Computer College
Resume:
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### ### ## ### ## # ### # Interpersonal Computing and
### ### ## ### ## ### Technology:
### ### ## ### ### An Electronic Journal for
### ### ### the 21st Century
### ### ### ###
### ### ### ## ### ISSN: 1064-4326
### ### ### ## ### October, 1994
### ### Volume 2, Number 4, pp. 37-52
Published by the Center for Teaching and Technology, Academic Computer
Center, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057
Additional support provided by the Center for Academic Computing,
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802
This article is archived as GRESHAM IPCTV2N4 on LISTSERV@GUVM
FROM INVISIBLE COLLEGE TO CYBERSPACE COLLEGE: COMPUTER
CONFERENCING AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF INFORMAL SCHOLARLY
COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
John L. Gresham, Jr.
Scholarly communication is in the midst of a technological
revolution. Much has been published regarding the changes in the
formal scholarly communications network that will follow the shift
from print to electronic journals (Robison, 1993). Less consideration
has been given to the transformation of informal scholarly
communications networks through computer mediated communication.
However, the impact of technology on informal networks of scholarly
communication or "invisible colleges" also merits attention. In
fact, the changes in scholarly communication are coming more rapidly
along these informal channels. The academic community and publishing
industry have been slow to replace print journals with electronic
publications as a medium of formal scholarly communication, while the
use of email and online discussion groups for informal scholarly
communication expands with breathtaking rapidity. Informal scholarly
networking is moving from physical locations in conference and
research centers into "cyberspace," the virtual space created by
electronic networks.
The transformation of informal scholarly communications has
already begun and academia is in the initial stages of a shift from
the invisible college to the cyberspace college as a new form of the
informal research network. In order to analyze that shift, I begin
with a brief description of invisible colleges followed by a
descriptive and historical introduction to computer conferencing.
Then I describe the current uses of computer conferencing within the
academic community and reflect upon the present and future impact this
new form of communication will have on informal scholarly networks.
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Background: the Invisible College
The importance of informal networks to the growth and
dissemination of scientific knowledge was noted by Price (1961, cited
in Cronin, 1982) who coined the term, "invisible colleges" to describe
these informal communities of scientific specialists. Since Price,
informal collaboration and communication within invisible colleges is
commonly viewed as an essential prequel to the formal publication and
dissemination of advances in scientific knowledge. In a review of
research on invisible colleges, Cronin concluded that such informal
scholarly communication networks are the "lifeblood of scientific
progress for both the physical and the social sciences" (1982, p.
225). An invisible college is a social network of generally around
100 individuals who function as the scholarly in-group within a given
specialization. Most of the significant research within the
specialization is usually produced by members of such an invisible
college. This research is facilitated by the informal exchange of
information through contacts within this social network at conferences
and other forums. While these informal networks vary in structure
across various research areas, they share the common functions of
facilitating group identity and purpose within a research
specialization and keeping participants abreast of current trends and
new developments within their area of specialized interest.
These informal communication networks provide a forum for the
sharing and testing of new ideas through feedback and discussion.
Inter-disciplinary exchange of ideas emerges along the peripheries of
inter-connecting invisible colleges. Cronin points to this generation
and exploration of new ideas as a key contribution of the invisible
college to the expansion of knowledge, especially in the social
sciences. Also, practical information about research and funding
opportunities is often exchanged initially through these informal
networks. Due to publication lags in the formal scholarly
communication networks, the cutting edge of information in a given
scholarly specialization is frequently found within these invisible
colleges.
Cronin notes the following advantages of the invisible college in
contrast to the more formal channels of scholarly communication:
currency of information; specialization of information; opportunity
for feedback and input at formative stages of idea development; and
potential for interdisciplinary transmission of ideas. The
disadvantages of invisible colleges as a means of scholarly
communication include the elitist and restrictive nature of the
networks. These colleges emerge around nuclei of major researchers,
leaving many institutionally and geographically remote scholars cut
off from the significant communication channels in their
specialization. High costs are another disadvantage. Invisible
colleges function through personal contacts and this requires funding
for frequent travel to conferences. As an informal communications
system, invisible colleges have the further disadvantage of
disseminating large amounts of trivial and irrelevant data, along with
more significant information.
