At this time of civil defense crisis in the US, it is interesting to recall that an important precursor of the Internet was the computerized conferencing system that Murray Turoff and others developed in the early 1970s (and perhaps earlier) for the US civil defense system. The idea was to foster coordination among dispersed people and groups. This path-breaking system allowed for both email-like messages and easy setup of computerized conferences. The system became civilianized as EIES in the 1970s as Murray became a prof at New Jersey Institute of Technology (and still is). I remember being an early, delighted user of it in the mid-1970s, and was a member of a National Science Foundation funded field trial of using EIES to foster scholarly community. One fun feature: It was easy to use pseudonyms whenever you wanted. I was "Alvey Singer" as an _Annie Hall_ fan. Of course, the technology wasn't the same then. Everything ran off a single server in New Jersey, and we used an 800 number to dial-in. Speed was 110 bits per second (which is a lot different than 110K). It came over a printing modem. Whenever I got a message, I knew I had time to go get a cup of coffee, sometimes two. Text only of course. But EIES ran, it was fun, and it was useful. [See Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoff's _The Network Nation_ for a fuller account: I'm proud that they named their book after my even-earlier "Network City" article.] Now things have come full circle. I assume US Civil Defense folks are using similar systems today, and certainly we all have relied on the Internet to convey thoughts, argue positions, and obtain information. Barry ___________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman@chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 ___________________________________________________________________