Community memory: a public information network

Abstract

This brief summary of an article by Colstad and Lipkin is exerpted from the full length article which appeared in an IEEE proceedings. It is included here as an introduction to the next paper, Implications of Community Memory. Both papers illustrate a paradox which may be seen in many "people's computing" groups. While attempting to bring the computer into useful daily interaction with a variety of citizens for a variety of applications, such groups often unwittingly reinforce myths about computers which, as Berk notes, are a primary obstacle to social acceptance of the technology as a tool for society. Although the experiment and its acceptance are interesting, the myths of the computer as brain and the computer as question answering machine have not been dispelled by operation of the public information network. Perhaps the myths have been strengthened by the enthusiasm of the proponent groups.