Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994                   TAG: 9405020133
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JUSTIN ASKINS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ACCESS

The reason is complicated, but for the most part involves two things: First, the actual boundaries of the Information Superhighway remain to be defined, and second, it is not seen as destroying the Ellett Valley or any other parts of Southwest Virginia.

Nonetheless, if one starts examining the Information Superhighway, a number of concerns appear, particularly the one of access. President Clinton has already promised that there will be easy access for almost everyone, but politicians promise many things and rarely deliver.

A recent front-page article in this paper, "Road still a bit rough to info-land," looked at the Blacksburg Electronic Village project, a state-of-the-art attempt to link users to Internet, the worldwide information-exchange system. Andrew Cohill, the project's director, admitted that there are "rough spots" at the Blacksburg entrance to the IS, and commented that the major problem concerns users trying to get on the highway with home computers and modems. "It's inadequate," said Cohill. "We've never said that this is the way we want people to drive on the information superhighway. It's like having to hitchhike. It's slow and you don't always know when you're going to get there"

I have no doubt Cohill is right, and that with the right equipment getting on the Information Superhighway will be fairly easy. But won't this need for much better equipment - even computers and modems are not cheap - make it very difficult for public access? I think so.

On the same day, another article, "Schools seek high-tech help," noted that in certain Roanoke Valley schools the student-to-computer ratio is 25-1. It seems ironic and illustrative of the existing terrible disparities that on the same day the Blacksburg project's director complained of users not having the expensive equipment to get on the Information Superhighway, Roanoke County schools Superintendent Bayes Wilson admitted, "With the size of the budget, we haven't been able to buy more computers and technology." I am sure Wilson and the county schoolchildren would be delighted to get the equipment that Cohill is complaining about.

If this situation were temporary - if eventually access to the Information Superhighway in, say, 10 years - would be as easy as buying and using a VCR or a microwave oven, then I would have no problem. But computers are different from VCRs or microwaves. Dave Dabay, Radford University's telecommunications supervisor, says "there is really no comparable situation."

Imagine a scenario where the automobile industry came out with vehicles that required completely new operating knowledge and technology every six months. Few would buy those vehicles, and the government would probably step in quickly to regulate things. With computers, however, the operating technology changes incredibly quickly - as anyone who uses computers understands - and at present, there are no regulations on how rapidly new products can be introduced.

Let's say that tomorrow the people using the computers and modems in Blacksburg donated their equipment to Roanoke County. Within six months, that equipment, even the most current, would be obsolete. And those computers, at least according to Cohill, are obviously inadequate for the Information Superhighway. While it is clear that the Blacksburg users can at least hitchhike, the Roanoke County children aren't even allowed to watch the cars racing past.

Will this situation change in 10 years? If computer advances slow down, perhaps. But 10 years from now, I am sure there will be new and very expensive technology being introduced that will make the equipment in use by then quite obsolete. Ed Zavada, who works at the Radford University computer-help desk, said that most computers have not changed so much in the past 10 years that an 8088 (an early version of the personal computer) with a cheap modem couldn't gain access to the Information Superhighway. But, he admitted, it would be a very slow process.

I am not saying that the government should step in and regulate things right now. That usually produces another nightmare. But as the Information Superhighway becomes more defined - even Internet is a constantly evolving and amorphous system - we may need to give thought to slowing down its need for breakneck speeds.

Justin Askins is associate professor of English at Radford University.