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Most of us can only become acquainted with a few peers at a time and maintain deeper friendships with even fewer others over a lifetime. What happens when you have access to 10 million peers at one time? The internet, or as it is commonly known, "the information highway" can provide access to peer support in a way completely unimaginable a few years ago.
Connecting to the internet can yield guidance, advice, resources, and information from millions of persons around the world. Internet connections allow us to initiate relationships and provide support and assistance to anyone else with a telephone, modem, and computer. Researchers can access files, manuscripts, studies, and references within a few minutes. For example, an April, 1996 search of the World-Wide Web using the WEB Crawler Search Engine yielded 37,000 documents associated with peer work, and many of these documents were bibliographies of other documents dealing with peer helping!
Peer and mentor program leaders can find examples of other program models, dialogue with program leaders, and share their anecdotes and experiences to enhance program effectiveness. Our own Peer and Mentor Network Home Page accessible through the World-Wide Web at (www.peer.ca/peer.html) has received more than 7100 visitors since January 1, 1996.
Virtually any individual with a keyboard can act as an on-line peer. Thousands of individuals and organizations have established such advice and guidance information services on a variety of topics. You can also locate appropriate mentors to assist with virtually any topic or idea. By using Veronica, Archie, Search Engines, or Gophers, help can be just a few key strokes away. Newsgroups and Listservs, available through e-mail, provide opportunities for discussion, support, tips, hints, and learning on everything from highly specialized esoteric topics to, alternative, controversial areas to traditional disciplines and professions.
Two-way communication is a staple of the internet, and the system allows and encourages mutually beneficial relationships to develop. Both parties in a transaction can give and receive assistance in a way that is meaningful to both. You can maintain privacy or add or limit any number of participants to your discussions or chats. At the same time the limits typically imposed by geography, time schedules, rank or status, and financial resources are minimized, thus encouraging peer to peer relationships. Given this powerful mutuality, traditional commercial businesses and businesses that rely on manipulating consumers will not likely prosper using the information highway.
The costs associated with electronic access are indeed small. Many cities in Canada now have "freenet" services which provide access to the internet at no cost to the individual user. These services typically have time limits, and may be difficult to access due to the high volume of users. Commercial internet service providers are multiplying quickly, providing higher quality services and support as part of their competitive edge.
Even the costs for the equipment are decreasing dramatically. You can now purchase more computing power for less than one millionth of the cost of the largest computer available in 1960. John Naisbitt in his book Global Paradox quoted former AT&T Board member Randall Tobias' analysis of these advances in computerization: "If we had similar progress in automotive technology, today you could buy a Lexus for about $2. It would travel at the speed of sound, and go about 600 miles on a thimble of gas."
Ironically the best news for those people who presently do not use the internet is that in the near future, you will not need to know anything about the internet or computers, for that matter, in order to access the information highway. New careers in data retrieval and consulting will emerge. Specialists will be skilled in interpersonal interviewing and helping clients determine what information or service they need and want. Once a base of information is determined, the consultant will access the various internet databases and search engines, retrieve the appropriate data, create an up-dating system, provide summarized reports, facilitate choice and decision-making and, if appropriate, provide all you need to know as a message in your own personal electronic mailbox, accessible via fax, modem, or your home television set. If you think this seems far-fetched consider the fact that between 1987 and 1995, 12 million homes and offices purchased fax machines and over 30 million e-mail addresses were created.
Most of us can recall a few persons who gave a helping hand or guided us through troubled waters. With the development of the internet, we now have access to tens of millions of potential electronic peers and mentors. Is more necessarily better?
Surfing Starts Here:"Today's average consumers wear more computing power on their wrists than existed in the entire world before 1961."
Ian Morrison and Greg Schmid