(Onward Links)
Too Many PupilsToo Little Access?
Extracted from the Ginsberg Monthly Parent's Advice Letter, dated February 2024 (as quoted in The 2024 Report: A Concise History of the Future, 1974-2024, Norman Macrae, Sidgwick and Jackson Limited, 1984):
Because we are a literary family, creative reading and writing have been an important part of Julie's education. Even in the early days I found it easier to access books on the TC [Telecommunicating Computer Terminal] than my parents did to collect books from the library during my childhood. I made good use of the fact that books on the TC are programmable, and when Julie was five or six I would change the names of the main characters to those of our own family and Julie's friends. Now that she has advanced to the age of ten, the computer has suggested to her that she should write a fairy story. She did a first draft which the computer discussed with her. It asked questions about the characters to prompt her to add lifelike details, and suggested a list of plot ideas until Julie found one that excited her. We will probably put Julie's completed story on the public TC as her birthday present. We will pay the fee for it to go on the free section first. If sufficient people read it for free without pressing the reject button, the network will put it on paid-for access by its own judgement, and the network and Julie will then share any access fees...