U<3 If you think about it. the Inter nut is an amazing creation. I'd «v«n tall it one of mankind's greatest achievements in the last 30 years Unfortunately, there are few of mankind's achievement* that another segment of mankind couldn't screw up, given the chain e Sure enough, just as the internet is on its way to becom ing the most globally useful tool since electro ity. there are people who an* working hard to under mine and destroy its usefulness for everyone else Not to worry. I'm not going to outline an elaborate conspiracy theory involving the White House, the KGB (it still exists, you know) and your dog. Sparky The kind of damage being done to the Internet is presumably unintentional. And I'm not talk ing about kicking out transmis sion lines or dropping routing computers I'm talking about good, old-fashioned ignorance You ms*, when the Internet was created (it was called ARPANet then), it was built for a scientif ic. community of research and educational institutions its pur pose was to provide a means for Many people art very concerned about the government taking over the Internet They should be concerned ab<tut corporations scientific collaboration among researchers and to allow sharing of computer resource* acrnas long distances. In the earlier days of the Inter net there was a significant knowledge base required to be obit* to make use of its rwsoun es Only government and educa tional researchers even had access to such let hnologv Any fool off the street couldn't just stroll into a computer lab and start chatting with bis aunt in Duluth t Inless, of course, he was also in Duluth and his aunt hap pened to be in the same lab My point is that the American pub lic had little knowledge and even less use of the Internet These davs. just mention the word “Internet" at a party and you'll appear suave and world ly (or maybe that has something to do with the sort of parties I go toi it s the biggest and hippest thing since radio Everyone and his grandmother has an e-mail address of some kind, and the term "information superhigh way ' has 1mm ome perhaps our most-abused national cliche These things all spell success for the internet So what's the problem, you ask' Well, it begins with the fact that mut h of the flourishing pop ularity of all things net like has to do with the recent develop ment of online services like America Online (A()t.). Prodigy, CompuServe, etc \( )1 for exam pie. provides an easy-to-use inter fa< e to internet mail and news, allowing users to access them with extreme ease That's not the problem The problem is that users of these services suffer from Stand ing-On-The-.Shoulders Of-Ciants Syndrome (or words to that eff«s t) Before services like AOl. began offering ,u cess to new s groups to its users, there was a i ertain level of knowledge that was nw essary for anyone to read and post news In the prot ess of learning how to a< i ess the nec essary tools (logging into a main frame, navigating its operating system, configuring and using the newsreader. etc ), a certain gen eral understanding of how the Internet operated was generally gained, as well as a respect that can only l*> acquired through that effort of learning 1 don't mean to pit k on AOt.; they certainly take enough grief from the Intemtit i ommumty Hut an inordinately large percentage of jh»sts from AOl. users are innp propriate. insulting, ignorant or just plain unintelligible. There are certain behavioral codes for posting on new s groups, of w hit h AOl. users probably just aren't aware, blit which they consis tentlv break Many AOl. users possess neither the hat kgmund nor the at t|uireil sense of rvsjKin stbility to post intelligently on the Internet This is because AOl allows (hem the privilege of news access without the responsibili ty of learning how to got there One of tin* Internet ’s greatest strengths is its often, sfirnwlmg art Intei lure This is the reason than are no authoritative num bers for the population of the Internet or the number of hosts u ithuf it There is no c eiilral i oui mantl station to count or t ontrol sut h statistu s This is one reason the Internet is so apfmaling to Himnwn 111! ser vice providers They mil unleash thousands of uninitiated users onto thi’ esisting services of the Intermit and pay no more than the cost of connection, just like any other mat hine As if AOL hadn't caused enough wasted bandwidth with useless news posts alone, it has plans to provide World Wide Web sen ices soon Imagine thou sands of AOl. users cruising around the Web simultaneous)!. sucking gigabytes of images through the Internet's already twigged down pathways Many people are very con i omed about the government tak ing over the Internet They should Im coni erned about corporations Soon the research interests that have funded the Internet for so long will no longer be willing to pay for the unwashed heathen flooding the networks And when a company like AOl. owns the tim Maine ot the Internet, do you think they'll let you use it for free? Don't count on it /os/iiio (>/son is thr Kmerald s U*hnalt%v rnhnnnist tfyrni hnw any romputrr rrlatrd qurstions yon would likr lorn to answer, r