Tools for Networking and Support Systems
Warp Speed Evolution

To understand the networking capabilities of the Net, you might think of the communication aspect of it , also, as a Swiss army knife. You can "talk" in real time; you can exchange messages, you can send email to one person or a huge list instantly.

You may not see the concept of being able to write to someone as very new, and , indeed, the concept is not new. The speed and ease is new, the ability to simply click a button and reply in a moment. The ability to filter and sort your mail so instantaneously and efficiently without a secretary doing it for you is new. But the most significant new aspects of Email on the net is the sheer size of the audience you can reach, relatively easily, and the core fact that people on the Net are clustered around communities of interest, letting you identify immediately those people who are likely to have a common interest or goal as you.

Email is the most fundamental means of networking with large communities of informally and quickly, collapse time, and increase your own contacts and resources. You may register your email address with a site whose philosophy or content you find compatible with your own and start immediately to network with those who have a common interest.

Message boards, on the Net, serve a different purpose and have a different dimension to them. Message boards, as opposed to a message, have longevity. A thread of discussion begins and can go on indefinitely, fed by many different viewpoints. Women on the Web are refreshingly supportive of each, even in such practical, everyday matters, as figuring out how to get a hot meal on the table for their family, in record time, after managing a large business or administering a university department all day. Messages are as diverse as the women authoring them. Chat is, without a doubt, the most mesmerizing and, by far the most popular tool on the Net. Chat is not really "chat" as we know it, just yet. You must remember that all these forms of communication are just now evolving on the Net. Chat is really "typing back and forth" to each other in real time. Not only are the mechanics and applications for chat constantly evolving but the role or concept of chat, itself, is changing. A short while ago, engaging in chat on the Net was a lot like being a ham radio operator. A lot of the thrill was in being able to do it at all. And the hobby was so much fun... getting on with no phone charges and being able to make a friend in Finland or Spain, or finding someone who shared your interest in bird watching or whatever, that many became addicted to it and spent 4 to 8 hours a day on chat. As the web has evolved and matured, chat is changing also.

In the old days --meaning a year or two ago -- the primary system of chat was a separate system called Internet Relay Chat system or IRC, which had various hosts around the world. There, chat rooms would be lined up, like young girls at a dance, waiting for someone to select them. Inevitably some became wildly popular and others were wall flowers. Adolescent boys being what they are, their chat rooms became so numerous and popular that these rooms, as they evolved, became segmented, so you would see names like "boys, 9-12" which was a pretty good labeling system, since you can gather the kinds of things they'll probably be talking about.

Another evolution was that, just like in one's preteen years, the boys like to give girls, or women, as hard a time as possible, sometimes by shocking them, not with a wriggling frog or scaly fish, but often with some breathtakingly crude remarks, and ,in situations where it was possible, pornographic photographs. Many respected researchers believe this was a form of power grab in which the "boys" were labeling cyberspace as "male territory", like college computer labs, gym locker rooms, military academies, board rooms and the executive suite. So unless you wanted to hear some pretty unsavory remarks, a woman had to watch her step.

That led to the moderated chat room, which was a "safe haven" for women. It was not a question of men not being allowed but of everyone's behavior being monitored, and rules of conduct enforced. That generally took the fun out of it for anyone who wanted to misbehave anyway. Simultaneously, an ignore button was put on the controls of chat room and a kick out button for the moderator, should someone be truly unruly.

In this protected environment women were able to talk more freely about issues which concerned them, and in some instances the conversation became more thoughtful and directed towards issues facing women. The newest forms of chat are on the Web itself, rather than a separate system. This new capability is based on the creation of Java, an exciting new programming language, which has had a major impact on the Net because Java can create tiny programs, called applets which run on a Web page on either a PC or a Mac. A Java applet can create motion for a graphic, have a stock and news ticker cross your screen. One of the most exciting uses of Java is the Java chat applet which makes chat available to a wider audience and much more functional. One simply downloads a screen which floats on your web page and you click on commands, such as sending public or private messages while you continue to browse your favorite sites. You can communicate in real time with someone else a thousand miles away or across the globe about what you're both seeing on the web, or the paper or project you're working on together.

In fact, this aspect of the net, two way communicating and working together on an active, shared screen, is the basis of the intranet, an organization's private internet, the fastest-growing segment of the $500 billion Internet business. So communication on the Net continues to evolve at warp speed.