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A number of East Side Austin graffiti artists painted images all around the cafe like this striking mask by Morgan Brown. After checking out the story on the page you're reading, take a gander at our tek overview of the cafe, too.	Sidebar: Another artist, Robert Herrera, says he is just discovering the benefits Cyberspace has for talented people like himself.

By Rick Brown

These days, when we speak of going to imaginary places like "The Net," "The Web" and even, (salute!) "America On-Line," it's easy to forget they are still the realm of only a lucky and select few.

A central problem -- perhaps the central problem -- in the on-going Web revolution is one of delivery. Discount prices for bare-bones personal systems are hovering at a cool grand, no little amount. The problem is expanding net benefits to the population at large, many of whom can't afford the price of admission.

One solution might be found on the menu of your local computer cafe.

The concept of cafe as entry point into the electronic ether is taking shape in a number of contexts worldwide, but in Austin it finds its most advanced state in the multi-cultural world just east of U.S. Interstate 35 on Manor Road.

At the Multi-Media Cafe, founder Brad Kittel and his partners are brewing a bracing cup of high-tech joe they hope will jumpstart a local creative industry.

Brad's approach is a "more-than-the-sum-of-its-parts" kind of thing:. The cafe is more than its 15 or so enclosed, rentable media booths, each ready and waiting for a quick game of Doom, group presentation, or hour of graphics work. (So cunning are these little booths in their Formica and Nauga-hide glory - so reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino's Jack Rabbit Slim's.)

The cafe is also more than its four Cybermind game stations, with their shoot-'em-up and billiard competitions in total immersion virtual reality, its adjacent 48-track analog and digital recording studio, or its computer-based audio and video post-production suite, replete with equipment to edit and master CD ROMs.

No, the whole thing works together with a few more pieces to become what Brad is calling the Discovery Incubator. And at the base of The Discovery Incubator is the concept of personal empowerment.

Brad's idea is to help small and free-lance developers realize their production goals without selling off the bulk of their intellectual property. He's doing that by helping them tap into a consortium of service providers affiliated with the cafe.

Some of those providers are on site. East Austin Recording Studios, a.k.a. EARS, will oversee the sound set up, while Randy's Room will burn CDs, both audio and multi-media. Go-Go Studios is expanding their software production and development effort to a location at the cafe.

With master in hand, the budding publisher can take advantage of services provided by another affiliate, Souler System Publishing. Souler System can help clients negotiate traditional contracts with recording companies or publishing houses in addition to offering advice on non-traditional marketing through the Internet.

Brad et al held a private, fairly quiet opening for the Multi-Media Cafe April 1, and he and his engineers are still working hard to bring all the pieces together in the coming weeks. But make no mistake, the framework is there and filling out quickly.

And indications are that the cafe will be a pretty cool place to hang out. (We say that with all humbleness, since you may run into the Digital Axis Monthly editorial staff in one of the booths, pushing to get the mag out on time.)

Talented east side graffiti artists
have riffed on the cyberspace theme inside and out. A traditional coffeehouse performance space that also sports a window into the recording studio stands off the media booths.

Computer booths at the Multi-Media Cafe

Then there's the virtual reality games! At five dollars a pop, they can get expensive, but Brad intends to inundate nearby schools with two-for-one coupons and is considering a modified king-of-the-hill structure for playing: Anyone who can win three games in a row will play for free until he is knocked off by another player. Reducing prices on games and providing free play for champions is one way Brad plans to reach out to the changing community around the cafe. He's also planning a series of internships so the most talented students can further their skills.

With his company, Discovery Investments, Brad has been buying dilapidated homes for renovation on Austin disadvantaged east side over the past 10 years. Among those, he estimates he's bought more than 20 houses that were condemned and set for demolition, including a number of crack houses.

He said that even the former grocery that houses the Multi-Media Cafe was allegedly one of the primary Austin locations to convert food stamps into cash.

The Discovery Incubator isn't the first to mine the concept of a cafe based on computers. A loose affiliation of about 40 such venues worldwide already is operating under the name Electronic Cafe International, including outlets in Paris, Toronto and New York and such countries as South Africa, Nicaragua, Cuba and Brazil. One of this stripe is in the works for Austin, too, but more on that in a later issue.

ECI's founder, Kit Galloway, estimates about 30 "electronic" cafes are in operation worldwide besides the 40 or so on his net, and those numbers will only increase as the market, but not necessarily the disposable income, for net connection increases.

So it looks increasingly like when people say they'll see you on the net, they could be sipping a nice latte and flirting with the dude or babe in the next booth, even as they wink at you on line.