Editorial Notions

Michael Mc Curry

Poor Bob Dole. I know he must be sincerely perplexed at the refusal of the American people to realize that he was, at least to his thinking, the best candidate for President. I don't wish to kick the downtrodden, but over the course of this campaign I have been amazed at some of the silly things that Bob Dole has said. Upon reading them, I have to laugh because I'm too old to cry, to paraphrase a certain pint-sized, jug-eared presidential aspirant from Texas. It is frightening how out of touch Bob Dole and the Republican party seem to be with what are arguably centrist positions on a wide range of policy issues, from gun control to abortion, and from education to the environment. It brings to mind the following:

Governments may err, Presidents do make mistakes.
Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the constant omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936

FDR was a great communicator. He recognized the potential of the electronic media for advocating policy positions. He had the native charisma and intelligence to present his ideas with the requisite amount of drama that successful persuasion calls for. Above all else, he understood the place of hope within the human spirit, and the need for that sense of potential that gives people reason to believe that things can be better than they are.

There is a certain hope that technology will make us better people. It's not always the case, of course, but that doesn't diminish the ideal. In a brief film clip, Francis Ford Coppola opines a consequence of video on the medium of film as an art form. Greater access to technology does allow a democratization of expression to take place, creating previously unavailable opportunities.

The potential of the internet to maximize communication between people is profound. The notion that a universe of digital information is available to anyone with appropriate hardware is tremendously exciting, especially when that information can be dispersed as multimedia. The financial threshold for internet access is continually being lowered.

Within the next few months, a device called Pippin will reach consumers in large numbers. Selling in the $500-600 price range, Pippin is an internet access CD-ROM machine that uses an ordinary television set as its monitor. Two input devices are provided: a folding keyboard with a built-in graphics tablet; and a boomerang-shaped game controller with built-in trackball and directional pad. It comes with an internet-access account for a Netscape Navigator-compatible browser, with automatic-registration software. The Pippin will also have a simple integrated word processor, painting program and e-mail package.

It sounds great, and the price can only go lower as computer technology evolves. There will come a day when devices like Pippin will be as common as VCRs. I imagine it's even possible to produce television sets with internet-access as a built-in feature. Whatever the particular form, the trend seems to be towards putting this new medium into the hands of as many people as possible. That's a good thing.

If nothing else, it will increase efforts to upgrade the weakest link in the infrastructure that supports the internet: the telephone lines through which data travels. Right now, the standard telephone lines that most people use are woefully slow, a fact made painfully manifest in the increasing use of the term World Wide Wait to refer to the web. The time required for information to stream in is often more than the patience of users can withstand. Until transmission speeds increase to the point of at least approximating real time, the true potential of the internet will never be realized. In the meantime, of course, we deal with things as they are.

The primary focus at C3I is to present relevant and interesting material in as engaging a manner as the medium currently allows, keeping in mind the current abilities of users to receive our content. To this end, I feel our first issue is a success. I invite you to see for yourself. Welcome.

Michael Mc Curry

Editor

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