NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/misc/activism/progress/9589

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From: [e-mail] (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Computers, Networking & Peace & Change Research
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/** media.issues: 252.0 **/
** Topic: Telecomm*Peace Research*Burgess **
** Written  5:57 pm  Dec 21, 1992 by hfrederick in cdp:media.issues **
From: Howard Frederick <hfrederick>
Subject: Telecomm*Peace Research*Burgess

[This *excellent* article describes all the state-of-the-art
modes of computer telecommunications useful to peace and conflict
researchers.  It is general enough to be useful to all serious
users of the networks.  Congratulations to Guy Burgess on putting
together such a useful description of the ins and outs of
"peacetronics".  hf]

From: [e-mail]

TELECOMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL, AND
PEACE AND CHANGE RESEARCH

By

Guy Burgess, Ph.D.
Co-Director
Conflict Resolution Consortium
University of Colorado
Campus Box 327
Boulder, Colorado 80309-0327
[phone]
Internet: [e-mail]

June 8, 1992


The computer industry is continuing to make rapid advances in both
hardware and software.  Each month, new computer hardware is
developed which is able to store, transmit, process, and display
more information.  Software enhancements continue make computers
easier to use and capable of more complex tasks.  As capabilities
advance, prices continue to plummet, making powerful machines
increasingly accessible. While many, if not most, peace researchers
now use computers for some research tasks (for instance word
processing or data processing), computers can now be used for many
additional functions as well.  While some of these are unnecessary
"bells and whistles," others are extremely valuable functions,
which have the potential of revolutionizing the way peace research-
ers do their work.

The emerging generation of computers are not merely fast versions
of yesterday's computers.  Quantitative improvements have been so
great that today's computers are qualitatively different from their
predecessors.  Innovations in computer technology applicable to
social science research can be broken into four categories:

Data Analysis
Increasingly powerful computers are making possible significant
improvements in qualitative and quantitative analytical techniques.

Word Processing
Powerful word processors employing both character-based and
graphical interfaces (e.g. Macintosh/Windows), together with
increasingly sophisticated proofreading and bibliographic manage-
ment programs, continue to make the writing and typesetting of
manuscripts ever easier.

"Virtual Institute"
Rapidly advancing telecommunications technologies are making it
possible (and affordable) to integrate the world-wide network of
peace and change scholars into a single "virtual institute"[1] in
which geographic separation is no longer a meaningful barrier to
collaborative work.

Electronic Publication
Data storage and retrieval technologies together with communi-
cations networks are also giving peace and change scholars an
opportunity to enter an age in which they can have immediate access
to almost any information they want!

The first two of these innovations have been dealt with extensively
elsewhere.  Therefore, the primary focus of this paper is the last
two topics.

VIRTUAL INSTITUTES AND INFORMATION ACCESS FOR PEACE RESEARCH
Much of what is needed to construct a "virtual institute" and
system of instant information access is already being put in place
by computer hardware and software developers, university depart-
ments of computing and network services, and a relatively small
core of peace and change scholars who are learning to exploit these
new technologies. But these efforts are not enough.  Computer
technology will not significantly advance the field of peace
research until a large fraction of researchers/scholars take an
active role in 1) adapting available technologies to their specific
needs, 2) contributing their knowledge in computer-accessible form
to the field as a whole, and 3) using the information to improve
the quality of their work.

The following pages outline an initial image of how these technolo-
gies might be developed for peace research.  No doubt, future
refinements can substantially improve these ideas.  The key is to
recognize the potential and start moving aggressively to exploit
it.  In some cases this essay highlights currently available
capabilities; in other cases it suggests steps that could be taken
to develop an even more powerful system in the future.

Because of the speed with which computer technology is advancing,
any statements made in this paper are subject to change (usually
for the better).  The best advice is for persons interested in
learning to use these services to contact the many sources of
updated information suggested.

In order to keep readers, especially computer phobics, from
becoming bogged down in technical details, most technical informa-
tion has been placed in footnotes or at the end of the paper.  The
reader's first task should be to understand, in general terms, what
is available and how it might advance their work. Once readers
decide what they want to do, then they can figure out how to do it.
Fortunately, the availability of outside technical assistance can
take most of the pain out of the process.


