By Beth Ann Matkovich

The Internet is noted as the source of information today. As a professional, twenty-something, recent master’s graduate, I must confess I know little about it. "Cyber jockeys" and others who "surf the net" are a crew that make me a little nervous. "But there’s so much information out there" they say. Out where? I wonder. Before I got a real job and joined the net-crazy workforce, the only places I went for information were my parents or books in the library. Well, from what I’ve learned, the Internet is a vast information source that has come a long way but, more importantly, has the potential to go further still.

Dan Harple thinks so, and he should know. He’s a former Senior Vice President from Netscape. He’s also the founder and CEO of InSoft, the former Mechanicsburg-based Internet technology software firm that was acquired by Netscape in 1996. Prior to InSoft’s acquisition, Harple and his team pioneered the design of software like Media Server, Media Player, and LiveMedia Platform currently used by Netscape. These products, and others created by Dan and his team at InSoft, are the backbone of multimedia and real-time interactive communication used on the Internet today.

Dan is probably the most intelligent visionary I’ve ever met, but he didn’t step out of the womb knowing all of this stuff about Internet software. For that matter, he didn’t even study computer science in college. At the University of Rhode Island, he earned degrees in both psychology and engineering. Dan first got involved with computer networking in the late 70s and early 80s (yes, a concept of Internet existed even then), when he worked with the Department of Defense in the Naval Underwater Systems Center (a naval resource lab). From there he got more into Extranets (communication outside companies) and Intranets (within companies) through three-dimensional CAD design and analysis working at companies such as AMP and Ingersoll-Rand. Through his education and professional track, he became interested in ergonomics and communication through technology. In English, Dan’s career focus is interactive communication that’s easy and convenient for the user.

Dan has made great inroads in technology design throughout his career. He left Netscape earlier this year to do his own thing, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t busy. His current focus is multi-faceted. He builds and develops company networks, advises venture capital firms, and works to integrate technology in K-12 education. And, as a father of five, he’s also taking time out to work on who he is rather than what he does.

One of his personal business projects is the creation of an Internet "re-contextualizing" business called Context Labs, Inc. Sounds Greek right? Well, Dan says that people are so keyed on web content—or categories—like entertainment, business, science or government, that they miss the context—or meaning— of what’s available. He calls the Internet "the ultimate freedom vehicle," with limitless possibilities of context to be created by each user. For example, musicians are put into categories like rock, pop, reggae, classical, country, etc. to sell. But bands that mix different styles create their own context from the music and thus don’t fit into any one category. It’s a unique creation that has meaning to the artist(s). Dan believes that business opportunities lie in the merger of all categories. He notes, "The point of Context Labs is to acknowledge that we, as humans, experience information overload and to develop tools and products that help us process this vast amount of knowledge by putting it into a context that derives the most meaning to each of us as individuals."

Dan doesn’t have any definitive objectives for Context Labs right now. He says, "You can’t really plan a five-year, let alone a ten-year horizon in this business. The goals for a startup are to focus on breathing, then crawling, then walking. Once you can walk it starts to look more like a ‘traditional’ business. The short term objective is to differentiate a definable niche in a potentially huge market, secure the lead in that niche, and continue to innovate and lead into the future."

Last year Dan launched Patronet.com, an on-line entertainment service, in conjunction with interactive artist and musician Todd Rundgren and his firm, Waking Dreams. Patronet is a context-related idea whereby fans support their favorite artist or band through an annual subscription to a service or combination of services, like video clips, band news or songs. By combining different parts of an artist or band’s web presence, subscribers can create their own context.

As the ultimate freedom vehicle, Dan feels that everyone should learn to use the Internet. Despite the wealth of information available on the web, he guesstimates that this represents a mere two to three percent of human knowledge. That’s like humans only using two to three percent of our brain capacity. He says this number is certainly not static, and anticipates that it will grow exponentially. If we can create new ideas from a combination of existing ideas, we can create more knowledge. He notes, "I see the net, perhaps as more of a facilitator that not only ‘publishes’ knowledge, but actually advances the exponential growth of knowledge. The net is a tool that humans can use to multiply, seed, and grow knowledge." With this development, Dan feels that in the next ten to twenty years the Internet will be virtually everywhere: in your living room, on your wristwatch, and your car dashboard.

As such an explosive medium, the web creates vast opportunities for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Dan contends that the web provides a degree of anonymity and thus offers an advantage to small companies. For example, a person in a small Midwest town doesn’t need to know that the computer software company they order from is run from someone’s garage on the East Coast. If that small software company’s web presence is done cleverly, it will imply something larger. What Dan and his team did at InSoft, and later at Netscape, was create technologies that became the foundation for the way the media is distributed on the Internet.