"The real University, he said, has no specific location. It owns no property, pays no salaries and receives no material dues. The real University is a state of mind. It is that great heritage of rational thought that has been brought down to us through the centuries and which does not exist at any specific location. It's a state of mind which is regenerated throughout the centuries by a body of people who traditionally carry the title of professor, but even that title is not part of the real University. The real University is nothing less than the continuing body of reason itself." (Phaedrus, in Pirsig, Robert M., Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance [1974; New York: Bantam, 1981]).

I would like you to think of the three credits you receive for this Workshop as consisting of 1 credit each for

1. Internet activities and learning Web publishing skills,
2. Collaborative activities related to some interrelated and Internet-related core themes, and
3. Your own continuing interests which you want to work on during this quarter and which you want to share with us in person and via HTML.

Internet and Web Skills:

[under construction]

Collaborative Theme: "Economic Geography and the Internet". The information superhighway poses a variety of technological, logistic, pedagogic and substantive- topical challenges for us as undergraduate or graduate students, members of the working class (with jobs in the community), economic geographers, and as members of this year's Geography 498. These challenges have to do with outside economic pressures, required adjustments and opportunities provided by a rapidly evolving technology. Thus, I suggest, that the following (and probably additional) sub-themes or "clusters" of topics might well represent these challenges. I will elaborate on these perspectives in class:

1. Spatial logistics of access to computers, electronic resources and the Internet
   • at home
   • at work
   • at the University, or
   • somewhere in between [Public libraries, Internet cafes, or homework centers]

2. Does the Internet "level the playing fields"? Is there a need for non-profit organizations, student volunteer activities (Service Learning?) to enable the Internet to perform such a function?

3. What does the Internet do for job, career and business opportunities of economic geographers? What do we tell advisors?

4. Do we expect changes in educational processes? What is the future of the place-based urban university? Distance teaching? Remote learning? Flexible Education Spaces?

5. During this quarter of political elections: Can we already or do we expect to see changes in the "Geography of Democracy" which can be attributed to electronic communications and virtual communities? and finally:

6. How do we design appropriate
   • electronic syllabi for place-based but commuting and working students
   • syllabi for virtual Geography Departments (see U. of Texas initiatives)
   • syllabi for the "economic geography of telecommunications" including among other topics
     1. telecommunication effects on spatial economic behaviors, and
     2. effects of telecommunications on the service sector, local labor markets and regional employment structures

Your Own New or Continuing Research Interests:

[under construction]

Matrix (Directory) of Our Weekly Contributions

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[September 20, 1996; econgeog@u.washington.edu]