I am grateful that Jay Hauben posted the abstract of Ronda Hauben's recent article. In general, I think it would be good if people on this list would announce their articles as they are published. Too often articles disappear down a black hole. By announcing them, there is greater chance of their reaching interested readers. Would other welcome other such posts? Or would it be seen as an act of immodesty? (Truth in advertising: I have a recent article that I would announce.) Hans =========================================== Message: 2 Date: Sun, 4 Aug 2002 21:00:59 -0400 (EDT) From: Jay Hauben <jrh29@columbia.edu> To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] Usenet Archives and the search engine at google.com Reply-To: air-l@aoir.org Hi, Posting on Usenet has always been freely done as contibuting to the common wealth. It has also always been expected that posts were part of ongoing discussions and would expire in some finite time at every newsfeed site. The archiving of Usenet posts and the "ownership" of such archives by commercial entitites raises many questions. An article addressing some of these questions in the context of google.com appears in the current issue of the journal Science Studies 15:1(2002), 61-68. "Commodifying Usenet and the Usenet Archive or Continuing the Online Cooperative Usenet Culture?" by Ronda Hauben http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/other/usenetstts.pdf Abstract This article explores the conflict between the cooperative online culture of users who have created Usenet and the corporate commodification of Usenet posts by companies archiving the posts. The clash of decision- making processes is presented thorough the details of how Usenet users choose to petition a company to provide protection for the public archives it had collected. The company disregarded the petition and the archives were sold to another company. The new company has begun to put its own copyright symbol on the posts in its archives. How will such a commodification affect the cooperative nature of Usenet itself and the continuing vitality of Usenet's cooperative culture The article explores this culture clash and considers possible consequences. http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/other/usenetstts.pdf Take care. Jay