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In the conclusion to his review of research, Cronin notes the
potential for computer conferencing to emerge as a new means of
informal scholarly communication but does not foresee any drastic
changes in the invisible college through the introduction of computer
mediated communication. Others foresee computer networks as having a
more radical impact on informal scholarly communication. In their
discussion of the social impact of computer mediated communication,
Hiltz and Turoff (1993) suggest that electronic networks might lead to
a more open form of invisible colleges with wider participation and
faster exchange of information leading to more rapid paradigm
development within specialties, greater interdisciplinary
communication between specialties, and an expanded rate of research
breakthroughs.
Tracz, (1980) based on his experience with the EIES computer
conferencing system, confidently predicts, " the old style invisible
college will be easily replaced by the new style electronic college."
Past experience with new technologies would suggest that Tracz may be
overstating to speak of the electronic college "replacing" the
invisible college. Rather than replacing print and face-to-face
communications, electronic publishing and communications seem to
foster a flood of additional print literature and conferences devoted
toward analysis of the new media.
It is more realistic to consider the impact of computer
conferencing upon invisible colleges as the emergence of a new form of
informal network in cyberspace existing alongside traditional
invisible colleges. The emergence of new electronic or cyberspace
colleges can be traced through a review of the nature and history of
computer conferencing and description of the current uses of computer
conferencing in academic communication.
Introduction to Computer Conferencing
Electronic conferences are known by many names and no consistent
nomenclature has yet emerged. The following names for this form of
communication have appeared: electronic conferences, e-conferences,
computer conferences, mailing lists, lists, listservs, electronic
forums, online discussion groups, scholarly discussion groups, special
interest groups, news groups, and netgroups. Harnad (1993) creatively
describes this new form of academic communication as "scholarly
skywriting." All of these terms describe the special use of computer
mediated communication or email for group communication. Hiltz and
Turoff define computer conferencing systems as the use of the computer
"to structure, store, and process written communications among a group
of persons" (1993, p.7). Harnad succinctly describes e-conferences as
"multiple reciprocal email--electronic discussion groups in which
every message is immediately disseminated to all members" (1993,
p.82).
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There are some helpful introductions to computer conferencing
(Collins, 1993; Nickerson, 1992b) but most users learn how electronic
conferences work by using them. Subscription to a conference is
usually accomplished automatically with an email message to the
computer conferencing program. Electronic conferences use computer
conferencing software such as LISTSERV to handle subscriptions and to
automatically distribute messages or "posts" to all subscribers to the
online conference. E-conferences differ from other types of
teleconferencing such as video- or audio- in that messages are typed
and transmitted as text.
While synchronous or real-time electronic communication is
possible, the most common form of current e-conference is based on
asynchronous communication. Messages are instantaneously transmitted
to all conference subscribers but each participant reads and responds
to these postings at his or her own convenience. Several topics or
conversational "threads" can proceed simultaneously, each identified
by its subject heading. Subscribers can easily follow the threads of
interest to them and delete the others. They can respond to postings
by replying to the list (in which case the message goes out to every
subscriber) or replying to one individual subscriber (via that
person's individual email address.)
The person who creates an electronic conference is known as the
list owner. The conferencing software makes subscribing and most
other activities automated but the list owner is usually available to
assist conference participants with technical questions and problems.
The list owner(s) will usually send a charter or mission statement to
all subscribers describing the suggested subject areas encompassed by
that particular conference and giving technical instructions for using
the list. These instructions will usually include directions for
searching the archives of the conference in which previous postings
are filed, and sometimes other electronic documents as well. With
computer conferencing software such as LISTSERV, keyword searching of
these archives is possible.
On moderated lists, the listowner or designate engages in various
degrees of editing or selecting what messages appear on the list
and/or directing the conversation in order to keep the conference
within the stated parameters of discussion. Moderators try to keep
the list away from the email practice known as flaming in which
discussion degenerates to ad hominem attacks rather than scholarly
debate and polite disagreement.
