There is an unwritten, little known part of my job that involves the
internet.
Mostly because of this column, I've become a webpage beta testing and
announcement service.
In my morning e-mail, it isn't unusual to find messages from folks like KCBX
General Manager Frank Lanzone and local Sierra Club activist Gary Felsman.
The messages usually contain something personal, some comment about something
I've written lately and a request "to check out our homepage" or "look at our
updated website."
I'm agreeable, expecially in the predawn hours when I surf the World Wide Web
and answer e-mail. So I check websites, telling people when their links don't
work, suggesting small improvements and congratulating them for upgrading San
Luis Obispo County's online world.
Although most people know me as exceptionally cynical, I've become an Internet
evangelist. I think I've seen the future and realized it is the present. I
don't play many games on my computer because playing on the Internet is a
game.
From my perspective, the KCBX and Sierra Club pages reflect how news and
information will move from now on. You will be able to read about some club
hike or new radio show in the Telegram-Tribune or the groups' newsletters, but
you will seek more information by going to the website.
KCBX is a morning staple in my house. So it was natural for my wife and I to
put a link on our homepage to KCBX <http://www.slonet.org/~ipkcbx/>. I
checked the updated KCBX webpage for information on the Live Oak Music
Fesitval, listened to a Mozart sound file and followed links to read about some
National Public Radio favorites, such as a Prarie Home Companion.
I surfed to the NPR homepage. looking for a sound file containing the poetry of
"large animal veterinarian" Baxter Black, but couldn't find any from the
gifted gabber. I was further disappointed when NPR's webmaster never answered my
e-mail about where to find more of Black's wit and wisdom.
