At 2:51 PM 11/29/95, allynn wilkinson wrote:
>
>On Wed, 29 Nov 1995, Christopher D. Geist wrote:
>
>>
>> May I add yet another observation?  The view expressed above assumes that
>> folks will only access WWW from their homes.  Public terminals in
>> libraries, at schools, in our work places, and even in some museums are
>> making it possible for many of us who do not have home computers to have
>> (virtual) access to museums for (virtually) no cost at all.
>>
>> Chris Geist
>
>I would also like to add that public terminals in hotel lobbies can be a
>great way to let visitors know about local attractions.  The displays I've
>seen have not been linked to the Web but there's certainly no reason they
>couldn't be.
>
Actually, I am very concerned about free-standing public access kiosks to
the Web. There is a lot of good information out there, but there are some
bad sites, and there are some sites that are just plain inappropriate for
children. There is software to block out certain Internet addresses, but
one would have to be really on top of things constantly to limit access to
inappropriate material. Also, many stand-alone kiosks do not allow a user
to drop down to system level, something which is easy to do with a Web
browser. I have seen first hand :-( what can happen when a program bug
allows a user to drop to the system level. Not a very pretty sight.

I think libraries and museums are great places for public access terminals,
especially if linked to an exhibit or if there is someone nearby to help
the user.

Just some thoughts...

--john

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
John Chadwick, system analyst
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
1801 Mountain Road NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
[log in to unmask],  http://www.aps.edu/HTMLPages/NMMNH.html
phone: (505) 841-2843 FAX (505) 841-2866
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=