Sean Butler
ICSA 860
October, 1996
Introduction
The greatest limitations facing mankind today and throughout history, in the arena of communications, are space and time. At the dawn of civilization, the space limitation was quite formidable, so that communications basically had to occur face to face. The greatest illustration of this limitation is the legendary Greek runner Pheidippides, who ran from Marathon to Athens (a 26 mile 385 yard journey) and died shouting the news of the Greek victory to his king (1). This example is also a good illustration of the time limitations of communications, as the time needed to run over 26 miles is still over two hours, even for today’s world class athletes, and was certainly longer for Pheidippides. If the King needed to make a quick decision based on the message of his mesanger, it may have been too late.
As Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity shows, space and time can be considered one continuum. Because of this, the limitations of each are intimately connected. However, it is generally easier to consider them separately at first, as then the connections then become obvious. There are two aspects to time limitations, short term and long term. Short term refers to the time taken to complete a given task, whereas long term refers to the length of a given life (i.e. a lifespan). To overcome short term time limitations that involve communications, the messages necessary to complete the task must occur faster. There is no simple way to lengthen the long term time limitations of life spans, but if more can happen in a life span, than the limitation is in one essence reduced. As for space limitations, the governing factor is the time necessary to travel from one point to another, so if that time is reduced, then the space limitation is less severe. Here the connections between space and time become obvious, since crossing any amount of space takes time.
The space and time limitations we now face in our communications can be overcome, to an extent, with infinite bandwidth. (It should be noted that throughout this paper, infinite is used to mean that there will be so much bandwidth available, it will nearly impossible to fill it with information as we now know and use it.) We are on the brink of an explosion in bandwidth, which will forever change the restrictions space and time currently present mankind, and the implications of this are enormous. Today’s state of the art technologies, being demonstrated in the most advanced research centers in the world, show that tomorrow there will be tremendous bandwidth. As George Gilder declares in his soon to be published book, “Telecosm,” “the law of the telecosm is that the usefulness of a network raises by the square of the resources attached to that network” (2). In order for the law of the Telecosm to hold true, however, there must be sufficient bandwidth so that all resources can connect to the network and add value. If there is not sufficient bandwidth, then bottlenecks are created that limit the capabilities of the network. Gilder argues throughout his book that we can use infinite bandwidth to simplify everything, and that at the end of the explosive growth in bandwidth, we will basically have infinite bandwidth. This paper will discuss how the limitations of space and time for communications can be overcome with infinite bandwidth in many areas, by example in two areas, commerce and education.
From Bottleneck to Tidal Wave
Before we begin our discussions on the effects infinite bandwidth will have in communications, we should first discuss where the bandwidth will come from, because a discussion of ideas based on falsities is pointless. This discussion will show that the assumptions of infinite bandwidth are not false. In his soon to be published book, “Telecosm” (2), George Gilder discusses many areas of current research in bandwidth, which is where much of this information comes from.
When Albert Einstein published his theory of general relativity, in the simple formula E=mc^2, the implications for communications were cast in stone. The fact is that the speed of light is the speed limit of all movement in our universe. Light is just one wave in the electromagnetic spectrum, and all waves follow the law that the frequency of the wave multiplied by the wave length equals the speed of light. Therefore, a light wave is just one type of wave that can be used to communicate. That we can now communicate via waves of the electromagnetic spectrum means we have reached the physical limitations of speed based on our current understanding of the universe.
The speed of electromagnetic waves is not enough to carry all of the information we need it to, so we are being forced to find new ways to utilize the waves. Signals, in the form of waves, will be sent by via two methods, wired and wireless, and we are learning how to get more information out of each.
Infinite Bandwidth via Fiber
There are many new technologies being developed around the world that enable more and more bandwidth over a single fiber thread. Some of these advancements, which will lead the way to nearly infinite bandwidth, are discussed here:
Utilizing all the frequencies
On a given fiber thread, there is a tremendous amount of frequency available. In the article “Into the Fibersphere” (2, 8), Gilder states that “the bandwidth of one fiber thread could carry more than two thousand times as much information as all these radio and microwave frequencies that currently comprise the air. One fiber thread could bear twice the traffic of the phone network during the peak hour of Mother’s Day (the heaviest load currently managed by the phone system).” However, we currently do not utilize fiber in such a way. Gilder is refering to the fact that most fiber systems today only send light of one wavelength down one fiber thread. Yet recent advances in optic technologies are allowing us to use many more of the frequencies available, and as we incorporate all wave lengths of the visible spectrum, and as we start to include other parts of the spectrum, such as infrared light, the potential bandwidth on one fiber grows rapidly.
