Potential Users and Virtual Communities in the Academic World

Jose Silvio <[email protected]>

Abstract

Physical connectivity problems in networks are being solved at a relatively rapid rate, and the focus of attention has gradually shifted from the infrastructure and technology to the users, resources and information contents. However, a large population of potential users, from very diverse education and research communities, still remain outside of the virtual world. Alongside the development of virtual communities of users, we are witnessing a proliferation of many kinds of non- electronic cooperative academic networks and associations, which have, to a large extent, been furthered by various international organizations.

The "non-virtual" communities which have emerged from all these initiatives, are of particular importance to the INTERNET, since they are sources of potential users, starting points for the development of virtual communities, and sources of information resources and contents. Very valuable efforts are also being made by several organizations to support the users and their communities in a systematic fashion. Furthermore, organized efforts have also been made for the purpose of monitoring the evolution of the structure of networks' connectivity, users, services and resources of the "Matrix" worldwide. All these efforts, virtual and non-virtual, user-oriented and network-oriented, should be coordinated in order to facilitate the incorporation, training and development of new users and new virtual communities, thereby adding value to networks and to the academic work at the same time. The social dimension of telematics is becoming more evident now, with the discovery of the fact that Cyberspace can be enhanced by the human beings and the new forms of sociability arising from the formation of virtual communities and their information and knowledge resources

1. On the concept of virtual community From the sociological point of view, a community is a particular type of social group, the members of which share a series of common interests related to one or several aspects of life. The communities generally include several social groups of different sizes, with various interests and distinct degrees of formality and closeness of the relations between their members, and are based on a territory well defined geographically, for example, a village and a city are examples of such communities. The term community is also used to describe the sharing of interests in a particular group, for example, the members of a professional or scientific association.

   In Cyberspace, the term virtual community describes the groups stemming from the computer mediated communication process among people sharing a common interest in a scientific, professional, cultural, social, recreative or any other type of subject. In this case, we can also distinguish between general purpose communities and the more specific special interest groups (or SIGs), which are organized around a particular subject. The essential difference between the "real" and the virtual communities lies in the fact that the latter do not have a territorial base. The virtual space in which they evolve transcends the frontiers of geographical space.

   Certainly, the telematic networks have a territorial base consisting of the geographical location of the computers which constitute their nodes, but the human communities which are created and which inhabit them do not have a territorial base. Their members come from many different places but are communicating with others in a specific virtual place. They possess another reality shared by all their members and based on a different infrastructure and process of information and knowledge communication and management.

   The virtual communities are a basic element of the development of the INTERNET and of the "Matrix" in general and, to a large extent, they have been responsible for its highly cooperative, decentralized, pluralistic and diversified development. They were formed by individuals, informatics specialists and amateurs, who wished to take advantage of computer mediated communication to obtain a more efficient and interactive means of exchanging ideas, experiences, knowledge and feelings. The development of those communities is a good example of the interaction between man and technology. As new communication needs arose, new technologies were created, leading to the creation of USENET, FidoNet, the BBS, the BITNET network, the IRC servers, the MUDS, the Free-Nets and many other telematic services, which currently serve as platforms for communication between persons and as receptacles of the information exchanged between them. Above and beyond the scientific, military, material and economic motives underlying the development of INTERNET, one finds in the background an eminently social history: The "Matrix", or the more general Cyberspace, is above all a social rather than a purely physical fact. The virtual communities are an expression of various forms of sociability and solidarity which have been transferred from "real" reality to the virtual world, and as such, are manifestations and representations of the social networks in which we are all immersed throughout our lives 1.

2. Types of virtual communities The virtual communities developed in Cyberspace differ as regards their origin, evolution and purposes. They range from very cohesive communities focusing on a specific subject (like the SIGs), with a very active participation of their members, to communities with very tenuous and diffuse links, as well as others with multiple purposes and various degrees of participation of their members.

   We can attempt to classify virtual communities in accordance with the type of interactivity, sociability and information management among their members, thereby distinguishinq, in a first approximation, the following types:

   1. Communities with deferred interactivity, free or limited association, depending on the conditions of membership, with automatic reception of information, not controlled by the user, focusing on one subject, variable degrees of cohesion and participation (LISTSERV and similar types of electronic lists).

   2. Communities with deferred interactivity, free association, voluntary search for and receipt of information by the user, focusing on one subject, variable degrees of cohesion and participation (Newsgroups).

