Listen. Remember that?
This past March, the World Wide Web turned 25 years old. Dial up is a thing of the past, as are pages that faded onto the screen in the time it takes to make (and perhaps consume) a PB&J sandwich. In just 25 years, the world – and the way we interact with it – has been transformed. An entirely new culture has arisen. Progress has increased by leaps and bounds. And it’s not slowing down.
But before we jump too far ahead, some background.
What is the World Wide Web?
It all started with a software engineer named Tim Berners-Lee who worked at a particle physicals laboratory called CERN. He invented the World Wide Web in 1989 to allow the physicists in the laboratory to share their data with scientists located across the world (1). The idea was slow to catch on, but within two years the first webpage was live.
Although the two terms are colloquially used interchangeably, the World Wide Web is different from the Internet. Think of it like this: the Internet is a “network of networks.” It basically connects groups of computers to one another. The Web is built on top of this network, essentially making all of that information accessible through hyperlinks. In 1993, the Web went public in the form of a browser called Mosaic. Today we use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and the like, but the general construction of the Web remains (2).
Not your mother’s world
The younger generation of America has never been without straightforward access to the Internet, yet some readers will remember when the most economical long-distance communication was a letter sent through the mail. Information on current events came in the morning newspaper, or perhaps the evening news. Hearing new music required a trip to the store to buy a tape, and there was certainly no such thing as movies on-demand.
The Internet has changed the way we interact with the world. With the World Wide Web came connection. Today, people are finding their old classmates on Facebook. Distant grandparents can interact with their growing families instantly over Skype. Students have access to the latest research. Today, we’re seeing relationships form between people who have never met in person, revolutions start over social media, and sub-communities come together to share their experiences.
At the individual level, the Internet has fundamentally changed the way that we experience the world. But it has also changed the business landscape. With crowd funding tools such as Indiegogo, Kickstarter, and Peerbackers, anyone with a powerful idea can pursue the resources they need to bring a business to life. Brands can talk with consumers instead of merely talking to them. The consumer can research the best products and make purchases from the living room.
But the exciting part is that this is still only the beginning.
Looking ahead
When the World Wide Web opened to the world, it connected people to other people. The next step? Connection between people and their surroundings. We’ve seen smart watches and other wearable tech come into fashion, along with appliances such as smart refrigerators and smart thermostats. On the horizon are 4G connected cars. The online experience will no longer be restricted to computers, but will become a regular component of our physical environments.
So happy birthday, World Wide Web. You’ve come a long way.
Where will we be in the next 25 years? Share your predictions below!
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