Dark Fiber and Dumb Networks
Also in the article “Into the Fibersphere,” Gilder (2) argues that with so much bandwidth available, there is no need to have “smart networks,” where hardware and software within the network make decisions about which links to send each packet to. Instead, when there is so much bandwidth, devices simply connect to the fiber network and send information out with destination information, and the destination devices just listen for the packets. This is similar to how current Ethernet technologies work, except that with Ethernets, only one device can transmit at a time. With fiber optic connections used to their fullest potential, any device could conceivably transmit at anytime. This would entail smart radio technologies in both the origination and destination devices that find and communicate via frequencies not in use.
Although Gilder does not detail the specifics of how this might work, one concept is that the origination devices can send “explorers” out over many frequencies (say 100) that search for the destination devices. The destination devices, using Steinbrecher radio technologies (2, “Auctioning the Airwaves”, 3), which employ extremely fast digital signal processors that scan all available frequencies, could listen for the explorers. When they detect an explorer destined for themselves, they would respond, and handshaking between the two devices (to determine which frequency to use, protocols, etc.) would occur.
To take advantage of the fiber bandwidth, Gilder argues that, eventually, the phone companies will have to provide dark fiber to the rest of the world. This means that the telephone companies will no longer provide their own communications services over the fiber, but just provide the fiber. The argument is that since no intelligence is needed with so much bandwidth, what the telephone companies are providing via their network services is useless.
Just lay more
There is one final point to discuss with regards to fiber optic technologies. Currently, the telephone companies are laying over 100 miles of fiber per day. As we start to utilize more of the spectrum available via fiber, the bandwidth will increase tremendously. However, if we ever reach the limit of one fiber optic thread, more fiber can always be installed. Infinite (high enough to be considered such) bandwidth over fiber is feasible with the technological advances now occurring int the world’s research centers.
Infinite Bandwidth via Air
Just as with fiber, today’s state of the art technologies, being developed in the most advanced research centers of the world, are proving that the frequencies we currently utilize over the airwaves are incredibly limited compared to what is possible.
Low Earth Orbiting Satellites
Projects such as Teledesic and Iridium, which are discussed in Gilder’s “Ethersphere” article (2), show that by launching hundreds of satellites into low earth orbits, many earth bound devices all over the world will be able to use their bandwidth. Suddenly, remote locations, where it is nearly impossible to wire for phone and cable TV services, will have access to the network. With many satellites utilizing as much of the spectrum as possible, there is a tremendous amount of bandwidth available. Couple that with other new technoligies, such as CDMA (discussed below), and the bandwidth keeps rising.
Code Division Multiple Access
A new form of multiplexing is emerging in wireless communications that offers much more bandwidth than the more conventional methods currently employed. This new technology is called code division multiple access, or CDMA. “CDMA is a form of spread-spectrum communications that differentiates signals by a spreading code and allows the use of the same frequencies all the time, everywhere.” (2, “Ethersphere,” p. 7). Basically, one given signal is spread across several frequencies, whichever are available and have less noise at a given instant, and each individual signal has a unique code so it is easily identifiable.
Since channels are not defined by frequency, but by codes, the number of possible channels is limited only by the number of codes that can be differentiated in any given area (cells). So as digital signal processing becomes faster and faster, more and more “channels” for communication are created. However, there are limited frequencies in each cell, so there are limits for the number of possible channels. But by merely breaking large cells into smaller cells, more frequency becomes available. As we move from the cells of today. which are measured in miles, where the wattages of the cellular devices are 2-3 watts or more, to tomorrow’s cells which will be measured in the hundreds of yards, and the wattages are 0.2 – 0.3 watts, so that interference is nearly nonexistent, bandwidth quickly rises.
Low earth orbiting satellites, and CDMA technologies, are just two examples of how wireles bandwidth is increasing. Other advances include using more of the spectrum, such as microwave and infrared wave lengths that were once thought unusable. Also, as the increase in microprocessor power continues to rise, the capabilities of digital signal processing chips that are used in many radio technologies continue to grow, and as their capabilities grow, so does the amount of available bandwidth.
