To: Rex Ballard 
Cc: Online-news Mail 
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On Tue, 18 Oct 1994, Rex Ballard wrote:

> The prices are becoming very realistic very quickly.  With more POPs going
> up every day, it is not difficult to get provider for a reasonable rate. 
> I currently pay $35/month for up to 6 hours of SLIP or Shell access per day.
> Even in New Jersey, where it seems like every block is it's own LATA, the
> phone rates are reasonable.

Prices may be dropping, but the average income (in Canada) has not
increased dramatically.  This means that people still may not be able to
afford to purchase online access, as the cost of living continues to
increase, with little if any increases in pay.

> Where it is important to have plain text is in the sorting and sifting of
> the gigabytes of text data being produced every week.  Sifting, profiling,
> and relevence ranking are useful tools for addressing specific interests
> quickly.  Hierarchal navication is also useful, but often is not refined
> enough in sources that produce over 100 postings/day.

Yes, graphical environments such as Mosaic make the net easier to manage
for new comers.  However, one still must be literate...the Internet
culture *is* a written one, based largely on words.  Even Mosaic uses
words (after all, Mosaic is considered a hyperTEXT system) for navigating
the wonders of cyberspace.

> When a reporter begins a contriversial story that might cause a libel
> suit, you can bet he wants to be able to verify his source.  I wouldn't
> want to quote a completely anonymous source who was blowing the whistle on
> a fortune 500 corporation with out being certain that I could verify my
> source.  Confirm them by phone, face to face, whatever.  E-mail is one of
> many tools in modern journalism.  It is a great source of leads, story
> ideas, and resource information.

True, for a various in-depth pieces, I still like to use face-to-face,
and/or phone interviews.  However, on most assignments, E-Mail works fine.
Especially when I often talk to the same people in the course of my work
(ie., I know the sources prior to working on the story).

> I would invite you to get on the net and join in to some of the alt.*
> groups to find out how interesting educated people can really be.  The
> internet thrives on the ingenuity of the alt.sex.* groups.

Or I've quickly scanned those when I first came online, nothing turned me
on to them.  I find the net more useful for intellectual endevoures rather
than sex.  Besides, I hate sticky keyboards :)


<<>>  Jordan H. Green, Freelance Journalist, proud to be Canadian, Eh?
      YKU02444@YORKU.CA  BA822@FREENET.CARLETON.CA
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
      NEW ADDRESS        This address stays the SAME




From jvncnet!marketplace.com!owner-online-news Thu Oct 20 10:47:00 1994