E Business caught up with Soledad O'Brien, host of The Site. O'Brien gave us her perspective on the technology industry -- as well as interesting O'Brien tidbits. A familiar face on both tv and computer screen, O'Brien has become a "trusted advisor" to many web surfers.  She's used to asking the questions viewers want answered, but  this time, we were the ones doing the asking...

 EB: As an English major with medical ambitions, did you ever expect to end up where you are today?

 SO: Yes -- sort of. I decided medicine was not for me because I  prefer to read literature (even bad literature!), and I love to write. Once I did an internship (at WBZ-TV), I was completely sold. I love  the energy of a news room; I love working on a breaking story; I love journalism.

 EB: What's the most interesting part of being a TV host of an Internet-related show?

 SO: I think the challenge of making
  what is a potentially visually deadly
  subject interesting is our biggest
  challenge, as a group. What I find
  most interesting, personally, is the
  opportunity to meet and interview
  some of the industry's biggest
  players. Keeping up with the
  technology requires constant work on
  my part. And I think the best part of
  my job is the interaction with the
  audience -- taking a question
  someone emailed in and asking our
  guest because "our viewers want to
  know . . ."

 EB: Audiences obviously trust you to
  ask those questions, to dig beneath
  the jargon. For many viewers, you've
  become a web icon -- there's even a
  web-based Soledad O'Brien Fan
  Club. To what do you attribute your
  success in the world of technology
  media?

 SO: Hmmm, I'm not exactly sure I'm a
  web icon, but I would say that our
  show is successful because of the
  way we handle our material.
  Technology (like calculus) is scary
  and often confusing. We try to
  present the material in a very
  straightforward way. We don't
  sensationalize things; we don't always
  take a view that a technological
  advance for some is a benefit for all.
  We have a healthy skepticism.

 EB: Probably not a bad strategy in
  such a rapidly changing industry.

 SO: Often viewers will tell me "you ask
  the questions that I would ask." I am
  not a technologist. I am a journalist
  first and foremost, and secondly a
  person who is trying to figure out this
  new technology, along with our
  viewers. I think we're successful
  because we are always exploring the
  relevance of technology in people's
  lives. A faster modem is great -- but
  not if it's priced so high that no one
  can afford it. Wiring schools in the
  inner city is honorable, but not if it
  comes at the cost of school books.

 EB: What do you envision as the
  future of the Internet?

 SO: Uh-oh! This is one of those
  questions that ten years from now I'll
  be sooo embarrassed that I ever
  answered. Seems big money players
  want to use the Internet as a gigantic
  ad . . . which distresses me. I hope
  use of the Internet for grassroots
  organizing becomes more widespread
  and that more people will hook up
  with the virtual communities that
  interest them. I also hope that
  technology becomes so prolific that
  every inner city school will have an
  Internet connection. Think of the
  opportunities this would open to
  children to connect with millions of
  people around the world.

 EB: And what is your position on the Communications Decency
  Act?

 SO: I do not support censorship in any form.

 EB: Do you recall your first steps on the web? What were they and when?

 SO: First steps  on the web . . . I  got on the web  in a major way  really for the  first time about  a year ago. I  was so excited.  We hadn't  started  producing  stories for The  Site, and I  would just go into work at 9am and surf until 5. I thought it was  great. I still think its great. I remember feeling very overwhelmed. I  was using Alta Vista as my search engine, and I would just type in  some random thing: women, and wait to see what would come up.  Of course, I'd get 45,000 hits or something . . . but that seemed  exciting, limitless. When I started to really search for specific  things, that huge number became more of a pain. I got suggestions from people for what sites to check out -- word.com  was one of the early ones, and I love it to this day. It's right up my  ally: literate, interesting, witty. I discovered that I hate reading  newspapers on line.

 EB: Ouch. Hope that doesn't include
  magazines. So, when you surf on
  your personal time, what kinds of
  sites do you visit?

 SO: Personal time? What's that?
  Okay, that's a joke. But I don't have a
  lot of personal time to surf. Either I go
  to the dozen or so sites that I like --
  word.com, suck.com, feed.com,
  salonmag.com, drudgereport.com --
  or, I am surfing to find something very
  specific: a holistic health spa for a
  friend with cancer who can't leave
  southern Florida. A bed and
  breakfast in my neighborhood, for my
  in-laws who are coming for two weeks.

