The natural beauty and communities of this area, with their low-key and informal qualities, appeal to creative and energetic entrepreneurs, educators, students and seniors. The Digital Village Foundation has long believed that one way the North Bay can achieve its potential and benefit all parts of the community is by building greater awareness of the benefits that will flow from increased connectivity among its businesses, institutions, government agencies and residents. The North Bay is beginning to understand more fully the positive effects that can come from a robust multimedia and Internet industry. Not only is new media technology non-polluting, it attracts young and creative talent. The fact that Marin and Sonoma do not have large-scale tracts of land for industrial parks such as those that have been available in Silicon Valley need not preclude the North Bay from developing its own identity as a creative information technology center with environmental sensitivity.
Technology already allows virtual classrooms, virtual meetings and virtual shopping malls.
There is no single entity specifically focused on helping the North Bay transition to a true electronic village. Technology in the North Bay, as in most other places in California, continues to run ahead of the ability of communities to use its transformative powers. Historically, powerful technological advances such as the Internet usually reshape society in fundamental ways. Witness the invention of the printing press, which generated cross-border flows of written information that changed European civilization, produced the Enlightenment and contributed to the Industrial Revolution. Against this historical background, the Internet and World Wide Web will have even more impact in a shorter time span.