With the tempo and pace in which information moves and changes nowadays it is with some risk that I compose this article on the evening of August 8th in order to make the deadline for Coastlines, which you may read almost a month later. This is the way it is with information in this day and age of computers and the Internet culture.

Since last month’s article it is safe to say that on-line technology, and more specifically the Internet, has been joined by yet more legions of people, businesses, civic, and numerous other entities attempting to make the net part of the way they live, work, learn, teach their young and recreate. The energy is with which it is growing is still unbounded. "The Internet is like a freight train roaring along while people are laying tracks in front of it. It’s not just gaining on those laying tracks; it’s gaining on the steel mills." I found this quote in Wired Magazine quite appropriate.

The creation of the Information Technology Committee at the beginning of the year was based on the fact that there was information overload from many quarters about getting on the Internet but there didn’t seem to be a community based buffer to facilitate the process. The committee was formed to assemble those that had a common vision about the role of information technology in our communities future but also understood that individually they could not know everything there was to know since it was simply too much. However, collectively we could assemble a very rich resource of experience, training, and talent to bring some programs to the chamber that will help the membership base adapt.

One of our most recent actions to leverage our collective strength and to use the power of the Internet was to tackle the issue of ad valorem taxes being assessed against computer software and Internet services. Through "virtual collaboration" using e-mail several of us composed the components of a draft resolution that sought to establish a pro-business stance and to send a message to legislators that this county does not support taxation in this manner. The resolution passed 4-0.

But clearly one of the most defining events for this committee and likewise for the community is the Silicon Beach Expo 96 this September 6-8 at the Holiday Inn. This event is being energetically sponsored by Sprint, Cellular One, Northwest Florida Daily News, Small Business Development Center of the University of West Florida, the Tourist Development Council, and the Holiday Inn. This is not like any event you have ever attended. Because there are simply very few community-based events of this nature ever held in the United States at all. Assembled in the Holiday Inn will be the faces behind the technology, the answers to your personal questions and concerns, solutions for helping you get on-line whether you own a computer or not. If you have wondered how a web page is created or how it works you can see it before your very eyes. You can even have a page done for you personally on the spot. You can meet people that are presently using the Internet for their business like Fire & Spice, the company that markets sauces over the Internet. How about Blondies Resort Wear? Yes, them too. And the Cyber Cafe? Well I will let you discover them for yourself.

A series of seminars will be presented and include wireless technology and some very intriguing capabilities of Cellular One with their Voice Activated Dialing and their Call Follow Me. Multimedia, Electronic Data Interchange, and financial transactions will also be presented. Additionally, the individual Internet Service Providers (ISPs in the parlance) will have their own mini-seminars on other topics.

And did I mention fun? Well an Internet scavenger hunt can be quite an interesting venture when a couple of high schools are pitted against one another. Finding a pearl of information in cyberspace can be fun as well as educational.

This truly unique exposition has more along with a great supporting cast of committee members who will also be exhibiting. Cox Communications (our cable partners) Nucleus Communications, Cybertron, Gulf Coast Internet, Gulfnet Technologies, ETS/ArcNet, Webmasters have been behind this project for a long time. Dan Bender of DJB Enterprises has been our expo chairman and keeping everybody moving in the same direction. Together we share the vision that communities have to build their own on-ramp to the proverbial information superhighway. This is an opportunity to get first-hand answers to your questions and to share in the experience of growing in to the information age.

This article was published in the September 1996 issue of Coastlines, a publication for the Fort Walton Beach (FL) Chamber of Commerce courtesy of the Daily News.