Now that we have a backdrop that shows the assumptions of infinite bandwidth are not absurd, we can move forward and discuss the effects it will have on the world’s communications, and how the restrictions time and space put on our communications can be reduced. Part of Gilder’s law of the telecosm states that bandwidth can be used to simplify everything, but we will limit our discussions to exmples in commerce and education. By extension, communications in other areas will be affected in similar manners.
Effects in Commerce
Infinite bandwidth will affect nearly all ways consumers currently buy and sell products, and how they perform their personal financial tasks. A few examples of the changes that will come are discussed here.
Home Shopping of the Future
Home shopping today consists of a few primitive methods. First, catalogues with pictures can be browsed, and orders can then be placed via telephone or conventional mail orders. Second, consumers can watch one of several television channels dedicated to selling products, and call in to order anything that interests them. Finally, with the recent growth explosion of the World Wide Web, consumers can surf through the myriad of products currently being sold over the Internet.
All of these methods lack in one area or another, and do not give the consumer the full benefits that infinite bandwidth will offer in the future. For the catalogue example, the time necessary to send the information to the consumer and back is quite long. For the home shopping via television example, the consumer must be watching the program at the exact instant a product they are interested in is being advertised. And finally, with the WWW, the consumers generally must base their purchasing decisions on still images of unimpressive quality.
With the coming bandwidth explosion, much more will be possible. A given consumer will be able to access information about products with high quality, three dimensional, interactive graphics. They will be able to do this anytime they feel like it, from any place. No longer is the time spent driving to and from shops necessary, and since access to the product via the network will be available twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year, getting to a store before it closes will no longer be a concern.
A few examples will help to illustrate the possibilities. Shopping for a new home, when relocating to a new area, is quite difficult. The time necessary to travel from the current home area to the future home area, and the time spent looking at potential homes is considerable. In the future, virtual reality, 3-D, interactive home viewing will be available over the network. In this way, many homes can be eliminated without spending the time necessary to view them in real life.
Another example is shopping for clothes. Currently, the time spent traveling from store to store, and looking for clothes that fit and have favorable color combinations (based on personal tastes) is very consuming. In the future, we will be able to view clothes over the network. By using a personal 3-D rendering of yourself, you will be able to see the clothes an image of yourself via the computer. Size and color combinations can be chosen at that time, so we will no longer be limited to what is in stock (which never fits and never matches other clothing already purchased).
Clearly, the future of shopping will be much more convenient than today, because it will reduce the limitations of space and time currently imposed on us.
The Future of Banking
The banking industry is rapidly undergoing fundamental changes due to the growth of computer networks. As the Internet grows, and more people gain access, and as bandwidth rises, the banking industry must jump online or risk losing business, as consumers will banking services, whether banks or other institutions provide them. The conveniences of future banking services will draw consumers in droves.
Online Banking
A recent newspaper article succinctly stated that “online banking shortens the amount of time consumers spend on finances and allows them to work on them any time of the day and night. No more racing to the bank Friday afternoon to deposit a paycheck” (3). Also, Bill Gates declared “when the information highway makes geography less important, we will see electronic, online banks that have no branches – no bricks, no mortar, and low fees.” (4, 181) The time and space limitations of today are overcome because no longer will consumers have to spend time driving to the bank. The limited time available in today’s busy schedules is overcome because online banking will allow customers to perform many transactions whenever they feel like it, instead of during normal bank operating hours.
Today, many people feel that online transactions are not safe when performed over public networks such as the Internet. Many financial institutions therefore provide their own networks, but this duplication of resources will not be necessary in the future. As a recently published newspaper article correctly stated, “new scrambling and encryption techniques are making Internet transactions safer,” and “online commerce is safer than giving a credit card number out over the phone.” (3) As security and privacy issues are erased by technology, and they surely will be, online banking will become very popular.
Smart Cards
In the October issue of Wired magazine, Walter Wriston, former CEO of Citicorp/Citibank, who set out in 1970s to “wire” his bank company with automated, online banking, ATMs, etc., gives an interview on “The Future of Money” (5). Much of his discussion centers around smart cards, which are similar to credit cards in look and feel (basically a plastic card that has some type of identification and a magnetic strip that retains information). We are clearly in the very early stages of exploring all the future uses of smart cards, but there are several types are already being deployed.