mail him at odeumregon orv gun edu HOUSING Continued from Page 1A replacement of this unsafe housing Those in favor of saving the complex, however, say otherwise. "We've won round one and we're going to persevere." said Daniel Stutter, the coalition's attorney. "A lot of people said this would he over a long time ago and we’ve hung in there. We have had tremendous support from the communi ty and we aren't going away." Stotter stud he believes Friday's ruling by the board could send the decision as to whether the University had met the pre-application requirements for issuing a demolition permit back to the huge no City Council. He also said the stay that the board put on Amazon to halt all demolition at the site is still in effect until Childs files the new report. Although University officials claim they can proceed. Eyster said the demo lition will not occur until the matter is resolved. The University’s plans to demolish Amazon have been at a standstill since the board issued a stay March 2H forbid ding all demolition at the site until the coalition's appeal could (hi addressed at a hearing on April 27. It has not been announced how long Childs has to write the new findings under the request of the board or when they will lx* released. Both sides said Friday it is also undear as to what Childs will propose in the new Findings, but even if they do require the City Council to look at the coalition's appeal to the demolition |>er mit again, University offii iaIs are confi dent "If it does have to go back, this is still so easy to comply with," fa ster said 'it would just he another verification that their efforts are obstructive and the only purpose they serve is delay.” The coalition is hoping, however, that the findings will provide a i ham e fur the two sides to work together to reach "a win-win solution.” “We think we can find common ground like we did in moving the St Vincent de Paul buildings." Stutter said "it is this kind of compromise we look forward to fur the rest of the complex Four, two-story buildings from the complex were transported to a city owned site at 200 K 19th Avenue by St Vincent de Paul officials early Saturday morning. As it stands now. only two buildings at the Amazon site have been demol ished as part of the University's plan to replace Amazon with a new. ^HO-unit complex in two phases Phase one involves demolishing and rebuilding the buildings that have been vacant since Fall 1994 The rebuilt units are expected to be ready for occupancy by fall term I99f> WORK Continued from Page 1A Smith Mint the trend of more students working more hours will continue, mostly Ins guw of rising tuition An nrding to hdmond Vignoul. diret tor of the University's financial aid office, undergraduate tuition in the 1003-94 st hool year for residents was $2.01(1 For nonresidents it was $9,985. In 1995-90, the estimated undergradu ate tuition for residents is $3,387, and for nonresidents it is projected to he $ 11,09 I Vignoul said that financial aid has also increased to offset rising tuition. However, many students said that high tuition and a high cost of living in the campus area has put them in an uncomfortable position A 22-year-old Environmental Science major at the University, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was in financial straits when he turned to dealing drugs after losing his job lost year "I did it to pay the hills," he said. "I was dead broke It s not easy though I usually sell marijuana and hallui mo gens. hut it s hard to make money off pot m this town." He said he does not sell drugs any more, hul would turn to it again if ho could not find any other source of income It is realty hard to find a job in this town that works with a class s< hodule." he said "At least with dealing I ( an make my own hours Jennifer, .1 20 year-old University stu dent who asked to lie identified by her first name only, also found herself broke and unuhlo to find a job last year when she was a freshman She did not want to (all her parents and ask for money She thought they would criticize her for not Ixnng able to manage her finam es So. she gathered up her courage and went down to the laigene Plasma Cor poration. located at 1071 Olive St . to donate plasma "It was kind of scary the first time." she said. "But they are very nice and it only took about an hour " Jennifer rtx eived $2(1 on her first visit and $15 on each of die four visits site made after that Although Jennifer admits to being endwrrassed Jiy Jier vis its to donate plasma, Kathie Dickie, reception supervisor at die center, said die procedures are completely safe and 1 fiat tint negative stigma around donat ing is unfair Dickie said students come by regularly to donate. Ev'en tf f-here was such a -f-hlng as a sandwich school, we prob ab ly wouldVe b een draff-ed early and gone pro anyway. 344-1949 • 880 E. 13th Across from U of O Bookstore I Any 12-Inch Sub Limit one per coupon. Expires 5/31/95. 880 E. 13th • 344-1949 • Open until 9pm (Across from U of O Bookstore) J Any 8-Inch Sub Limit one per coupon. Expires 5/31/95. 880 E. 13th • 344-1949 • Open until 9pm (Across from U of O Bookstore) J
