You may have read a couple of the features in this column on the Internet, information technology, information superhighway ad nauseum.
Cultural change is one.
The concept of incorporating a new electronic or on-line medium into business and personal life involves a cultural shift, but one that portends an exciting future of rich content, interactivity and a new way of working with information. This has been lacking in the major on-line access providers who have consistently marketed with nary a notion of what the Fort Walton Beach community is about nor where it wants to go. America On-line doesn't have a clue that I have enough free sampler disks to retile my foyer and still have enough disks left over to replace the heat tiles on the space shuttle. And while the strategic posturing by the major telecommunications stakeholders continues in the wake of dramatic telecommunications reform, their sense of community becomes even more diffused. Fortunately, the local Internet service providers in our area who have a sense of community involvement are setting themselves apart from the major players in this arena.