FROM THE EDITOR...

WELCOME to 1999 and a new edition of Internet SPECTRUM.

Those of you who have been with us from the outset may notice the lack of our usual lead-off interview. In its place we are introducing an alternating feature InSPECT -- a survey of our readers on issues of importance to you and the future of the internet.

Over the last few months those of you who follow the stock market (and who doesn't these days) have seen the explosion in internet related stocks. Most intriguing has been the dramatic activity in IPO's (initial public offerings) of on-line communities such as GeoCities, Xoom and TheGlobe.

But read the commentaries or watch the talking heads on TV and you realize that there's little established basis for assessing the nature of these stocks. Are they really virtual communities, or just a marketing gimmick?

We believe that they are a nascent form of some future virtual polity. People will affiliate with these just as our ancestors did with tribes, communities and nations. It is incumbent upon all of us to begin now to play a role in the evolution of these cyber-societies. Otherwise, their form, their power, and their perception of user liberties will be defined by the exigencies of financial returns rather than the commonweal.

As a first step we ask you -- the citizens of the world wide web -- to evaluate the players in the game. Your responses will define a guide for others to evaluate where they choose to find a "home" in cyber-space. And, perhaps, it will help define an agenda for action to make these communities a more democratic form of society than the world has yet seen. We can all dream of a future free society, but the lessons of history are that it will not be handed to us. Glendowen said to Hotspur, "I can call spirits from the vasty deep." To which Hotspur replied, "Why, so can I, or so can any man. But will they come?"

Sincerely,

Obanion

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