A Large-Scale Computer Conferencing System

This paper discusses the relationships between computer mediated communications and other forms of communication and describes a particular computer conferencing system in use within IBM. The system described is quite large, with over three thousand contributors and over twenty thousand readers. We discuss the structure of the system, the actions that users can take, and the ways in which the system is being used. Neither the definitions presented nor the system described are intended to be the last, or only, word on the subject; as computer-mediated communications and distribution become more and more important in the business and professional communities, we will need more ways of thinking about communication systems and about information distribution in general. W hen computers were thought of primarily as devices for manipulating numbers, they were used mostly by scientists and a few others (such as census takers). They were also used for applications that mostly lent themselves to FORTRAN and other formula-oriented programming languages. A slightly more sophisticated use of the computer takes advantage of more of the inherent flexibility of the machine in record-oriented applications, such as payroll management, that are generally written in COBOL and similar languages. In recent years, the growth of modern languages (such as REXX), which enable computers to store and process general information rather than simply numbers , has led to a broad-based revolution in computer usage, and brought computers into areas that have little use for numerical calculations, but have a critical need to automate the generation, storage, and 138 CHESS AND COWLISHAW communication of information. There is no reason to think that this revolution will not continue. Even simple electronic mail, the most primitive form of computer-mediated communication, can have a huge impact on (for instance) a business or a scientific community. Written notes, instead of taking several days to cross a country (or a county), may be received within minutes of being sent. This short time gives written communication almost the im-mediacy of a telephone call, while retaining the advantages of the written medium (written messages may be more carefully thought out, are easily filed, and do not require the recipient to be available when the sender composes the message). The use of electronic mail is one very small part of computer-mediated communications. Given the vast capabilities of the computer for general-purpose information processing, the use of computers as communications intermediaries has the potential to start …