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Lives.
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A symposium dealing with the National Information Infrastructure intending to
gather information from Humanities folk who feel they may be left out of the
decision making path.
 
Debbie Lords
Marriott Library
University of Utah
 
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Date: Mon, 21 Mar 1994 16:56:36 LCL
From: Jay Jaroslav <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: ARTISTS, WRITERS, AND OTHERS CONCERNED: HR 3636 Will Change Our
Lives.
 It Is Being Debated RIGHT NOW!
To: Multiple recipients of list ASIS-L <[log in to unmask]>
 
Dear Colleagues:
 
H.R. 3636 is the National Communications Competition and
Information Infrastructure Act of 1993, and it is shaping our
future to an extent that may be hard to grasp. In a
just-over-the-horizon information landscape of almost unlimited
potential, H.R. 3636 will determine just how much territory we
can have access to, how easily, how often, and at what cost.
 
We are at the threshold of a quantum leap in communications
technology similar in scope to the advent of electricity and the
introduction of the telephone. Although most of us can't see this
change coming, and can't comprehend its language ("bandwidth",
"interoperability", "open-platform", etc.), that failure of
perception will not diminish its soon-to-be-felt and all-pervasive
effects.
 
The question is not how to deliver more and more pre-packaged
programming on more and more channels to individuals in the home,
classroom, or office. It is how, in each of those situations,
individuals can have the opportunity to participate in a whole new
model, actively seeking out the information they need and the
audiences they want to reach.
 
The potential of this new model may never be realized however.
Decisions that will determine levels of access and interactivity
on the emerging National Information Infrastructure are being made
right now. Tremendous pressure is being applied by groups whose
interests are primarily profit-related and do not coincide with
the interests of the general public.*
 
On October 14-16, the Center for Art Research and The New Art Center
are sponsoring an important international symposium at the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts that will
lay the groundwork for a response to this crisis. The symposium
will bring together representatives of the arts and humanities,
government officials, network technologists and telecommunications
visionaries who share the common goal of assuring maximum
individual access to high-capacity interactivity on any proposed
electronic infrastructure.
 
The view of individuals and organizational representatives in the
arts and humanities have special relevance to the issue of access
and interactive potential. Museums and libraries are the major
repositories of cultural information: collected history and
heritage which can add significant value give meaning and context to
our lives. Arts organizations produce cultural expressions through
performances and exhibitions and, through their education and
out-reach programs, encourage the spirit of creativity and innovation
in our youth that interactivity demands.  Individual artists,
writers, film-makers and musicians are examples of persons who are
already active communicators, forming unique information syntheses
and seeking appropriate audiences for them.
 
The next twelve months will see crucial telecommunications policy
decisions being made. This symposium will be one of the key public
opportunities for high-level interactions leading to the formation
of partnerships, alliances and working-groups that could affect
current policy and proposed legislation.
 
We hope you will be able to attend.
 
 
* Pat Aufderheide, in _In_These_Times_, quotes John Malone, CEO of
TCI as saying to Jeff Greenberg on ABC's _American_Agenda_,
"Nobody would invest hundreds of millions of dollars for the public
interest. One would be fired if one took that stance."
 
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jay Jaroslav, Director      Internet: [log in to unmask]
CENTER FOR ART RESEARCH
241 A Street Boston, MA                  voice: (617) 451-8030
02210-1302 USA                             fax: (617) 451-1196
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