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Realizing the Information Future The Internet and Beyond (1994) / Chapter Skim
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C User Support Services
Pages 262-264

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From page 262...
... is the following support service infrastructure:i · Education and training, as well as programs and services, to assist users in utilizing the network; · Outreach services to identify new communities of users and their distinct information needs; and · Coordination between network providers and service organizations for an integrated approach to supplying user support services and access. The most basic of the needed services is a "white pages" capability that will permit users to find each other on the network.
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From page 263...
... The need for a distributed user naming service is even more pressing now. Once such a framework is in place, companies, educational institutions, professional organizations, and other such groups should begin to assemble directories of their members, which can then be incorporated into the eventual distributed naming service.2 Although the overall framework must be centrally developed (for example, by the IETF with the support of the federal government)
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From page 264...
... Today, for example, cost competition for personal computers has eliminated any cost margin for support, and many users are first pleased at the very low cost of computers, and then frustrated when they cannot get parts to work. From the very beginning, network providers should be encouraged to price service and basic network access so that the cost of each is apparent, and so that a realistic level of support can be made available.
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Key Terms

  • network providers
  • naming service
  • user naming
  • support services
  • distributed user

  • existing network
  • institutional network
  • local access
  • network service
  • improving user

  • draft report
  • user population
  • specific professional
  • realistic level
  • basic network

  • provide support
  • price service
  • network information
  • require substantial
  • network support

  • answering questions
  • service organizations
  • internetworking requirements
  • facilitating attachment
  • users attach

  • providers move
  • eventual distributed
  • traditionally operated
  • resolving service
  • overall framework


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