Press Release

The National Association of Webmasters, San Diego Mayor Susan Golding Host Webfair98 at WebScience 2000 Internet Expo

Program Introduces Kids to Cutting Edge Technology and the People Behind It

February 4, 1998 - SAN DIEGO- The National Association of Webmasters and Mayor Susan Golding (NAW) hosted dozens of local school children at Webfair98 today at the San Diego Convention Center during Webscience2000, an Internet trade show and conference. Webfair98 is the National Association of Webmasters program to bring young people into a hands-on environment with the latest networking technology and give them the opportunity to interact with the people creating it.

With our fiber optic infrastructure and dense concentration of high tech firms, I have long said that San Diego is poised to become the first great city of the 21st century, and programs like Webfair98 are the key to fulfilling that promise,* Mayor Golding said. *But a great city is more than architecture and infrastructure. A great city is about vision, and the vivid imagination of its people, and here today that vision gets sparked in the imagination of these children.

Through Webfair98, San Diego school children can explore the latest technology and ask questions of technologists and Web professionals from leading Internet firms. Webfair98 will help students develop a high-level understanding of a web professional's responsibilities, what opportunities currently exist and what the future holds. Webfair98 in San Diego will introduce students to skills required in web development and allow them to decide whether a career in this field is for them.

Bill Cullifer, executive director of the National Association of Webmasters and Webfair98's progenitor, said that the San Diego event is the latest in series of efforts by the Association. "Mayor Golding has done a wonderful job opening up San Diego to high tech business" said Cullifer. NAW has been training inner-city young adults since the Spring of 1997. In August, NAW joined with Boston-based CitySoft, (http://www.citysoft.com) a for-profit Web development firm in its start-up phase, to co-sponsor the "Urban Entrepreneur" program.

WebScience 2000 is a regional Internet training expo focusing on small business with exhibitors including IBM, AT&T, Microsoft and US Web. Webscience 2000 selected San Diego as the venue for this inaugural conference because of the region's abundance of high-tech firms, and growing influence in the technology arena. Attendees of the show will represent a wide cross-section of business interests, from telecommunications and computers to biotechnology and education.

The National Association of Webmasters (http://www.joinwow.org) was founded in 1996 by professionals with proven track records in education, data-processing, Internet consulting, telecommunications and marketing. The purpose of the Association is to support and enhance the role of individuals and organizations who create, manage or market web sites.

Mayor Susan Golding was elected to a second term in 1996, with a record 78% of the vote. When she first took office in 1992, the San Diego economy was reeling from the impact of cutbacks in defense spending. Under her leadership, San Diego's economy was transformed into a major hub of high technology, boasting more than 600 software firms, the third largest concentration of biotech firms in the United States, and enough telecom firms that the New York Times dubbed the region *Telecom Valley.* More information about the vision and policies of Mayor Golding can be found at http://www.sannet.gov/mayor/