"VIRTUAL INSTITUTES"
The "virtual institute" is a computer term which I use with some
hesitation, but no plain-language synonyms exists.  The term simply
refers to a computer-based communications network which makes it so
easy for scholars to communicate and collaborate over long
distances that the result is virtually the same as having everyone
work at the same research institute at a single location.

Traditionally, peace and change research has been dominated by
small research teams and, often, individual scholars working on
extremely limited budgets. Many peace and change scholars do not
want to be associated with creativity-stifling, "big science"
projects.  Yet, the quality of our work would often be enhanced if
scholars were able to pursue bigger projects.  The ability to reach
conclusions that are sufficiently well-documented to convince
skeptics is limited by: 1) the size of the "sample" upon which
results are based, 2) the degree to which conclusions are replicat-
ed, 3) the ability to effectively incorporate past findings, 4) the
integration of data from different cultural, geographical,
political, and economic regions, and 5) the ability to incorporate
contributions from many different disciplines.  Most of these
limits could be overcome by bigger, more collaborative projects,
which are now much easier to pursue through computer networking.

At the core of any virtual institute are the field's many profes-
sional associations and frequent annual and international meetings.
These activities have successfully established a core network of
scholars, working in related fields, who know each other well and
would welcome improved opportunities to collaborate.  This
dimension of personal understanding and trust is crucial.
Fortunately, once it has been established, effective collaboration
can proceed with much less face-to-face contact provided that
prompt and effective means of communication are available.  This is
where telecommunications technology can play such an important
role.  Long-distance telephone connections, including conference
calls, are now cheap enough that most of us can afford at least a
few of them.

While telephone connections are necessary, they do not provide a
sufficient basis for long-distance collaboration.  To be effective
a communications system must also be able to:

- Cross national boundaries (and oceans) at affordable cost.
- Transfer large documents.
- Transfer word-processing files so that they can be edited and
  returned without requiring manual retyping.  It is also often
  necessary to translate between the many different formats used by
  various word-processing and other programs.
- Transfer charts, figures, and raw data.
- Distribute documents to large groups of people at affordable cost.
- Allow personal conversations.  Not all problems can be readily
  resolved through an exchange of successive draft documents.
  Sometimes you need to just talk.  While telephones are obviously
  preferred, the cost of international calls is often prohibitive.
- Avoid meeting gridlock.  Anyone who has tried to schedule a
  meeting for more than four people knows how quickly it can become
  impossible to get everyone together.  The result is that collabora-
  tive initiatives often fail because of simple scheduling difficul-
  ties.
- Find needed collaborators.  As broad as the personal networks of
  acquaintances and colleagues frequently are, they undoubtedly
  exclude a great many potentially fruitful collaborators.  Efforts
  to build a more effective research network could, therefore,
  benefit from programs designed to make it easier for potential
  colleagues to meet one another.

All information transfers must be quick, inexpensive, and hassle
free.  Traditional mail (which hackers call "snail mail") is slow
enough and uncertain enough to insert prohibitive delays in the
collaboration process.  Overnight express mail is better, but it is
extremely expensive, especially if a great many people are
involved.

INTERNET, IGC/APC NETWORKS
Workable, though not perfect, solutions to many of these challenges
are offered by two rapidly growing and increasingly sophisticated
world-wide telecommunications networks--the Internet[2] and the
IGC/APC Networks[3].  Internet is a complex web of high-speed
telecommunications networks connecting the world's principal
research institutions in government, academia, business, and
elsewhere.  Beyond this, Internet has gateways to almost all of the
world's other major communications networks including Compuserve,
MCI Mail IGC/APC Networks, and many others.

The Institute for Global Communications (IGC) and the Association
for Progressive Communications (APC) operates a parallel and
complementary set of networks.  The APC networks include IGC's
three United States networks -- PeaceNet, ConflictNet, and EcoNet
plus a large number of international networks including Alternix in
Brazil, ComLink in Germany, FredsNaetet/PeaceNet in Sweden,
GreenNet in Great Britain, Pegasus Networks/EarthNet in Australia,
Web in Canada, Nicarao in Nicaragua, and GlasNet in the former
Soviet Union.

