MINERVA: A Participatory Technology System

Abstract

This article describes a proposed system of social communication by which large groups of citizens dispersed across the country can respond regularly to social, economic and political situations, and calls for the introduction of legislation that would require corporations which are installing CATV cables in neighborhoods to reserve one-third of their cable capacity for all not-for-profit institutions in the community.The article is the result of work of the Center for Policy Research, New York City and Washington, D.C. All the authors are members of the staff of the Center. Amitai Etzioni is also professor of sociology at Columbia University; Harvey Hornstein, associate professor of psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University; and Peter Abrams, Thomas Stephens and Noel Tichy are doctoral candidates at Columbia. Eugene Leonard is the president of Systems Resources Corporation.