The Associated Press Stylebook is to a newspaperman what the Bible is to the theologian — to be studied with great devotion, it's teachings to be absorbed into the conscience, it's lessons committed to memory.
And, like the theologian, we in the newspaper business are made most uneasy when presented with a change in how our bible is to be interpreted — when what was once wrong has, seemingly overnight, become right.
It can shake one's foundations a bit, cause questioning of our faith in other long held, agreed upon precepts of usage.
Recently, AP announced what we, in fact, considered a welcome change in the Stylebook, one which we believe has been long overdue: henceforth, AP style calls for the word “internet” to be spelled with a lower-case “i,” just as telephone has for ages been spelled with a lower-case “t.”
So after more than 40 years the internet has become as ubiquitous as the telephone.
Although, in fact, the internet is not quite so ubiquitous for, like cellphone service, internet service is not really available everywhere, especially in rural areas, where connectivity can be so slow that, for all practical purposes, it is nonexistent.
If there is one goal we would put before the Knox County Development Corp., it would be to make availability to reliable, high-speed internet service truly universal in the county, so that from Sandborn to Decker Chapel the quest for information could be instantaneously satisfied.
Why not make Knox County the first “GigaCounty” in Indiana?
Granted, that's a giga-sized goal, especially in a county where in many places getting an adequate cellphone signal (or any signal at all) can be a challenge.
It took years to bring electricity to all parts of the county.
The same for telephone service.
In both cases, it really wasn't until after those services were readily available that users discovered them to be absolutely vital in dramatically improving their quality of life.
In the case of high-speed internet service, we'd venture to say such a realization as to its beneficence to quality of life has already been realized.
This isn't just a whimsical idea.
All aspects of the future will depend on access to the lightning-speed distribution of information — education, business, health care, security — everything.
The goal of those directing the future of Knox County should be in devising a path to making that happen.
In the meantime, where high-speed internet does exist, making it accessible is important — and by accessible, we mean affordable.
Every Knox County household in which there are students attending the county's public schools (including Vincennes University) should have access to the fastest internet service available.
This will likely require some form of subsidy, given the number of students in our schools who qualify for the free-and-reduced lunch program.
But if we can agree to tax abatements for businesses, we should be creative enough to devise a way to provide some similar type of aid to families.
We shouldn't shy away from taking on big, bold initiatives.
We should, in fact, embrace them and see them through to fruition — and be great.