Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 1, 1993 TAG: 9307010175
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The bill, the National Information Infrastructure Act of 1993, was introduced in April by Reps. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, and Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y.
Boucher said he expects the bill to pass the full House of Representatives by the middle of July and be signed into law by late summer or early fall.
The legislation has the Clinton administration's support, addressing Vice President Al Gore's goal of creating an interactive communications network capable of delivering voice, video and data simultaneously.
The bill provides $1.3 billion in research funding to make new networking technologies widely available to the public. Boucher has said researchers at Virginia Tech should play a role in that research.
The measure requires the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to prepare a five-year plan for dissemination of the research funds and directs the National Science Foundation to help institutions of higher education and public schools connect with each other and with Internet, a kind of international scientific bulletin board.
Among the research goals outlined in the bill are:
Identification of educational uses for the high-speed network.
Development of digital libraries with common standards for the electronic storage and retrieval of information.
Digital storage of vast amounts of governmental information.
One goal of the bill, Boucher, said would be to allow medical specialists across the country to simultaneously evaluate the results of medical tests such as CAT and MRI scans.
Another use of the network mentioned by Boucher is long-distance learning, in which students in one school could be taught and communicate with a teacher miles away - something that would benefit small schools with limited resources.
The business community also would benefit, by offering American industries "inexpensive access to information that will make their products more competitive," Boucher said.
by CNB