First On-line Congressional Hearing (fwd)

[Thayer]

Some of you may have seen this already on MUSEUM-L; it seemed appropriate to
pass it along to TAXACOM, ENTOMO-L, and ENT-LIST.  Sorry for any duplication in
your mailbox.

Margaret Thayer, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois, USA
thayer at fmnh785.fmnh.org

    ***************Beginning of message forwarded by MKT**************

The following message is being forwarded (via LAW-LIB and AUTOCAT)
to the ARLIS-L, VRA-L, and MUSEUM lists.  Apologies for any
resulting duplication.

James M. Bower
Getty Art History Information Program

         ---------- Text of original message ----------

Date: Mon, 5 Jul 93 14:28:25 -0400
From: hearing-info at trystero.malamud.com
To: com-priv at psi.com
Subject: On-Line Congressional Hearing

Station: Internet Multicasting Service
Channel: Internet Town Hall
Program: On-Line Congressional Hearing
Release: July 5, 1993
Content: First Announcement/On-Line Congressional Hearing

     On July 26 at 9:30AM EDT, the Subcommittee on
Telecommunications and Finance of the U.S. House of
Representatives will hold the first Congressional Hearing ever
held over a computer network.  The oversight hearing on "The Role
of Government in Cyberspace" will take place in the Grand
Ballroom of the National Press Club at 14th and F Streets, N.W.,
Washington, D.C.  The hearing is open to the public. An open
house will be held from 3-5PM on the same day in the same
location and is also open to the public.

     Chairman Markey has asked that this historic occasion
demonstrate the potential and diversity of the global Internet.
Thirty Sparcstations will be in the hearing room, allowing
members of Congress, staff, and their guests to read e-mail, use
Gopher menus, read testimony in WAIS databases, browse the World
Wide Web, and otherwise use the resources of the global Internet
as part of the hearing.

     Some witnesses for the hearing will testify remotely,
sending audio and video over the Internet.  Audio and video of
the hearing will also be multicast over the Multicast Backbone
(MBONE).  We are hoping that C-SPAN and other traditional media
will also carry the event.  *MORE DETAILS ON MBONE AND OTHER WAYS
TO WATCH THE HEARINGS REMOTELY WILL BE FORTHCOMING SHORTLY.*

     One of the primary points that we are hoping to demonstrate
is the diversity and size of the Internet.  We have therefore
established an electronic mail address by which people on the
Internet can communicate with the Subcommittee before and during
the hearing:

          congress at town.hall.org

     We encourage you to send your comments on what the role of
government should be in the information age to this address.
Your comments to this address will be made part of the public
record of the hearing.  Feel free to carry on a dialogue with
others on a mailing list, cc'ing the e-mail address.

     Your cards and letters to congress at town.hall.org will help
demonstrate that there are people who use the Internet as part of
their personal and professional lives.  We encourage you to send
comments on the role of government in cyberspace, on what role
cyberspace should play in government (e.g., whether government
data be made available on the Internet), on how the Internet
should be built and financed, on how you use the Internet, and on
any other topic you feel is appropriate.  This is your chance to
show the U.S. Congress that there is a constituency that cares
about this global infrastructure.

     If you would like to communicate with a human being about
the hearing, you may send your comments and questions to:

          hearing-info at town.hall.org

     Support for the Internet Town Hall is provided by Sun
Microsystems and O'Reilly & Associates.  Additional support for
the July 26 on-line congressional hearing is being provided by
ARPA, BBN Communications, the National Press Club, Xerox PARC,
and many other organizations.

     Network connectivity for the Internet Town Hall is provided
by UUNET Technologies.