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By Dr.
Philip Baczewski, Director of Academic Computing and User Services
Just in time for the new
Fall 2007 semester, I decided to take a look at what this column was
discussing around the time that the new crop of freshman were born.
That takes us back 18 years to the July/August 1989 issue of
Benchmarks. This is so long ago that I had to go to my bookshelf
and pull down an old binder to flip through the pages of the then
paper-based publication. Inside the cover page, emblazoned with a
symbol of high technology -- the 5 1/4 inch floppy disk -- and a bit
of #2 pencil point for good measure, I found my quarry on page 7,
sandwiched between an article on AppleSEED (Apple Computer Inc.'s
Society to Exchange Exciting Discoveries - long since passed from
existence) and "Connecting your Microcomputer to the Mainframe System
at UNT via Telephone."
This column originated as The BITNET
Connection, a reference to the predominant college and
university wide-area network of the day. It would be two more years
before the name change to The
Network Connection, during which time the ArpaNet was
decommissioned in favor of the NFSNet, which represented the very
beginnings of the Internet as we know it today. Even so, some form of
the Internet has existed for the entire life of today's incoming
college freshmen.
The topic of 18 years ago was BITNET RELAY. That's the progenitor of
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) as well as SMS cell phone messaging. That's
right -- eighteen years ago, a different generation was talking in
incomprehensible shorthand code and prattling inanely on line. Of
course, back then you needed an IBM mainframe or equivalent and a
terminal connection (we had dial up) to do so. Still, the only
operational difference between those mainframe days and these
cell phone days is that the computer now fits in your hand, and we had
a much better keyboard to work with back then. OMG! Texting is not
new -- it's just a transferred paradigm with an inferior input device.
Waiting for something truly new on the Internet is a bit like waiting
for the flying car. Here we are,
years later, and the paradigms remain the same. The highways are
bigger, but more congested. The vehicles are faster, but not much more
functional. There's more traffic and it sometimes is difficult to
reach your destination. Where's that flying car that will take us
soaring above the mundane commutes and congestion. Oh yeah, and we
still don't have the ubiquitous
video phone.
So where's the new paradigm? Is it Facebook or MySpace? I view those
as personal web pages for the technically inept (sorry, I'm feeling
cynical today.) Social networking is not new, we just used to do it on
LISTSERV. YouTube? America's
Funniest Home Videos on steroids. Blogs?
Usenet without the
fun and freedom of alt. What about
Second Life? I know there were
MUDs
long ago, and DOOM,
and WoW,
and Halo,
more recently, but most of those virtual worlds are to support games
whose primary goals involve splatters of red all over your screen.
Second Life is intriguing because it is a virtual world for the sake
of a virtual world. It's a world with a geography, physics, and
economy unique to itself. Inhabitants are encouraged to create things
(structures, items, services, etc.) within the virtual world and plug
themselves into the virtual economy. They claim almost 9 million
residents, with tens of thousands on line at a time, and they're all
thin, muscular or shapely, and uniquely dressed, just like real life,
or more likely, like real life as you wish it might be.
Second Life is an alternate place to be (in the most philosophical
sense.) It now has political campaign
headquarters, university
classes, and even a symphony
orchestra. Second Life for XBOX or Wii would add an interesting
dimension, since there are
reportedly over 20 million of those Internet-ready game boxes in
households world wide. Those devices are built to create virtual
worlds (Wii tennis is almost as good as the real thing.) Those
devices also extend technology to a level usable by an 8-year old (not
that I'd recommend Second Life for anyone much under 18.)
The fascination with Second Life or whatever might develop from or
follow it, is the idea that if you have a parallel virtual life, you
can do things that you can't do in the physical world. This includes
flying, bodily, across the landscape to a remote site and interacting
with others within a simulated environment without leaving your house
(imagine going to the staff meeting in your bathrobe and letting your
avatar wear the tie.)
The idea of virtual meeting places or interactive environments on the
Internet is not new. However, attempts along those lines have been
single purpose. Second Life offers the environment and invites you to
utilize it for whatever purpose you can create. That's an interesting
idea, and perhaps something new on the Internet. I'll let you know in
18 years.
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