I have been working with computers since the early 1960's and, like you I suppose, my expectations for what they can and should do for me continue to increase. Processor speeds are measured in mega-Hz, disk memory sizes in giga-bytes, RAM in mega-bytes, and communication speeds in tens or hundreds of megabits/second. However, having lived and worked through the computer gestation period I have not lost my amazement at what computers can and should do for me. Communicating with computers only by punched cards may seem quaint today, but I predict that two days of this would drive you and me to despair. The clatter and clank of the old teletype machines as the first of the "terminals" was remarkable at the time, but today it is viewed as a primitive communications device and can be found in museums (and one still at VU for reasons of nostalgia). But you should remember that in each of the computer epochs (an epoch in computer time is probably 5 years or less!) these innovations were amazing.

So it is today with the www. This is not the place to attempt to list the remarkable range of information and services which can be obtained from the www; the list is too long, and the exercise is unnecessary to anyone who has taken a little time to have a look. Nonetheless, in the spirit of my earlier comments, I continue to be amazed at all of this. At the same time, I intend to take advantage of what the www can do. And so...

I ask the question: "Can the www Connect Us?" In some sense, I already know the answer because I have heard from alumni who have taken the initiative to write after having viewed our www page. Some of these folks I have not heard from since graduation day, and a few I did not even know at all since they graduated before I arrived at VU in 1977. In each case, I was surprised and amazed, and I replied to each, thereby completing the "connection."

I hope that we can use the www (and the internet in general) as a means of establishing and maintaining our "connections." There is much we have to offer each other after the four years at Valpo are over. While I see the "connection" as one between you and those of us at VU, I also see this "connection" as one between alumni as a means of sharing information and supporting one another. In my vision, a vigorous effort would begin to renew "connections" with friends with whom we have lost contact as the years and miles broke the "connections."

This means of renewing our "connection" is new for us and we will have much to learn from it. Your suggestions for improvement, both in content and in style, will be welcome. Please take the time to renew our "connection"... I look forward to hearing from you.

	With warm regards,
	Don

donald.koetke@valpo.edu