Date: Mon, 13 Apr 92 1:55:34 EDT From: Subject: File 2--"Internet tapped for global virtual publishing enterprise" Computerworld, 3/23/92, p.? By Gary H. Anthes, CW Staff "At negligible cost, in the span of a few weeks, an entirely virtual global publishing network involving nearly 150 correspondents has been assembled," Anthony M. Rutkowski, editor in chief of the _Internet Society News_, wrote in the first issue of the magazine, which was recently published. The cover of the slick, 50-page publication asks, "Where in the world is the Internet?" The answer is nearly everywhere -- in 107 countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The 150 correspondents who make up the virtual publishing enterprise are similarly dispersed. "We have people in virtually every corner of the globe. We even have an Antarctica correspondent," Rutkowski said. The nonprofit Internet Society was formed last year to foster the evolution of the Internet, to educate users and to provide a forum for user collaboration. The quarterly news magazine offers information about Internet technology, growth of the Internet and related private networks and activities of the society and its members. A slippery concept Rutkowski, an Internet Society trustee and director of technology assessment at Sprint International in Reston, Va., said he started planning the magazine last August but ran into a conceptual challenge right away. "We wanted to provide a very timely snapshot of the Internet and the Internet community. But what is the Internet? That's what's difficult. It's so heterogeneous, almost amorphous." Rutkowski and two co-editors decided to define the Internet broadly and include representatives from many countries and interest groups. The correspondents come from telecommunications and publishing companies, academia and legal and public policy interests, he said. Topics include Internet activities by region, application and user groups, technology, Internet administration and operations, public policy and law. Concept development, coordination, information transfer and editing for the magazine were all done over the Internet. "Such a [publishing] network in many respects equals the complexity of those of Reuters or _Time_ magazine," Rutkowski said. "The ability to do this with relative ease across the entire globe is a profound statement." A subject-matter outline and a list of correspondents was turned into a "mail exploder," an electronic-mail list in which any person on the list can broadcast mail to the entire list by sending mail to one address. A second Internet address was established for receipt of articles by the three editors and a third was established as a repository of finished material. The mailboxes are on a computer at the Corporation for National Research Initiatives in Reston, Va. Articles were sent in by E-mail from around the world, and when all had been edited, Rutkowski pulled up the whole mass for final formatting via Microsoft Corp.'s Word for Windows. Then it was output on a laser printer and sent to a commercial printer. Circulation: 4 million Rutkowski said the magazine will be published quarterly and will soon be available electronically to any of the Internet's 4 million users. He said later this year the society will also publish a journal containing more analytical articles, "archival-quality" pieces about the Internet. Editors and correspondents of the _Internet Society News_ will have their work cut out for them as they try to keep up with Internet growth. An article in the magazine predicted there will be between 29 million and 45 million computers on local-area networks in the U.S. in 1995. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++= Long reach The Internet extends to thousands of computers around the world Internet Society * 1000 individual members * 24 corporate members Internet * 770,000 computer hosts attached * 4 million-plus users * 7,000 operational networks, 30,000 registered networks. * 107 countries served Source: The Internet Society CW Chart: Janell Genovese *** [No e-mail addresses were mentioned in the letter; do you have any knowledge of the addresses of anyone involved in this publication?] Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253