This sounds like a good idea in principle, but I must confess to
reservations.
This next bit is like an advert for AOL ....... :-)
>In the USA there are a number of competing computer network services. Among
>the three largest are; CompuServe, Prodigy and America Online (AOL). THe
>latter is growing at a very rapid rate.
I'll take this as read. But surely we want to create something which
is there for the Internet *as a whole*, so all of us can use it,
regardless of "native" mewtork service. This would probably take the
form of a mail server...... isn't there one of these attatched to the
mailing list server we have at the moment?
Something like this runs as "comdis" (a resource for people working in
human communications research), which I don't know much about
(yet), but they provide a service where you mail off a command and it
mails you back the results.
The good bit of this kind of mail server scheme is:
- all services can use it, as it is based on core internet
protocols.
- it should be cheaper to use, as you aren't on line waiting
for the document to arrive - just log back in later.
We should bear in mind that a significant number of people on this
list use mail accounts provided by their place of work. These are
generally Internet EMail gateways. This will only increase over time.
>Currently there is a very active small core of people who exchange
>information within a section of AOL devoted to PD. However, we want to expand
>this to include not just a discussion area but a reference library, key
>articles etc.
>
>On behalf of AOL, Elin Silveous developed a very strong proposal to expand
>services for people with PD. This proposal was submitted to theAmerican
>Parkinson Disease Association ( APDA.)
Could we have more details? (the text of the proposal?)
- Does this involve a financial commitment by the APDA?
- If there is no commitment on their behalf, why do
they need any convincing?
- Do other organisations/disease "groups" have similar
arrangements or services? (can we learn from their
experience).
- Will this benefit people who do not have AOL access?
- Are APDA really happy to support a worldwide service? (i.e.
which benefits other, non APDA/USA people - some bodies have
restrictions in the articles of association saying something
like "you can only use money to benefit USA PD sufferers")
In addition:
- will the resources you place on AOL be available for other
services to mirror (copy)?
- what will be the copyright position for material in this
area?
- How were you planning on gathering your material?
(general question - would the bodies (charities) working with PD be
willing to place electronic copies of their leaflets etc. on the net?
They generally provide them at cost, so they don't make much money out
of it anyway.... Any ideas?)
>The APDA needs to know that we are out there in larger numbers than they
>imagine. Help us to help ourselves by acting on this matter.
The list server will tell you how many peope are on this list, which
may help. How many are there of you on AOL?
I don't want to come across as being negative - this is certainly
a good idea. BUT:
- it is senseless using a commercial service when there are
plenty of flexible, well established, and free ways of
doing this.
- attatching it to one particular service doesn't seem too
optimal when you look at the wider picture of the internet
as a whole.
Sooner orr later we are going to want to put ourselves on the WWW (Word
Wide Web). Anyone got a friendly system manager? I'd put it up here at
University, but I'm leaving soon :-(
(somewhat reluctant to campaign for something I don't know much about,
but supportive of the general concept...)
Simon Coles
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