The Online User's Encyclopedia: Review by Steve Cisler
Book Review of Online User's Encyclopedia. copyright 1993 Steve Cisler. This review may be re-posted or reprinted in educational, non-profit, and fringe publications that are trying to be respectable and hope to be acquired by Rupert Murdoch, John Malone, or Elsevier Press. Please contact the author at sac@apple.com
The Online User's Encyclopedia: Bulletin Boards and Beyond by Bernard Aboba. Addison-Wesley, 1993 ISBN 0-201-62214-9 806 pages. $32.95
Bernard Aboba is coming down from the mountain with this massive
book in hand. It is the result of a long involvement with the many subjects
he covers. Aboba has a big picture: "...telecommunications is so useful
that in a decade lots of ordinary people will be using it to do ordinary
(and some extraordinary) things." Like the movie "Powers of Ten" he
can zoom into a description of the pin configurations on a modem cable
or back out to a good introduction to communications. When most of us
started out with computers, it was little more than a word that we had
heard and perhaps a story about 'electronic brains' or something from
the popular press. As we learned through experience or reading or
instruction, the amorphous cloud took shape, and we had a better idea of
what we knew and did not know. The Online User's Encyclopedia (I'll
call it OUE) confronts the vast fog of telecommunications and blows it
away, subject by subject.
It is geared toward the user of Intel machines, Macintoshes, and
NextStep, whether they are users, system operators, or people
in telecommunications support in a computer center full of work
stations and mainframes. There are 39 chapters plus eleven
appendices; among the many topics: modems, computer security,
civic and community neworking, global networks, the Internet,
using bulletin boards, electronic mail, finding people, mailing lists,
file transfer, online libraries, USENET, Talk, IRC, MUDs,
Z39.50, WAIS, World Wide Web, Gopher, TCP/IP, connecting a
BBS to the Internet, UUCP, BITNET, FidoNet, Point software,
PCBoard Networks, message readers, saving money on your
phone bill, file transfers, file conversion, compression primer,
a guide to K12Net, electronic home control, and twelve chapters on
visions of the future and memories from pioneers of the network
world (Tom Grundner, Vint Cerf, Tom Jennings, etc).
The strongest chapters reflect the author's experience with BBS
systems, inter-connecting disparate systems, and his familiarity with
all the sofware developments in the world of the Internet and dialup
BBSes. Many telecomm books, especially on the Internet, are
snapshots that fade quickly, but this is Aboba's whole photo
collection, and he has a commitment to keep it updated (perhaps
online). Indeed, this volume is a much changed and expanded
version of a previous book that had narrow distribution (BMUG's
Bulletin Boards and Beyond). I enjoyed his humor as well as
view of technology where his enthusiasm is tempered by some of the
negative aspects. Here is a selection from a section entitled
"Lifestyles of the online and infamous" wherein the archetypes of
warped online inhabitants are described:
"The Adolescent
The adolescent is found logging into bulletin boards using assumed
names such as The Avenger. Since they have spent most of their lives
in front of a terminal, they may be unaware that their country is
involved in a civil war, or that their parents have been swept away in
a flash flood. The Adolescent types messages IN ALL CAPS LIKE THIS
BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT YET FIGURED OUT HOW TO USE
THE SHIFT KEY." (p. 13) Aboba skewers many of us in the
rest of the section.
The unique sections of OUE were the home networking chapter,
the memories chapters, and the extensive reviews of software,
hardware, and services in Choice Products. When he was
speculating about a product (but wanted to list it) he put it
at the beginning of the listing. Choice Products alone would
make me recommend this book.
Although the book is meant to be an online encyclopedia there is
only a couple of mentions of Dialog, Mead-Data, BRS, and the
commercial information services that are so important to
information professionals and librarians who use telecom.
services. There are many publications that deal with this
(ONLINE and database are two of the best), so you will have to
look elsewhere for this information.
I reviewed an early, spiral-bound print version, so I can't comment on
what actually reaches the bookstores. Libraries should check the binding
because circulating a paperback this large will be a problem. Why?
Because it's going to be popular, just as John Quarterman's The Matrix
became popular (and remains so).
Andy Corbett of Addison-Wesley Special Markets at (617) 944-3700,
extension 2915.
The author, a telecommunications consultant, can be reached at:
aboba@world.std.com.
Readers are encouraged to register their copy of the book for updates and special offers.
Problems
The book is desktop published on 8.5 by 11 inch format with two
columns. Many screen shots are reproduced, but the size is so
reduced that many details may be guessed at, not actually seen.
Another problem with my version,much of the online text was in
a very faint Courier font that was very hard to read. When it was
in bold, it was fine.Conclusion
OUE would really be a good candidate for World Wide Web, if the
author and Addison-Wesley could find a way to charge for access,
Perhaps a couple of chapters could be mounted at no charge
as other publishers have done with books and periodicals on the
Internet. However, it is so large that many people are going to
need just a few pages of information from the whole work. I plan
to keep in at my desk at home. Schools and other organizations
such as user groups can buy it at a discount by calling:
Steve Cisler, sac@apple.com, last modified: 11/15/93
