6.0318 EARN News (1/49)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 27 Oct 1992 10:07:03 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 6, No. 0318. Tuesday, 27 Oct 1992.
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 92 15:20:40 BST
From: Christopher Currie <c.currie@clus1.ulcc.ac.uk>
Subject: Threat to JANET/BITNET link
THREAT TO JANET/ERAN-BITNET LINK AND EFFECTS ON HUMANITIES LISTS
The following message has been received from the Joint Network
Team of JANET:
> EARN News
_________
>Further to recent doubts and alarms, I am happy to be able to tell you
>that at its meeting in Innsbruck the EARN Board approved a new funding
>model which reduces the amount asked of the UK to enable JANET traffic to
>be sent to and received from EARN users. Although this is still not on
>the service agreement basis which we have been seeking, the reduction is
>a worthwhile one and the ISC has agreed to make the appropriate funds
>available this calendar year and to keep the situation for future years
>under review.
>
>Users may send mail via EARN-Relay until at least the end of 1992, and
>probably beyond that. Please continue, however, to establish alternative
>routes (e.g. NSFNet-Relay or MHS-Relay) wherever possible. (Note that
>these two gateways, both operated at ULCC, forward mail to one another if
>appropriate.)
The prospective public spending cuts in the UK may well increase the
risk to the link after December 1992.
This will pose a widespread problem to JANET users of email
lists. Scholars in the humanities are well behind scientists in their
use of email lists as a research tool; cutting them off from
BITNET is likely to increase our backwardness.
It seems to me that what is needed, if the gateway really is going away, is
for:
a) listowners to make sure that there is an alternative Internet
route displayed on all advertisements for their lists, and
b) ensure that posts can be distributed to Janet via the Internet
rather than Earn route; and
c), when a) and b) have been done, for existing Janet subscribers
to those lists to unsubscribe from the Bitnet/earn route and subscribe
to the relevant Internet listserv address. This needs plenty of publicity.
(Respondents please note that I may not myself see any consequent
discussion on the lists to which I am posting this message,
because I have had temporarily to suspend my mail distributions
from them.)
Christopher Currie