 EB: What makes a web site worth
  revisiting?

 SO: Obviously, changing content and
  updated content. A very useful
  element. Drudgereport.com, for
  example, is just the easiest way to get access to all the news media that I
  would ever want to check out. Ease of
  use. Quick download.

 EB: Given those criteria, what single
  feature do you attribute to many bad
  web sites?

 SO: Hmmm, that's a tough one. I hate
  to say that someone has a bad
  website -- especially the personal
  ones, because the beauty of a
  website is that it grows and changes,
  as you figure out what you want to
  say with it. I'm not a huge fan of big
  clunky corporate websites that have
  zero personality. For example, I'm a
  huge HUGE fan of singer Luther
  Vandross, yet his website -- yeech. It
  says nothing about Luther, the guy
  with the amazing voice. It's just there
  -- as if some corporate honcho said,
 " hey everybody's got a website, we
  gotta get one too." Also, overuse of
  frames drives me nuts.

 EB: What do you think is the coolest
  feature of The Site?

 SO: My favorite segment to do is the
  Dev segment. I think Dev is a great
  metaphor for our show in some ways
  -- very high tech, yet completely
  understandable and enjoyable.
  Technology doesn't have to be dry
  and boring.

 EB: For The Site, what kinds of
  responsibilities do you have in terms
  of the web site counterpart?

 SO: The Site's website builds on what
  airs on television -- it complements
  the show, but also stands alone. The
  Site has a team of web producers,
  researchers, and editors who run our
  website, and my role is to contribute a
  column. For example, this week the
  subject is my recent shark dive in the
  Bahamas.

 EB: Having written material for The
  Site's web site, do you feel that
  content for the web needs to be
  approached differently than content
  for traditional mediums?

 SO: I think the rules of traditional
  reporting hold true, but I personally
  have found with my contributions to
  our website, that I enjoy telling a story
  from my personal perspective. I get to
  add my own voice on the
  web -- I enjoy that. When I wrote my
  column about our shark dive, I was
  able to incorporate my own voice.
  The piece that airs on television, on
  the other hand, will be the specifics of
  the technology about which we're
  reporting.

 EB: Speaking of murky waters, I read
  in one of your FAQs that you are an
  AOL subscriber. Really?

 SO:Yup, it's true, my husband and I
  got an account when he was in
  business school.

 EB: What has made you stick out the
  busy signals?

 SO: I've actually TRIED to cancel my
  service (by phone), and it is
  IMPOSSIBLE to get through, so I'm
  still being charged 19.95 a month. I
  don't really use AOL any more, and it
  has nothing to do with the quality of
  service. I have a T1 connection at
  work, and I can walk to work in five
  minutes, and I spend about 12 hours
  a day at work, so the last thing I want
  to do when I get home is surf the web.

 EB: Which probably also means that
  you don't spend a lot of time lounging
  in 3D worlds. But, if you had a VRML
  avatar, what would it look like and
  what would it be called?

SO:  I   hate anonymity. I really don't
get a kick out being something I'm not, so as boring as it is, I'd be a brown haired girl (just the face, no body!).

 EB: That's fair. So when all is said
  and done, on a scale of 1 (not very
  technical) to 10 (extremely technical), how technical are you?

 SO: Yipes-let's see, I'm not a ten. I'm probably a seven. I think my
  biggest asset is being able to ask questions about technology --
  not really being all that knowledgeable about it.

 EB: What is on your wish list for technological advances? I mean,are you anxiously awaiting a Java-fied toaster, or would you be content with . . . ?

 SO: Nah, no Javafied toaster . . . first on my technological advance wish list: make it all easier to use. There's no way I could ship my mom a PC and have her be able to assemble it and  install software. The whole experience (I know they call it "out of box experience" which sounds a little too market-y for me) should  be easier - straightforward, and much more intuitive. If software makers and hardware makers really want to reach 70 percent of  the people who don't have computers, they should make them easier to use, and cheaper.