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University before working at a dot-com in California. Mook says just about everyone on campus was talking online.
“People right next door [to one another] will be chatting on Instant Messenger,” Mook says.
So are Northern Virginians becoming too computer-dependent?
AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham says it’s all in the eye of the beholder.
“It’s up to the individual to decide when they want to be online and when they don’t want to be,” Graham says.
Business on the beach
It has been described as the Starship Enterprise.
Up to 15 workers at a time constantly monitor the data that appears on its computer consoles.
It is an AOL Network Operation Center: the pulse of the organization— and, one could argue, the pulse of the Internet.
Perhaps greater than its impact as a communications tool for the people is the Internet’s profound impact on the way international business functions.
At AOL the product often develops itself. Angelo Ioffreda, AOL’s director of internal communication, can log on to the network while on vacation and contribute.
“I’m here on the beach but I can still get online and do work,” Ioffreda says.
Then again, AOL’s business is the Internet. The mark of the online business revolution is the fact that traditional
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