If you want to find out what all this Internet stuff is about, spend a day in cyberspace.
Not just any day, but Feb. 8, 1996.
On that day, photographers around the world attempted to document the second great computer revolution. The day also turned into an on-line festival - the photos were zipped back to the site in San Francisco and posted on-line, and more than 3 million ''hits'' were recorded as visitors jammed the site to view them. More than 25,000 visitors signed the ''guestbook.'' All in one day.
Photographers and writers from around the world joined the project, which was run from a location near downtown San Francisco.
You can re-live that day at http://www.cyber24.com. Or you can wait for the book: A Day in the Life of Cyberspace, due in March.
Anyone familiar with the Day in the Life coffee-table books by Rick Smolen and his legions of photographers knows what the latest will hold: lots of beautiful, compelling photographs of people whose lives have been changed by personal computers.
Linking people
Although the project documents the phenomenal growth and success of the Internet, the story really is people overcoming isolation with their computers.
People such as members of the Chabad-Lubavitch sect, who use the Internet to revitalize Jewish life. Their Torah teachings reach isolated groups of Jews around the world.
Or the woman whose spine is fusing due to a rare form of arthritis. Although she had never met anyone with her affliction, she found fellow sufferers on-line.
Or the missionary in Africa, who downloaded plans for an airplane to help his flock.
Or the Japanese Buddist monks who contact the faithful around the world from laptops.
Or the many, many couples who found each other on-line.
There are also stories about organizations using the Internet to spread their messages or share their treasures.
The Vatican is putting all its rare books and manuscripts on the Internet, and anyone can now view some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, once off-limits to almost everyone.
A Michigan adoption group helps parents seeking children overseas. Universities are granting degrees to students who attended class at home, thousands of miles away.
And striking newspaper workers in Detroit are fighting their former employers with a strike paper - published on the Net.
The site is a fascinating look at the scope of the on-line revolution. The clean design, succinct articles and beautiful photographs remind one of National Geographic magazine - not surprising because many of the participants are affiliated with that publication.
Photo heavy
There are only two minor problems: the large number of photos will put your modem and web browser through their paces. And while the articles constantly mention web sites, only occasionally does it give the site's address. (I didn't see a single hyperlink to a site mentioned.)
Perhaps these guys weren't so techno-literate after all.
Anyone who suspects that cyberspace is a bunch of media hype, or another passing fad like CB radios, should see what happened in cyberspace Feb. 8.
Or you can just wait for the book.
E-mail Charles Brewer with questions, comments and suggestions at cbrewer@enquirer.com.