Perhaps the most popular smart card is one that can be used as digital cash. The user can transfer money to the card via cash or electronic transactions. Then when a purchase is made, the card is scanned through a magnetic reader which verifies the amount of the purchase is available on the card, and then reduces the card by that amount.
One advantage of using smart cards is that they can have built in identity, so that the cash is linked to the owner of the card via some secure method, such as a PIN number, or, more futuristically, thumb or retina prints. That way, if the card is lost or stolen, the cash on it could not be used, as it easily could be with paper cash.
There are of course drawbacks to this type of link between identity and cash spent. Basically, every transaction that is made can be recorded, so there is a lack of privacy. If paper cash ever totally disappears, and digital cash is all that remains, then all money an individual spends can be tracked. Many people will not want this to occur, so black market type transactions, where goods and services are bartered for one another, may develop. However, there are certain types of transactions that can never occur in such markets, such as wages, mortgages, commercial services (electricity and phone bills), etc.
As discussed in Howard Reingold’s “Virtual Community,” one way to overcome the privacy issues is to put cash on a card that has no links to the card’s purchaser, so that the transactions are not traceable to any individual (6, Ch. 10). However, then the advantages of security are lost, but some of the conveniences, such as not having to spend time counting correct change, are not.
There are many other uses for smart cards, as the information they store can be quite varied and not limited to monetary data. Recently, IBM and American Express announced a smart card pilot which enables business travelers to move more quickly through airports (7). These cards will allow the users to not carry paper boarding passes, which seem to quickly multiply or disappear on long trips with many flight connections. Instead, once identification is shown at the airport, the user can travel directly to the boarding gate, slide the card into a reader for confirmation, and continue to move onto the plane. In addition to the gate reading application, future uses will include hotel and car rental applictions, which will reduce the time consumers spend engaging in such services.
Another future use may be to store large amounts of information on the card, such as an individuals medical history, so that such records can easily be carried and transferred from one physician to the next. In a world of HMOs and personal care physicians, where referrals happen very frequently, and the transfer of records never seems to be timely and often does not occur smoothly, such cards will be tremendously helpful. The transfer of information will be simple, fast, and reliable.
With the advent of online banking (discussed above), transfers of money and other information to the smart cards will be possible from home terminals, so that the users will not have to travel to certain locations to have this done. Of course, that will save time.
Global Implications for both Smart Cards and Online Banking:
As smart cards and online banking, along with other innovations that will emerge as a result of infinite bandwidth, the global implications will become more important. Large amounts of bandwidth clearly help overcome geographical limitations. International borders become nearly meaningless in a world of high speed electronic and optic telecommunications. International standards become a must.
As Walter Wriston states in his interview in Wired Magazine (5), international standards for encryption will be “necessary for the safety of the world. Its like a nonproliferation treaty for atomic weapons. . . . All I know is that the world’s governments have to work together, because they’ve lost a lot of control of things they used to do by themselves.” Control is lost as individuals become empowered based on the huge volumes and tremendous speeds of the telecommunication innovations being developed. Governments of the world will have to work together to establish standards that ensure the transactions are upheld internationally.
Wriston suggests that for the privacy and security issues relevant when discussing electronic financial transactions, an international agency, or a consortium of the World’s largest banks, be created. Technological advances in the areas of cryptography necessary for private, secure transactions are sure to come, but someone will need to control the electronic keys that are used to decode the encoded messages. The devices at each end of the transactions, of course, need the keys, so that the transaction is understood by both parties. But in some instances, for reasons of litigation, national security, etc. , governments may need access also. An international agency could decide when such reasons are valid or serious enough to warrant release of the keys, or at least release of the information.
Clearly, the coming wave of bandwidth will affect commerce and banking in many ways, and in most cases, the time and space limitations makind faces will be reduced. No longer will travel to and from stores and banks be necessary. The possiblities of virtual interactions from remote locations reduces travel needs. And, with the services available around the clock, twenty-four hours a day, finding the time to shop or make financial transactions becomes much eaiser.
The Future of Education
The information super highway will be an incredible tool that enhances the education of tomorrow. As Bill Gates states in his book, “The Road Ahead,” “Great Educators have always known that learning is not something you do only in classrooms, or only under the supervision of teachers” (4, 184). Already, a very large amount of information is available on the Internet, but, because of bandwidth bottlenecks, most of it is limited to text and still images. There are some video and audio sequences, but generally the quality is not high and the duration is short. As bandwidth increases, more varieties of information, along with longer, higher quality video and audio sequences will become available. Infinite bandwidth will give everyone access to nearly unlimited information, from any place, at anytime.
