The Australian Computer Society is the professional association for those in the computing and information technology fields. Established in 1966, the ACS has over 15,000 members and on a per capita basis is one of the largest computer societies in the world. Activities are announced in the Usenet newsgroup 'aus.org.acs'. Information is available via e-mail from 'info@acs.org.au' or Gopher at URL: gopher://acs-gopher.mit.csu.edu.au:1605/00/acs, courtesy of Charles Sturt University.
This paper contains proposed Society policy, but is subject to further discussion and ratification. Copyright in this document belongs to the ACS. The Society welcomes the copying and dissemination of the document, provided that it is not done so for profit, and that evidence of the authorship and this copyright notice are copied and disseminated with it.
Tom Worthington
Director of the Community Affairs Board
Australian Computer Society Inc.
G.P.O. Box 446, Canberra ACT 2601
Tel: +61 6 247 4830
Email: tomw@adfa.oz.au
Fax: +61 6 249 6419
This paper's purpose is to establish the policy of the professional body of information technologists in Australia, the Australian Computer Society, in relation to the public interest in network services.
The elements of a 'national information infrastructure' currently being debated include the long-standing public switched telephone network, the more recent analogue mobile telephone services, the new digital mobile telecommunications services, and television signal reticulation, including terrestrial and satellite broadcast and narrowcast, and cable TV. Improvements in those technologies are generating significant pressure for change. Added to that is a new element: the explosive growth of the Internet, and its rapid maturation from a restricted electronic message transmission service, for a limited range of locations, with an arcane user interface, to a vehicle for the provision of usable and useful services to individuals in a wide range of occupations and locations, and all for very low cost to the end-user. Associated with the Internet's development is the rapid emergence of a de facto dispersed 'electronic library'.
The paper commences with introductions to key elements of the emergent technologies, and to the economics and politics associated with them. The nature of an information infrastructure (II) and information services is outlined, and the use of metaphors, and especially the 'information superhighway', is discussed. Public fears about what may go wrong with the II initiative are collated, the role of government considered, and necessary policy measures identified. Government actions are vital, in relation to clarifying the public's requirements, surveying the terrain and ensuring orderliness in the process. On the other hand, it is important that government does not place itself in the driving seat and unnecessarily stultify a dynamic process.
This paper was originally placed on-line in plain text format using the AARNET FTP server, in 1994. Public access to that copy was lost after AARNET was transferred to Telstra. This HTML version is URL: http://www.acs.org.au/president/1997/acsnet/acsnet.htm and was constructed from one prepared by Paul English of the University of Western Sydney. The text version is available at URL: http://www.acs.org.au/president/1997/acsnet/acsnet.txt as well, as is an abstract URL: http://www.acs.org.au/president/1997/acsnet/.
While considerable changes have occurred in the on-line area in the three years since this paper was written, no changes have been made to the text. The observations made in 1994 have stood the test of time.
It should be remembered that in 1994 the Internet was not known to the general public. The general view of IT professionals was that the Internet would be quickly replaced by OSI technologies, such as X.400 e-mail. Much has changed since then.
A new ACS home page is available at: http://www.acs.org.au/ in place of the Gopher service.
The mailing list link@wombat.anu.edu.au has moved. Details are available from the new home page for LINK at: http://ningaui.anu.edu.au/link/ The importance of LINK to the establishment of on-line policy in Australia has yet to be fully realised. It was only well after this paper was finished, I discovered that policy advisors on both sides of politics, as well as staff of several federal agencies, had been reading the drafts and discussion on LINK. In this way the content of the paper went directly into the policy process, even before it had been completed or submitted. I later described this process as the Internet conspiracy.
It should be noted that this paper, dated 17 May 1994, is marked "draft", but no later version was produced. The paper in this form was as submitted to the ASTEC Working Group on Research Data Networks; the Broadband Services Expert Group; the Bulletin Boards Task Force; and the Senate Standing Committee on Industry, Science, Technology, Transport, Communications and Infrastructure.
Tom Worthington MACS
President of the Australian Computer Society
24 August 1997