SCN: Final letter to the Fourth World

[Doug Schuler]

Hello!

Thanks to Anne Mc Farland of the Akron Free-Net and Steve
Cisler, Tom Grundner's "Final letter to the Fourth World'
has been released.  Is it still relevant?

-- Doug


Thanks to Google and gopher:
gopher://acorn.net/00/FreeWorld/About_NPTN/final.tmg


                       Final Letter to the Fourth World

                          by Dr. Thomas M. Grundner
                                   May 1996
                  Written for the GAR Foundation, Akron, OH

Five or six years ago,  I began a series of essays on community
networking called Letters to the Fourth World.  They were written to
those who believed in and, in many cases, were trying to build,
community networks.  They were pioneers really, people who were on the
cutting edge of a new communications revolution.  They had seen the
power of this new medium, sensed its possibilities and, to me,
represented literally a "fourth world" which transcended traditional
first, second and third world boundaries as easily as this new medium
transcends time and space.

Far fewer of those essays were written then I would have liked.  With
the handicap of actually having to DO the things I was writing about,
time was at a premium.  I regret that now.  I really DID feel as
though a new age of communication was forming and, while I could not
possibly have predicted the way events would eventually unfold, I still
feel that way today.

A few weeks ago, Anne McFarland, one of the prime movers behind the
Akron Regional Free-Net and the newer and even more powerful Akron
Community Online Resource Network, contacted me.  She knew I had
retired from the field, but asked if I would write one last
letter--a message to her workers which would somehow summarize what
community networking was all about and serve as a guide for their work
in the future.

I agreed to a Final Letter to the Fourth World.

It's funny in a way.  I started this letter by typing "Dear..." and
then suddenly stopped. Dear... who?

I didn't have that problem years ago.  I personally knew virtually
everyone who was working in community networking and even knew, at
least by name, a fair percentage of the users.  But, to whom am I
writing now?

Certainly I am writing to Anne McFarland's group in Akron, Ohio; but,
I am writing to a larger audience as well.  How big IS the "Fourth
World" these days?  How many hundreds, how many thousands of people
are interested in, thinking about, planning on, or actually operating a
community network?  I know there are well over a hundred systems in
operation across the U.S., Canada, and Europe; and there must be
something like a half-million users or more.

I know those numbers sound great.  They sound somehow comforting.  It
sounds like each community networker is building on a framework
already begun by thousands of people in hundreds of locations around
the world.  And to a certain extent that's true.

But, as much as it sounds like you are walking down a well-worn path
in building your system, you will soon discover that you are not.
Soon you will see that path narrow, grow fainter and in places even
disappear completely.  With that in mind, I wanted to leave you with
some thoughts--a compass if you will--that I hope will give you some
direction when you find yourself  hip deep in decisions and it seems
like the wilderness has won.

I am not going to write a "how to" essay on community organizing, or
setting up hardware/software platforms, or for fund raising.  Those
are all things that are solvable by you in your own way. I would
rather keep this brief and try to focus on one thing.  I am not
even sure what to call it.  It's not really what I see to be your
"mission" or "objective." It's more like what I see to be the CALLING
of community networking.

You see, the trick of doing community networking well is to under-
stand, truly understand, the enormous power you are in a position to
liberate and to figure out a way to harness it for the good of the
community you are in.  The first step in doing THAT is to understand
that the power is NOT located "elsewhere," it is right in front of
you in your own town.

If you are skeptical, let me try to convince you with an assertion
that goes something like this:  "Within 10 miles of the center of
any reasonably well-populated area is the answer to just about every
answerable question a person could ask."

Still skeptical?  Think about it.  Think about your own city or town.
>From brain surgery to bicycling, from quantum mechanics to auto
mechanics--I am willing to bet that within that 10 mile radius is
SOMEONE who knows the answer to just about any answerable question you
could have.

Think about your own situation.  How much do you know?  I don't mean
necessarily how many college degrees do you have.  I mean how much do
you know about all manner of weird and wonderful things?  Now multiply
yourself times the number of people in your community--ALL of them.
Include the newly minted college graduates and the newly retired
college professors.  Include the people who work in the factories and
farms.  Include all the people with a lifetime of experience--people
who cannot only tell you how to fix the  carburetor on a '58
Chevy, but can offer you some insights on living that are definitely
not found in a formal Introduction to Philosophy class.

Do you understand the unbelievable power those resources represent?

Have you ever come across one of those weird statistics that sort of
shocks you?  Things like--if the electrical power of a single
lightening bolt could be harnessed, it would light up the City of New
York for two days--that kind of thing.  Well, this is on the same
order of magnitude because the implications of my radius assertion
are just as stunning.