   3. Communities with free or limited association, frequently point to point communication, with deferred or real time interactivity, focusing on one subject (BBS).

   4. Communities with free association, real time interactivity, management of information partly controlled by the user, focusing on one subject (Internet Relay Chat or IRC).

   5. Communities aimed at the creation of imaginary virtual environments and the performance of roles among their members, with real time interactivity and free or limited association, depending on the case, may focus on one or several subjects (MUDS and its variants).

   6. Multipurpose communities, encompassing sub- communities with specific purposes, based on simulation, but which also perform the function of normal communication, with deferred or real time interactivity (ICONS Program of the University of Maryland, USA).

   7. Multipurpose communities with an integrating vocation, comprising several sub-communities which may present variable types of association interactivity, cohesion and participation (The WELL type of community, for example).

   8. Multipurpose integral communities, encompassing several sub-communities with free association, deferred or real time interactivity, which tend to emulate the characteristics of the real life of the communities possessing a territorial base (Free- Nets type of community).

   9. Communities promoted by associations encompassing several sub-communities, with all the telematic services, and connected to the INTERNET. (For example, the communities administered by the Association for the Progress of Communications or APC).

   This classification needs to be refined, with a better specification of its criteria, and completed with more and better information. We offer it here as a first approach to the study of this important phenomenon of the Cyberspace .

   Although the main aim of these types of communities is the communication among people, they also contain important information resources. The communication contents of a mailing list or a newsgroup can be a very important resource for research or action purposes.

3. Responses of the Cyberspace to the needs of virtual communities The creation and development of the types of virtual communities described were specific responses to the needs of its members. More recently, Cyberspace has generated more integral responses which imply not only the development of a software or a specific service, but also combined efforts including pedagogical and organizational actions aimed at ensuring the induction, training and development of the users, the support to the functioning of the communities created by them and their respective information resources. Those responses can be classified in accordance with several criteria, but to simplify, I will mention only two: the training of users and the degree of promotion and support of sociability among them.

   The approaches adopted are as follows:

   1. Simple training of users without permanent support of their development, or promotion of sociability among them. This includes the induction activities of a network which receives new users who are simply given a training course, but without subsequent permanent systematic support (Simple instrumental approach).

   2. Training of users, with support, without promotion of sociability (Compound instrumental approach).

   3. Promotion of sociability, without training of users or support to a virtual community (Simple sociability approach).

   4. Training of users with promotion of sociability and support both to individual users and to the communities resulting from their association (Instrumental-sociability approach).

      Hence there is a continuum ranging from the simplest actions and responses to the most complex ones. The actions destined to promote and provide permanent support to the development of virtual communities are usually accompanied by organizational arrangements to include virtual communities in various servers of the network or institution providing the service, in the form of electronic lists, newsgroups and also services for the development of the information resources of those communities in FTP, Gopher, Wais and Web servers.

      As far as I know, the experience of the TERENA network's User Support and Information Services (USIS) Working Group is the best example of the most instrumental-sociability approach. The Program operates under the coordination of the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and its NISP/MAILBASE program. This program offers support to various european academic communities for the organization of their activities and their information resources providing instructors and coordinators of mailing lists, other communication services, and information resources based in different servers of the TERENA network2. Thus the needs of both real and potential users are met, with a systematic induction and developmental approach. Apart from this initiative, in the INET'93 and 94 conferences, others with more specific objectives and more limited scope were discussed, such as UNINET (Norway), EDUCATE (Sweden and other European countries), ELSA ( Europe), CICNET's Rural Datafication Project (USA) and the University of Hawaii (USA)3 Another integral response, but with different objectives, is that of the Matrix Information and Directory Services (MIDS). The MIDS program is not geared to the users or the virtual communities.

      Rather, it is a response to the need for self-knowledge of the "Matrix", for research, monitoring of its most important components (physical connectivity, nodes, users, telematic services, resources, geographical distribution, etc.) and information for the community involved in networking activities. Apparently the work done by MIDS has nothing to do with either the virtual communities or the users. Nevertheless, I feel that it is important as an example of an integral approach to the monitoring of the development of the networks and their components, for prospective and proactive purposes4.

4. The development of the non-virtual academic sociability. Alongside the development of the virtual communities of users and the initiatives destined to provide them with pedagogical and organizational support, there has also been a notable proliferation of academic associations and cooperative networks. We are referring here not to computer networks, but to "human" or "social" networks. The only difference between the human networks, which have been in existence since man's appearance on the earth, and the telematic networks is that the latter are human networks mediated by an informatic and telematic infrastructure for information and knowledge management and its communication. But generically, they are both social.

