Over the years he has developed a custom patient records management system that is working well for his practice, and each day he modifies it to meet the changing needs. After we met at the hospital I went to his home office and looked at the software. As he was showing me the records and talking about the sensitivity of medical information in a small town, I thought his combination of programming skills, personal knowledge of so many people, and strong local involvement in civic affairs gave new meaning to "pillar of a community."

He admitted that he steered the MIRA team project to focus on health. "A lot of the training was ra-ra stuff. I thought there would be more stuff you could sink your teeth into." He admitted that the project provided the stimulus for an even bigger project, and they used the Avid digital video system to make a humorous video that poked fun at Cliff and raised funds for a teleradiology grant where local people matched the Department of Commerce funds. One of the problems with digital storytelling files is that they frequently sit on a computer or a CD-ROM and are too large for many Internet users to easily view. The MIRA team made a VHS tape and gave it great exposure by running it on a loop at the local bank in the public area. A former executive with Great Plains Telephone Company helped get connectivity for the medical project because Qwest showed no interest at all. The young people took to the technology, while some of the older ones worried about it. Now, however, there is a computer in the senior center and the library.

After a hospital meal in the conference room we toured the facility and saw the teleradiology equipment that was linked by point-to-point radio with the North Platte Great Plains Regional Medical Center. Only a couple of people knew how to operate the equipment, but it was already proving to be very useful in getting quick diagnoses following accidents. There was also a wireless, high-speed link to Cliff's house. The town seemed quite advanced in the service options. When MIRA started there were ISPs serving Grant, and by the end of 2000, cable modem service was offered. The MIRA team helped raise $450,000 in matching funds for the teleradiology grant that was awarded to Cliff's hospital. In a transcript from the National Farm Broadcast Service, John Stritt commented about the MIRA process, "The biggest piece that they played in was providing the training, bringing in some outside speakers, economic developers, leaders in community development part. And they provided the training, or at least the discussion to lead us into the planning process of it. Quite naturally, the other piece of it that enabled us to do and carry out the project that we were going to do was the financial funding that went along with it. But those two components were equally important in terms, I think, achieving the success or reaching for the goals that they did."

The next day at the high school Janet Lagler showed me the library and the media lab. Outside were a series of student snapshots of portraits that had been distorted using Photoshop. Young people would pop into the library, do a search and some quick research and leave. It was clear that the young here and in many other places had integrated the use of this technology into their lives, both for fun and for serious research.