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Vivian Selbo,

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Posted Friday, Dec. 12, 1997, at 3:30 AM ET

       It's the night of the office party, and the staffs of each of the Digital City Studio productions--?'web, Total New York (a hipster online magazine), WebGuide (a search engine and listing service), and Digital City New York (a forthcoming local guide)--have gathered to toast another calendar year of producing original Web content. For äda'web, online since 1995, this is the 12th "Web year" of its existence. (They say a Web year is three months, although this may be slowing down.) Some names have been changed to protect against retaliation.
       James (production manager, Total New York): I've been responsible for the collapse of a number of New Media companies. I was at Voyager.
       Leigh Perrin (ex-Web executive): That was your work?
       James: Yup.
       Leigh: And now you're going to destroy Digital City?
       James: Well, I'm just at Total New York.
       Leigh: So you are working your way in, searching for the main support beam.
       James: As soon as I find it, kaboom. Then I'm out the door.
       Leigh: Soon there aren't going to be any targets left in the U.S. The money people are wising up.
       James: They are?
       Leigh: Yes, in the U.S. the Web is going to be service, service, service. But Scandinavia. Scandinavia is just getting started.
       James: Do you know that for a fact?
       Leigh: Yes, I was just at a conference and the head of a big Scandinavian publishing company said he felt that the secret of the Web was original, innovative content.
       James: Right on!
       Leigh: Yes, they're going to go for it.
       James: Won't anybody warn them?
       Leigh: No! And after Scandinavia ... (his eyes widen) Japan!
       James: Japan? I'm afraid not.
       Leigh: Hell, yes. The Japanese are going to go crazy for it.
       James: (dispirited) It would take a hundred of me to bring down Japan.

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Posted Friday, Dec. 12, 1997, at 3:30 AM ET
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Vivian Selbo is a Web site designer and artist. She works at äda'web, a Web site that helps artists learn about, and create projects for, the World Wide Web. She lives in Manhattan.
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