Access to Internet tends to be limited to larger, more established
institutions (e.g. universities, government agencies and private
organizations with enough money to pay for a connection).  If
you're lucky enough to have access to Internet, however, and most
scholars are, the big attraction for users is that it is usually
free.[4]  You have to pay for access to the IGC/APC network though
costs are surprisingly low.  This makes IGC/APC accessible to in-
dividuals and smaller organizations which can't afford Internet.

Internet is an extraordinarily large and powerful system with an
unbelievable array of features.  But the system is designed for the
scientific community as a whole, not simply for peace and change
researchers.  Thus many of its potential contributions to peace
research have yet to be developed.

The IGC/APC networks, on the other hand, were developed specifical-
ly to support efforts to promote social change and foster peace.
Starting with a strong base in the activist community (which is,
surprisingly, far ahead of researchers at exploiting this new
telecommunications technology), the network is now making an active
effort to provide stronger support to the research community.

Internet is faster.  A file can be transferred across the Atlantic
in less time than it took an old PC to save it to a diskette.
IGC/APC is limited by the speed of your modem -- 1200, 2400, or
perhaps 9600 baud.[5]  This is plenty fast for short messages but
a little expensive for long papers.  Internet users can connect
directly to the IGC/APC networks through Internet.  Not only does
this dramatically increase speeds, it also sharply lowers costs.[6]

Thus, each network has its own special advantages.  If possible I
would recommend connecting to both of them.  With Internet access
IGC/APC should cost you about $120 per year.  Without Internet the
cost is somewhat higher and, because of speed limitations its
capabilities are somewhat reduced.

ELECTRONIC MAIL
Internet and IGC/APC users can exchange electronic mail messages
with virtually anyone anywhere in the world who has an electronic
mailbox.[7]  It is just as easy to send papers by electronic
mail[8] to large or small distribution lists composed of reviewers
and other interested persons.  Internet's speed and free access
make it the preferred route for large files.  It is still possible
to do this on IGC/APC, but it can be expensive enough that users
will probably want to limit their use of this feature.

Another interesting feature of electronic mail is that it is much
less formal than regular letters.  Messages are usually typed by
the person who sends them, not a secretary.  Typing errors are
expected and rules of grammar and eloquence are relaxed.  Even
spell checks are usually omitted.  The bottom line is simply to
communicate ideas as quickly and efficiently as possible.  This
saves everybody a lot of time.

Electronic mail is also fast.  It is common for message recipients
to immediately type out their replies.  Since messages can be sent
by a single keystroke, it is common to receive a reply within a
couple of hours, even on mail sent across the world!  Another
example of e-mail's potential is the fact that students in
different countries can use it to work on joint class projects.

The use of numerous short e-mail messages often provides a workable
strategy for holding a meeting when it is impossible to get
everyone together either because of distance or busy schedules and
meeting grid lock.  A large number of people can, at times which
each participant finds convenient, review a set of written agenda
items and e-mail back comments to everyone.  Based upon these
comments, members of the team can revise their proposals and e-mail
them out again for further comments.  E-mail is so fast that
consensus decisions can be developed in this way.  Without it you
either would have to have a meeting (or conference call) or spend
a prohibitive amount of time circulating snail mail messages.

TALK
If e-mail is not fast enough and your budget won't stand for
international telephone calls, Internet has a free talk feature in
which users on opposite sides of the world can "chat" by typing
messages back and forth.  For example, one user can type "Should we
submit our plan to the President?"  The recipient reads the message
as it is typed and immediately types back a response,  "No, I think
we should go to Secretary General."  In this way problems that used
to take months to resolve through conventional mail can be dealt
with in minutes and for much less than a phone call.

LISTSERVERS AND FILESERVERS
In addition to person-to-person electronic mail telecommunications
systems allow users to post and read discussion papers and
announcements dealing with an enormous array of topics.  One way in
which this is done is through Internet's fileservers and
listservers.  These are automated e-mail handling systems which
respond to messages requesting information on particular topics.
Listservers (which include electronic journals) maintain a
subscription list of people interested in particular topic and
periodically collect and mail out information to everyone on the
list.  Information available can include papers and reader
comments, news items, announcements, and virtually anything else of
interest.

