Posted by Host of Gopher Jewels/ May be of General Interest to

["Marianne Haase, Librarian" <HAASE_M@HCCA.OHIO.GOV>]

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Date: Sat, 05 Nov 1994 14:20:18 -0600 (CST)
From: david.riggins@tpoint.com
Subject: MODERATOR ANNOUNCEMENT
Sender: gopherjewels@einet.net


    NEW LISTSERV/  FOCUS:  GOVERNMENT ACTIVTY


Sorry to bother everyone with this off-topic post.

I am thinking about starting a new list service.  The service will post
issues I have with information delivery activity that affects all of us.
The focus will be on, but not limited to, government activity.

Some examples:

Why the White House has established a World Wide Web service and no
gopher.  This sends a signal to all government agencies that it is OK to
drop gopher services and move to a Web only delivery system.

Why is the U.S. Postal System claiming they have autority to manage
government information?  Are they using postal fees to cover the cost of
piloting kiosks?  How will a government information delivery system,
using kiosk technology, impact library, education and community efforts
that plan to deliver over the Internet.  Will government agencies have
to manage duplicate information to satisfy their Internet and kiosk
delivery systems.  Considering the time it will take to test and deploy
a nation-wide network of kiosks, have they compared that to the
projections for digital delivery to every business and home.  Can kiosks
be deployed far enough in advance, of the ultimate goal of having this
information in the home, to justify their cost?  Why are kiosks being
considered before standards for kiosks and other delivery systems have
been established?  Is it possible that government delivery systems will
have a different set of standards than commercial systems, noting that
electronic commerce efforts seem to favor an Internet-based approach?

How do we keep the National Trade Data Bank free to the Internet
community when the producers must cost recover.  How about commercial
sponsors?

                                ****

The service would simply post these issues for subscribers to do with as
they wish.  There would be no opportunity for debate...I don't have the
time to manage that process.  I also believ that many of us want to read
about the issues, but don't care to have a mail box full of posts
debating the subject.

I'm interested in your opinion.  Would this service be of interest.  Do
you object to my not allowing a forum for debate.  Is there a service
out there that I would be duplicating.

Again, I sorry to bother you with this, but I respect the opinions of
each and every 3,000+ Gopher Jewels subscriber.

Thank you for subscribing to Gopher Jewels

    David Riggins
      Gopher Jewels Project
        david.riggins@tpoint.com

    URL=gopher://cwis.usc.edu/11/Other_Gophers_and_Information_
        Resources/Gophers_by_Subject//Gopher_Jewels

  Why is there no gopher.whitehouse.gov?

  ask....                      President@WhiteHouse.GOV
                          Vice.President@WhiteHouse.GOV
                               GILL_J@a1.eop.gov

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