First, before discussing the future of education once infinite bandwidth is available, it is useful to explore a few examples of what is currently being done on the Internet, to see how education is already being transformed. The Internet is already bringing students to the forefronts of the subjects they are studying:
“Treasures of the Earth: A Learning Chain over two Continents”
The October 21, 1996 edition of the US News and World Report (8) has several excerpts from a book entitled “24 Hours in Cyberspace.” One of the excerpts discusses the following virtual classroom type of education: Outside of Cairo, archeologists are unearthing ancient artifacts, and thousands of miles away, students are able to participate “virtually.” They are able to see what is occurring on a real dig, instead of just reading about it after the event has occurred. They communicate via e-mail to the archeologists on site, discussing the dig and what has been found. The expense and time involved in sending all students to such real life explorations of their subjects is too great to undertake. By allowing a virtual involvement, nearly the same benefits can be achieved.
“The Visible Human Project”
The Visible Human project is “one of the most spectacular examples of the Net’s potential for spreading knowledge” (9, 172). Paul Jernigan, a prisoner on death row in Texas, literally gave his body to science. “Researchers cut him into four blocks, froze him in blue gel, ground him down millimeter by millimeter, digitally photographed the 1878 cross sections that emerged, scanned these slices into a computer…. and made them available on the Internet.” Something like this, that can not be recreated in classrooms (due to the cost, complexity, and perhaps most importantly, lack of bodies), is a perfect example of how large amounts of bandwidth can benefit education. Once the information is obtained and made available on the net, anyone, anywhere, at anytime, can access it. Education instantly benefits, because what were once one time only events are now accessible many times.
Examples such as these are just the beginning. As bandwidth grows, the possibilities become immeasurable. Space and time are overcome, and the learning experience of actually being somewhere and participating are nearly matched, by the virtuality of being there over the net.
What’s Coming
Clearly, as the examples above illustrate how the Network is already changing education, even with limited bandwidth, the education of the future will be very different than it is today.
Customized Education
As Howard Gardner, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education states, “Different children must be taught differently, because individuals understand the world in different ways” (4, 185). However, in today’s classrooms, education is in a “lowest common denominator” form, meaning that the teacher must present materials in such a way that the largest possible number of students benefit. But since each student learns differently, and pursues information in vastly different ways, this is clearly not the best approach.
Infinite bandwidth will bring mass customization to education. No longer will teachers need to utilize lowest common denominator approaches. Instead, students will be able to follow divergent paths and do so at their own pace, so that different learning styles and different learning rates can be accommodated. While some students are at their computers exploring the information highway, the teacher can be spending quality time with other individuals or with small groups (4, 187).
Specialization’s
The network already serves as a bridge between experts and non-experts in virtually all areas of interest. One such example is the Use Net news groups, where 15,000 topics of tremendous variety (such as triathlons, Buddhism, alternative music, gardening, computer speech, etc.) are discussed by anyone who has an interest. Often, there are resident experts that address the questions of everyone involved. The signal to noise ratio of the Use Net is quite high, so another method of discussion called mailing lists, is also popular. With mailing lists, noise can more easily be filtered out. These also serve as a bridge that allows knowledge to freely flow among many geographically disperse people.
However, Use Net news groups and mailing lists are just the beginning. With infinite bandwidth, much more than textual interchanges are be possible. For example, the information highway will allow everyone to access the best teachers and their materials. If one instructor of physics is particularly gifted at presenting General Relativity, why should students attending his classes be the only ones to benefit? Instead, the lectures, in audio-video form, along with textual links to the materials presented, can be made available to anyone who is interested. In this way, one instructor’s specialty can be shared by everyone.
The materials can be given live or recorded for use in the future. If it is live, infinite bandwidth will allow students to interact with the teacher from any location. Such settings would be ideal for subjects such as foreign languages, where a French teacher from France could be teaching the students in a single classroom in another country, or teaching to many students geographically dispersed around the world. If the materials are saved, then interaction is not be possible, but the access to the information is available at any time, by anyone, from any place.
Already, high school students in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, are taking advantage of such technologies, by having university classes beamed via satellite from across the country to their school. The benefits are obvious when the achievements of the students are considered.. They consistently score well above national averages on standardized tests, have higher percentages of students that go on to college, and graduate with more than two years of extra classroom experience. As these technologies spread beyond individual schools, and become available to everyone (which is only possible with more bandwidth), the benefits will also spread (10).
