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Date: Tue, 03 May 1994 00:24:16 -0800
From: jer...@netcom.com (Jerry Richardson)

NOTES ON MECKLER'S INTERNET/
DOCUMENT DELIVERY '93
 December 7-8, 1993, New York City

  I.  PREFATORY NOTE by Jerry Richardson: These notes were taken primarily
during the sessions on the "Entrepreneur Track" of the Conference. There
were concurrent tracks, including "Publishing," "Utilization," "Document
and Info Delivery," and "Technical." All the notes are my version of what
transpired. Lapses of attention, random fantasies and other deviations from
alertness no doubt contributed to whatever distortions are present. If you
have better information about whatever happened and/or was said please let
me know. Also, if anyone else has notes on any of the other sessions I
would appreciate having a copy. Thanks.

  II.  INTRODUCTORY REMARKS  by Meckler: Thinks Internet will be bigger
than the PC in terms of marketing and entrepreneurial opportunities. It's
now 1977 and we're in Steve Jobs' garage.

  III.  KEYNOTE by Peter Deutsch (one of the authors of Archie;
pet...@bunyip.com). Deutsch is developer of new Internet technologies;
formerly systems manager at McGill Univ.; an Archie developer; working on
'whois' now. Refers to his work as "perceiving needs and building little
files to fill them." Thinks that developers should make incremental
changes. Don't try to do everything at once. Proceed incrementally.
   A.  Doesn't believe that information should necessarily be 'free,' but
rather 'freely available.' His company (Bunyip) charges for software
support, not for the software or for information.
   B.  Compares Internet to lemonade stands without lemonade right now. But
this will change in the next couple of months.
   C.  Re commercial use of  Internet: The argument is over. The Internet
is a commercial venture. What we're trying to do now is figure out the
funding models. Also, who pays.
   D.  The big guys (Bell Atlantic, TCI, et al.) are entering the game, but
they'll need gurus.
   E.  Publishers are not in the paper and ink business, but rather in the
information business. They need to figure that out. The costs of publishing
are too high with paper and ink, whereas it costs nothing to make
electronic copies.
   F.  Re paying for stuff. He likes flat fee model. Easy to charge a site
fee; difficult to charge end user fees.
   G.  Will be a lot of market differentiation. E.g., connectivity provider
shakeout. Those who add value will survive.
   H.  Regarding the 'information should be free' culture of the Internet:
This needs to be respected. He likes the 'virtual commons' and wants to
preserve it. Thinks that cooperation with this culture will be key to
commercial success.
   I.  Current problems: primitive tools (e.g., WWW) and 'geek' interfaces.
These, however, are temporary problems and are being fixed.
   J.  The bottom line though is that there really aren't any problems,
only opportunities.
   K.  The next 6 months are about as far out as you can go in making
predictions and suggestions, but here are a few:
    1.  Better technologies. Companies are mastering them. Publishers are
going through them.
    2.  Get catalogues online.
    3.  Maintain the commons. Don't tramp on the grass.
    4.  The culture has to be taught how to do business.
    5.  Defining new services and putting them on the net is where the
action is.

