Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

netiquette 331Resources for Text, Speech and Language Processing. Availableonline. URL: http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~gabr/resources/resources.html. Accessed October 4, 2007.Negroponte, Nicholas(1944– )AmericanComputer ScientistAs founder and longtime director of the MIT Media Lab,Nicholas Negroponte has overseen and contributed to someof the most creative developments in human-computerinteraction and interface design.Born in 1943, the son of a Greek shipping magnate,Negroponte grew up in New York City. He attended theMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), earning hismaster’s degree in architecture in 1966 and joining thefaculty. The following year Negroponte founded the MITArchitecture Machine Group, which focused on developingnew ways for people to interact with computers. In 1985,Negroponte and Jerome Wiesner founded the MIT MediaLab, which has become world famous as a center of researchinto new media and innovative computer interfaces (seemit Media Lab).Negroponte made a different contribution to the newcomputer culture in 1992 when he became a key investor inWired Magazine, where he also contributed a column until1998. Many of the ideas in these columns were reworkedinto Negroponte’s 1995 book Being Digital. This book waswidely influential in its predictions of a coming world whereinformation and entertainment would become a pervasiveweb and people would interact actively with the new media(see digital convergence and ubiquitous computing).Negroponte’s slogan is “move bits, not atoms,” meaning thatthe new economy will be focused more on information andmedia than physical production. Some critics, however,have argued that Negroponte’s work was filled with a naiveutopianism that did not consider the potential difficultiesand social consequences of the new technology.As Negroponte observed how venture capitalists werepursuing the digital revolution of the 1990s, he began toseek similar funding for the Media Lab. This was controversial,since the lab had a strong academic culture, with itsreluctance to become too involved with corporate agendas.In 2000 Negroponte stepped down as director of the MediaLab, gradually becoming less involved in the ongoing reorganizationof the institution. In 2006 he also relinquishedhis post as chairman, though he has retained his post asprofessor at MIT.One Laptop per ChildIn recent years Negroponte has focused his efforts ondesigning and distributing low-cost laptop PCs to millionsof children in developing nations. (The project is called“One Laptop per Child.”) In 2005 at the World Summit onthe Information Society held in Tunis, Negroponte unveileda $100 laptop called the Children’s Machine. However, inthe next few years commitments from participating nationshave been slower than anticipated. Undaunted, Negropontein 2007 announced a new way to distribute the machines—make them such an attractive buy that consumers in developedcountries would be willing to pay a few hundreddollars for two of them—one for the consumer and one togo to a student in a developing country.Negroponte also continues to be active as an investoror board member in technology startups as well as being aboard member of Motorola and a member of the editorialboard of the Wall Street Journal.Further ReadingHamm, Steve. “Give a Laptop and Get One.” BusinessWeek, September24, 2007. Available online. URL: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/sep2007/tc20070923_960941.htm. Accessed October 4, 2007.Negroponte, Nicholas. Being Digital. New York: Vintage Books,1996.———. “Creating a Culture of Ideas.” Technology Review, February2003. Available online. URL: http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/13074/. Accessed October 4, 2007.Nicholas Negroponte (home page). Available online. URL: http://web.media.mit.edu/~nicholas/. Accessed October 4, 2007.Pogue, David. “Laptop with a Mission Widens Its Audience.” NewYork Times, October 4, 2007. Available online. URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/04/technology/circuits/04pogue.html. Accessed October 5, 2007.netiquetteAs each new means of communication and social interactionis introduced, social customs and etiquette evolve inresponse. For example, it took time before the practice ofsaying “hello” and identifying oneself became the universalway to initiate a phone conversation.By the 1980s, a system of topical news postings (seenetnews and newsgroups) carried on the Internet wasbecoming widely used in universities, the computer industry,and scientific institutions. Many new users did notunderstand the system, and posted messages that wereoff topic. Others used their postings as to insult or attack(“flame”) other users, particularly in newsgroups discussingperennially controversial topics such as abortion. Whena significant number of postings in a newsgroup are devotedto flaming and counter-flaming, many users who had soughtcivilized, intelligent discussion leave in protest.In 1984, Chuq von Rospach wrote a document entitled“A Primer on How to Work with the Usenet Community.” Itand later guides to net etiquette or “netiquette” offered usefulguidelines to new users and to more experienced userswho wanted to facilitate civil discourse. These suggestionsinclude:• Learn about the purpose of a newsgroup before youpost to it. If a group is moderated, understand themoderator’s guidelines so your postings won’t berejected.• Before posting, follow some discussions to see whatsort of language, tone, and attitude seems to be appropriatefor this group.