JACKSON WOMAN GOES ON-LINE WITH VICE PRESIDENT AL GORE

JACKSON -- On Thursday Jacquelyn Close of Jackson went on-line via computer with Vice President Al Gore, suggesting a national network for environmental research.

Gore responded, "A great idea."

It was the first-ever on-line computer conference with Gore. About 900 people around the world watched as the words were displayed on their computer screens.

Gore typed responses on a computer terminal at the White House.

"It was wonderful," Close said Friday. "I've never had the opportunity to speak to any political official before."

Close said she is a member of CompuServe, which sponsored the computer conference. She said she is not a frequent user of the computer service and had never participated in a conference before Thursday.

Close is working from her home on a science fiction novel. Her husband is an environmental engineer. Close previously worked in that field.

"I correspond with friends of mine who are also writers in California through CompuServe," she said. "Normally I just use their address numbers, but you always get a pop-up window with information about the network."

By reading that information she learned of the vice president's upcoming conference.

"I went ahead and registered for the conference and asked to reserve a space to ask a question," Close explained.

"When I signed up I knew I had a reservation to ask a question. I did not know it would be one of the ones he would answer," she said. "It was really a small miracle."

When she signed on, Close received a message back that her question was third in line. "I was in shock, and they didn't know what my question would be."

She questioned the vice president about a single source repository for environmental data and lab analysis.

"There was a typo in my question," Close said. "That's one of the problems when you are on-line and live. I had typed `and' as `dna.'"

A reporter from the Christian Science Monitor called her Thursday night to ask about her question. He was curious about her reference to "dna lab analysis."

Close said questions were limited in length. "If the question was too long they would not put it through," she explained. "It was very difficult to ask an intelligent question in three lines or less. I spent all of yesterday trying to come up with the ideas and continuing to try to boil it down to just three lines."

She said the computer conference offers yet another avenue for citizens to participate in the political process.

"I really felt it was a very beneficial opportunity," she said. "I had a friend who stood in line for hours waiting to touch Bill Clinton's finger. I spent an hour on the phone in the comfort of my own home with the vice president."

The conference and Close's comments were reported in Friday's USA Today and the session was shown live on C-SPAN. But it didn't make for exciting video. The announcer said, "I feel like I'm narrating a golf match."