COLUMN: Hot Fun in the Summer Online

Ben Wyche says increased InternetBen Wyche says increased Internetactivity enhances print newspapersBen Wyche says increased Internetactivity enhances print newspapersand shows more sides to a story. Ben Wyche says increased Internetactivity enhances print newspapersand shows more sides to a story. Why is it that as the flames of the sun grow longer in the summer, the flames of the Penn campus seem to grow shorter? When asked to write this column I said, "Sure -- about what? The only things going on around Penn _this_ summer are required classes for seniors who still haven't graduated, and people looking for jobs on upenn.edu.jobs-wanted. I'm kinda busy with the latter so I'm not sure I can write anything at 4:40am that's gonna set _this_ campus on fire..." So I won't. Most of the stuff I've written or said this past year has either cost me a friend or gotten me into flame wars on Penn's newsgroups. So I'm not taking _any_ chances _this_ summer with getting flamed. I'm going to shut my big mouth and let you fill the rest of the page.The DP webpage, that is. I would like, however, to go out on a limb and write a humble and brief "interactive" column that hopefully will generate _some_ heat for you -- the reader of this copy of the DP -- and the rest of campus this summer. Last summer, I had the fortunate experience of a "summer flame" -- that being a relationship that only seems to last through the dog days of August. This anonymous flame made more me interested than any OPIM or HSS teacher ever has or could in the value of the Internet as a means of communication. So it is in memory of last summer that I try to start some sparks _this_ summer. At once the most over-hyped and underutilized means of campus communication, I think that the Penn computing system has had and can have an even greater amount on the state of Penn's campus than any other means of communication. IMHO, Penn's telecommunications system, is on the verge of changing this campus more than my pals at DCCS can currently imagine. Take the DP, for a start. One of the biggest criticisms the DP, among other papers, has to put up with is accusations of bias. However, as any good Annenberg student could tell you, "all news is views." As a print medium, a news_paper_ is limited by the amount of space on a page, and the number of pages that the DP chooses to get advertisers for. Even if the DP editors spent three days on a story to make sure it was completely "objective", they still could not do full justice to the number of opinions surrounding a given event covered in the DP. During the International Affairs Association/Student Activities Council controversy of the past year, for example, many people thought that the DP had a running bias against the IAA and in favor of the Undergraduate Assembly.Many of my IAA friends wanted to start an online alternative to the Daily Pennsylvanian. They felt that their voices weren't being heard above the din of the "incompetent" or "Establishment" DP editors. But why even bother to start an alternative DP when you can accommodate _all_ voices on an online DP?Or at least the amount of views Penn's server is capable of handling. The amount of counterviews published in the DP's Letters to the Editor paled in comparison to the amount of views and opinions that emerged in the flame wars on the Penn newsgroups. During the controversy, one thread alone on the UA's newsgroup had _121_ responses about what happened between the IAA and SAC. Compare this quantity to the amount written about the UA-IAA in the DP. Also consider the specific individuals who were published in the DP, and those whose views were not hot enough for the DP. If the DP, or the DP Online, was able to post the IAA responses and a lot of other campus conversations on their page, they'd have a lot more respect, a lot more readership, and a lot more advertisers. Potentially, the DP Online can carry a lot more information for longer periods of time and to greater numbers of people than the printed DP . The DP, to its credit, has attempted to handle its critics through an under-used newsgroup called upenn.dp-corrections. The problem with this newsgroup is that people don't see it advertised prominently in the DP, or cannot connect directly with it from the DP Online or the print DP. If the DP Online was more directly linked to the newsgroups, or published more than just the comments run in the one-way media of the print DP, they would accomplish more for Penn's "other voices" than anyone else on campus could. So how's about it? now, if only the _summer pennsylvanian_ could enhance the social life of ranting readers like moi. if you're not going to check out some of the sights and sounds of philly this summer (my plug for the summer street guide), feel free to strike up a conversation with me on the merits/demerits of my opinions at: bwyche@pobox.com -- my lifetime e-mail address. i'm posting this column up on the newsgroups. maybe they'll put it in the online dp. at the very least, the responses it entertains will put some excitement into my life this summer. Now enough of me. The summer flame (identity kept private out of respect -- After all, on the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog) apparently burnt out at the end of this past summer. And since nobody else at Penn could light my fire this past year, well, ... sheet. I guess I'll just have to get on the good ol' World Wide Web and search far and wide for someone new. Or at least someone with a cute homepage. I hope not. The summer of 1996 is still too young to contemplate spending all of it in front of a computer. So get out and generate some heat, y'all. See you on the Net this summer. =)