Reflections at the Year 2000
Editorial by Loren Phillips
Published 1/1/2000
This new year has been a time of great reflection for many on the course of human culture over the past 1000 years. While many significant events have taken place, I personally feel that the most important achievement has been the establishment of global communication. With roots in the transport of letters via ocean-crossing ships, to the telegraph, to telephone and television, our current state of satellite and internet-based technology brings the planet instantly together as has never occured before. While global communication has had a profound impact on areas like financial markets, national security, and science, its most important impact has been on the lives of individual citizens learning more about the world around them. Humans no longer exist in their own corners of the world. Now we know, understand, and care about what happens to people countless miles from our homes. We can communicate in real time, without regard to cultural differences, in a pure environment where only our thoughts and opinions are important, not our appearance or our background.
It is this concept that is the very heart of Echo Station. While it began so many years ago as a publication about Star Wars releate material, Echo has evolved into a truly global community of people. Some of these people are contributors, while others post on the message boards. Still more people simply read the thoughts and views of those who write, and very often grace my inbox with an email of their comments. To me, these unexpected emails are the greatest support we receive...a small reminder that the names we see daily on our site are only there because of the people whose names do not appear. The best articles and services we could provide would be meaningless without the countless thousands of people who log into this website.
I do not spend these endless hours working on Echo Station because I have some overwhelming desire to force even more talk about Star Wars upon the masses. This project is an exercise in international teamwork. The topic isn't what's important to me...it's working with people from around the world to reach others to share thoughts and ideas. Never before would I have had the opportunity to have even meet these people, let alone spend day after day in conversation with them, without the common interest of Star Wars and the vehicle of Echo Station to keep us in touch.
This global communication method we lovingly refer to as the Internet was just science fiction to me as a child. I grew up without personal computers, cellphones, VCRs, and cable tv. I could never have imagined sitting here 25 years later, writing an electronic document that would be available to someone on the other side of the planet upon the mere tap of my finger on a piece of plastic. Even now I often sit back in amazement of the work I do each day. My pet phrase, "The Internet is a wonderful thing", seems cliche at times, but carries so much significance to someone who remembers the Old Days. Perhaps that is why I love this work so much...because it's as if I'm now living in a science fiction movie from my childhood. And don't we all wish we could jump into the films we see sometimes?
Star Wars isn't just science fiction - many of the elements of its story represent critical issues of our world today. The story simply gives us the means to address these issues in a hypothetical world where events don't touch our lives quite so deeply. Our message boards are full of posts which began as a simple inquiry about a SW topic, and quickly drift into conversation about personal lives. The friendships which have grown out of this site are as strong as any I have seen grow out of face-to-face meetings. People from different continents share their most intimate thoughts and feelings about themselves and the state of the world, and in return are given invaluable support and friendship.
Echo Station is one of countless Star Wars sites proliferating the Internet, and yet it stands apart from the rest because of the level of readers and writers that make it a true community of unparalled, intelligent, and interesting conversation. The thought-provoking writing in the message boards and articles is what keeps people coming back. Perhaps IGN.com says it best on their site, when they refer to Echo Station as "a sophisticated site for those who are truly committed to the evolving entity we call Star Wars", and represents the caliber of contributions by our staff, our contributors, our posters, and our readers. David and I merely provide the means for these talented individuals to express themselves.
Echo Station is an example of the best effects of the today's level of global communication. It is the product of a planet full of people sharing a common interest and expanding upon it to learn more about the world in which they live.
(Loren Phillips is webmaster for Echo Station, along with her husband, David.)