Scholarly electronic conferences have been compared to: a library
where one goes to gather information, read, and think; a seminar,
conference or salon where one informally debates ideas with
colleagues; a room of people or dinner party with several interesting
conversations going on at once; and a newspaper (especially the
editorials and opinion columns) where one simply subscribes and reads
the exchange of ideas without participating in the discussion (called
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"lurking" on computer conferences) (Berge & Collins, 1993b). Another
has compared e-conferences to the conversation in the faculty lounge:
"We pose queries, ask leading questions, report on conferences, review
books and articles, ask for collaborators, call for papers, invite
constructive criticism of new ideas, discuss each other's work, gossip
and so on (Reimer, 1993)." Such comments point to many of the ways in
which academics are adopting computer conferencing as a medium for
informal scholarly (and sometimes not-so-scholarly) communication.
Before investigating the academic uses of electronic conferences in
more detail, I will trace the history of this technological
development from its roots in government research centers to its
adoption by the wider academic community.
History of Computer Conferencing
The history of computer conferencing and computer networks has
been traced by Hiltz & Turoff (1993), Nickerson,(1992a, 1992b, 1992c)
Quarterman (1990, 1993), and Williams (1992). The first computer
conference was developed by Turoff for the United States Office of
Emergency Preparedness in 1970. The system was named EMISARI
(Emergency Management Information System and Reference Index).
EMISARI was originally conceived as a means of electronically
facilitating the Delphi method of structured group communication for
the purpose of collaborative decision making and forecasting. It was
successfully implemented as a communications system during the wage
price freeze of the early seventies when it was used to share
information among the ten regional centers of the Office of Emergency
Preparedness. This system served as the prototype for Turoff's later
system, EIES (Electronic Information Exchange System) developed at and
operated from the National Research Foundation at the New Jersey
Institute of Technology.
The 1970s saw the development of a number of other conferencing
systems such as FORUM and then PLANET at the Institute of the Future,
CONFER at the University of Michigan, ORACLE at Northwestern
University, CONCLAVE in England and others. The most significant
development during this time, however, was the ARPANET wide area
network created by the U. S. Defense Department agency, DARPA (Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency). Originally created to facilitate
information sharing among defense research centers, ARPANET was the
testing ground for the TCP/IP protocols. These protocols became the
basis for the subsequent emergence of the international network of
networks known as the Internet.
Interestingly enough, ARPANET's developers were primarily
interested in file transmission (FTP) and remote logon (TELNET); email
and computer conferencing capabilities were only added to the system
as an afterthought (Quarterman, 1993). Nonetheless, by 1978 the
predecessor of later online discussion groups had already emerged on
the ARPANET network, the unofficial SF-LOVERS (science fiction lovers)
electronic conference which flourished despite the opposition of
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network authorities. Whereas the earlier conferencing systems like
EIES ran on one central mainframe computer which all conference
participants would have to log in to, ARPANET introduced the present
era of distributed networks in which email and other data flow from
site to site via packet switching technology. By 1986, ARPANET was
replaced by NSFNet (National Science Foundation Network), the major
backbone for the Internet, network access was expanded beyond defense
research to the wider scientific and academic research communities,
and the stage was set for the present explosion of scholarly
electronic discussion groups on the Internet.
While the Internet is the major carrier of electronic conference
email today, the significant developments in computer conferencing in
the 1980s took place on other networks. The largest electronic
conferencing network had its beginnings in 1979 when two Duke
University graduate students took advantage of the networking
capability of the new UNIX mainframes to write software for a UNIX
Users network called Usenet. By 1984, the network included 150 e-
conferences or "newsgroups" distributed to 2000 sites. By 1992, there
were more than 15,000 sites and over 2,000 newsgroups on Usenet. While
Usenet rapidly developed into a forum for online discussion groups on
an incredible number and variety of topics, the scholarly use of this
medium remained unrealized. With the exception of some of the
computing technology and other scientific newsgroups, most Usenet
newsgroups had the often deserved reputation of being "mostly havens
for under informed students and dilettantes rather than respectable
scholarly forums for learned societies" (Harnad, 1993, p. 82).
