Photo by foxypar4
This December marks the 20th anniversary of the web.
Not to be confused with last year’s 40th birthday of the Internet. Yup, that’s right. Even though many of us use the words “Internet” and “Web” interchangeably, they’re not the same.
So, to celebrate the 20th anniversary, we want to know about your earliest web memories. What moments come to mind when you think about your first web experiences? Let us know below or call us at the Spark hotline 1-877-34-SPARK.
My first web memory was of buying some dumb modem and dialing into our corporate link to the internet (god knows how we conned the company into setting this up). I typed in nnews and saw a whole new world. I stayed up all that night reading, reading, reading — until the sun came peaking through the windows and I realized that I had to shower and get to work. Since I worked in IT, my wife (even at that time) was used to all-nighters, just not at home. I don't remember it clearly, but I'm sure she looked perplexed when she found me at the kitchen table staring blinding into the screen of my computer.
Soon after that I was on the campus of York University where I was taking a night class in business. One of the profs took me into a computer room at the university and showed me Netscape. it changed my life. Weeks later, I was building my first web site which was laughable by today's standards, but at the time won an award, believe it or not. It was called "The Virtual Office for the Human Resources Professional". It had features that took forever to load, including a simulated elevator that took you from floor to floor (really just HTML pages loading on top of one another). But it was my first venture onto the web – a love affair that never ended. Now I have my own tech company and we are implementing systems that make our first web effort seem like lighting a fire by rubbing two sticks together. But some things never change. I'm 55 but it's 3:30 in the morning and I'm on the Spark blog. Reading, reading, reading….
My very first memory would be when I was living in the UK in the mid 90's. My boss there got the office online, but didn't really want us to use it much. My brother in Toronto had an email address so I would have to sneak onto the computer to send my brother a message. (my boss didn't really know how to use it) It was so wonderful to get a message and reply so quickly without having to wait weeks for a letter. It wasn't long after that my husband and I bought a second hand computer for the bargain of 500 pounds! (it was a bargain then)..
This is not necessarily my earliest memory of the web, but my most poignent, and one that brought me in touch with the idea of living in a posthuman present. I’m remembering my first file sharing and chat experience. It was in 1999 or early 2000 and I was thrilled by the prospect of being able to download and share music through Napster. It’s hard to define the otherworldly, intimate and visceral sensation I experienced when suddenly realizing that through this process I was no longer alone in the room with my computer. We’ve now come to taking these things for granted, but for me it clearly defines the new millenium.