[HaBi 2]    Tracking a Rock Group By Computer

THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 23,1986 Tracking a Rock Group By Computer "I USED to use a Rolodex and lunch hours for networking," said Lisa Carlson, a computer consultant at the Metasystems Design Group, a consulting firm in Arlington, Va. Now, she simply punches a few numbers onto a keyboard to reach professional colleagues. "With electronic networking, you're not limited to five lunches a week," she said. "You can maintain relations with hundreds of people all over the world." The widespread use of personal, computers and modems has meant that a growing number of individuals are using technology rather than legwork to communicate. They are increasingly subscribing to electronic bulletin boards that enable them to "post" information and messages for others to call up at will. One of the largest such bulletln boards around, the Electronic Information Exchange System operated out of the Computerized Conferencing Center of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, has more than 2,000 subscribers from private companies such as Exxon and I.B.M., Government agencies including NASA, and various colleges including Harvard. Participants get to take "electronic courses" offered by the institute, as well as to share research information with each other. "Ultimately, this technology will not just be used as business technology, but will become as common to the public as the telephone," said Murray Turoff, the head of the New Jersey Institute, which is in Newark. His network already has developed social aspects. Jessica Lipnack, a consultant with the Net- working Institute, a consulting firm in Waltham, Mass., recalls "attending" a computerized New Years' Eve party several years ago, that involved hundreds of members of the electronic exchange from all over the world sending "Happy New Year" to each other via the computer. In the San Francisco area, 1,700 people pay $8 a month ad $3 an hour to use WELL (the "Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link",) a subscription-based telecommunications system started last year by Stewart Brand, originator of the Whole Earth Catalogues. WELL sets up separate electronic bulletin boards for groups of subscribers that share specific interests. So far, according to Clifford Figallo, who is in charge of systems operations for WELL, bulletin boards on some 120 topics have been set up. one of the most popular involves the Grateful Dead rock group. Some 250 members of the system communicate regularly to each other through their electronic bulletin board to share gossip tidbits about the group, or even to offer extra tickets to the group's next show. Other popular electronic networks have sprung up around topics such as the human mind and true confessions, the latter involving members relating events that have shaped their lives. "People think of communicating by computer as dull and inhuman," said Mr. Figallo. "But as the software and teleconferencing equipment get more sophisticted and the hardware becomes cheaper, systems like these are going to be come much more popular. People will realize that you can use computers to reach out and touch someone."

[HaBi 2]    Tracking a Rock Group By Computer