This news is accurate for January 19, 1996.

PERSPECTIVE

Surfing through the Cornfield

Reported by Bill Kelly, STATEWIDE Correspondent

No question about. Nebraska is now plugged in.    Need to know how many yards Lawrence Phillips covered last season? You can download it from the Husker's Web Page. Or you can go to the unofficial Huskers Online.
Never been to a punk rock club in Omaha? The Cog Factory Internet site lets fans of the band Trenchmouth know when the band is playing.
   Train buffs can get rail history from the Union Pacific Home Page.
   And in Bayard, the outfit that hosts barbecue's and charter wagon rides at Chimney Rock -- Oregon Trail Rides -- stay in touch with high tech fans of the old west via the new frontier.
   Just a toy? A fad? Don't make that argument to Rich Rodenburg.
   [Rich Rodenburg:] "I was given the opportunity to have one of the first commercial Web pages in Lincoln, and certainly one of the first bike shops in the world to go on the World Wide Web. I jumped on the chance. I couldn't do it quick enough."
   Rich's store, Bike Peddlers, was an early business pioneer on the World Wide Web... the Internet system that allows computer users to see graphics of this bikes, read text about how to keep their in good working order, and even buy a mountain bike online by sending an order straight to Rich's hard drive.
   [Rich:] "With the time involved and the learning curve and getting it set up, it took three quarters of a year to reach the break even point. But we reached it and broke it. So, yeah, it has been a success for me. And if we continue to grow, I'll have to say it was a resounding success."
   And if you think buying a bike on-line is a stupid idea, maybe that's why Rich is making money, and you aren't.
   [Rich:] "We're working on a ten bike deal to Singapore again. We're finding that with the devaluation of the dollar against the yen and most other currencies especially the American made bikes are a good value."

A visitor to Bike Peddlers online can also check out the store's mascot, Sophie the Basset Hound.
   [Rich Rodenberg:] "Probably half the people that call up on the Web site compliment Sophie. She gets more comments than I do."
To see Sophie in action in a 1Meg Quicktime movie, click here.
   Sophie is playing a big part in selling bikes on the Internet. The Web Page designers created a contest. If you explore the Bike Peddlers site... spending more time and hopefully giving more thought to a purchase... you can enter the contest.
   [Cindy:] "It encourages people to go through and follow all of the links on his pages, so not only do they find Sophie and maybe win the helmet or whatever, but in the process also learn a little more about Bike Peddlers as well.

   So it's not silly selling bicycles on the Internet.... so it's certainly not silly selling meat.
   [Jamie Saker:] "Products that are very successful in direct mail and in catalogue type of environments are very successful on the Internet as well."
   Omaha Steaks International... an early leader in gourmet food catalogue sales... is now out in front selling steaks in cyberspace. Their webpage is operated by a company called Synergy. Jamie Saker runs it, and he's about to buy prime rib using his computer
   [Saker:] "What it's told me is that its added the product to my shopping basket. It's kind of a neat concept in that I can go through their store and pick up products until I'm ready to check out."
   [Bill Kelly:] "You can order as many steaks as you want."
   Businesses also need additional perks to get people to visit their site and to come back. Like the Omaha Steaks online cookbook.
   [Saker:] "We have a catalog obviously, we also have the ability to go in and look at some recipes in the cookbook. So they're adding more value to their website, not just selling product, but telling people how to use their product more effectively. Rare, medium or well. and how long I cook the first side, and when to turn it. And here are some examples of what rare, medium and well should like."

Another click of the mouse... and you're off to the best small town in America. Cook, Nebraska, is using the Internet to let people know this is a nice place to live. Students at the high school keep it up and running.
[Jill Eisenhauer:] "It makes you feel like you aren't just from a small town. I think I'm from a small town and nobody knows where you are and nothing happens here, but when you advertise and people are actually interested in it you feel like your from somewhere. Its exciting."
   This was no high tech fling. Cook became the second Nebraska town on the 'net with very specific objectives.
   [Teacher Teresa Hahn:] "Our goal for the whole project is to have at least one family or one business to move into the town of Cook. So we're waiting for that to happen and we're anxious and we think it will.
   Here's a lesson other towns can learn from Cook, Nebraska. The town doesn't have a plumber. They want one. They place an ad in a couple magazines that plumbers might read... and they added the town's address on the Internet.
   [Chrissy Scheer:] "I would never have guessed that so many plumbers would be interested in owning their own business in a small town."
   Many checked into the Cook Internet Web page, filled out a request for information that was sent electronically back to the small town computers. A lot of plumbers... over 30... and a lot of other people like what they saw in the brochure sent out, and some have sent letters saying they are now considering a move to Cook.
   [Chrissy:] "This one wants to get out of the city. They own their own plumbing business and have kids. This is the one who sent his resume to us and is a licensed plumber in Florida and Minnesota."
   [Jill:] "I think its kind of self pride because we worked so hard and we accomplished something so visible."

If it seems the Internet is the kingdom of the young... student Webmasters and fresh faced entrepreneurs... it is. And few schools in Nebraska have embraced the Internet like Marian High School. The young women at the this Catholic school have one of the best looking Web sites in the state.
   [Bruce Esser:] "Once we got that access our students said not only would we like to surf the net, we'd like to create the wave."
   The advisor who watches over the computer project sometimes feels a little left out because the students have done everything.... writing an instruction manual, stringing cable, running Internet classes for classmates...
   [Bruce:] "Its been almost a turnover of the traditional teacher student relationship where the students are the experts and the teachers are relying on the students for information about technology and understanding about how it works."
   Part of the reason for the excitement: personal home pages.... a combination electronic calling card and scrap book that is the thing for any self-respecting high school student.
   [Mary Ann Polityka:] "Everyone can have their own individual approach to their home page. I wanted mine to be fun."
   And it is. Mary Ann mixes photos of family and her volleyball heroes with a clever conversation with herself about her very diverse life.
[Mary Ann:] "It tells a lot about myself. It tells my interests and stuff, but each personality I have is a different side of me. So I have a different side of me. So I have a sports side, volley ball."
   Mary Mullin highlights her list of school activities with a photograph of her breaking a board with a spectacular karate kick. And there's also a computer link that Mary built in so you can go directly to another outpost on the net.
   [Mary:] "I'm in love with David Letterman, so I have a link to the Late Show. And I was so pumped when I found this page, because it has all the top ten lists and you can search the top ten lists by the date."
   Now if the educational value of these pieces of digitized vanity may be questionable, the girls' faculty advisor will tell you it's amazing what he's seen students accomplish.
   [Bruce:] "I've never seen students write as much as they do as when they're working on their home pages. Its composition. It's composition of words, its composition of ideas. The students have to be creative in what they are presenting."
   And by the way... they also use their Internet connection for research on homework assignments.

   The amazing thing is, we've only told you about 12 sites. There are over 250 others. And that's just Nebraska.
   For STATEWIDE, I'm Bill Kelly