The Cybercafe phenomenon took off around the world recently, with the massive interest in the Internet and all things Webular. Outlets like Cyberia in London and others in Singapore, New York and San Francisco have all been immensely successful in providing customers with a unique blend of modern technology and traditional coffeehouse ambiance, in which they can experience the wonders of the Net. To put it in another way, a cybercafe is a cross between a college cafeteria and the computer lab - you get computers all over the place allowing you to surf the web at your leisure for an hourly fee while if you ever feel in need of sustenance after all that suffering, a cup of coffee and something to munch on isn't it too far off either. Commenting on the cybercafe phenomenon, David Brettell, a computer teacher at Overseas School Colombo (OSC) and a long standing nethead says, "The cybercafes are really a good thing because they allow people who can't afford their own computer or their own Internet connection to surf the Internet. I just hope that these are places with relax and friendly atmosphere and good comfy chairs and tables. You know it's very difficult to work well at a computer when you've got to sit on straight backed chairs or at tables which are too high!"
At the moment, two cybercafes are raring to go and we visited one of them. The Cyber Cafe (Pvt) Ltd., which is situated down Union Place in an unpre-possessing building a couple of doors down from San Remo's. The interior, like the other cybercafes around the world, is a cross between a cafe and a computer room. The carpets are a beautiful royal blue, and a vivid painting by Sri Lankan painter Sita Joseph de Saram dominate one wall. There are computers set up all around the room against the walls and in one corner, you get a bar of Swedish pine which has a coffee machine and soft drinks machine. As far as the cafe part of the operation goes, the people at The Cyber Cafe hop to have many varieties of coffee such as espresso, capuccino, moccashino etc. As well as short eats like chocolate chip cookies and brownies for their customers. For lunch, they might go for something a bit more filling like pizzas. The price range proposed is somewhat less than that of a five star hotel, which will prove to be a blessing to many Colomboans sick of paying extortionate prices for food and service.
The second cafe is to be called "The Surfboard" and it is a joint venture between Lanka Internet Services Ltd. (LISL), ltech innovations and the Galadari Hotel and will be situated at the Galadari next door to the new karaoke lounge that is also set to come up. Vaseeharan Nesiah from Lanka Internet says, "The whole cafe will have a surfer theme (surfin' on the Net, geddit?) with "The Beach Boys" playing in the background and surfboards (maybe) all around the place. It will be called an Internet cafe as opposed to a cybercafe and they have come up with the catch phrase - the coolest Internet cafe in Asia!" They too will be having a section devoted to serving food while there will be 7 or 8 computers to allow people to surf the Net. The Surfboard aims to be a cool, casual and wacky site with even the food served their having funny names (such as a banana split being called "A Pamela Anderson Special").
The management at both the cafes agree that the whole aim of their individual operations is to provide an atmosphere which is friendly and informal. A place where the young and the old can surf the web, play computer games, check out the latest multimedia CD-ROM's and even just hang out. A place where even a grandmother might like to go once she gets in to the mood of things. Currently teenagers in Sri Lanka have no place to hang out, except the shopping malls, so the cybercafe phenomenon could indeed prove to be a great boon to the younger generation and if they learn to surf the web by just hanging around the place, well that could be an added bonus. Mom, I'am going to go hang out with the gang and check out the Library of Congress at the same time. No problem.
Both the cafes are using the very latest in computer technology in order to enable their patrons to access the Net speedily and efficiently. The machines will be pentiums with oodles of RAM to ensure good perfomance. The machines will obviously be networked and Windows '95 will be the preferred operating system with maybe a Windows NT server being the backbone. Both cafes have about 6 or 7 machines and these are fully multimedia capable in order to make the best use of the Internet facilities like Iphone and Real Audio. Iphone stands for Internet phone and allows one to talk to another person connected to the Internet as if you were both speaking by phone (and you can talk to anyone anywhere in the world - if they've got Internet connectivity - for the price of a local phone call). Real Audio is a method whereby sound clips - excerpts from the new Oasis album for instance - could be played over the Internet. Real Audio was recently used by Lanka Internet Services in Sri Lanka to post the World Cup Cricket commentaries on the Net, and proved immensely popular.
