Universal Service To Universal Access
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VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES IN CYBERSPACE
The original intent behind the development of the Internet's predecessor, ARPANET, was the linking and sharing of supercomputer resources around the nation. As researchers and scientists at Universities and centers began to communicate by e-mail, the value of such collaboration became unexpectedly and quickly of significant importance to the progress of their work. Virtual communities of interest arose and over the ensuing years many others got connected and joined in leading to tens of thousands of sites, news groups and mailing lists dedicated to their own often narrow nexus of interests, applications and goals."Smart connections" mark a fundamental change in the way we are able to communicate in the new digital world. In this new world, more and more people are using their personal computers to create digital content. Smart connections, which are the combination of the intelligent personal computer and the communications infrastructure, advance everything from medical practices to business transactions. They enhance the way we work, play and learn.
Technology can bring to life a virtual community of people while they are visiting a site on the World Wide Web. This is a smart connection that is right around the corner. People thousands of miles apart can seem to gather in a single room. By the end of the decade, personal computers will become the most ubiquitous consumer device in the world, surpassing the television in worldwide unit sales. PCs will stand alone as the most versatile and most cost effective way to bring people and information together.
-- Andrew Grove, President and CEO of Intel, in America's Network, November 1, 1995