  IV.  COMMERCIAL USES OF THE INTERNET
   A.  Bill Washburn (CIX; non-profit, global trade association; neutral re
the big issues; tries to take serious policy issues head on. Operates a
router with no restrictions on acceptable use; washb...@cix.org)
    1.  Internet (especially Usenet) a good place to identify and locate
technical expertise. Blurs traditional distinctions between customer,
vendor, reseller, etc. Dramatically more effective than faxes and overnight
mail in a world that transacts business by the second. Necessary for
companies that depend on software support.
    2.  High level information access tool. 24 hour access to:
     a)  business partners and suppliers
     b)  most up-to-date information and expertise
     c)  investors, clients, potential customers
     d)  government agency information
     e)  research and library databases and reports
     f)  fugitive information not found in standard sources
     g)  fewer geographical limits
     h)  whole organization can support customer, not just sales
     i)  direct feedback regarding products and services
     j)  competitive information
     k)  new avenues to build and strengthen partnerships and business
relationships
     l)  new infrastructure for business communication and influence channels
     m)  key to faster product development cycles
     n)  key to standards development process for various industries
   B.  Chris Vandenburg (Rockwell Int'l Internetworking Manager;
cr...@cmc.com).
    1.  The goal: make access user friendly. Connecting branch offices.
Making Internet services available (e-mail, news, communication around the
world). Per message cost is much lower than dedicated lines via traditional
suppliers. Internet is a unifying force that enables companies and their
customers to be connected via a 'virtual private network.' Internet address
becoming almost like a phone #.
   C.  Martin Schoffstal, President of PSI, Inc. (nation's largest provider
of Internet access).
    1.  Internet is becoming a fourth utility (like electricity, HVAC,
phone/fax). You can't do business without it.
    2.  Today's whys for using it: good for casual communication; no phone
tag (asynchronous); inexpensive.
    3.  Tomorrow's whys: Video conferencing
    4.  CiX is a reliable commercial backbone without NSF use restrictions;
NSF is unreliable. Moving commercial Internet service forward.
    5.  Can't be based on routers (too slow, buggy)
    6.  How it will be used: strategic applications (trading stocks, video
conferencing)
    7.  The bottom line: can groom Internet performance to meet customers'
needs. For the '90s company information technology is a weapon.
    8.  The future: All Internet service providers not equal. In 1980 there
were over 50 workstation vendors; now there are 6. The same thing will
happen with Internet providers.

  V.  WHO LOGS ON?
   A.  Walt Howe, Delphi, Inc. (walth...@delphi.com)

   Most popular Internet services:
    1.  e-mail
    2.  newsgroups
    3.  mailing lists (listservs)
    4.  gopher
    5.  most Delphi users use the Internet

  VI.  DOING BUSINESS ON THE INTERNET, Mary Cronin (author of "Doing
Business on the Internet"; cro...@bcvms.bc.edu)
   A.  Basic Internet food groups (in order of current importance)
    1.  Communication
     a)  Global e-mail. Brings a global awareness to all employees of what
it means to be competitive in a global environment
     b)  Discussion groups (Usenet)
    2.  Information
     a)  Electronic publications (Michael Crighton recently said NY Times
won't be in paper in the future)
     b)  Expertise
     c)  Data and business resources (e.g., federal government databases)
    3.  Collaboration
     a)  Virtual teams (e.g., real-time communication re prototype design)
     b)  Research (e.g., GE Systems Division collaborates with research
labs around the world, exchanging large files of imaging data)
     c)  Product development
     d)  Corporate partnerships (companies developing joint products, a la
Apple and IBM)
     e)  Commerce (buying, selling and trading; although not a typical
application now, due to Acceptable Use restrictions)
      (1)  Marketing
       (a)  CiX and other providers offering legal and acceptable
commercial use. Junk mail is an exception (still not accepted)
       (b)  Potentially, the Internet is an ideal marketing vehicle,
because the Internet is already segmented (e.g., you can target a list of
discussion group participants)
      (2)  Sales
       (a)  Product distribution (information products)
       (b)  Collection of $ has historically been a problem, but some
companies are working on it
       (c)  Customer Support is most popular form of commercial use.
Silicon Graphics is an excellent example.
      (3)  Commercial applications poised to take off in the next year
   B.  The Internet affords the kind of flexibility and adaptability and
respond-ability that companies are going to need to become and stay
competitive.

