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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 3, 1995                   TAG: 9505030033
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CYBERSPACE SHAPING THE WAY THE REAL WORLD THINKS

For the past four years, I've taught an English course in the evening at Virginia Western Community College. Each semester's class has included some students who did their writing on a computer - at home or in the college's computer lab.

But in the semester that is ending this week, computers played an even broader role in my class than usual. One student and I could communicate via online computer services we subscribed to at our homes. He and I could pass messages and even a draft of a paper via the Internet, which enabled our two different online services to communicate.

A second student brought a laptop computer to the exam and used it to produce a rough draft of her final essay. There was no classroom printer, so she had to handwrite the finished paper, but the occasional beep from her laptop created a new atmosphere for a humanities classroom.

Not everyone has immediate access to a computer, or wants it. But enough people and public places are wired to change the way we think and do things, and even to change the meanings of words. As the accompanying graphic shows, words like "gopher," "lurker" and "cracker" have additional meanings that will make their way into standard dictionaries.

The computer movement has come so far, in fact, that hardly anyone ever refers to the origin of the "cyber" prefix of cyberspace and cyberspeak. After all, the word cybernation is 24 years old. It was coined in 1961 by D.N. Michael of Peace Research Institute to mean the "use of computers coupled with automatic machinery to control and carry out complex operations."

And Michael's word has its roots in cybernetics, which can be attributed to Norbert Wiener (1948). Its origin is the Greek word, kybernetes, which means helmsman; and the term describes a science that deals with the comparative study of the operations of complex electronic computers and the human nervous system.

The "cyber" world isn't so mysterious once you enter it, and joining it doesn't mean giving up more traditional habits, which is a comfort to me as a print journalist. In fact, the printed matter inspired by the cyber world is voluminous and growing. An example of this are the "net guides" being produced by the partnership of New York companies Random House Electronic Publishing and Michael Wolff & Co. Inc., which creates digital publishing products.

The guides, which tell what is available in that category on the Internet and how to find it, are aimed at the masses, the companies say. For certain, they are product-specific. Already out are "Net Guide," "Net Games," "Net Chat," "Net Money" and "Net Trek" (where to find the Star Trekkers on the Internet). Coming by November are guides to sports, high-tech and music, plus a second edition of "Net Guide."

Now, if you're ready to travel online, here are a couple of healthy addresses to seek out. Mayo Clinic has a site on the Internet that includes information about the Rochester, Minn., facility's education and research programs. Address is http://www.mayo.edu, and you should get in.

The second source is the International Food Information Council Foundation. Reach it through http://ificinfo.health.org/homepage.htm, and browse.

Kelly can be reached at 981-3393, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010-2491, or a sandrakinfi.net

by CNB