Fileservers, by contrast, periodically or in response to e-mail
requests distribute directories of information (not the information
itself) that they have available.  Users can then request and
receive specific files by return e-mail. (This prevents information
overload, which is a problem with listservers.)  Different systems
can employ different editorial policies. Some pursue a come-one-
come-all policy that encourages the posting of preliminary work.
Others follow a more traditional peer review journal format.
Circulation can be open to the general public or restricted.
Fileservers and listservers are accessible to anyone on any e-mail
system connected to Internet, including IGC/APC.[9]

CONFERENCES AND NEWSGROUPS
The IGC/APC distributes this type of information through electronic
Conferences (Internet has a similar mechanism which it calls Usenet
Newsgroups).[10]  While there are several hundred of these
conferences and newsgroups which might be of interest to peace and
change scholars.  Examples of topics covered include:

- News items from various countries and wire services.
- Computer hints for dealing with a variety of problems.
- News about the Conference on Environment and Development and other
  UN activities.
- Activities of organizations like Greenpeace and Amnesty Interna-
- tional.
- Citizen diplomacy.
- Propaganda.
- Operation Desert Storm.
- Closure and Conversion of Military Facilities.
- Peace Education.
- Pending legislation.
- Newsletters from conflict resolution and peace research organiza-
  tions.
- Current nonviolent actions.
- Regional news from different world trouble spots.

Conferences can either allow anyone to post discussion papers or
responses, or they can be controlled by a moderator who screens all
contributions for quality and appropriateness.  Access to confer-
ences can also be restricted if participants are not yet ready to
make their work public.

Users select conferences (or newsgroups) that they would like to
"attend."  When they log on to the system, they can ask the
computer to show them any new (unread) items that have been posted
since their last "visit."  Subject to editorial approval by the
conference moderator, users can also respond to conference items or
post their own materials.[11]

Conferences, listservers, and fileservers go beyond e-mail by
allowing information on particular topics to be exchanged between
people with common interests who do not necessarily know each
other.  These systems also provide excellent mechanism for
obtaining preliminary feedback and rapid distribution of working
papers.

FINDING COLLABORATORS
Both the Internet and the IGC/APC networks maintain extensive
systems for finding e-mail users.[12]  They do not, however,
provide the detailed information needed to reliably build strong
productive project teams among people who do not know each other.
Still, contacts made through easier e-mail communication allow
people to easily expand their list of personal contacts.  Eventual-
ly it might be appropriate for persons interested in organizing
new, "bigger" science projects to issue an open call for partici-
pants through an appropriate conference or electronic journal.
Interested persons could then respond with a semi-formal applica-
tion including a vita and references.  Smaller exploratory projects
might be then  undertaken which might ultimately lead to full scale
collaboration.

CURRENT SYSTEM STATUS
At this point the coverage and quality of materials available is
limited by the relatively low level of participation in these
conferences by accomplished peace and change scholars.  This is a
social, rather than technological, limit which will quickly be
overcome if people start taking advantage of these capabilities.

ELECTRONIC PUBLICATION
In addition to providing the communications needed to support the
collaborative work of a virtual institute, electronic publication
made possible by the computer revolution is now making instant
access to information both technically feasible and affordable.  I
am not talking about small bits of information; I am talking about
something which could be close to a field's entire body of
knowledge!  There are no technical reasons why scholars should not
be able to 1) sit down at their computers, 2) call up a simple menu
driven program, 3) type in what they want to know about, 4)
immediately find out what's available, 5) identify an electronic
publisher through which it can be immediately obtained, 6)
immediately download the document(s) to one's own computer, 7)
search the document electronically to find passages of immediate
interest, and 8) print typeset-quality paper copies to read in your
favorite easy chair.  While this system does not now exist, it is
vastly closer to a reality then most people think.   To become a
reality, such a system of instant information access must contain
the following components:

COMPUTERIZED INFORMATION
During the past several years, virtually anything that has been
published has been written and typeset using computers.  It is
therefore a trivial task to enter these documents into a computer-
based information storage and retrieval system.  As computer
storage costs continue to plummet, the entry of large numbers of
full-text documents will become economically feasible (storage
prices around $1 per book are realistic).

