Internet Proved Its ValueFollowing World Trade Center Attack

Most information travels across networks without humanintervention. In fact, computers talk to computers more often thanpeople talk to people over these networks.

And that might be the reason why many people view networks andthe Internet as a technical or business tool more than acommunications tool for people.

The term “network” itself invokes images of computers, cablesand software. And we reinforce these images by talking and writingabout business transactions, supply chains and the standards thatenable networks to work.

Networks in general, the Internet specifically, proved theirusefulness in the wake of the World Trade Center tragedy.

First, it demonstrated resiliency and reliability–a testament tothe U.S. Department of Defense, which created the Internet nearly30 years ago to assure the flow of information when parts of thenetwork might not be operational. In other words, if one part goesdown, it does not all go down.

Furthermore, the Internet was able to handle a peak load quitewell, although it slowed down quite a bit on the afternoon of Sept.11. But it was available.

Michael Dertouzos has passed away recently. He was the directorof the computer lab at MIT and he spoke at the ACORD Conference afew years ago. He frequently remarked about the disconnect betweenpeople and technology and devoted his work to bridging thatgap.

Technology is still very complex and not sufficientlytransparent to serve us well. His vision of technology was that itshould be fully integrated into our lives in meaningful ways.

My Sept. 11 story is nothing extraordinary–more of aninconvenience than anything else in the wake of this tragedy, butit demonstrates the usefulness of the Internet for connectingpeople.

I was in Europe, where making a telephone call to the UnitedStates was impossible that day and a good part of the next. Allcircuits were busy.

However, I was able to make a local telephone call into a localInternet Service Provider in France and was able to reach people inthe United States by e-mail. Getting information about ourfamilies, friends and associates was our first priority. Later, wefocused on getting home.

On that score, calling an airline was impossible as well attimes, but again the Internet was a source of information. TheInternet proved to be an effective way for many firms to broadcastinformation to millions of people very quickly. It would have beenimpractical to do the same with employees talking on the telephoneto customers.

And while television broadcasts kept us informed about majorevents, details needed to come from other sources. Newspapersarrived late and did not always have the latest information ordetails. We used Instant Messaging to carry on Internet discussionsfrom overseas when the overseas switching networks for voice werebusy and unavailable.

Connecting people is the real magic of the Internet and we areonly beginning to fully appreciate and exploit this new channel ofcommunication.

Most people look at the Internet as e-mail replacing snail-mail,online shopping taking the place of catalogs, or Web sitesreplacing directories. They look at it for buying stock, gettingnews or being entertained. And these very useful functions tend toovershadow the fact that it connects people.

Perhaps many will begin to look at the Internet in a differentway. It not only connected us to the people in our lives, itsupported emergency response teams and businesses.

Yes, its not perfect and, like any technology, it can be usedfor both good and evil. It can also be the target of violenceitself. But the Internet is, after all, about people and about anew global conversation.

An interesting Web site that explores this human side of the netis Cluetrain (http://cluetrain.com) and itsummarizes a book published in 2000, entitled: “The CluetrainManifesto: The End of Business as Usual.” The theme is that theInternet gives everyone a voice.

We live in a world of corporate communications and scriptedpresentations. Annual reports and corporate brochures arefine-tuned, filtered and packaged. The words you read or hear arecarefully selected. Employees issue corporate policy statements tocustomers.

Whatever happened to people just honestly talking to otherpeople?

The bottom line is that the Internet does just that in arefreshing way. And perhaps it will allow more rational voices toprevail in the long run because freedom of information isfundamental to freedom itself and everything that flows fromit.

Michael Dertouzos did not relate to the term “cyberspace”because it connoted a sense of being separate or removed from wherepeople live and work. He said that rather than being “out there,”the “Internet will come into our lives in many ways.”

Well it has, it is and it will continue to be. And, indeed, lifewill not be the same.

Gregory A. Maciag is president and chief executive officerof ACORD, the non-profit industry association based in Pearl River,N.Y., with offices in Belgium and the United Kingdom. ACORDdevelops and maintains standards for the insurance and relatedfinancial services industries and promotes effective use oftechnology to facilitate E-commerce and reduce costsworldwide.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property &Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, October 15, 2001.Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.

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