What would happen if we could somehow harness those untapped informa-
tion resources-the resources that exist not just in books written by a
handful of authors, but in the minds and lives of everyone?  What
would happen if we could somehow capture that lightening bolt
and utilize the thousands of lifetimes of experience and learning that
"naturally occur" in every community in the country?  What would happen
if there were a common fountain of information available in each
community to which anyone at any age could add, and from which anyone
at any age could draw?

People spend their whole lives acquiring knowledge, expertise and ex-
perience.  Up to this point in our history, the benefits of those
resources, for most people, have been confined to that person's
family, immediatefriends, employers, and that's about it.  What would
happen if we could use this technology to break down the walls of that
confinement and free up those resources?

Would we still teach the same way?  Up to now, the ultimate rationale
for our educational system has been to prepare new generations to
enter the work force.  How would that objective be changed if it were
possible to modify the civic duties under which we live to include
participation in interactive, one-to-many disseminations of knowledge
and skills via this technology?

Would we still learn the same?  Up to now, formal education has been
largely textbook based.   How would that change if, in addition
to the textbooks, one had easy access to people who spent their lives
in the arts, or the sciences, or who themselves experienced the history
described on the pages of the history books?

Would we still learn at the same rate across our lifetime?  All too
often learning is front-loaded in peoples' lives.  As they get
older, they don't get dumber, rather the outlets for their expertise
get fewer until, by retirement, all too often they feel no need to
learn or stay current in anything.  What would happen if there were
an outlet for expertise--a rationale for learning that spanned one's
entire lifetime?

How would our professions change?  Would the role of librarians remain
largely that of managing printed materials, or would it become that of
managing community information--in whatever form?  Would the role
of the teacher remain that of a lecturer, or would it finally (and
truly) become that of being a guide?  Would health professionals not
have a radically new and powerful way of promoting community
health?  Would community legal professionals not have a radically
new and powerful way of promoting understanding of the law?  Would
religious leaders not have a radically new and powerful way of
carrying their message?  Would government leaders not have a radically
new and powerful way of reaching their constituents?

If we can properly harness the capabilities of this technology, how
much of a shift in the quality of life would that represent?  How many
lives would be affected?

Seen in this light, the construction and operation of a community
network is not simply something neat you can do with an interesting
technology.  It is much, much more than that. But to realize that
potential, you must design and operate your system with that potential
firmly in mind.

Your job is to build a COMMUNITY computer network, not just a slick
bus station to elsewhere.  Yes, you should be connected to the
Internet.  Yes, it is fine to have links to wonderful and exotic sites
all over the Web.  Yes, it is great to have Usenet Newsgroups.  All of
this is terrific, but NOT if it undercuts the development of similar
online resources in your own town.

Your job is to build an INTERACTIVE medium, not just a giant electron-
ic brochure dispenser.  Yes, it is fine to provide access to local
static information files.  Certainly, connect to relevant static
web sites.  But, NOT if that is a substitute for people in your
community answering real questions posed by real people.  That is the
true power of this medium--don't cripple that power!

Your job is to build a system for ALL THE PEOPLE in your community,
not just the early adopters of technology.  I tell you this
in all seriousness--your ultimate target audience, in most cases, right
now does not even know what a modem is.  Your real target audience,
even as you read this, is working in a factory, or a steel mill, or on
a farm.  You are not going to get those people online by offering
them access to the card catalog at the University of Paris. You MIGHT
get them online by offering them access to local information and
communication resources that have genuine meaning and utility for
their lives.

Make no mistake, the "community networking revolution" has not been
won--far from it.  If anything, we are probably in a more perilous
position now than we were over a dozen years ago when I first began my
work.  I sometimes think we have forgotten WHY and FOR WHOM we set
out to do all this in the first place.  But, by the same token, it is
not too late.  It is a battle that can still be won, and YOU can do
it.

I am out of the race now.  So are a number of other "early pioneers." I
am old and tired beyond my years.  In my case "enough" has proven to be
"too much."  But there is a new generation of community networkers
coming up--new faces, new voices, new ideas.  It is to them, to YOU,
that this field must be passed.

We lit the community networking torch in the early 80s with 300 baud
modems, 16K personal computers and more enthusiasm than common
sense.  We showed what COULD be done, now you must carry it on from
here--into new technologies, into new approaches, into new services,
but above all, into the 21st Century without compromise.

Just never forget the imperative that is forced on you by the reality,
the utter tyranny, of "the radius."  It is both the agony and the
glory of doing community networking.