The bigger problem is the computerization of older, printed
documents.  Here, major advances in optical-character recognition
technology are making it easier and relatively inexpensive to
convert these materials to computer-readable form.  Still, the
amount of literature that one might wish to computerize is
enormous.  A badly needed, and not terribly expensive project,
would involve the prioritization and computerization of the field's
core body of literature.  This could be done through a systematic
review of the large number of state-of-the-field articles published
in peer review journals over the years and perhaps supplemented
with the advise of an editorial committee.  Even without retroac-
tive entry of the classic literature, most of the field's key ideas
will be available in machine-readable form in the not-too-distant
future, because each new work builds off the literature that
precedes it.

The knowledge base involves more than just articles and books.
Significant benefits could also be obtained through the computer-
ization of qualitative and quantitative data, directories of
research institutes and scholars, listings of funding opportuni-
ties, and information about on-going policy decisions that could
benefit from the field's expertise.

WILLINGNESS TO PUBLISH ELECTRONICALLY
The biggest obstacles to such electronic information storage and
access are not technical but rather social and monetary.  The
social obstacle is cultural lag.  It takes a while for society to
take advantage of new opportunities once they appear and it will
take a while for print publishers to learn how to publish electron-
ically.  Still, publishers respond to market pressures, so if
readers demand it then they'll do it.

Monetary problems arise because electronic publication directly
competes with print publication.  Since the publishers hold most of
the copyrights, some effective mechanism must be found for
protecting their profit margins before publishers can be expected
to allow electronic access to their materials.  Fortunately,
computers are very good at accounting and Master Card, Visa and
standing purchase orders make it easy to levy a copyright fees on
electronically distributed materials.  The piracy problem, while
potentially severe, will probably not be appreciably worse than the
problem of unauthorized photocopying.  Since production costs for
electronic distribution are vastly less than for printed materials,
electronic copies should cost substantially less than their paper
counterparts.  While many commercial enterprises derive most of
their operating revenues from publication sales, this revenue
source is far less important for peace and change research, which
is funded primarily by grants and faculty and student research
time.

The bottom line is that the field of peace and change research must
demand that journal and book publishers, as well as individual
scholars, publish electronic versions of each manuscript.

COLLECTION
Peace and change research is, by its very character, generated by
a widely distributed community of scholars.  Computer-based
information will be of little value if it remains so widely
scattered that it cannot realistically be located and retrieved by
scholars and other interested persons.  In order overcome these
problems electronic publishers are needed.  Not only must they be
able to collect documents that are ready for publication, they must
also be able to arrange advertizing and distribution.

Electronic publication is fast.  Once one learns how to do it, one
can easily "publish" a document in five to ten minutes.  All you
need to do is to upload the paper and perhaps a separate, short
abstract page to an appropriate electronic publishing system for
advertising.  For comparison, this paper was completed in early
June but will not appear until the October issue of Peace and
Change.

BIBLIOGRAPHIC SEARCH/ADVERTISING
It is relatively simple to include information about electronic
publication options in direct mail and other printed advertise-
ments.  But,the key to making a system of instant information
access a reality is computer-searchable bibliographic retrieval
systems.  Bibliographic citations with abstracts and index terms
have long been compiled by the major abstracting services working
in each academic discipline.  These organizations have usually been
quick to recognize the potential advantages of computer technology
and have, with few exceptions, moved to make even more powerful
computer versions of their information base available.  Examples
include the Sociological and Psychological Abstracts which are
available on-line through information wholesalers like BRS and
Dialog or on CD-ROM at many libraries.  As powerful as they are,
they tend to focus exclusively on specific disciplines, forcing
true interdisciplinary scholars to consult a number of sources.
They are also tend to neglect information which is not available
through mainline sources.  Another major source of bibliographic
citations are library "card" catalog systems that have excellent
coverage of books, but limited coverage of periodicals.  It is now
easy to log into a world wide network of these systems (see further
information below).