A significant variety of scholarly e-conferences first emerged on
the BITnet network. BITnet began as a network connecting Yale
University and City University of New York in 1981 and rapidly grew to
connect 500 colleges and universities. BITnet's acronym was
originally explained as meaning "Because its there" with the
explanation that the network emerged for no other reason than the fact
that the technology was available to network university IBM mainframes
together and it was done. Later, the acronym was reinterpreted to
mean, "Because it's time." Through links to other networks such as
EARN in Europe and ASIANET in the Far East, BITnet or CREN (College
Research Education Network) as it came to be officially known,
provided connections to over 2000 sites by the early nineties. BITnet
provided fertile ground for the development of scholarly electronic
conferences for two reasons-- first and obvious was the fact that it
was a network of institutions of higher education; and second it
offered only limited file transmission (FTP) capabilities, leaving
email and computer conferencing as its basic services.
The proliferation of electronic conferences on BITnet was
facilitated by Eric Thomas' development of LISTSERV computer
conferencing software for IBM mainframes in 1986. This software has
proven so popular that "LISTSERV" is often used as a generic term for
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electronic conferences/ discussion groups and the software has
recently been made available in UNIX and VMS formats. By the early
1990s, over 900 electronic conferences were carried on BITnet.
The growth in scholarly or academically oriented electronic
conferences and discussion groups on Internet and BITnet in the early
nineties can be traced through the various editions of The Directory
of Scholarly Electronic Journals Newsletters and Academic Discussion
Lists. The first edition (1991) listed 517 academic discussion
lists, the second edition (1992) listed 769, the third edition (1993)
listed 1152 (Strangelove & Kovacs, 1993). The current situation is
such that with gateways between networks the distinctions between
Internet, BITnet and even Usenet mean little to most e-conference
participants. Most scholarly discussion groups have both Internet and
BITnet addresses and many of the conferences have Usenet feeds which
allow them to be accessed as Usenet newsgroups as well. What is of
most interest to the scholarly participant in electronic conferences
is not the networking technology which supports the discussion group
but the content of the discussion itself. How are scholars actually
using electronic conferences for research and communication?
Academic Uses of Computer Conferencing
Little research and reporting has appeared on the uses of computer
mediated discussion groups or conferences in the academic community.
Hiltz (1984) surveyed participants in four scientific conferences on
the EIES system which included scholars doing research on futurology,
social networks, general systems theory and devices for the disabled.
According to the survey, the results of participation in these four
conferences included clarification of theoretical controversies,
expanded networks of professional contacts, greater awareness of
information sources and scholarly activity in the subject areas, and
increased communication both within specializations and across
disciplines. In another study, Freeman (1984) pointed to the EIES
conference as an important factor in the emergence of Social Networks
Analysis as a new scientific specialty.
Based on a survey of participants in communications and
psychology e-conferences, Schaefermeyer and Sewell (cited in Kovacs &
Kovacs, 1991) noted that for these network users, email had begun to
replace telephone, postal mail, and face-to-face communications as a
preferred means for the scholarly exchange of information concerning
research and instructional interests as well as for social
communication.
Kovacs & Kovacs (1991) surveyed a number of subscribers to
ARACHNET, an e-conference for e-conference moderators and e-journal
editors. Their survey included 20 moderators of e-conferences in the
subject areas of computer science, English, ethnomusicology, labor
economics, library and information science, literature, history,
philosophy, physics, political economy, postmodern culture,
psychology, south-east Asian studies, and text processing. These
moderators observed the following uses of e-conferences as a research
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tool: establishment of collaborations, information exchange/
confirmation, maintaining current awareness, development of research
ideas, medium of publication. Many moderators noted that email was
replacing postal and phone communication among scholarly colleagues.
These activities correspond almost identically to the informal
communication exchanges described in earlier research on invisible
colleges, illustrating the movement of the invisible college into
cyberspace.
Berge and Collins (1993a) also observed the use of computer
conferencing to augment personal and professional networks, noting
that "co-authors for articles and books have been discovered,
researchers with similar projects have been found, employment, funding
and research opportunities have been turning up regularly through
computer conferencing." In a later article, Berge and Collins (1994)
provide a more qualitative report on electronic conferencing. They
provide several quotes from an e-conference discussion on the
potential social impacts of computer mediated communication to
illustrate the quality of scholarly debate and discussion possible in
an electronic conference.
