Barbara,
Here is some "input", or responses to your e-mail access questions:
1. All of the on-line services that you mention, plus several
others have toll-free phone no.'s for information and are happy to send
literature describing their services, including e-mail activities. In fact,
the 3 major vendors of these services offer an introductory 5 or 10 hours of
on-line time to new customers. After these free hours are depleted, typical
costs are about $10 per month, with 5 "free" hours per month, and about $3
per hour after that.
2. The only needs required for access to our list-server are
hardware. Specifically, a modem. The modem costs keep coming down. The
last check that I made indicated that a 2400 baud modem was available for
about $50, and for the higher speed, 14,400 baud units about $100. The
on-line services provider will supply, at no extra costs, the software
needed to go between the modem-equipped PC and the on-line service provider.
3. How about using our info exchange capabilities to accumulate a
data base of "environmental factors" to which our participants have been
exposed, e.g. toxic chemicals, etc.? It would be interesting to look for
apparent correlations between such exposures and PD incidence.
Bye for now!
Milton McLain