Next, there are cooperative programs like the University of
Colorado Conflict Resolution Consortium's Information Exchange
which collects lists of references (and other information) that
scholars working in the field have found to be valuable.  This
effort focuses upon an a number of interdisciplinary topics such as
peace research, environmental dispute resolution, alternative
dispute resolution (in the legal context), research methods,
justice conflicts, and the peace research network.  This effort is
designed to do four things:  1) to cross disciplinary boundaries,
2) to include literature that may not be picked up by commercial
services, 3) insert and index codes that are more appropriate for
a particular field of study, and 4) limit the amount of information
by including only that which contributors found to be of value.[13]

Still, none of these systems is designed specifically to index
electronically published documents.  One way to find these
documents is by consulting directories and indexes for the
listservers, fileservers, electronic journals, conferences, and
newsgroups discussed above.  Perhaps the most powerful information
search system uses Telnet,[14] the protocol used to establish a
high speed connection between two computers over Internet.  Telnet
allows Internet users to run virtually any other computer on the
Internet system (provided that you have the proper passwords).[15]
This is how, for example, you use Internet to connect to the IGC
networks.[16]  There are also a great many systems on Internet
which allow anonymous access.  In other words, they are free and
you do not even need a password.[17]  These systems (which are
discussed in more detail below) provide the best mechanism for
finding electronically published information.

DISTRIBUTION
Initially electronic distribution simply involved an online
ordering system connected to bibliographic search services.  Next,
full-text documents dealing with popular (and, therefore, lucra-
tive) topics became available online.  These include: encyclope-
dias, news articles, legal information (e.g. LEXUS), etc.  Full-
text information storage and retrieval is only now becoming
economically feasible for underfunded fields like peace and change
research.  As such, its coverage is still quite modest.  Neverthe-
less, this can change dramatically in the next few years if
researchers so desire and participate .

The key to such distribution is a companion to Telnet, the Internet
File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Like Telenet, FTP allows users to log
on to any computer on Internet network provided that they have the
proper password.  Also like Telnet, there are many FTP sites that
offer an free, anonymous, public, log-in option.  The purpose of
FTP is to allow the downloading and uploading of large and small
documents at unbelievable speeds.  FTP can literally deliver a 100
page book across the country in seconds.[18]

CURRENT STATUS
Traditional publishers are moving into the computer age with
differing speeds and effectiveness and new organizations are being
created to fill the many gaps that exist.  Centers of activity
include research centers like the Conflict Resolution Consortium
which are making their working papers available by electronic mail
and anonymous FTP.  Their electronic publication efforts are
handled by Communications for Sustainable Future which electroni-
cally publishes information on a variety of peace and change topics
from a variety of sources (see below).  Their information is
available through anonymous FTP as well as a fileserver.  Another
major electronic publisher is the IGC/APC network which offers
computer searchable databases in addition to its conferences.
Telnet/FTP Examples

The following examples illustrate the capabilities of Internet's
newer Telnet and FTP systems which are slowly replacing the older
e-mail based fileserver and listserver systems.[19]

ARCHIE[20] is an excellent place to start and a source of basic
information on  Internet, its capabilities and uses.  It also
contains a computer searchable database of a large fraction of the
electronically published documents available on Internet along with
the information needed to obtain them. (This includes a listing of
anonymous FTP sites.)  This is perhaps the closest thing that there
is to an Internet Books in Print. Also of interest is an excellent
book, Zen and the Art of the Internet by Brendan P. Kehoe.  This
beginners guide to Internet, which has been used extensively in
preparing this essay, is available by FTP transfer.[21]

PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE LIBRARY CATALOGUES provide easy to use
gateways for free access to hundreds of library "card" catalog
systems world-wide, including libraries in the United Kingdom,
Switzerland, Australia, Israel, Finland, West Germany, and the
United States.  The U.S. libraries include Harvard, Yale, the
University of California system, the Colorado Alliance of Research
Libraries, and many others.[22]

WHITE PAGES provides a directory of e-mail addresses.[23]

MARYLAND INFO DATABASE is available by Telnet and FTP and provides
immediate access to a broad range of information including the
United States economic statistics and the U.S. Census data.[24]

COMMUNICATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE is a file server and
anonymous FTP area operating out of the University of Colorado
listing a variety of documents related to peace and change.[25]

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INFORMATION SYSTEM provides access to many
National Science Foundation publications.[26]

ASSOCIATION OF RESEARCH LIBRARIES maintains a list of electronic
journals, newsletters, and scholarly discussion lists along with
information on how to access each publication.[27]

CLARINET provides access to UPI wireservice news in the Usenet
Newsgroup format.  (Many Universities already subscribe to this
service.)[28]

INTERNET RESOURCE GUIDE is compiled by the NSF Network Service
Center.[29]

IGC/APC NETWORKS are, as mentioned above, connected to
Internet.[30]

This is just the tip of the iceberg. The only way to really find
out what is available and how best to post your contributions is to
use the system and see what you can make it do.

