But on one occasion when a friend asked me about the Internet, I decided to ask why she wanted to connect. Her answer surprised me: "I don't know, I guess I want Email and everybody is online so I want to connect too." I answered with a question my grandmother used to ask: "If everybody wanted to jump off a bridge would you jump too?" No disrespect to my grandmother or the other elders who have used this metaphor to reason with their irrational children, but, I'm going to have to jump off that bridge--electronic bungee jumping--and hit the Information Superhighway. Let me tell you a few reasons why you should hook up and jump too.

Pick any industry or profession: agriculture, mining, education, medical, law, sports, marketing, publishing or law enforcement. They have all undergone dramatic changes recently. The common thread of change among them all pivots around one industry: technology. This thread is woven upon the needle work of thousands of computers and millions of people, all connected and talking to one another via the Internet. Not since the industrial revolution has there been a more profound technological advance that has reshaped the world and almost all of its people.

Are you asking yourself whether connecting to the Internet will have a profound impact on your life? Well, there is much hype generated by the media about the Internet. When people first connect they face the reality of what information is really there and how they can use it. Here's a little primer on what the Internet is and what it is not.

The Internet is a collection of thousands of computers across this country and planet that contain information on every topic that is probably known to man. This interconnection of computers is not centrally maintained, though there is a confederacy of sorts that maintains the technical standards that are needed to keep all of these computer systems talking to one another. Internet access is available through an Internet service provider who charges a flat rate of about $20.00 per month for unlimited access. To connect, you need a computer with a modem (at least 28.8 kbs) and a telephone line.

There are different aspects of the Internet for you to get your information from. The most common and widely recognized is the World Wide Web (WWW). Though it is the most widely publicized, the World Wide Web is only one aspect of the 'net.' The Web is the place were most people spend their time browsing the Internet. The wealth of information and topics available are too numerous to list but here's a sampling of what you can find. You can find web pages that give you up to the minute sports stats, worldwide weather reports, and financial information. If you're traveling to a new city and need to know a good place to eat, you can find that on the web too.

There has been no better way to research a topic for a paper since the encyclopedia or a trip to the library. Need to research a paper on biology and genetics, log onto the Internet and visit the U.S. Governments Biotechnology Information Center site at http://www.nal.usda,gov/bic/. If space and astronomy is the topic, visit NASA at http://www.nasa.gov/. The web gives you access to the world via your computer quicker than you can read this sentence.

There are other aspects of the net such as FTP (file transfer protocol) sites where you can download demos of games and commercial software packages before buying them. IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a mechanism that allows a number of Internet users to connect to the same computer and chat in real time. Email is another common usage of the Internet by which you can send an electronic message to anyone who also has an Internet account. Users can also attach electronically scanned pictures and documents to email messages.

Another aspect of the Internet is newsgroups. These are worldwide public message boards that host over 28,000 topic-specific discussion forums. How it works is you post a question in a newsgroup and the Usenet community responds. You can exchange everything from gumbo recipes to installing Windows 95.

The Internet is not a magical depository of information from which you get automatic answers. However, it does provide you with an enormous wealth of research resources at your fingertips. I showed a friend, who was a recent law school graduate, how to do a cost comparison for automobiles on the Internet. She was in the market for a new car. She got wholesale market prices on several models that she was interested in purchasing. The information proved invaluable in her bargaining with the salesperson.

I could go on and cite other examples of how the web could prove useful to you, but I can think of only one more selling point for you to log on and join the Internet community.

Throughout American history, we as African Americans have excelled in spite of the disadvantaged resources of housing, education, and job opportunities that were given to us. Never before could we fully participate in the American and global economy and fully use our skills. In this age of new technology, the Internet allows no boundaries or restrictions of expression. Exposing your mind and talents to a vast market place that spans the globe is at our keyboards and fingertips. Not to grasp this opportunity is equivalent to saying the earth is flat!

We can empower ourselves with the vast educational opportunities on the Internet. We can participate in the new Information revolution that our society has just embarked upon. If we do not take up the chance we have now, we subjugate ourselves to permanent second place status in the coming age of information.