CRUISING THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY - ONLINE SERVICES AND ELECTRONIC MAIL FOR PHYSICIANS AND FAMILIES

Commercial online service providers, bulletin board services, and the Internet make up the rapidly expanding ''information highway.'' Physic ians and their families can use these services for professional and pe rsonal communication, for recreation and commerce, and to obtain refer ence information and computer software. Commercial providers include A merica Online, CompuServe, GEnie, and MCIMail. Internet access can be obtained indirectly through America Online or directly through special ized access providers. Today's online services are destined to evolve into a National Information Infrastructure that will change the way we work and play.