Just a week ago, I was one of a group of presenters at the Wisconsin League of Municipalities 100th Anniversary Conference. During our session, in the process of discussing the various technologies that municipalities have available to use as communication tools, I asked if anyone had used their community cable PEG channels. Several people raised their hands. "Well," I said to the lady in the second row, "How did it work for you?" "Terrible!" she replied. "The person we talked to didn't seem to know what to do. We gave him the tape and when it was supposed to be played, there was just snow." Another woman spoke up and said that in her community they used their channels a lot ...that they had people responsible for the different areas of support and training and that it worked very well for them.

Having worked with community cable for many years, I knew just exactly what had happened. Some communities had thought that having the infrastructure and buying the equipment was enough and that things would just happen after that. And then there were the communities that knew better. They knew that funding, support and training were absolutely critical. And here at the conference session were excellent examples of both perspectives.

As I continue to work with technology, now distance education, I have an ongoing sense of 'deja vù'. There are still those who think that building the infrastructure and buying the equipment is enough and then there are a growing number that know that without all of the areas of support - "it just doesn't happen!" This is certainly reinforced by the comments of those of you who have provided us with solutions, Ideas and Tips in this month's FOCUS article. (Rosemary Lehman)