How I got started

I was introduced to the Internet in 1993 when I first typed the word "gopher" into what I thought of as my Email account. The colleague who let me in on the secret refused to tell me what I would find when I typed in the magic word, saying only that I wouldn't be disappointed if I did. She was right. Up until then, I had used my computer primarily for word processing and database searching, along with some desultory E-mail conversations here and there.

Neither my life nor my career would be the same again.

Some conferencing options

Usenet
My first internet love. To quote Uzi Paz's Usenet FAQ:

Usenet (Unix USErs' NETwork) [C.1] is a board for public network messages. The messages are sent by people who have posting access to Usenet, and they are divided into different groups (called newsgroups) by some hierarchy, according to their subject, [C.2].

There are a number of ways to participate in Usenet newsgroups, the two most frequent being with a World Wide Web browser and with a dedicated news client.

Literally anybody can post to Usenet. This is both a blessing and a curse.

GuestWorld Guestbook
In July 1997 I added a GuestWorld guestbook to the website of the Missouri Fine Arts Academy. The MFAA is held for three weeks every summer at SMSU for high school students from across Missouri.

Microsoft FrontPage 98 Discussion Bot
In a word: forget it. It's ugly, it's not user friendly at all, and it won't quote text. I've tried more than once to get students and faculty interested in using it, with no takers. I set up a sample conference here. I'll be very interested to see how FrontPage 2000 pans out.

BeSeen.com
In the summer of 1998, I set up a BeSeen.com message board for the SMSU Public Affairs Web Oversight Committee - a group of very busy SMSU personnel whose job it is to keep an eye on their Webmaster (me). At first, it was used pretty frequently and was a useful means of obtaining feedback. But not all of the committee members found it user friendly.  Another problem was that a great deal of the time, it just didn't work. By the time Fall semester came around, it fell into disuse.

DejaCommunities
One conferencing option is DejaCommunities, a free service of DejaNews. In February 1999 I joined Southwest Standard Feedback, a DejaCommunity created by SMSU's campus newspaper, the Southwest Standard. DejaCommunities is rich in features, offering forums, a calendar, a weekly poll, a whiteboard, and a mailing list. But it is very difficult to get started with, even for an experienced user like the author. A visit will show that this conferencing package has not taken root at SMSU. I don't see a great future here.

Milken Educators Virtual Webspace
The Milken Educators Virtual Webspace is a very impressive resource. Developed by the Milken Family Foundation to support recipients of its National Educator Awards, it literally has all the bells and whistles. Recently it has been made available to selected educators, including presenters at TechEd99. I joined a project that sounded particularly interesting, only to become the leading participant. I say this not to criticize, because the project leader informs me that her school is short on computers. Semi-regular visits to the chat rooms corroborates my notion that the MEVW is vastly underutilized.

Pitfalls of electronic communication

The pitfalls can be summarized in one phrase: user friendliness is king. Each of the conferencing methods mentioned above has its strengths and its shortcomings.

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