  VII.  ADVERTISING ON THE INTERNET
   A.  Judith Turner (Chronicle Information Services; jud...@page1.com)
    1.  There's already much advertising on the Internet
    2.  There will be a different ways of advertising on the net - it will
be about having dialogues with groups of people having similar interests
(via e-mail and the like)
   B.  Christopher Locke (editor, Internet Business Report; clo...@panix.com)
    1.  His journal launched at Interop '93. He promoted it by posting a
notice on the "com-priv" mail list and asked other people to post the
notice elsewhere as they saw fit.
    2.  An alternative to advertising is networking.
    3.  Intrusive, invasive advertising doesn't work on the Internet
    4.  The rule: always give more than you take.
    5.  You can get mailing lists of various groups (Usenet = 5000+ groups;
also Listserv managed lists are available)
   C.  Dale Dougherty (O'Reilly and Assoc.; d...@ora.com)
    1.  Have launched Global Network Navigator (GNN) as an experiment.
    2.  Objective: establish a communication link with consumers and let
them tell you what they're interested in, what they like/don't like about
your products or services.
    3.  Tries to build an audience and then sell access to that audience to
advertisers. For information send a request to a...@ora.com.
    4.  You could create an .alt group to discuss, inform and promote your
service.

  VIII.  PUBLISHING ON THE INTERNET
   A.  Laura Fillmore (Editorial, Inc.; la...@editorial.com)
    1.  Having books available online has increased book sales (per
Addison-Wesley)
    2.  There will be more 'hybrid' works, combining online and print
publications. Online only or book only options haven't worked very well
(publisher tried to sell Stephen King's "Nightmare" at $5/copy online with
little success.
    3.  Site licenses work
    4.  Distributed publishing will become more frequent.
     a)  An art history electronic book will have pointers to other
computers on the Internet with art files which can be accessed with a mouse
click.
     b)  An "expanded book" connects through the book into the Internet and
back. E.g., reading about ftp one would be able to click on a button and,
e.g., ftp to a computer in Australia, get a file or run a demo and then
return to the expanded book.
     c)  This create a new discipline and a new job, that of the "link
editor," whose job it will be to create the links from the expanded book to
the various computers around the net.
    5.  All of this will be a great boon to marketing
    6.  Books will be sponsored by interested parties and given away
electronically
   B.  Chet Bridge (Red Sage Project). Editorial, Inc., Voyager, Bunyip and
others are scaring traditional publishers and are doing what traditional
publishers should be doing (and aren't), which is advancing the
state-of-the-art.

  IX.  THE INTERNET FROM A VENTURE PERSPECTIVE
   A.  Garrett Gruener. Burr, Egan, Deleage & Company (venture
capitalists); CIS 71137,2560.
   B.  Altho the Internet is huge none of the providers is very large.
   C.  Internet is growing. Now 15 million users and growing at 15%/month.
Doubles every 5 months. Very heterogeneous.
   D.  50% of use is e-mail and file transfers.
   E.  Huge array of new niches emerging
   F.  Major implications for the economy
    1.  The nature of organizations will change
    2.  Internet will become arena for determining organizational and
societal agendas
    3.  Most organizations will turn first to net resources
   G.  It's not just about cheap communication; it's about databases
publishing. Their will be 'islands of competence' whereby a small database
publisher can have the same status as, e.g., Dialog.
   H.  The Internet commercial model:
    1.  Clients (various interfaces like Spry and others under development)
    2.  Access Providers (PSI, Netcom, et al.)
    3.  Naming services (e.g., WAIS)
    4.  Application servers (such as SABRE, and other large applications
that you'll be able to pay for by access time or unit of information)
    5.  Gateways
    6.  Database providers (Internet is enabling small providers)

  X.  DISTANCE EDUCATION
   A.  Jim Ginsburg (Sr Information Officer, Jones Information Management;
jginsb...@meu.edu)
    1.  challenges: shrinking federal and state funding and simultaneous
increase in student needs and diversity
    2.  Distance education offers maximum access to best experts at lowest cost
    3.  Goal: make all America a school
   B.  Gabriel Ofiesh (Howard Univ.; ofi...@alpha.acast.nova.edu)
    1.  Follow the money to find out where the future is going (cf. Time
Warner, TCI, Bell Atlantic, et al.)
    2.  All the media will fuse together and will solve the problems of the
congested dirt road.
    3.  Interactive multi-media will merge with the Internet.
    4.  The problem is not putting the computer in the classroom, but
rather putting the classroom in the computer. We can have a seamless carpet
of knowledge available via computer.
    5.  We'll see more emphasis on and reward of performance and less on
credentials.
    6.  Putting multiple choice type exams on CD ROM is like beating the
rug with a vacuum cleaner: it's automating the past. Cf. Gardner's "Seven
Intelligences." We now have the tools to tap these intelligences.

