roundtable: Re: nonprofit culture

roundtable: Re: nonprofit culture

Re: nonprofit culture

jane sebby (jsebby@unlinfo.unl.edu)
Thu, 17 Mar 1994 12:13:19 -0600 (CST) 

From: jsebby@unlinfo.unl.edu (jane sebby)
Message-Id: <9403171813.AA19570@unlinfo.unl.edu>
Subject: Re: nonprofit culture
To: roundtable@cni.org
Date: Thu, 17 Mar 1994 12:13:19 -0600 (CST)
In-Reply-To: <9403160706.AA24722@tmn.com> from "Gary O. Larson" at Mar 16, 94 12:20:19 pm

I too like the idea of setting aside space for "non-profits" but 
there are a couple of big problems:  1) who is going to pay for the 
establishment of these bands, channels, widths, etc. and 2) where's 
the programming, info, etc. coming from?  

I work for a public television station and we deal with these 
questions all the time, despite the fact that we've been around for 
years.  We've learned the hard way that we can't rely on government 
funding and private money always comes with strings attached.  We 
spend almost as much time fund-raising as we do providing a service.  
We're also coming up repeatedly against the arguement that if the 
services exist in a commercial realm, why should a non-profit be 
supported to duplicate them (PTV v. cable stations).  Most of our 
new services (satellite, multi-media, etc.) are government-funded so 
government gets first priority at them (one way or another).  This 
leaves the private, non-government-attached individual with little to 
show for his/her tax money.  Will there really be a difference with a 
new type of infrastructure?

Second, the massive amount of programming required for any number of 
new services precludeds it from being generated by anything other than
commercial services.  Yes, the government will fund some information 
exchanges but they will be strictly limited to furthering bureaucratic
functions as long as the national debt remains so high.  Schools may 
get $ for equipment but not for programs/information for fear of 
violating the local rule standard.  Ditto libraries.  

Third, I wonder if there really is a need, or even interest in, the 
enormous data flow everyone's envisioning.  The 500 channel cable TV 
system has already bit the dust.  The amount of time I spend daily 
process information from Internet is already overwhelming and I 
haven't even begun to investigate what's available.  So I'm 1) 
starting to censor what I read depending primarily on the author and 
subject matter listing and 2) only reading those sources recommended 
to me by someone else.  What good are thousands of sources if people 
don't have the time, interest, or energy  to read them, assuming they 
can be found in the first place.  

My prediction for NII?  It'll end up like the phone companies -- 
everyone pays for the service and conference calls to specific parties
will be the primary use (and a hell of a lot easier to make!).  If 
people want to use them to disperse info to the general public, it'll 
be either via a commercial format or in some version of cable's 
community access channels (a great idea that flopped).  This is, of 
course, assuming that everyone can receive every "road" but that's not
guaranteed either.  After all, everyone can get almost all the info 
they want at a public library, but how many can or want to go there?

Any comments?

Jayne Sebby
jsebby@unlinfo.unl.edu

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