Editorial Pointers

WE made it.

The ride may not have been as smooth as we hoped, or as scary as we feared, but we made it, and no doubt thanks to the efforts of the very people who read this magazine.

We enter 2000 with a solid mix of articles that depict daily life in today’s e-virons. E-brokerages, for instance, may have changed the face of investing, but authors Konana, Menon, and Balasubramanian contend it’s what’s behind the face that’s important. When it comes to the cost and efficiency of investing online, it’s often what you don’t see that matters most.

Over the years we’ve witnessed the staggering decline in the number of women drawn to the IT field. Now comes evidence that one of the keys to attracting females into the computer field is to get them interested in computers as early as possible: software games may be the answer. Gorriz and Medina claim the toy industry is only beginning to tap this multibillion dollar market thanks to the success of some innovative start-ups, some savvy business analyses, and yes, even Barbie.

We also feature a pair of articles that look at the state of organizational memory. Ackerman and Haverson investigate where memory exists within an organization. Robinson, Kovalainen, and Auramaki carry the OM discussion to a working papermill to illustrate the value of electronic diaries—digital logbooks—on the factory floor.

OTHER columns and features this month depict the consequences of past, present, and future technological efforts. Eszter Hargittai offers a fascinating argument for learning regulatory lessons from the radio’s rise as a universal communications medium to anticipate Internet regulations. Brock Meeks poses a tongue-in-cheek perspective on the date rollover and its (after?)effects. Soloway et al. detail how the Internet supports learning throughout grade school. Pixar’s Tom Porter and Galyn Susman illustrate how their "On Site" experiences on Pixar’s landmark computer-animated films helped advance the art in character animation and enhance the imagery in the current and wildly popular Toy Story 2. And Barbara Simons issues a resounding alarm regarding the latest government surveillance efforts—proposed and practiced—both domestically and overseas. Could Orwell’s vision be far behind?

Diane Crawford, Editor

COMING NEXT MONTH: A dynamic discussion on the emerging News on Demand technologies that integrate speech, image processing, and multistream content for tailored news presentations.