What's your Q? Mine is 4142 (maizell).

If the above doesn't mean anything to you today, one day it may mean a great deal. A Q is an alphanumeric code that Alex Blok hopes will become our universal electronic address, or at least our main contact point.

At Qcommand (see addendum below) you will find a Qportal, where you can enter either my Q number, 4142, or my Q name, maizell (or Maizell, it's not case sensitive). Click "Go" and you'll be whisked to my Qgate page, listing all the business and personal information I want you to have.

If I'm out of town I can leave a note on my "Away" card on my Qgate page, telling you where I am and how to contact me between certain dates, or hours. If I decide to look for a job I can post my resumé on the page, and I can even hide it from my current employer, by locking it and giving a special Qkey only to prospective employers.

Obtaining (or "aQuiring," as Qcommand likes to put it) a Q is simple, and it is free. Just click a "Get a Q" link on Qcommand's page, fill out a short form, select any number up to 10 digits, and a name. If your number or name is already in use you'll be prompted to select another.

Your Q can be a combined personal/business one, or you may have separate Qs for each, if you wish.

Anyone with access to the World Wide Web, via any operating system or browser, anyplace in the world, can access your Q page. Similarly, from anyplace where you have Web access, you can change the information it contains, by entering your Q and your Qpin (password).

Eventually, Qcommand hopes to make the Q accessible by telephone as well, which is why it has both numeric and name components.

Qgate pages are cleverly linked to a mapping site. Someone who wants to visit your office, for example, can click "Get driving directions," then be presented with a map and a detailed set of instructions on which roads to take and which turns to make, essentially door to door between any destinations within 1000 miles of each other in the U.S.

Qcommand encourages you to put your Q on your business cards and stationery, and, of course, hopes that in the not-too-distant future a Q will be the most common way of communicating contact information. It certainly is easier to remember 4142 than the entire jumble of office and home phone, fax, pager, e-mail and other contacts the information age has dumped on our sagging plates.

In fact, as an incentive to do just that, Qcommand holds drawings for $1000 prizes, the winners to be selected from among those who have submitted business cards, stationery, brochures, or similar materials featuring their Qs.

I think Q is an idea whose time has come, and have put a Qportal on my Web site's Links page. If you like the idea, get your own Q, and let me know what it is.

I'll be Q-ing you.

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