Hardware and Software Issues

The problems to address:

• Multiple users must be able to access the same information (conferences, interactive chat) at the same time.
• Some information (e-mail) must be kept private, so identities must be verified.
• Some information (e.g. e-mail, conferences, Web pages) needs to be shared with other computers.

Strategies for addressing the problems, (in order of structural simplicity):

• The Mainframe Mentality solution (example: Chebucto Community Net)
  • Users log into a "shell" of the actual OS (e.g. UNIX), so security is built-in. Unfortunately, a hacker who guesses the "root" password can destroy the system.
  • Internet-standard software (lynx for menus and Web pages, pine for e-mail and newsgroups, talk for interactive chat) allows 100% compatibility with other Internet servers. Conferences and Web pages can be shared, and no e-mail gateway is required.
  • The only interface available is plain text, so users can get by with very inexpensive hardware.
  • The text-only interface requires users to be literate.
  • Since all connections are continuous, the more users are online, the slower everyone goes, and there is a finite limit to the number of simultaneous users the server can handle.
  • CCN's ChebuctoSuite package uses all free software (including the OS, Linux) and can run on inexpensive hardware, so setup costs are minimal.
  • Maintenance can be expensive, since UNIX has a steep learning curve.

• The Web-based solution (example: Twin Cities Free-Net)
  • In addition to the standard UNIX software, use special Web conferencing software (e.g. Caucus) that allows conferencing, e-mail, and interactive chat from within a Web browser (e.g. Netscape or lynx).
  • Since Web connections are not continuous, the same server can handle much higher traffic when users come in through the Web.
  • Users may feel pressured to use expensive computers so they can enjoy the Web interface.
  • Logging in is accomplished through the Web browser, which sends the user's name and password every time it requests a new page, so security is dubious.
  • Interfaces of Web conferencing packages vary widely: one message at a time with slow response, or many messages on a page with slow loading? Frames or no frames?
  • Discontinuous Web connections do not permit the server to contact the user with new information such as chat requests, so both users must enter a chat room (if such a service is even offered) in order to chat.
  • Personal opinion: Web conferencing software rarely feels interactive and may discourage people from posting. It also may turn people outward to the Internet instead of inward toward the community.

• The souped-up BBS solution (example: Cleveland Free-Net)
  • Users log into a BBS program (e.g. FreePort) instead of directly into the OS. This makes hacking much less likely.
  • Work can be distributed among several servers without the users' knowledge. Each server may be running a different flavor of UNIX, so great flexibility in hardware is possible.
  • The text-only interface is accessible with very inexpensive hardware.
  • FreePort can cooperate with Internet-standard software (lynx, pine) to allow Internet access, and UseNet standard newsgroups can be shared over the Internet for a larger audience.
  • FreePort is very old (last officially modified in 1991) and not always stable, sometimes losing e-mail and conference posts.
  • Users spoiled by the Web are sometimes disappointed by the text-only interface.
  • The text-only interface requires users to be literate.

• The classic BBS solution (example: Great Lakes Free-Net)
  • BBS software runs on a PC, so logging into the OS is impossible and the risk of fatal hacking is reduced. Most administrative tasks may be done through the client software, but others require sitting down at the PC itself.
  • BBS servers tend to have shallower learning curves (that is, they're easier to learn) than UNIX-based servers, so system operators may need less training.
  • BBSes may require a separate mail server for sending and receiving Internet mail. However, they may have built-in support for exchanging e-mail and conferences with other BBSes running the same software.
  • If there is a graphical client, it is designed specifically for CMC and is potentially very user-friendly. FirstClass Client allows users to work in multiple windows simultaneously, and sounds alert the users when background windows need attention. FirstClass Client also stores many graphics on the client computer, making data transfer very rapid.
  • Some BBS packages that focus on a graphical interface may not have a fully functional text interface, so poorer users may be discouraged; however, client software will generally run on a much cheaper computer than will a full-blown Web browser such as Netscape.
  • FirstClass conferences are simply public mailboxes, so a single subscription to an Internet mailing list (e.g. NPTN's cybercasts) may be shared by all users.
  • In practice, client software can be difficult to install on the wide variety of computers that users own, so phone support is ubiquitous.
  • Many BBS packages offer no incoming or outgoing Web support, so investors may see them as a technological dead end. Some other BBS packages, such as ResNova's NovaServer (no longer available) and Mustang's Wildcat do offer limited Web support.
  • FirstClass has been discontinued in favor of FCIS, a Web conferencing package.

• Community Networking Rule #3: Technology must be appropriate to the needs of the community.

Optional workshop: the World Wide Web

• Obstacles to sharing information over the Internet:
  • Each brand of computer originally required a different protocol (set of rules for who says what when) and a different encoding (method for turning intelligible information into numbers and back again, e.g. ASCII text). Cross-platform standards evolved by necessity as people demanded ways to connect their computers together.
  • Early Internet-standard protocols (FTP, telnet, IRC, talk), with the exception of e-mail and UseNet (SMTP, POP, NNTP) required continuous connections between computers. Such connections became less reliable over large distances and as Internet traffic increased.
• Gopher
  • An Internet protocol named gopher was introduced in 1991, the same year as the World Wide Web. Both were discontinuous: one computer requested a document, the other supplied it, and that was the extent of their communication. Gopher intially received more attention and support than the Web because its reliance on menus rather than prose seemed more useful for cataloguing information.
  • Gopher is menu-based. Each gopher server has a set of menus listing and describing documents (mostly ASCII text files) it offers and links to related menus on other servers.
  • A program called Veronica allowed gopher servers to search for specific information by querying each other.
• Enter the Web
  • The World Wide Web is the implementation of the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which allows a computer to request any document without first navigating through menus. This means any document can link to any other document, anywhere in the world, forming a decentralized, web-like structure of information similar to the neural networks of the brain.
  • HTTP can be used to view any type of document encoding (e.g. text files, GIF or JPEG images), but it's really designed to work with HyperText Markup Language (HTML). HTML ensures that a document can be formatted complete with text styles and colors, nested lists, embedded images, and links to other documents, and it will look acceptable on any computer. This is accomplished by making all formatting instructions very explicit, removing all ambiguity.
  • HTML is a subset of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), which theoretically allows any kind of document to be represented as plain text. SGML has never caught on, but another subset, the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) looks promising.
  • The Web didn't have a clear advantage over gopher until graphical browsers became available. A browser is a program that makes HTTP requests and displays the resulting documents. Almost all browsers must be on the Internet (that is, their computers must have IP addresses) in order to function; the notable exception is ResNova's now-defunct NovaTerm client.
  • Because HTML pages need not be strict menus, the gopher/veronica strategy of searching was no longer effective. Search engines are services that maintain enormous databases about what information can be found on which page. When you use a search engine, you are not searching the Web itself but rather a database generated from the Web.
  • Because HTML is based on the ASCII (American standard) character set, it is best suited for the English language. Those who write in other languages must use clumsy HTML tags to obtain the special characters they need or expect their readers to switch to an entirely different character set (e.g. Japanese, Cyrillic, Greek).
  • The World Wide Web Consortium periodically announces new versions of HTML, but the language's development is currently being driven by Netscape and Microsoft, which keep adding new features to their browsers whether they're officially supported yet or not.
  • Notable developments in browser technology include frames (allowing information to appear in multiple panes within a window), support for embedded animation and sound, ability to display PostScript files (encoded for a printer rather than for a screen), and ability to run programs written in Java, a platform-independent programming language.
  • Some BBS packages and most Web conferencing packages generate HTML documents on demand, allowing customization for each user. Java programs also allow more interactivity than a browser would.