The blueprint of the Information Superhighway (a.k.a. The Internet) has not yet been created. In fact, much of it hasn't been designed or even thought out. While predictions abound, much is unknown because of the break-neck pace of computer technology.

It was only August, 1981 that the first IBM 5150 PC Personal Computer appeared on the home computing frontier. Before the personal computer, most had only considered computers to be a large corporation option or best left to electronic enthusiast (as with the build-it-yourself MITS Altair 8800 computer kit).

This novelty has changed the way we now conduct business and pleasure and is beginning to create a whole new culture: cyberculture.

Cyberculture means that in the very near future we have more options for entertainment, education, social interaction and commerce. Our daily environment will be drastically altered as the demand for instant and current information increases. To put a statistician spin on our new world, consider the following analysis and predictions.

The Software Publishers Association says as of January 1996, personal computers are now in 34% of U.S. households and 70% of those have modems (a device that allows computers to connect to the Internet). Of those computer users with modems, 72% access the Internet.

According to Nielsen Media Research (of the well-known "Nielsen Ratings"), "The Internet is demonstrating significant growth. The number of respondents who had access to the Internet increased 50% between 8/95 and 3/96...."

International Data Corporation forecasts that the number of online users will increase to nearly 200 million in 1999 and over 1 billion by 2010. IDC further predicts "Online commerce volume will hit $150 billion by 2000, more than $1 trillion by 2010."

More specifically, ActivMedia Incorporated has announced that in 1995 an estimated $436 million was generated through the World Wide Web and predicts a staggering $46 billion in WWW sales by 1998.

If you are wondering whether it is worth the time and effort to create a business Web site, ActivMedia confirms that it is: "Web revenues are nearly four times expenditures for Web site development and external storage and maintenance charges."

Finally, an ActivMedia July 1996 report explains the explosive growth: "The World Wide Web is a new advertising and distribution channel that has the potential to take over a large portion of all commerce transacted...our estimates put the annual growth rate of Web marketers at more than 1800% [in one year]."

Cyberculture will quickly embrace all of our lives whether we intend for it to or not. Like the revolution experienced following the capture of electricity, we have only begun to see the potential use for the computers in the century or even decade to come.