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EDITOR'S PAGE

Where Have We Been?

by John December

If there is any theme to this month's issue of Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine, it is that the world of online communication is still very much in formation.

Education has long been an Internet application. Instructors have creatively used online communication in their courses, and this month Jon Franklin Ramsoomair describes the sequence of steps he took in setting up a cross cultural management course. He made extensive use of the Internet to add to the experiences of the students in his courses.

For whom are we building the Net? Jennifer Gold, contributing writer to CMC Magazine follows up her January 1997 article which asked "Does CMC present individuals with disabilities opportunities or barriers?" This month, she calls for articles for a future issue of CMC Magazine to explore this question further.

This month, we take a look at what happened at a recent conference for new media devotees at Columbia University's Institute for Tele-Information's conference. Chris Lapham provides us a look at the conference which was titled "The Collision of Conduit and Content: Changing Models for News and Entertainment Publishing."

Although dead for many years, the ideas of Marshall McLuhan remains a significant part of ideas about "new media." Mick Doherty provides a thorough review of a book, some CD-ROMs and Web sites devoted to McLuhan.

Speaking of "new media," it is not too much of a stretch to consider the hype around this term is reaching interesting levels. Hardwired, the paper-based book publishing arm of Wired, the paper-based magazine has produced a book on the "cyber elite." Don Langham takes a look at this book in his review this month.

Following up on last month's book reviews by Chris Harper in the special issue on digital journalism, we have two letters: one from David Shenk, author of Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut responding to Chris Harper's review of his book. Chris Harper comments on that response.

Finally, I plea for you to become active in politics regarding online policies of world governments in this monht's last link. The Net you save is your own.

John December (john@december.com) is editor of CMC Magazine.

Copyright © 1997 by John December. All Rights Reserved.