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

DATE: SUNDAY, April 2, 1995                   TAG: 9504030017
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FOR TECH'S MEN, IT WAS STILL A BIG DANCE|

Nobody knows that better than the members of Virginia Tech's men's basketball team, who twisted and shouted their way into the NIT finals.

The Tech women, in more formal attire for the NCAAs, had to sit out the last few songs after losing in the second round.

The men danced till dawn.

My neighbors danced with them, if the scraps from bottle rockets lying in our street are any indication.

As did anyone staying with the Tech team in the Times Square hotel, where the windows overlook flashing billboards for Coca Cola and whiskey. Sources say you couldn't get a good night's sleep there, anyway.

There was little sleep at our bureau, either, where we tried to update our NIT coverage via computer for our readers who use the Internet.

While newspapers start to print and TV newscasts end at 11:30 p.m., the Internet stays open round the clock. The best time to "surf" is probably after midnight, when there's the least amount of modem traffic.

Last Tuesday, the day before Tech played against New Mexico State University, we decided to offer Hokie fans a wave and set up an NIT "home page" through the Blacksburg Electronic Village. We've been trying to maintain it ever since.

It's been a ... learning experience. Armed with computer manuals, newspapers, basketball programs and the Net, itself a handy resource, we've tried to stay on top of the game - both basketball and technology.

Computer users out there have offered us advice along the way as we've filled our pages with pictures, graphics, stats and facts about the teams.

"Make your pictures bigger," someone said. We did.

"Let us download your photos." Under consideration.

"It'd be great if you could update it more often," wrote Thomas D. Frith III. What do you want from us, Thomas D. Frith?? Blood?

In Blacksburg, where the Electronic Village is trying to hook up as many businesses and homes as possible via computer, the natives are hungry.

Newspapers - here and across the country - are trying to feed them, as we learn our way through the technology. Just recently, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal came out with an on-line edition. The Washington Post expects to follow suit this summer.

There are still questions to be answered: Is this really a way to find new readers? How much staff will it take to give computer-readers what they want? How can we make our coverage on the Net and on paper complement each other? And the corporate bottom line: Where's the profit?

We're finding the answers to these questions quickly, and wondering, always: is it quickly enough?

As the week (and the basketball season) ends, we'll think about our next move, probably on to a more serious subject, like health care or education. The feedback we've received from readers so far - which includes the most e-mail we've ever received in one week - has steered us in the right direction.

Meanwhile, tune in to the Internet and check out some of the Hokies' fancier steps from their final win against Marquette University.

And to think they did it all without any help from Arthur Murray.

The Current's NIT page is at http://www.bev.net/community/rketimes/NIT.html.

Madelyn Rosenberg is the Roanoke Times & World-News' assistant New River editor.