In order to get a more detailed picture of how scholars within a
particular discipline are using electronic conferences for scholarly
communication, I subscribed to a number of religious studies
conferences for a few months in Winter 1993-1994 to observe the
interactions and to query participants. Religious Studies provides a
helpful case study because of its interdisciplinary character. The
discipline encompasses historical, philosophical, literary and social
scientific approaches dispersed among a number of sub-disciplines such
as Biblical studies, historical, comparative and social scientific
study of religions, archeological studies, and theological/
philosophical studies. The variety of religious studies oriented e-
conferences reflects this. I subscribed to lists for historical and
comparative study of religions (RELIGION), study of Greco-Roman
Judaism and related religious movements and religious texts of the
time (IOUDAIOS), social scientific study of religion (SSREL-L), study
of new religions (NUREL-l), Archaeology (ARCH-L), history of American
evangelicalism (HISTEC-L), history of American Catholicism (AMERCATH),
and constructive theology (THEOLOGOS).
I posted queries to several of these lists asking religious
studies scholars to tell how they were using the Internet, and
especially e-conferences to facilitate research and instruction. I
received 20 responses describing a variety of uses of e-conferences.
Based on these responses and my own observation and participation in
these and other e-conferences, I have learned that scholars are using
e-conferences to do the following:
1. Communicate with an international community of scholars
(especially useful to geographically remote scholars);
2. Communicate with scholars sharing common interests, subject
specialties;
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3. Ask questions of scholars in fields outside one's specialization;
4. Track down sources, texts and other bibliographic information;
5. Discuss, review and debate new publications in the field;
6. Meet and interview experts for research;
7. Exchange and critique pre-publication papers;
8. Do collaborative research and writing;
9. Share teaching tips: syllabi, textbooks, etc.;
10. Seek advice for research and fieldwork from more experienced
scholars;
11. Gather advice & bibliographic suggestions for dissertation
research;
12. Observe, participate in discussion beyond academia (Usenet
groups);
13. Read up-to-date accounts and evaluations of new discoveries,
publications;
14. Learn about relevant resources on the Internet and other
electronic resources;
15. Learn about research opportunities; calls for papers, reviews,
job openings;
16. Get feedback on new ideas;
17. Maintain and continue relationships with distant colleagues;
18. Chat;
19. Make new friends;
20. Become part of a virtual community.
These uses of e-conferencing reinforce earlier observations
concerning electronic networks becoming a communications medium for
informal scholarly networking. In addition to describing how they
were using computer conferencing, several of the religion scholars who
responded to my queries also noted some of the advantages of this
communications medium. Several scholars noted the geographic access
provided by the Internet. Religious scholars in Hong Kong,
Saskatchewan, Canada and Fort Worth, Texas noted how e-conferences
enabled them to overcome their remote locations and maintain scholarly
communication with other specialists in their areas of interest.
Another scholar, teaching in a small religion department with little
opportunity for ongoing dialogue with other scholars in his particular
specialization, expressed a similar appreciation for the ability to
transcend geographic barriers through e-conferencing. Not only
geographical, but other barriers to access were overcome via e-
conferencing.
Graduate students, who might otherwise find it very difficult to
break into the old style invisible colleges note the ease by which
they gain access to a variety of scholarly experts in their area of
study with whom they may discuss their dissertation research. The
speed and currency of information was noted in one response which
described the reporting and analysis of a recent archeological
discovery weeks before its reporting in print and at least months
before its analysis in the scholarly literature. A couple of
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respondents commented on the benefits of participation in e-
conferences in areas beyond their specialty. This suggests that the
value of invisible colleges for the interdisciplinary and cross-
disciplinary exchange of information is also enhanced by computer
conferencing.
The only significant negative comments on e-conferencing related
to the great amounts of trivial and irrelevant information exchanged
and problems of information overload. The first problem, irrelevant
information, seems intrinsic to informal communication. The same
problem was noted as a weakness of invisible colleges as an
information system. The second problem, information overload, is a
persistent feature of electronic communication. However, as scholars
use computer mediated communication they learn techniques to overcome
these problems. One scholar who responded to my survey noted how he
sought to overcome these problems by using the LISTSERV software to
receive e-conferences in a digest format in order to quickly skim
messages and save only those of interest and relevance to him.
