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Several comparisons help illustrate the growing importance of the Internet in American life.
For example, in 1993, three million Americans were connected to the Internet. That's more than any other U.S. industry except automobiles. And the Commerce Department reported last month that though the information technology industry generated just 8 percent of the nation's total GDP from 1995 through '98, it accounted for more than a third of the nation's real economic growth during that same time. For more on this changing landscape, we're joined by Anitesh Barua, co-author of the University of Texas study we just cited. He is Associate Professor of Information Systems at the university.