  XI.  ELECTRONIC INFORMATION FROM THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS
   A.  Richard Vancil, Individual, Inc. (70 employees; $6 million revenue;
customized news services for business; 300 sources including PR Newswire,
Knight-Ridder, etc; 12k news stories/day; current awareness service;
r...@individual.com)
    1.  Addresses business' need for proactive relevant information
    2.  Uses relevance feedback and fulfillment patterns to customize news
for individual subscribers
    3.   First! and Headsup: customized news services sent via e-mail
    4.    Produces 75-80% relevance (v. 35% or so with keyword searches)
    5.    First!: $5000/yr (includes 10 person redistribution privileges)
     a)   2000 profiles daily
    6.   Headsup: $30-40/month cost/person
     a)   2500 daily profiles; 25,000 daily readership estimate
    7.   Produces newsbriefs based on algorithm that analysizes headlines
and first paragraphs of stories and then produces a brief of the story
automatically
    8.   Full text can be ordered (25%+ do this daily @$5/document)
    9.  20k readers/day, over 50% of whom receive documents via e-mail
    10.  Payment to providers based on % of revenue (rather than flat rate)
    11.  Dialog: 10% investment in Individual. Helps Dialog realize its
strategy of targeting services for end users rather than mediators
(corporate librarians, information brokers, et al.); Dialog's archiving
capabilities useful to Individual in providing background information to
customers in addition to current news.
   B.  Creating Information Services. Brad Templeton, ClariNet
(b...@clarinet.com)
    1.  Doing business in Internet culture: Must be seen as helpful and a
genuine contribution. Must be done with care. Your customers will talk, so
make sure you do things that will cause them to speak well of you.
    2.  Value of Internet:
     a)  Permanent virtual connectivity
     b)  Creates illusion that something far away is on your desktop
     c)  Doesn't have to be shipped in trucks (as, e.g., CD ROMs do)
     d)  It's kind to the environment (saves trees)
    3.  What's coming: a fundamental change in advertising. Classifieds
will take over (and will be very cheap)
    4.  Doing business in the future via Internet
     a)  Living, breathing e-mail
     b)  New levels of customer service with fewer employees will become
increasing prevalent.

  XII.  WHAT'S NEXT? (Predictions of the future)
   A.  Clifford Lynch, University of California, Office of the Product; 510
989 0522)
    1.  Software: Pretty dumb now(WAIS, etc). Goes back to 60's technology.
But will see much more intelligent software such that your computer will
get to know you.
    2.  Advertising and marketing
    3.  Need will increase for quality information
    4.  Displacement of authoritative sources with those know to and
respected by electronic audiences.
    5.  Lots of filler content (a la C-Span)
    6.  Fluctuation in cost of information (futures markets in information?)
    7.  Cryptographic technology desperately needed.
   B.  Pat Moholt (Columbia Univ, Health Sciences;
moh...@cpmail.am.cis.columbia.edu)
    1.  Augmenting curriculum at Columbia with electronic stuff
    2.  Redefinition of organizational structures? (especially research
groups, which can have members spread out around the world)
    3.  Libraries can be in cyberspace (no need to have separate libraries
for separate colleges/universities. Many could share the same "facility")
   C.  Brad Templeton (President, ClariNet Communication Corporate.;
b...@clarinet.com)
    1.  Access providers will fade away
    2.  Classified advertising will dominate (and will be very cheap,
signaling the death of that revenue stream for newspapers)