   This development has been so impressive that now the network concept is even serving as an analytical paradigm for the Social Sciences. An evidence of this tendency is the appearance in 1978 of the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA). This is a social network for the analysis of social networks which, as far as I know, has no virtual support. It publishes two reviews (Connections and Social Networks) and comprises a qualified group of social scientists interested in the study of social networks as an expression of new forms of sociability5. In mathematics, graph theory has also been applied to the analysis of networks, of their structures and of the communication between their members6 and a philosophical study of all kinds of networks (physical, natural, biological, social and telematic networks) was recently published7.

   At the same time, the word network, in the scientific world, has become a synonym of cooperation, integration, solidarity, and of a new form of management of the international transfer of knowledge. Today, everybody considers the possibility of constituting a cooperative network for the implementation of a research or development project .

   In response to that need for cooperative sociability, international organizations such as UNESCO and the Commission of the European Union have worked systematically in the promotion of networks, which are academic communities created to deal with a particular subject .

   A vast cooperative program named UNITWIN (University Twinning) was launched by UNESCO in 1991, as an international plan of action aimed at academic solidarity, to reinforce inter-university cooperation, with particular emphasis on developing countries. Three closely related types of modalities have arisen for the implementation of the program:

   1. twinning association between two institutions; academic chairs, which are teaching and research programs related to a specific subject and inter- university networks, which can cover several subjects. A particular characteristic of the program is that, regardless of the point of departure (Twinning, Chair or Network), the final result is almost always the creation and development of a network .

   Up to now, UNITWIN has supported or promoted a total of 200 projects (158 chairs and 42 networks) at world level, of which 95 chairs and 22 networks have been established and 63 chairs and 20 networks are under consideration, in all regions of the world and almost all fields of knowledge. Although there are many projects based in developed countries, these have been established as focal points, but their operational action is geared to the developing countries, in order to promote both North-South and South-South cooperation8.

   Other important development, also related to UNESCO's activities, is the growth of non- governmental organizations (NGO), which are associated with this Organization to work in various domains within their areas of competence. At present, about 600 NGOs (international and regional) are associated with UNESCO, they encompass almost all the areas of knowledge and cover all the regions of the world.

   The Commission of the European Union initiated the ALFA Program as of 1994, the aim of which is the creation and development of cooperative networks between universities and scientific centres of European and Latin American countries, with scientific and academic objectives. It is too early to convey an idea of the magnitude of the ALFA Program, since it was created very recently and is just beginning to organize projects. But its priority areas are as follows:

   1. Cooperation for institutional management (which includes academic and administrative management, recognition of titles and diplomas, curriculum development, cooperation between universities and the productive sector, educational innovation and institutional evaluation); and

   2. Cooperation for scientific and technological training (which comprises advanced training and specialized complementary training)9.

   The Union of International Associations (UIA) is engaged in the monitoring of the development of both academic, scientific and community sociability, and publishes the Yearbook of International Organizations, which is updated annually and contains a large and rapidly increasing number of scientific, professional and academic associations10. Here we are in a non-virtual world, consisting of communities most of which are unaware of the existence of the Cyberspace and the benefits which it can offer for information and knowledge management, or have a very vague idea of it. There has been no systematic connection between said communities and the development of the virtual communities. It is curious to note that in both the virtual and the non-virtual world, the network occupies an important place as an infrastructure and instrument of information and knowledge management, and the community as a basic form of association within said network. These non-virtual communities are sources of potential users and a wealth of potential information resources, which would undoubtedly enhance the value of the telematic networks considerably.

5. Some experiences in the development of virtual communities Among the experiences under way in UNESCO, for example, the Network of Innovation in Distance Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (called RIESAD) is worthy of note. This is, to date, the first experience of the UNITWIN Program in the creation of virtual communities with a proactive orientation.

   The coordinating center of RIESAD is located in the National Open University of Venezuela and comprises distance universities of Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil and Bolivia. Its action is also related to the UNESCO Program "Learning without Frontiers".

   The aim of RIESAD is to evaluate the introduction and facilitate the utilization of the new information and communication technologies in distance education. The members of the network will communicate through a server center, attached to the REACCIUN Network, the national academic network of Venezuela, in which a Gopher server is being set up and several electronic lists and a user-training program will enter into operation. Training courses in various disciplines will also be provided through the INTERNET, and the first one will shortly be disseminated, for the training of specialists in distance education in the new technologies, through the HISPASAT satellite, with teaching support through the INTERNET by means of electronic mail, electronic lists and several information resources located in an FTP and a Gopher server, in support of research, learning and development activities.