Having quality educational materials like these available to everyone, from anyplace, at anytime will surely make home schooling incredibly more beneficial than it is today. How many parents have the knowledge and expertise to teach a myriad of subjects well? But once a parent has access to the educational materials of the best teachers, and can use them to educate their own children at home, there will be no gap between home schooling versus more conventional methods.
Other types of specializations will surely evolve. Currently, every school in America tries to have a well-stocked library. But this is nearly impossible to accomplish because of space and monetary limitations. Well-rounded and well-stocked libraries are few and far between. However, if each school created their own specialized library and made it available via the network to all other schools, all types of materials would be available. For example, one school may specialize in the works of Shakespeare, while another specializes in text books on physics, and yet another could specialize in history or science fiction. Think of the volumes of information that could be available. And if a given school or many schools do not have the storage equipment to keep these volumes of books, they could simply access the virtual libraries via the network.
Life Long Learning
As technology continues to advance, and the core of human knowledge continues to expand, there is a need for life long education. We have already reached that point in many fields, where advances seem to occur on a daily basis. In order to keep up with the changes, education has to be continuous. Michael Scott, an educator who writes on the future of his field, summarizes, “due to the nature of accelerated evolution of technology, learning will be (already is) a continuous life long process” (11).
In order for this to occur, and in addition to the specialized materials that need to be made available per the discussion above, schools will have to be available around the clock and around the calendar. There is a definite need for asynchronous learning. Since students from around the world will be pursuing education as they can, when time permits, scheduled meeting times and due dates will be a thing of the past for older students. Class times and due dates will be necessary for the younger, less disciplined students, but once the life long education process is started by an individual, when they are trying to keep up in their own field, this will no longer be necessary (and may be impossible, since the adult students often have job and children responsibilities that keep their schedules full).
There will obviously be other innovations in education that emerge because of the information super highway with infinite bandwidth, but the examples of customized education, specialization’s, and life long education clearly show that in the future, we can overcome the current limitations opposed on us by space and time. Allowing students to learn at their own pace and take divergent paths, instead of the lowest common denominator approach used today, gives each student more time to pursue their own education. Specializations, where the best materials are available no matter the geography, allows us to erase the space barriers. And life long education is necessary because of the amount of knowledge needed to perform our daily jobs. Distant, asynchronous learning, where both space and time limitations are reduced, will be used to enable life long education, as the people who need it most often have schedules that don’t allow for more conventional forms of education.
Conclusions
We are clearly on the verge of a bandwidth explosion. Based on state of the art technologies being developed in research centers around the world, bandwidth, both via wired and wireless communications, is increasing dramatically. As George Gilder argues throughout his soon to be published book, “Telecosm,” the world can use bandwidth to make everything simpler. The effects we will see will cover all areas of communications (though this paper only focused on a few areas to give examples of the changes possible in all areas). The greatest limitations we have always faced in communicating have been both space and time. We have always had the need for faster and better communications over long distances. Time and space limitations have kept us from reaching the levels of communication necessary for Gilder’s futuristic view, but as bandwidth continues to rise, the limitations will be reduced, and we will achieve higher plateaus of communication.
References
(1) Comptons Interactive Encyclopedia. 1996
(2) Gilder, George. “Telecosm.” Series of articles published in Forbes ASAP over past several years that will be release as a book later this year.
(3) “Big Banks Lining up to Market Online Services.” Associated Press. October 20, 1996.
(4) Gates, Bill. “The Road Ahead.” Penguin Books, 1995.
(5) “The Future of Money.” Wired Magazine Interview by Thomas A. Bass, October 1996. V 4.10.
(6) Reingold, Howard. “Virtual Community.” URL available at: http://www.well.com/ usr/hlr/vcbook/vcbook10.html.
(7) IBM Press Release. “Smart Card Pilot Initiated by American Express and IBM.”
October 15, 1996.
(8) “24 Hours in Cyberspace.” US News and World Report. October 21, 1996
(9) Rothman, David H. “Networld! What people are really doing on the Internet, and
what it means to you.” Prima Publishing. 1996.
(10) “Students Do Better.” Parade Magazine. October 20, 1996.
(11) Scott, Michael. “Scotty’s Theories on the Future of Education.” URL available at:
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