Structural Relations, Electronic Media, and Social Change: The Public Electronic Network and the Homeless

Structural Relations, Electronic Media, and Social Change: The Public Electronic Network and the Homeless

David Morgan's letter to me was written on Santa Monica's Public Electronic Network (PEN) about seven months after the network was unveiled in February 1989. As the first city government-sponsored, interactive electronic communication system in the United States, PEN was expressly designed to extend this new medium to all residents, including homeless persons like Mr Morgan.

PEN consisted of a host computer, ports that connected users via telephone modem links, and computer software that provided users with three different types of services. First, PEN displayed bulletin board text posted by the city. This “read only” text included keyword-searchable information about government and social services designed to meet residents' needs. Second, users could send electronic mail to other residents and to city officials. Third, PEN users could join electronic conferences with other PEN users. These PEN conferences addressed broad topics that included more specific topics arrayed in sub-conferences or “items.” While this chapter centers on the Homeless conference and the efforts to change Santa Monica that were prominent in that conference, PEN's Planning (land-use), Education, and Politics conferences also featured PEN entries that advocated systemic changes in Santa Monica's social and economic structures.

When it was created, Santa Monica's PEN system had six main objectives:

• to provide electronic access to public information;
• to aid delivery of city services;
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• to enhance communication among residents;
• to enhance Santa Monica's sense of community through electronic conferences among residents;
• to diffuse knowledge of, and access to, the new communication technology;
• to facilitate an equitable distribution of communication resources to the “have nots.”

This analysis is based on my role as a participant-observer during the creation and operation of the PEN system. Starting in 1986, I participated extensively in the design and implementation of PEN and consulted with PEN's manager during its early years. During the past ten years, in addition to being a frequent PEN user, I also helped design and conduct three empirical surveys of Santa Monica residents regarding potential and actual PEN usage. The third source of data is the Homeless conference, a collectively authored text exceeding 20,000 entries. The Homeless text cited comes from a convenience sample of over 3,000 entries that I downloaded in large blocks from the almost 7,000 entries that I read while logged on PEN. This text represents the types of discourse on PEN, discourse that ranged from information sharing, project planning, and coordination, through personal and political discussions, to ideological railing and the exchange of personal insults. As time progressed, the PEN text became increasingly uncivil. The lessened civility in the Homeless conference mirrors similar changes in much of PEN, although several conferences, often the few moderated ones, remained more civil.

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