Poetry Online

ART/SCIENCE FORUM An Electronic Arts Network for Australia Phillip Bannigan and Sue Harris Australia is in the process of establishing its first electronic arts network. The technical and economic environment for creating an online network for artists and their advocacy bodies is favourable in that affordable public networks are widespread and most arts organisations own personal computers . This is a fairly recent phenomenon in Australia. The country's awareness of the important role that electronic networking can play in the transmission of ideas and information has been languishing in a state of technological poverty. Once established, electronic networking will have a crucial role to play, considering the population density and distances involved between Australia's major cultural centres. Individual artists external to the two perceived cultural centres, Melbourne and Sydney, have felt isolated in terms of economic and cultural issues. The advocacy groups, a mixture of federally and state-funded and -organised bodies, also have complained of Phillip Bannigan (artworker), P,O. Box 429, Eastwood 5063, South Australia. E-mail: suephil@peg.pegasus.oz.au Sue Harris (artworker), P.O. Box 429, Eastwood 5063, South Australia. E-mail: suephil@peg.pegasus.oz.au Received 15July 1990. Ron Buck In 1986 the first ongoing telecommunication poetry forum in the United States was born. From the outset, the forum was designed to be an addition and/or alternative to the standard weekly poetry workshop/ seminar or the retreat that allowed the neophyte and the experienced to rub elbows marginally but offered Ron Buck (consultant) 6452 Irwin Court, Oakland, CA 94609-1123, U.S.A. Received 3 May 1990. discrimination in favour of the Melbourne and Sydney centres and a general sense ofunderutilised possibilities within and without their organisations . So into this environment comes the notion of a soft network, linking institutions with personal computers to related disciplines via a host computer . Members of an arts network will also find some interesting neighbours , including people from peace and environmental networks, to name but a couple. In Australia, research has shown that a viable arts network can only operate with economies of scale. Not only does this allow the support, economic and otherwise, of special interest services, but it also compensates for the small (on a European or U.S. scale) number of participants in each discipline. Ifwe look more specifically at the science/art nexus, there are very few individual artists online , and yet this is the area where one would expect to find the greatest awareness of electronic issues and the greatest motivation to access technology . Therefore it is very important to see advocacy groups such as the Australian Network for Art and TechPoetry Online little of the persistent challenge required to see a poem through to its highest potential. Beginning poets under the tutelage of an experienced instructor on a weekly basis can and do fall victim to the letter of the law more often than rising to the occasion of the law's essence. Inexperienced writers frequently take to literal extremes a passing thought tossed out by a poet whom they admire and then are nology spearheading the electronic networking movement. At this point ArtsNet Electronic Network, established by the authors, is providing the focus for the various arts networks around Australia wishing to become involved in a soft network . PEGASUS Networks, based in Byron Bay, New South Wales, will be providing the host computer for the network. PEGASUS Networks provides an expansive service as a member of Earth Net and the Association for Progressive Communications. The Australian Network for Art and Technology is currently using our services. They enjoy access to alt.artcom, a connection to Art Com Electronic Network from the WELL via USENET, and an.artsnet, a national conference on PEGASUS. We hope that other arts organisations interested in having a presence in Australia will contact the authors. We anticipate that this soft network will become a focal point for Australia's participation in Pacific Rim developments in the future. Certainly the participation of an Australian network in the Third Symposium on Electronic Arts in 1992 will be a meaningful Pacific Rim event. greatly disappointed at their mentor's response to the work they submit at...