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Text File | 1995-04-12 | 8KB | 174 lines

MAP27: THE FUTURE ...


     "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about
      things that matter." -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


I am often asked what I think the Internet will be like in the future.
The best answer that I can give is, "I have no idea, but it sure does
sound neat."

I recently attended a conference that the International Space Camp
held for the U.S. state teachers of the year. At this conference, one of
the presenters -- an executive at BellSouth -- told the story of how
a famous person once predicted that the telephone would revolutionize
communication, and that every town would have *one* so that they could
keep in touch with the outside world.

I guess the moral of this story is that if you make predictions about
the future, you run a really good chance of looking silly when the
future actually arrives.

I do know that the Internet is the precursor to an "Information
Superhighway" that is going to be based on high-speed, fiber optic
cables and a combination TV/Computer/Fax/Telephone that will allow
us to access a mountain of information in seconds with just a few
simple commands (hopefully, by that time we will be able to forget
all of those ftp commands!).

I do know that the Information Superhighway will change the way
we look at entertainment, research, shopping, inter-personal
communications and education.

I also know that there are some obstacles that must be overcome
before the Information Superhighway can achieve its fullest potential.
Fortunately, the problems that the Internet is facing today -- universal
access, parental control over which information the children should have
access to, censorship issues -- are all problems that have been dealt
with before by the two most overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated
groups in our society: classroom teachers and librarians.

There are a lot of things that we can learn from teachers and librarians.
Hopefully, this time around we will actually listen to them :)

I am truly excited about the long-range plans for the Information
Superhighway. The problem with long-range plans, however, is that long-
range planners often loose sight of present needs.

The future of the Information Superhighway will indeed be incredible,
but that future isn't here yet. Until that future *IS* here, we need
to remember that the 80,000 people who join the Internet each month
need to be trained to use TODAY'S technology.

That is what this workshop is all about.

Five weeks ago, I told you that

     ... Over the next few weeks I am going to show you around
     the Internet, give you some basic commands that will help
     you use the tools of the Internet more effectively, point
     you in the direction of people who can help you if you ever
     get lost, and even give you a glimpse of what the coming
     Information Superhighway will actually look like.

     How am I going to do all of this? Well, each one of these daily
     lessons will give you a glimpse at one small part of the Internet.
     We'll talk about particular tools and sites, showing you some traps
     to avoid, and even showing you some basic commands that will help
     you use the tools to your own advantage. In the end, I hope that
     you will gain a better understanding of the individual parts and
     pieces that, when put together, make up the Internet.

     ... Thank you for enrolling in the Roadmap workshop. I hope
     you will have as much fun traveling the Internet as I am having
     teaching it to you.

Thank you for joining me on this trip. I hope you have had fun, and
I wish you the best of luck as you continue your journeys around the
Internet.

... and watch out for them squirrels!!


                         Patrick Douglas Crispen
                         The University of Alabama
                         Post Office Box 857
                         Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35486-0857



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Patrick Douglas Crispen is a 27 year-old senior at the University
of Alabama majoring in Economics through the College of Arts and
Sciences. (Yes, you heard right ... he's a student!).

Prior to attending the University, Patrick worked at the United States
Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, as a Simulations Director and as
a founding staff member of the Space Academy Level II program.

Patrick got his Internet account during his first semester at
the University of Alabama in the Spring of 1992 so that he could
send e-mail to his father, an engineer at Boeing, asking him for money :)

Patrick joined his first LISTSERV list -- the Residence Hall Association
discussion list at Texas A&M -- in the Spring of 1993, and the Internet
hasn't been the same since.

Patrick has been paying his way through school with student loans
and work-study jobs, and in the Spring of 1994 he accepted a position
working the overnight shift at the front desk of a University residence
hall. Using the computer at the front desk, Patrick taught himself
how to use the Internet in an attempt to keep himself awake.

In May of 1994, Patrick competed in his first Internet Hunt ...
and won. It was also at this point in time that Patrick started
working on an introductory Internet training presentation for
the National Association of College and University Residence Hall's
1994 National Conference at Northern Arizona University. This
presentation would eventually lead to the creation of the Roadmap
workshop.

Patrick's presentation at Northern Arizona University was the
only program out of 300 to receive a perfect score from the
participants (although the conference's programming staff
misplaced his scores until after the close of the conference).
In the months that have followed, Patrick has repeated this
this presentation for the University of Alabama's Computer
Center staff, the University's faculty, and the University's
Graduate Student Association.

During the summer of 1994, Patrick decided to expand his presentation
into a month-long Internet training workshop to be conducted over the
Internet. This workshop -- Roadmap for the Information Superhighway --
started accepting participants in July of 1994. By October of 1994,
word of mouth advertising for the workshop had been so successful
that over 62,000 people from 77 countries had enrolled in one of the
three Roadmap workshop distribution lists.

... not a bad accomplishment considering that Patrick does not even
own a computer (Patrick wrote the entire Roadmap workshop using
the University of Alabama's public access computer labs).

According to Patrick, he wrote the workshop, "to give new users free
training on how to use the Internet, to give the University of Alabama
some positive publicity, and to ensure that I can get a *JOB* when
(and if) I graduate this December. The Career Center told me that the
most important part of a job search is 'networking.' So, I networked." :)

(Copies of Patrick's resume can be obtained by sending an e-mail letter
to [e-mail] with the command GET CRISPEN TXT F=MAIL in the body
of your e-mail letter) :)

Patrick's current projects include writing two economics term papers
(one which will examine the CBO's and White House's estimates of the
elasticity of demand for health care under the Clinton health care
plan, comparing these estimates to the current elasticity of demand
for U.S. health care; the other which will argue that clearly defined
property rights and *not* massive government intervention is the solution
to the current environmental crisis), paying all of the parking tickets
(8+) that the University of Alabama's parking services division has
has given him for parking so close to the computer center during this
workshop, and celebrating the fact that he no longer has to start his
days at 2 A.M. :)


   PATRICK DOUGLAS CRISPEN    THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS LETTER DO NOT
    [e-mail]      NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE
  THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA      UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA - TUSCALOOSA

      ROADMAP: COPYRIGHT PATRICK CRISPEN 1994. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.