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Techwit By Jason Ohler

I like the word "digital." It's just plain fun to say and so much easier on the lips than "industrial." If it weren't for the information age, "digital" would literally mean something you did with your fingers. Wearing a ring could be considered a digital peripheral. If you wanted to insult someone you could "flip him the digit."

The word is actually a mispronunciation of something said long ago by a grumpy foreman overseeing one of those huge construction projects the Roman Empire was so famous for. One of the workers asked him what to dig, and he said "dig it all!" Because none of the workers had shovels, they used their fingers. And that led to today's modern computers.

I think the word digital would make a wonderful product name. I don't know why, but to me it sounds like a great cream rinse for senior citizens. Or a new kind of pill that does a whole bunch of things at once. Imagine combining Viagra, Rolaids, aspirin and vitamin C into sort of an Amway of self-help pills. The product motto could be something like "Take two Digitals and stand back!"

Another reason I like the word digital is that you can add other words to it, like "economy." Although "digital economy" is a phrase the rest of the world uses, that does not stop us from ignoring it in Alaska. It must be our great pioneering spirit that makes us so myopic and thick-headed. But, look on the bright side - we're free to use the phrase however we want! If you say it fast enough, it sounds like a medical term referring to exploratory thumb surgery. If you say it super fast, and add some lilt to it in just the right places, it sounds like something a warbler would sing during spring migration. But what is really terrific about the phrase "digital economy" is that it can be used in a sentence. My favorite is, "Developing Alaska's digital economy is the best way to expand our overall economic base and give small communities a way to achieve sustainability." My least favorite sentence is "For some unknown reason that I hope someone somewhere understands, the powers-that-be in Alaska seem clueless about developing a digital economy even though everyone seems stressed to the max about our shrinking our economic base."

• The digital economy represents one of the greatest growth areas of our economy.

• People can be part of the digital economy from home, small communities, or wherever there is reasonably fast Internet access. Because of this, digital workers can remain in their small communities where their families and cultures are, while pursuing meaningful careers.

• There are models in the world, like Ireland, in which the government and the private sector worked together to successfully grow the digital economy. We should study these.

• Wherever a digital economy exists, so does the potential to receive education, health care and government services at a distance. While not all needs can be met this way, enough can so that people who choose to live a rural lifestyle have that option. Thankfully, some legislators got beyond the paragraph stage and actually wrote a resolution about the digital economy. Resolution 32 is a very modest, low budget, entirely worthwhile proposal that creates a committee to study Alaska's future information infrastructure needs. My feeling is that if we can't say "digital economy" the least we can do for the citizens of this state is study it. Maybe someday we will actually do something.