GOA'S OWN CYBER-BALCAO: LESSONS TO LEARN ON THE INTERNET SUPERHIGHWAY by V. M. de Malar [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I had Goa in mind the very first time I logged onto the Internet, more than 11 years ago. The news media was full of reports about this big new thing, this World Wide Web that could potentially link up all the computers in the world to create something called the "information superhighway." But only a fraction of the world's personal computers were hooked up when I first logged on and entered a world of painfully slow dial-up connections, unreliable modems, and an online sub-culture peopled mainly by computer science mavens and university students. It was a parallel universe, a "virtual reality" quite unlike the flesh-and-bones world. And I looked for Goa immediately, not expecting very much but curious about what might lurk in the depths of this new medium. That's when I discovered Goanet, (now at www.goanet.org); it was already active when I joined the mailing list in early 1995. There was great novelty in being connected to other Goans, so many of us were totally isolated in the diaspora without any sense of others in the same predicament. This pioneering list served first of all as a simple networking tool for young Goans, most of whom lived in the UK, Australia and North America. But as we felt out the Internet, and connectivity spread like wildfire, the true potential of the medium started to become clear. Eddie Fernandes came online, the veteran librarian had access to superb search engines and posted news articles from around the world with relevance for Goa. And so Goanet became the best one-stop source for Goa-related international news. Fred Noronha came online at the same time, the Saligao-based journalist fed Goanet with locally generated news and views. And bolstered by these miraculously free services that materialized on your desktop almost instantaneously, the membership of Goanet soared from a couple of score to a couple of thousand. Goa's pre-eminent contemporary historian, Dr. Teotonio de Souza joined the network from his university in Portugal. Writers like Victor Rangel-Ribeiro and Philip Nazareth, distinguished scientists like Santosh Helekar and Helga do Rosario Gomes, technologists like Samir Kelekar all joined the network, and the forum became convulsed with stormy debates about religion, colonialism, 1961, and all the topics that get Goans hot under the collar whether on the Internet or off. In time, the network has grown and expanded further. The messages still fly fast and furious, and we are seeing a long overdue demographic correction as more and more Goans in Goa are finding their way to this venerable discussion list. Goanet needs to be commended for running a strictly transparent, strictly inclusive organization that has consistently maintained very high-minded standards. It is this Open Source motivation that is the key to its success and longevity, and provides an excellent model for newcomers to the Goa niche of cyberspace. As our state prepares to roll out broadband right into the villages, we will be bringing tens of thousands of new subscribers online, and a host of new Internet-based companies and services will be born. They should all take a long look at what has kept Goanet alive; it's an uncomplicated formula that will yield results. This month marks twelve long years since Herman Carneiro launched Goanet, the teenager expected to keep in touch with a few friends and now manages a list encompassing more than 6000 members. Fittingly, this week also marks the fifteenth anniversary of the World Wide Web, the launch of the first browser software written by Tim Berners-Lee at the CERN physics lab in Switzerland. Everything has exploded since then, many like to compare one year of Internet development to seven or even ten years in "meatspace." Certainly, we have gone from one lonely discussion group for Goans to a couple of dozen websites and even more mailing lists. But as we look ahead to the broadband opportunity that has the potential to remake Goa all over again, and to a far more wired future, it's fitting to take a moment to register where we've come from and what it took to get here. Happy Anniversary to the Internet, and especially to Goanet, our very own cyber-balcao. ----------------------------------------------------------------- VM de Malar is one of the early Goanetters, and is currently based in Goa, where he writes for the local and outstation media, mostly contributing think-pieces and well-written features. GOANET-READER WELCOMES contributions from its readers, by way of essays, reviews, features and think-pieces. We share quality Goa-related writing among the thousands-strong readership of the Goanet/Goanet-news network of mailing lists. 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