   RIESAD's approach to the management of the virtual community which has been created within it will be that which we have identified as "instrumental- sociability", but enriched with pedagogical activities, since in addition to envisaging a user-training program, the association of researchers and educators interested in distance education will be promoted, and the network will be used as a pedagogical instrument11.

   RIESAD is an example of the voluntary incorporation of an academic non-virtual network into the virtual world, using a telematic platform which is already in existence, but creating its own community, its own system of incorporation and support of users and its own information resources, within the framework of a multifunctional virtual space.

   Other important developments are the initiative of the Global University, with headquarters in the United States, the purpose of which is the creation of a virtual university community for teaching, research and the developmental activities normally carried out by a University, with chapters in various regions of the world12. The University of the World, which also has its headquarters in the United States, is another initiative worthy of note. Likewise, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) which is the United Nations organization for telecommunications at world level, has taken the initiative of creating a Global Telecommunications University (GTU) which would be an "electronic" university destined to the training of telecommunications technicians, administrators and other related actors worldwide, and with which several United Nations agencies, non-governmental and governmental organizations and commercial enterprises would be associated13.

   Another project worthy of note is the Telesynergics Project, coordinated by the Network and Development Foundation (FUNREDES) of Latin America and the Caribbean, the first NGO of its kind in this region. As of October 1995, this Project, with which UNESCO and a series of non-governmental and governmental, academic and commercial organizations are associated, will begin to build a virtual space of extensive cooperation for the development of information and communication products and services, which can significantly enhance the telematic networks14.

6. The interest in studying and monitoring non-virtual academic sociability The interest in monitoring the development of academic sociability lies in its potential as virtual communities and the value which they can add to the telematic networks with their users and their information resources. Each member of those potential virtual communities is of intrinsic value as a source of intellectual energy, of intelligence, and as an information resource. Each information resource, each library and each information center of those associations and networks has extremely valuable contents, the incorporation of which into the virtual world would contribute to a better globalization and distribution of the collective memory and intelligence in the world.

   We already have the necessary conceptual, methodological and operational elements to systematize a proactive monitoring of those communities which are still outside Cyberspace, and each one of them offers ideas and instruments for concerted action. The work carried out by MIDS offers a good source of inspiration for the development of a frame of reference for a system of proactive monitoring of academic sociability. The action of TERENA's USIS Working Group could provide the framework for the application of what we have called the "instrumental-sociability approach", for the incorporation and induction of potential users and their academic communities, and support to their development. The UIA, is an important source of information on the development and characteristics of academic and community associations. The UNITWIN (UNESCO) and ALFA (European Commission) programs are important resources for the mobilization and operationalization of academic networks and associations in relation to research and action projects, for which the telematic networks can serve as a platform for information and knowledge management. Initiatives such as those of RIESAD, the Global University, the University of the World, the Global Telecommunications University and other similar ones, are also important factors in the mobilization and utilization of telematics for learning and research without frontiers. The work carried out by INSNA can be a valuable instrument of scientific analysis of the "social" networks, enabling a better knowledge of the characteristics of the structure and functioning of the potential virtual communities which could emerge from them, and providing significant elements to design and apply strategies for the improvement of their functioning in Cyberspace.

   Lastly, proactive monitoring implies a state of permanent watch, in order to act at the right time, in the appropriate place to solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity for development in any field of social life. In the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) a Network for Technological Watch of Information (Reseau de Veille Technologique de l'Information) was recently created, with the participation of an international group of specialists around an electronic server with headquarters in the UQAM15. Although its objectives are the identification and monitoring of the evolution of the new information and communication technologies, the concept, methodology and practice of technological watch could be applied with adaptations to the watch over the evolution of the virtual potential of the academic communities. Virtual spaces such as TELESYNERGICS are also important sources of ideas and experiences, as frameworks for cooperation and development in the field of virtual sociability.

   However, there is as yet no systematic organizational effort to monitor and coordinate these initiatives, and the leading ideas behind them, geared to a common objective. Each one of these organizations has its particular objectives and characteristics, its distinctive area of responsibility and its competitive advantage in its particular field of action. It is difficult to achieve an efficient coordination among them, but it is possible to start a project at the highest level international level for this purpose.