COMPUTER PHOBIA AND THE DIVISION OF LABOR
These systems are not as user friendly as they could be.  They are
certainly more difficult to decipher than the current generation of
PC and Macintosh software.  Still, a remarkably small number of
commands are needed to perform all of the tasks discussed above.
There are fewer commands to learn than are needed to run a word
processor, for example.  People wanting further help in understand-
ing how Internet works can contact their own institution's
computing and network services department which most probably can
help.  Information on IGC/APC, can be obtained by contacting the
Institute for Global Communication, 18 De Boom Street, San
Francisco, CA, 94107, [phone].  Learning how to access and
use these networks for sending and receiving e-mail and publishing
and retrieving documents is not difficult, if help is obtained.
While there is not a great risk that you will contract a computer
virus from any of the above services, it is still prudent to
periodically use one of the many inexpensive virus scanning
programs available.[31]

One strategy we have found successful in helping overcome the
reluctance of many peace and change scholars to use these new
technologies is to establish, within a university or other
institution, an office, perhaps staffed by one of the new genera-
tion of computer-literate graduate students, to handle computer-
based networking activities for all university peace and change
scholars.  They could be responsible for setting up computer
equipment, network connections, and accounts; helping people send
and receive e-mail messages; identifying sources of information in
response to specific requests; downloading and distributing
information; and uploading institutional contributions to the
overall knowledge base.[32] [33]


CONCLUSION
At this point, peace and change scholars, as well as the field's
major journals and book publishers, need learn more about the
potentials of this system and then begin working to reach these
potentials.  To do this, scholars and publishers should begin
publishing electronically, if they are not already doing so.  All
it takes is a modest investment (for computer hardware, software,
and an Internet link--much of which many researchers already have),
and a mechanism for collecting royalties.  As information storage
and retrieval costs continue to plummet, and as users and contribu-
tors to this kind publication expand, the whole effort should gain
considerable momentum.  The more people recognize the value of the
system and the more it is used, the more valuable it will become.
Eventually, most information in the peace research field could
become instantly accessible to researchers world-wide, and world-
wide collaboration could become routine.  While not eliminating
world conflict, such advances could significantly improve the
quantity and quality of peace research and make the impacts of that
research significantly greater as well.

NOTES

1. This term is adapted from the computer term "virtual laborato-
ry."  The idea with both is that people can work "virtually" side-
by-side, although they are actually thousands of miles apart.

2. For information on how to connect to the Internet contact your
institution's computing and network services department.

3. For information on how to connect to the IGC/APC Networks
contact the Institute for Global Communication, 18 De Boom Street,
San Francisco, CA, 94107, [phone].

4. You may need to pay from the hardware, software, and communi-
cations line to connect your computer to an Internet machine
(usually a mainframe).226

5. A 2400 baud modem transfers approximately 300 characters per
second or a 24 line screen every 5 seconds.

6. Surprisingly it is easier to e-mail binary files such as those
used by Word Perfect and other word processors with IGC/APC than
Internet mail.  It is apparently possible to do this on Unix
machines using the "uuencode" and "uudecode" commands. An even
better approach is the Internet FTP transfers discussed below.

7. The one notable exception is Prodigy which has thus far refused
to join the worldwide network.

8. In some cases length limits may require breaking the long papers
into pieces.

9. A list of available listservers can be obtained by sending the
e-mail message "list global" to "[e-mail]." CAUTION:
This will produce a large reply. A full list of list server command
can be obtained by sending the e-mail message, "help", to
"[e-mail]".

10. In fact many newsgroups related to peace and change research
are also carried on the IGC/APC Networks.

11. Ask your computing and network services department how to
obtain a complete list of current newsgroups. IGC/APC has a List
command within the Conferences menu.

12. Information about Internet users is available using the "WHOIS"
command or by sending mail to the postmaster of the appropriate
institution.  Still, the best way to get an address is from the
person you want to reach. All e-mail messages have return addresses
and more and more people are putting their e-mail address on their
stationary.  Another tool is the "White Pages" database discussed
below.  The IGC/APC Networks also provide an easy to use directory
of users for finding e-mail addresses.

