May 13, 1996
On Electric
By Bob O'Donnell
Hello and welcome.
If you're a "long time" InfoWorld Electric reader, you know that we've been
around since last fall -- Fall Comdex, to be exact. (Of course, in Web time, that seems
like years: Netscape 1.1 was the cutting edge browser and few people had even heard of
RealAudio or VRML.) But a number of you are new to Electric and haven't formally been
welcomed, so consider this your red carpet. And consider this new column the mouthpiece
for InfoWorld Electric. As the executive editor, each week I'll fill you in on important
new changes we've made to the site and offer commentary on Web-related issues that affect
Electric readers.
First, though, I want to talk about who we are, what we are, and how we relate to the
print version of InfoWorld. InfoWorld Electric is a dedicated group of 10
hard-working folks within the umbrella of the InfoWorld Publishing Company whose job is to
create a compelling, constantly updated information resource for Information Systems (IS)
and Information Technology (IT) professionals on the World Wide Web. You can think of us
as an online, real-time extension of InfoWorld, bringing all of InfoWorld's
extensive resources to this dynamic new medium.
As with our print brethren, our ultimate job is to provide you with the information you
need to make smart, well-informed decisions about purchasing and implementation issues
affecting your company's information systems -- and to give it to you as it happens.
Whether you're a CIO, an IS manager, or a networking consultant, we hope you'll find
Electric to be a critical resource that you find yourself turning to several times a week.
We know there's no shortage of news and information sites on the Web -- in fact,
information overload is becoming a depressingly common state for many Web surfers -- but I
strongly believe that what distinguishes InfoWorld and InfoWorld Electric is the
unique filter we put on the news. Our experienced news staff picks the stories they know
are critical to InfoWorld readers and writes them up with our readers needs and
interests in mind, giving the stories a context and a degree of relevance that simply
cannot be duplicated. If you're an IS professional, or heavily involved in the IT
industry, I think you'll find InfoWorld -- and by extension, InfoWorld Electric
-- offers the most compelling take on the news you need to know.
In addition to offering breaking news, another critical element of our strategy is to
create a community of colleagues for IS professionals. The Forums section gives you the
opportunity to share opinions and experiences with your peers in a series of active,
highly engaging discussions. Each week we update our topic list, which is typically based
on current columns, news stories, and product comparisons available on other sections of
the site, so you're bound to find discussions of interest.
Finally, we're creating custom content for the Web that extends InfoWorld's
editorial reach. Sometimes it's as simple as running the complete version of an interview
that had to be cut to fit in print, but we're also generating news stories, features, and
columns that only appear here on Electric. Over the next few months we plan to offer new
services based on existing print material, as well as unique content and delivery
mechanisms you'll only find on Electric. It's bound to be an exciting time. Please stay
tuned.
©
Copyright 1996, by InfoWorld Publishing Corp., a
subsidiary of IDG Communications, Inc. Reprinted from InfoWorld,
155 Bovet Road, San Mateo, CA 94402. Further reproduction is prohibited.