From Invisible Colleges to Cyberspace Colleges
From this survey and earlier studies, it is evident that the kinds
of informal scholarly communications that characterized those social
networks known as invisible colleges are now increasingly taking place
across computer networks. Moreover, computer conferencing is
transforming and improving the invisible college. One of the most
significant transformations will involve the size and scope of
informal scholarly networks. The fairly localized and limited
invisible college of about 100 or so individuals will expand into huge
international electronic networks of scholars. Rossman (1992) refers
to the "global enlargement" of the scholarly network and Quarterman
explains how the "global matrix of interconnected computer networks
facilitates the formation of global matrices of minds" (1993, p.56).
This global expansion in size will be accompanied by an equally
significant increase in the speed of information exchange. Harnad
argues that computer conferencing "promises to restore the speed of
scholarly communication to a rate much closer to the speed of thought"
(1993, p.85). Thus, the expenses of travel and the limitations of
time and space which hampered the effectiveness of the invisible
college will be overcome by computer mediated communication.
Of equal importance, the elitism of the old scholarly networks
will be overcome. Electronic conferences tend to be interesting and
illuminating mixes of teachers and students, academics and non-
academics, graduates and undergraduates, theoreticians and
practitioners with all having equal access to contribute to and learn
from the ongoing conversations. For those with access to the
electronic networks, entrance into these scholarly discussion groups
comes quite easy. (Hopefully, access to the networks will become
more and more universal as well.). More resistant barriers of race
and gender prejudice which had the potential of forming invisible
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colleges along the lines of "old boys networks" are overcome through
the text based medium of communication. Communicating textually,
postings are more easily judged by their content than the by the
physical characteristics or appearance of the poster (Rheingold,
1993).
The textual record leads to certain other improvements over the
old style invisible college, as well. The elusive and ephemeral
nature of information in verbal networks is overcome because computer
conferencing creates a written and searchable record of previous
information exchanges. While the problems of information overload and
irrelevant information which hampered the usefulness of the invisible
college will remain and may be intensified in the cyberspace college,
the format of the information as electronic text allows for
alleviation of the problem through the use of technology to store,
organize, search and retrieve needed information. Thus, many of the
weaknesses of the invisible college such as limitations of size,
geography, and access, social barriers to access, and problems in
managing the flow of information will be overcome by computer mediated
communication.
The introduction of a new communication medium not only improves
invisible colleges, it transforms them into something new--
"cyberspace colleges." The textual basis of e-conferencing coupled
with the speed and interactivity of electronic communication creates a
hybrid form of communication. Yates (1993) demonstrated the hybrid
nature of computer conference posts by applying a measurement known as
"lexical density" which has been used to describe differences between
speech and text. Yates measured the lexical density of computer
conferencing messages to show how they range across the spectrum of
lexical differences between speech and writing. With characteristics
of both speech and writing, computer conferencing represents a new and
evolving form of media communication.
Levinson (1990) sees computer conferencing as a natural evolution
in the history of media communication. That history is characterized
by the development of means (such as written, and later, printed text)
to escape the limitations of face-to-face communication followed by
subsequent attempts to recover the interactivity and immediacy of pre-
technological communication through development of new communications
media (such as telecommunications). Computer conferencing represents
a further step toward recovering the interactivity of face-to-face
communication while maintaining the gains in permanency afforded by
textual communication. Harnad (1993) ranks this new communications
medium as the fourth major revolution in the history of communication
following the beginning of human speech, the development of writing,
and the invention of the printing press. He emphasizes that each of
these revolutions has impacted both the processes and contents of
human thought and this latest revolution will have similar far
reaching impacts. The invisible college, as it moves into cyberspace
via computer mediated communication, will not remain unchanged.
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Since computer conferencing is a new form of communications media,
its full impact on the informal scholarly networks cannot be fully
predicted. Nonetheless, some potential impacts of this communications
medium on informal scholarly networking can be predicted by relating
the purposes of the invisible college to the capabilities of computer
conferencing. The old style invisible college was based on the free
exchange of information among persons in the social network, even
though this form of exchange did not carry the tangible recognition
and rewards of actual publication in the formal communications network
represented by journals and monographs. Does computer conferencing
foster this free exchange of information in the absence of the social
contacts available in the old style invisible colleges? According to
Sproull and Kiesler, (1991) computer conferencing actually enhances
such information exchanges. Noting the high rate of response to
queries broadcast over computer networks despite the absence of
personal contact, Sproull and Kiesler suggest that the ease of
responding to information requests in a computer conference fosters a
form of "electronic altruism" which stimulates the free exchange of
information in this environment.
