What's in a Name?

"Watch This Cyberspace."  Now where did that name come from?

It was 1997, and I was a reporter for WRC-TV in Washington covering a little bit of everything and squeezing in a technology related story when I could.  I had been playing with computers since the early Apples and had watched the evolution from a "text" internet to the World Wide Web. I won't bore you with web history, but browsers required you to find and install plug-ins to do just about everything - look at pictures, listen to music, etc.

WRC (NBC4) had a website and I was permitted a tiny piece of space to write a word or two about what I found online that was new and exciting.  What to call that space?  I remember seeing an editorial cartoon once that had a sign that read "Watch This Space."  Hmmmm.  Why not, "Watch This Cyberspace"? 

The early posts weren't terribly memorable, although I do recall opining that it was no longer necessary to define the Internet as a "network of networks" and that the Internet was now mainstream because the company that cleaned septic tanks had a website. Other posts chronicled the entry of different businesses moving online with their brochure approach and attempts at developing successful business models and, of course, the efforts to thwart the feared Y2K.

Some of those stories will follow in later posts.  I've kept most of the scripts from my reporting career and hope to share some history of technology - particularly from the local point of view.

I'll also share some of my thoughts about messages and communicating them.  You can check me out at my website

I hope you'll check in from time to time and offer comments and suggestions.

Let the conversation begin.