13. Additional information on the Information Exchange Program is
available from the Conflict Resolution Consortium, Campus Box 327,
University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, 80303. [phone].
Internet: [e-mail]

14. This is not the same as Telenet which is a popular commercial
telecommunications service.

15. This assumes that the user has the appropriate terminal
emulator (which is usually easy to arrange) and that they have the
necessary passwords (except for anonymous, free, public accounts).

16. The command for this was "telnet igc.org."

17. They might also give you a free account an password so that
they can track system use.

18. If possible, it is considered polite to conduct FTP transfers
at night when the system is less busy.  The first step in down-
loading information from FTP sites is to download the "read me"
file.  This contains more detailed information about exactly what
is available and where it is located.  You may also need to
uncompress compressed files after the transfer is complete.

19. The commands presented in this section worked in June 1992 from
University of Colorado computers.  The same basic commands should
work on any other internet system.  These commands are, of course,
subject to change.  If you have trouble contact your computing and
network services department.

20. Telnet to "archie.mcgill.ca" and log on using the user ID
"archie" (lowercase letters).  At the "archie>" prompt type "help"
for more information.  You can also obtain information about other
archie servers which may be closer.  E-mail users should send a
single word message, "help", to "[e-mail]"

21. FTP to "archie.mcgill.ca" (or another archie server) and use
the "get" command to download the README file.  After reading the
README file FTP into archie again and "get" one of the "zen" files.
Your computing an network services department can help you decide
which one to get and the best way to print it.

22. While there are many ways to access this system perhaps the
easiest is to telnet to "vax.sonoma.edu" with a VT100 terminal
emulator. Log on with the username, "OPAC", and follow the
directions on the screen.

23. For White Pages Telnet to "wp.psi.net" and log in as "fred"
(lowercase).

24. Telnet to "info.umd.edu" and login with "INFO".  FTP to
"info.umd.edu" and login with "anonymous" to download files.

25. For more information send an e-mail message to "rop-
[e-mail]".

26. Telnet to "stis.nsf.gov" and log in as "public".  You can also
FTP to "stis.nsf.gov" using "anonymous" to log in.

27. Send the commands, "get ejournl1 directry" and "get ejournl2
directry" via e-mail to "[e-mail]".

28. For more information send a request to "[e-mail]".
You can also look to see if it is already carried as one of your
computing system's newsgroups.

29. To receive the guide send an e-mail request to "resource-guide-
[e-mail]".

30. The Telnet and anonymous FTP address is "igc.org".

31. Perhaps the best is ViruScan from McAfee Associates which is
quite inexpensive and often available through University computing
and network services departments.

32. While some scholars are already working on computers that are
also Internet nodes, many more will be using personal computers,
while it is the institution's mainframe computer that is connected
to the Internet.  This means that some mechanism for connecting
personal computers to Internet is required.  Personal computer
users will need to get a small mainframe account (usually available
for the asking) and a mechanism for connecting their personal
computer to the mainframe.  This can almost always be done be using
a telephone line and modem to connect to the mainframe Internet
computer using a telecommunications program like ProComm (IBM-PC's)
or White Knight (Macintosh).  One can upload and download files
using Kermit or another protocol.  Personal computers can also
function as a VT100 or other terminal allowing them to run most of
the systems accessible through Telnet.  In a great many cases,
users will have access to higher-speed computer networks which
connect personal computers and terminals to the mainframe system
much more efficiently than modems and phone lines.

33. The commands that scholars will need to master include: 1)
logging onto a computer on the Internet system, 2) logging on to
the IGC/APC network.  (Most telecommunications programs allow this
task to be automated so that all users need to do is choose the
network that you want to connect to from a telecommunications
menu), 3) uploading and downloading files between a personal
computer and mainframe Internet account, 4) sending and receiving
electronic mail, 5) logging on and off a remote system with Telenet
(two commands), and 6) Uploading and downloading files with FTP
(five commands).  It is also useful to learn how to convert files
from your word processing format (e.g. Word Perfect) to ASCII text
format and to use compression utilities such as PKZip which allow
files to be transferred more quickly while simultaneously saving
hard disk space.  For those using a mainframe for Internet access
it is useful to master the few commands that it takes to modify and
view files with a mainframe word processor like EMACS or VI.


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