In addition to the fact that the machines used at the cafes are extremely fast, as the connection is a 64 kb (that's kilo bits or thousands of bits, for the uninitiated) leased line, the users of the cafe will have extremely fast access (just consider the fact that a normal connection through a service provider just get you 14400 bits per second, maximum) to the Net. In fact, takes about 1.5 minutes to download IMB over a 64 kb line (on average) whereas its takes about 10 minutes on a normal Internet connection via a service provider (talk about speed!). This will allow user to use facilities like Iphone and Real Audio at normal speed instead of having to go through a lot of delays as happens when one has just a 14400 bps connection. Now, for the software. All the software used for Internet connectivity will obviously be Win '95 compatible as they are running the new Windows on all of their machines and this means that the software will be extremely easy to use for first time users. According to Kevin Koelmeyer, the man in charge of the technical and training aspects at the Cyber Cafe they have been looking at several web browsers, mail readers, ftp software etc., evaluating them on ease of use and will be selecting the easiest software for use in the cafe. They are also thinking of getting Microsoft Internet server which comes with all the tools necessary for surfing the Net such as web browsers, ftp, e-mail, gopher etc.
The staff at the cafes will train newbies in using the Net, allow gamers to play their favourite single player or multi player games, or even let people just watch others surfing the Net and gain an understanding about the whole thing. The cafes will also allow experienced surfers to roam the Internet for an hourly fee, let people maintain their own e-mail boxes etc., thus provided people with a painless introduction to the Net, and a comfortable, informal area in which corporations and companies can send their executives and employees to be trained in the new technology. Other things that the cafes can provide are movie nights (where the latest cyberspace thriller, with the accompanying web site, is shown) and even celebrity chat nights with the likes of Mick Jagger, Cindy Crawford and Captain Jean Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) of the USS Enterprise, all of whom have recently logged on for sessions organised by US servers like Prodigy, Compuserve and America Online.
At the Cyber Cafe, there are to be two types of Internet access - are those who casual, drop-in use can pay on an hourly basis and just surf the Net and if they want to send e-mail address can do so under the cafe's general address and receive mail via the same address those seeking confidentiality for their correspondence, can however pay an yearly fee of Rs. 3500 and get these own e-mail address. Under the latter scheme, they will not be charged anything extra for their e-mail but will still have to pay for browsing the web.
At the Surfboard, users can get there own e-mail address for a monthly fee of Rs. 250 (all these can mail for just 250 g) and there can be drop in customers or people who are card carrying members.
The members will get discounts and concessions on other facilities provided at the Galadari and will also get discounts when (or if) they get an Internet connection from LISL. The people at the Cyber Cafe also hope to have participatory programs and competitions for their members. One such planned item is to have a deathmatch competition to choose the ultimate deathmatch champion. So, those who plan to be the Doom master or the Hexen hellion or the Descent demon had better grab their weapons and start practicing to be the best of the best! They will also be stocking a library of the latest computer magazines for the habituees of the cafe to go through and will also have a library of the latest CD-ROM games such as Mortal Kombat 3, Hexen, Wing Commander IV, The Dig, Command & Conquer etc., for the gaming enthusiasts out there. As the whole system is networked, this will mean that the people out there who love deathmatching can have a field day at the cafe. Education hasn't been forgotten either and the CD-ROM library will also have the latest encyclopaedias like Microsoft Encarta and Grolier as well as other reference works on CD for those of their customers who are of a more scholarly bent of mind or who want to do some quick research for a class project etc. The Surfboard, though its is situated in a five star hotel, is not going to be for the bow tie and tuxedo crowd. In fact, they say that their pricing is going to be very competitive and they are actually going for a very casual image. It is rumoured that the first week at The Surfboard will be absolutely free though they might have to institute some sort of a scheme to give everybody a fair chance. In keeping with their cool and wacky image, they have even announced that certain people who further the surfer image (maybe by bringing a surf board with them to the cafe) will be given discounts and concessions (g). The Surfboard will also be putting up its own web site and will allow members of the cafe to put up web pages created by them on this site. They also plan to put up an electronic graffiti board at their web site and allow people to write graffiti on the web and will conduct weekly HTML (that's Hyper Text Mark-up Language, folks!). For people who would like to learn how a web page is created.
The cybercafes will benefit the service providers themselves because this will give the older people a chance to take a minimum expense look at the Net on their own terms and to come to grips with it and learn about its capabilities before they go ahead and invest in a connection of their own through one of the service providers. Even though the younger generation are the ones at the forefront of the computer literate in Sri Lanka, most of them lack the funds and the knowledge to go surfing on the Net because an Internet connection is prohibitively expensive in Sri Lanka at the moment though the cost are slowly coming down. So, the cybercafes will be a great opportunity for youngsters to gain access to the Net cheaply or to just see how it is done by watching others - and maybe even persuade their parents to get a connection for themselves. And, who knows, you may even get your grandmother to surf the Net, if you get her to a cybercafe.