7. In conclusion: bases for a strategy of monitoring academic sociability and the development of virtual communities The strategy for the monitoring of academic sociability, with a view to its productive and creative incorporation into the virtual world, can be summarized as follows:
   1. Creation of an international working group dedicated to the proactive monitoring of the academic associations and networks, comprising specialists from various organizations of the virtual and non- virtual world.

   2. Preparation of a conceptual and methodological framework for the study of those communities, in order to facilitate their incorporation into Cyberspace. Said conceptual framework must be based on the premise according to which the networks are integrated systems of users, physical infrastructures, technologies, computer mediated communication services and information resources, and a particular approach is needed in the case of developing countries16.

      But there is also an important sociocultural- dimension in the perception and conception of networks, which influences the behavior of the principal actors involved therein. Let us take the example of three of these actors. For a researcher and his scientific community, who would be the final users of telematic services, a network is an association of homologous persons and institutions who channel their activities through the institutions which give them their support: a network of researchers. For a librarian, as a provider and manager of information, the network would be a network of information and centers possessing information sources to supply said information to the researcher networks. They are intermediate users. For the administrator of a telematic network, a network would be a network of computers which, by means of various-infrastructures, technologies and computer mediated communication services, enables the researchers to communicate with each other and to find the information they are seeking for their work in the information sources administered by the librarians. The existence of an interaction and natural compenetration between these actors would appear to be evident, but unfortunately, in practice, this is not so. Each one of them has his particular culture stemming from his professional background and from the peculiarities of his work and his own needs and expectations within the network.

      The integration of networks is not simply a matter of solving a pragmatic problem of coordination of users, technologies, services and resources, it is also a problem of the cultural integration of their actors, in a pluralistic sense, and an interaction and natural understanding between the latter, even if each of them keeps his particular identity. Telematic networks are above all human, and hence sociocultural products, not merely technical objects outside a social context.

   3. Identification of the characteristics, structure, organization, operational modalities, needs and expectations of the academic associations, which may have a significant impact on the society by virtue of the place they occupy in the latter, in relation to the world and regional development priorities. Also the identification of the specific requirements of associations which approach the telematic networks of their own free will in search of help, and the characteristics of such associations.

   4. Determination of the type of virtual community which could be created for each association, in accordance with the types mentioned previously.

   5. Preparation of a strategy of incorporation of those associations into the virtual world and a systematic program for the incorporation and training of their users and support to the development of the information resources of said associations. When preparing and applying programs for user-training, one must bear in mind the fact that the users are not a socially homogeneous category. They can be divided into segments according to their characteristics, needs, expectations and other variables, and the training and support program must be adapted to each segment in a flexible and dynamic fashion17. The same can be said of the information resources of an academic community. They present a variability which must be taken into account when "virtualizing" them.

   6. Preparation of a program of incorporation of academic communities and response to the spontaneous requests of the associations seeking support. Here there are two different groups:
      1. the associations which are aware of the existence of telematic networks, wish to take advantage of them and apply to the network administrator for help; and

      2. associations which are unaware of the existence of networks, or only have a vague idea of what they are, and have not yet realized how valuable it can be for the improvement of the quality of their work. A different strategy must be applied to each group. The program of incorporation must have been prepared with the necessary coordination of the infrastructure, technologies and telematic services required to guarantee the support to be provided.

   7. The users and their communities should be approached to offer them the necessary support through the program which has been prepared, either in response to a voluntary request from a particular association, or to an association which has not requested support, but the "virtualization" of which is significant in the opinion of those offering the program. At this time, a process of negotiation is entered into between the organization which is offering the program and the receiver of its services. This process must be accompanied by the constitution of the necessary organizational and technical mechanisms to guarantee its implementation, monitoring and control.

   8. Promotion of multiplying and synergic effects. At this stage, based on the capacity of virtual management of information and knowledge already existing in the academic community which is already virtualized, it is a question of encouraging and promoting its propagation in other academic communities also possessing a potential for integration into the virtual world. Thus, horizontal cooperation is stimulated between communities and a synergic and multiplying effect is produced, possibly of great magnitude, which stems from the population of final users themselves and not in a hierarchical "top-down" fashion. Thus the users support and incorporate other users, without centralizing the process. One must not overlook the fact that this operational, spontaneous and pluralistic system was the one applied in the development of INTERNET and the Matrix in general. Everybody has said that it is an anarchical and disorderly development. Nevertheless that apparent disorder has resulted in a virtual world characterized by a vital order, not a geometrical order, or at most, one with a highly variable geometry.

