PUBLIUS FreeLore Tract I. What is FreeLore?
John Goodwin
who does not yet have access to a computer.
======= FreeLore I. What Is FreeLore? ==========
So far, discussion in alt.uu.future has
been primarily focused on the question:
What would an education acquired through
the UseNet medium be like?
And so far, I aver, there has been a creative
discussion of this issue. Yet, I submit that a
larger, more inclusive question would lead us
to a more fruitful conclusion, to wit:
How can we realize the promise of electronic
media for the free flow of information?
I offer for your consideration the following
facts:
o We are well into the information age, yet
there is no public domain collection of good
textbooks, using which anyone with access to a
computer can learn for free. Certainly there
is no archive of such books.
o There is no free on-line encyclopedia or
dictionary.
o Public domain written materials from before
1800 have not been reduced to electronic form
and are not widely available in at little or no
cost.
o There are no public domain BookReaders, programs
specifically for reading textbooks. Nor are there
internationally accepted standards for textbooks
to be read by such a reader.
I realize that some of this is hyperbole, but
it is not far from a true description of what
is available in the electornic public domain.
You are already familiar with the concept of
Freeware, a public domain program that is
distributed at little or no cost. I would like to
introduce the broader concept of FreeLore, useful
information that is in the public domain and
distributed at little or no cost by electronic
means.
UseNet articles, especially the FAQs, often fit
this definition of FreeLore. I think the destiny
of UseNet University is not only to discuss how
one might acquire an education, or part of an
education, using this medium, but to define a
format for FreeLore, to organize the effort to
capture information for the public domain, and to
push the effort to create freeware for realizing
the promise of electronic communications.
We are a very narrow segment of UseNet. We will
not ourselves be able to write all the curriculum
materials required for a complete university
library, but if we empower others to create and
write such materials, we will have performed a
service worthy of the idea of on-line education.
When we are done, it should be possible to find a
public domain textbook on nearly any subject, to
read it on any common system, certainly on UNIX;
and it should be possible to use UseNet and
anonymous FTP to acquire the materials. A first
stab at what is required to accomplish these goals
will appear in my next article.
PUBLIUS
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John Goodwin (in propria persona, nec pro Fermilab)
JGOO...@ADCALC.FNAL.GOV
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Future numbers of the FreeLore Tracts:
FreeLore II. Who Needs FreeLore? [Publius]
FreeLore III. What Is to Be Done? [Publius]
FreeLore IV. Public Domain Markup and the Public Good [Publius]
The purpose of the FreeLore Tract series is to
promote discussion of the direction of free
information resources, especially those used for
educational purposes, and to encourage the
production of useful, free software and
educational materials.
If you wish to contribute to this series, send
your article to the above email address. We
reserve the right to edit for style, format, and
content, and to reject articles not congruent with
the goals of the series.
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Copyright (c) 1992 John E. Goodwin
Permission is hereby granted to make and
distribute verbatim copies of the FreeLore Tracts
provided the copyright notice and this permission
notice are preserved on all copies.