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                          Online
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A weekly column by Steve Kelley             Aug 30, 1995
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The Emperor's Virtual clothes by Dinty W. Moore
$17.95, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 240 pages


Sometimes, you just get lucky. An assistant professor of
English at Penn State, Dinty W. Moore, read one of my book
reviews that I posted electronically to an Internet
discussion group.  He e-mailed me with the offer of an
advance copy of his new book, "The Emporor's Virtual
Clothes." Grass roots marketing, Net-style. I couldn't
resist.

Although I've beaten the drum for this mind-boggling
spider web of cables and telephone line which constitutes the
Internet, I confess to a touch of jadedness. Books and
magazines been cranked out on this subject in the past year
and a half with a frenzy only an American marketeer can bring
to bear on the latest "hot" subject-- I often wonder if the
ink has even dried before they are rushed to the stores. Many
apparently haven't the time to even proof the copy before
publication. Perhaps it is just the nature of the subjects:
computers; networks; software; and enough acronyms to put
even the feds to shame. While most of it is informative, if
you can read it, it just lacks heart.

Mr. Moore's effort, "The Emporor's Virtual Clothes", is a
much welcomed oasis in what has become a particularly arid,
albeit informative, collection of Get-on-the-Net-NOWs, most
of which are giving new meaning to the term, "potboiler".

This book, about the social phenomena of the Internet, its
place, both real and imagined as a medium for communications
among humans is witty, well-crafted and simply a delightful
read. As a relative newcomer to the cyber-culture, Moore is
still able to write a narrative the rest of us can read
without the aid of a glossary of computer terms (although you
will rarely need it, he thoughtfully provides one as the
appendix, "An Internet Jargon Handbook".

Although you will not learn any Unix commands from Moore's
book, or even how to configure the modem on your computer so
you can call an Internet provider, you will discover what
people are using the Internet for and how it is affecting
their lives. In chapter two, "In Search of Useful Uses",
Moore shares this discovery, gleaned from a posted message in
the Usenet group, rec.gardens, "On my computer one morning, I
learned the proper way to elevate a cantaloupe. You go to the
grocery store, buy some strawberries, eat them, take the
green plastic basket that the strawberries came in out to the
garden and turn the basket upside down, then plop the growing
cantaloupe right on top of it."

"This information is not so earth-shattering--unless the
cantaloupes in your garden are rotting from the bottom up."

"Mine were, but they aren't anymore."

What is a Usenet group? Moore's explanations of the jargon
and terminology are simple and understandable
He explains Usenet groups, "Well my grocery store has a
series of bulletin boards along one wall just past the
checkout line and customers are encouraged to post flyers and
notices on these boards. The boards are divided by topic,
along the lines of "items for sale," "social events," "items
wanted," and "services offered." Shoppers bring their own
index cards and thumbtacks, and post just about any message
they want."

"Usenet, in essence , is just like that: a big electronic
bulletin board."

Where "The Emporor's Virtual Clothes" shines however, is not
in conveying the technology of the Internet to readers, but
rather how it is affecting their lives. Much of the book is
based on people Moore interviewed, both in person and
electronically. Readers will meet and read e-mail
correspondence between Katie and George, who rekindled an old
love affair, long distance, electronically. Meet the users of
a Philadelphia-based BBS, The Cellar, at a backyard barbecue
where they regularly gather to extend their online
relationships beyond the electronic digital packets they used
to meet initially on the BBS. And yes, there's even a
chapter on cybersex, "The Night Thoreau Had Cybersex." 

Amidst the hoopla, the make-money-on-the-net-FAST battle cry
of the marketeers, there is a quiet revolution taking place,
the reason, I too was first drawn to the Internet medium. A
handful of people are reaching out to touch one another's
lives, through of all things, the computer. Globally,
adversaries and allies are meeting person-to-person without
censorship on a democratic platform. Recipes are exchanged,
tips about child rearing and rose tending, and political
debates may rage for months between participants in Sweden,
Canada, the former Soviet Union-- wherever there is a phone
line. There is a lot to be hopeful about here, online, and
Moore does an outstanding job of putting some much needed
perspective on a sensationalized topic.

Look for "The Emperor's Virtual Clothes: The Naked Truth
about Internet Culture," in September. For more information,
Mr. Moore invites readers to contact him at
DWM7@PSUVM.PSU.EDU.

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"Online" is a weekly column which covers books, shareware and
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