From: Richard Seltzer Subject: *CAL* Chat reminder: Why MOO? Thursday, May 21 (followup discussion, no , , demo this time) ***BUSINESS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB -- WHERE WORD OF KEYSTROKE BEGINS*** This Thursday, May 21, we will conclude our discussion of the use of MOOs for business and education. In each of the last two sessions we had live demos (thanks to Christian Frosch, Tracy Marks, and Ann Parsons). Now we need to step back for a moment to discuss what we learned and we still need to learn and to include in the dialogue people who, because they were connected from behind corporate firewalls, were unable to connect for the live demos. To get warmed up for the discussion, please, if you can take a look at the last three transcripts -- http://www.samizdat.com/chat81.html -- May 14 (which includes all the dialogue that took place inside the three MOO rooms we visited) http://www.samizdat.com/chat80.html -- May 7 and http://www.samizdat.com/chat79.html -- April 30 (for the followup messages, with lots of MOO-related links). If you can, it would also be good to take a look at a comprehensive book about MOOs -- High Wired edited by Cynthia Haynes and Jan Holmevik. Several participants recommended that book, and I just got a copy myself from Amazon. All of our last three sessions have been live demos -- which has been extremely valuable, but also exhausting both as a participant and also when trying to reconstruct the pieces into a coherent transcript. I'm looking forward to a more traditional session this week. Please join us this Thursday. (As usual, at http://www.web-net.org, Thursday, noon to 1 PM US Eastern Time = GMT -4; transcripts at http://www.samizdat.com/#chat). Also please check out the sister chat sessions devoted to distance education (also at http://www.web-net.org, Tuesday, noon to 1 PM US Eastern Time; transcripts at http://www.cottagemicro.com/education) Coming attractions -- I want to take a break on May 28. I need to catch my breath and sort out what directions we should head in next. These are topics that I am considering -- -- Whither goeth the Web? What numbers are available and what can we learn from them (want to contact Jeff Black http://www.imi.com who has access to some stats) -- How to sell books on the Web? (want to contact folks at Sams and Que and other publishers; interested in learning the benefits and drawbacks of making the full text of current books available for free over the Internet) -- What's the cable modem difference? How will high-bandwidth access alter Web site design and on-line business? Waht's different about the new breed of audience? What do they want and need (want to contact a friend at MediaOne) -- Jobs and the Internet, and businesses based around helping people find jobs -- What does it take to make an Internet-based delivery service work? (want to contact Groceries to Go, Peapod, Homeruns, and Shoplink) -- The Internet and the real estate business -- Internet business and the senior citizen audience. Please let me know which (if any) of these topics interest you, and send suggestions for who to contact to ask to join us for these and other topics. Best wishes. Richard Seltzer seltzer@samizdat.com