[1] See: H. Rheingold. The virtual community.

Addison-Wesley. New York, 1993.

[2] J. Foster. "Building electronic communities". Proceedings of the INET�93 Conference. San Francisco, USA, 1993, and RARE Technical Report 1: User Support and Information Services Working Group, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1993.

[3] See: A. Jenssen. "Educating network users in distance education through computer networks"; S. Cisler and D. Hendricks. "Community computer networks" in Proceedings of INET'93 Conference. San Francisco, USA, 1993. See also: N. Fjällbrant. "EDUCATE"; J-A. Chu. "Network training: anywhere, anytime, anyplace"; E. Staman et al. "Rural Datafication"; C. Fulda. "Building electronic communities"; T. Laquey Parker. The Internet and schools" in Proceedings of INET'94 Conference. Prague, Czech Repulic, 1994.

[4] See, for example, "Matrix News" and "Matrix Maps Quarterly". Two periodical publications of MIDS.

[5] D. Knoke and J. Kuklinski. Social Networks Analysis. SAGE. Beverly Hills, USA, 1986, and: A. Degenne et M. Forse. Les reseaux sociaux. A. Colin. Paris, 1994.

[6] See: C. Flament. Reseaux de communication et structures de groupe. DUNOD, Paris, 1966; C. Flament. Theorie des graphes et structure sociale. Dunod, Paris, 1965. F. Harary et al. Structural models: and introduction to the theory of directed graphs. Wiley. New York, 1966.

[7] D. Parrochia. Philosophie des reseaux. Presses Universitaires de France. Paris, 1993.

[8] See more details in UNESCO. UNITWIN Newsletter. Issue No. 1. Paris, February, 1995.

[9] European Commission. Guide to the ALFA Programme. European Commission. Brussels, 1994.

[10] Union of International Associations. Yearbook of International Organizations. K.G. Staur. Munich, 1991-92, and The Commonwealth of Learning. The World of Learning. Europa Publications Ltd. London, 1992-93.

[11] Universidad Nacional Abierta. Proyecto de Red de Innovacion en la Educacion Superior a Distancia (Project document). Caracas, Venezuela, 1995.

[12] T. Utsumi and A. Villarroel. "Hacia una Universidad Global Latinoamericana", and M. Casas "Proyecciones de la Universidad del Mundo en America Latina", in J. Silvio (editor). Calidad, tecnologia y globalizacion en la educacion superior. CRESALC/UNESCO Publications. Caracas, 1992.

[13] International Telecommunications Union. Global Telecommunications University (Draft document). Geneva, 1994.

[14] Fundacion Redes y Desarrollo (FUNREDES). Proyecto TELESINERGIA (Project document). Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 1994.

[15] M. Cartier. Reseau de veille technologique de l'Information (RVTI) (Project document). Montreal, 1994.

[16] D. Pimienta. Research networks in developing countries: not exactly the same story!. Proceedings of INET'93 Conference. San Francisco, USA, 1993.

[17] P. Liendo. "Integrando usuarios y servicios de comunicacion mediante computadora", in: J. Silvio (editor). Una nueva manera de comunicar el conocimiento. CRESALC/UNESCO Publications. Caracas, Venezuela, 1993. Author Information Jose Silvio is a Sociologist, graduated from the Central University of Venezuela. He has a Doctor's Degree in Educational Sciences from the University of Paris and Post-Doctoral studies in Informatics and Statistics Applied to Social Sciences, and Mediatics and Telematics, in France and Canada, respectively. He is the Senior Specialist of the Regional Center of UNESCO for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (CRESALC). He also worked in UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, in the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) and the Division of Educational Policy and Planning. He coordinates the CRESALC program for the development of academic networks, among others, and has worked in several research and training projects in the field of electronic networks. He is the author of several articles about the social and educational impact of new information and communication technologies, and the editor of two books recently published by CRESALC/UNESCO: "Calidad, tecnologia y globalizacion en la educacion superior" (Quality, technology and globalization in higher education) (1992) and "Una nueva manera de comunicar el conocimiento" (A new way to communicate knowledge) (1993). Postal address:

UNESCO/CRESALC. Apartado 68394. Caracas,

1062-A, Venezuela. Tel: 2860721, 2860516. Fax:

2862039. E-mail addresses:

1) [email protected],

2) [email protected]

Potential users and virtual communities... Proc. INET '95 J. Silvio