energy is a resource. Both are vital to the well-being of individuals and organizations in today's world. As with energy, politics and technology are changing the ways in which information is produced, stored, communicated, processed and used. . . . How essential are information resources? Who produces or controls them? Who can get them, and on what terms? Materials, energy and information are mankind's basic resources. Without materials there is nothing. Without energy, everything stands still. Without information all is chaos. Information makes it possible to use all other resources effectively and efficiently. Dramatic innovations in communication satellites, wideband transmission networks, cable television systems with “interactive capability," "viewdata" and "teletext," microcomputers and computer conferencing—and their usage— will become an accelerated trend. More people will begin to work, shop, pay bills, "attend" classes and public meetings from their homes through telecommunication. While such a trend may be viewed by many people as threatening our lifestyles and even our privacy, the information-based economy holds great- potential to upgrade public access to knowledge, decentralize the decisionmaking process and dramatically alter the requirements of our current transportation system. The "telecommuting" lifestyle is already being lived by some. Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz, RAIN board members, describe their electronically based consulting business in the following excerpt from an article in the Christian Science Monitor : We haven't commuted in years. Instead we communicate to work via computer from our home office, interacting daily with people around the country and a few folks abroad. We don't have to deal with traffic jams, bad weather, parking, dressing up, or lengthy meetings. And yet we maintain a lively professional and social life electronically. We can “telecommute" because we are using a computer as a means of communication, rather than for processing data, keeping records or any of its more traditional uses. We work and play in a computer network, using a computerized conferencing system to send and receive electronic mail, attend ongoing conferences and meetings on a variety of subjects, write and distribute material, play games, and participate in other information exchanges. In short, we communicate with other people on many different topics, and we use a computer to organize that communication, rather than relying exclusively on mail, telephone, or face-to-face meetings. The Portland region plays an active role in the rapidly developing high technology sector of the nation's economy. We are also beginning to understand the implications of trends in telecommunications for people on the local level. The Portland eastside cable franchise, for example, with its provisions for public community access channels and interactive polling, is considered to be a model for municipal policy on an emerging technology. The City Club Vision Report included a telecommunication scenario for the year 2000 that underscored the potential impact on transportation, decision-making and neighborhoods. Overall, however, we have only a dim understanding of how rapidly we will be affected by these trends in telecommunications. Perhaps no one such issue will be as dominant in the next decade as the trade-off between telecommunications and transportation, the difference between moving more people around or moving information. Current regional forecasts for transportation requirements in the year 2000 make virtually no assumptions about the impact of such developments. And yet by 1985, the implications of telecommunications on transportation will be quite noticeable, according to industry specialists. Perhaps, more than any other major issue facing Portland, such implications will require careful education and "demystification" so that public and individual planning can truly reflect the opportunities at hand. —Steve Johnson and Steven Ames Arts Artists—including those in the visual as well as performing arts—are often fugitives among the rest of us. They exist—in our most romantic descriptions—at the very outer edges of our sensibility, reflecting back a composite or just a segment of the society, transformed. We call it culture; it's the thread of our spirits that's pursued, then molded, into shapes and colors, sounds and movement. The thread extends from us through the transformation and back to us, renewed and striking. We may not always approve, but we are at least made more alert to the possibilities. If the arts are not encouraged, our image of ourselves as a society is limited. So culture should draw together the worlds and visions of all of its people. Patronage of only the most conventional work would establish a culture that's predictable. Historically artists sought patrons for their sustenance. Called "angels," they "blessed" the artists they approved. Work that pleased was rewarded. That which did not was not. The audience was small, the benefitting artists few. Most art still goes largely unsupported, or is supported by the artists themselves who choose "dumb jobs" that earn them the money to write or paint, compose or perform. To "make it," it's assumed, "good artists" go to New York or Los Angeles. Both cities promise success— the arts version of self-reliance and self-sufficiency—being able to live off your art. But what options, short of leaving town, have Portland's artists to choose from? Many artists are finding their support and encouragement among other artists. They are forming collectives and ensembles to strengthen their economics by sharing space to create and exhibit, rehearse and perform. Artists in groups find that they can reduce their vulnerability and the economic dependency of the arts community as a whole. They can also serve as their own critics to stretch their work and permit the exploration of more risky visions. Portland as a community is enriched by several of these strong arts collectives and ensembles. (See Resources for arts information.) But perhaps more important than the move among artists to join forces is Portland's reciprocal move to put its artists on the "public turf." Portland needs its creative community and knows it. Five years ago when the downtown transit mall was finally opened, the "ceremony" became a blowout celebration of, for, and by the arts. It was so much fun that it became an annual event. Artquake, the last big fling of the sunny season, gets us out in the streets for one more song and dance. Then, it 56
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