In a discussion of online education, Harasim (1990) has outlined
several more aspects of computer conferencing which suggest the
potential for this medium to enhance intellectual collaboration. The
textual basis of computer conferencing fosters the reflective and
analytical cognitive skills associated with the task of expressing
ideas in written form. The asynchronous flow of information
encourages fuller group participation by giving all participants
opportunity to add to the conversation at their own pace. The
opportunity for feedback and ongoing discussion makes computer
conferencing an ideal active learning tool.
Harasim finds computer conferencing especially effective in the
area of idea generation. Harasim's focus is on the use of computer
conferencing as an educational tool utilized by teacher and students,
but her comments are quite relevant to the use of this medium for
collaborative research among scholars. As was noted above, research
on the invisible colleges suggested that a chief value of the informal
scholarly networks for the expansion of knowledge consisted in the
generation of new ideas, precisely the area of intellectual activity
Harasim finds most augmented by computer conferencing. Thus, we find
a convergence of form and function as the cyberspace college uses
computer conferencing to generate and explore new ideas through
collaboration and free exchange of information. Due to the unique
features of computer conferencing, the role of the informal scholarly
communication network in the expansion of knowledge should be enhanced
by the shift from invisible college to cyberspace college.
Current Trends and Future Developments
Current trends and future developments in computer conferencing
include the following:
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1. Clarification of questions of intellectual ownership and
copyright in relation to electronic conference postings: The
similarities of these postings to verbal conversation has led to
some loose practices in regard to quoting, disseminating and
otherwise reusing other's postings, but the textual character of
these postings is now leading toward the development of more
careful practices of attribution and permission for such re-use.
2. The proliferation of paired e-conferences and e-journals: This
is a current trend in which e-conferences emerge as companions to
e-journals, providing a virtual meeting spot for discussion and
debate of the journal contents, and e-journals emerge as
outgrowths of e-conferences, providing a forum for more formal
and lengthy articles and reviews to complement the conference
discussion. This may lead to merging and overlap between the two
media such as is the case now in the highly interactive e-journal
PSYCOLOQUY. These developments will lead toward the growth of
"virtual research institutes," such as the Institute for
Research on Virtual Culture, in which interrelated e-journals, e-
conferences, electronic archives and other forms of computer
mediated communication will support larger scale coordinated
collaborative research and study over electronic networks (Stepp,
1993).
3. Multimedia: Computer conferencing itself will be transformed as
network hardware and software continues to become more supportive
of the transmission of multimedia information. E-conferences of
the future may carry graphics, sound, and video as well as text,
moving computer conferencing into the realm of virtual reality
(Sinclair & Kearns, 1993). The cyberspace college will be
succeeded by the "virtual college."
Conclusion
Technology will transform the future of scholarly communication.
Just as the formal scholarly communication network will be impacted by
the e-journal, even so shall the informal networks of scholarly
communication known as invisible colleges be impacted by the e-
conference. Computer conferencing is leading toward a new form of
informal scholarly communication I have described as cyberspace
colleges. The significance of cyberspace colleges is suggested by
Rossman's claim that, "the primary importance of computer tools for
the electronic university lies not in machines that will think for
scholars but in scholars using such tools to amplify 'collective
intelligence,' bringing many minds together for more effective
collaborative research" (1992, p.58). The cyberspace college
represents such use of computer technology to expand and enhance the
human element in research by facilitating larger and more effective
networks of scholarly communication.
+ Page 50 +
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
John L. Gresham, Jr. is Director of Library Services at Sterling
College, Sterling Kansas. He received a Ph.D. in Religious Studies
from Baylor University and a Master of Library Science from University
of North Texas. He is author of a guide to Religious Studies
resources on the Internet entitled "Finding God in Cyberspace".
Email Address: ********@***.***
Smail address: Sterling College Library,
Box 98 Sterling KS 67579.
Interpersonal Computing and Technology: An Electronic Journal for the
21st Century
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