Aprill Brandon: Oh my, World Wide Web, how you've grown
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It is perhaps the most important invention of our time next to Red Bull.
This year, the World Wide Web celebrates its 20th anniversary. Er, well, we think so.
Trying to pin down the exact date of its birth is next to impossible thanks to all the misinformation out there on the Web (which actually ironically highlights the issues with having so much information available at one's fingertips).
Regardless, I needed a column topic, and so we're going with today. Yay!
Now mind you, we are celebrating the Web, which is not to be confused with the Internet. Being a techno-idiot, I scoured said Web to find an easy-to-understand definition of the difference. Sadly, the only one that made sense to me is geared toward senior citizens, thus effectively highlighting what a poor excuse I am for a hip 20-something.
According to the Glossary of Computer and Internet Terms for Older Adults from the National Institute on Aging (my walker should be arriving any day now):
"Also known as the Web, it is a system that lets you access information on the Internet. People often use the term Web to refer to the Internet, but they are not exactly the same thing. The World Wide Web operates over the Internet, and it is the most widely used part of the Internet."
And so, in honor of this momentous occasion, I'd like to give a brief history of the World Wide Web and how its invention has affected the average person (re: me).
1989: Tim Berners-Lee makes the first proposal for the World Wide Web. I'm too busy hanging up my New Kids on the Block posters to care.
1992: The term "surfing the Internet" is coined by Jean Armour Polly. Meanwhile, I'm still looking up information for my homework in the encyclopedia (Psst, kids, those were Google in book form) and newspaper headlines (Psst, kids, those were Twitter in print form).
1994: Netscape Communications, Amazon and Java are all created. In my oh-so-ahead-of-its-time public school, I'm taking Typing 101 with Mr. Willoughby on a typewriter.
1999: Browser wars declared over with Netscape and Microsoft coming out on top. My mother finally breaks down and gets dial-up for our home computer, leading to several mental breakdowns by yours truly due to Web pages taking four days to load and the computer's tendency, should the phone ring or you sneeze too close to it, to knock you off the server.
2000: Fixed wireless, high-speed Internet technology takes over the copper and fiber optic lines. I finally figure out e-mail and instant messenger, which successfully brings down my college GPA several points.
2005: YouTube.com launches. My friends start uploading videos they took over the weekend, thus effectively ending my chance to ever run for any public office and making me a wanted fugitive in Iowa.
2006: An estimated 92 million Web sites are online. An estimated 92 million minutes of my work day are spent checking out these Web sites.
2007: It's estimated over 1 billion people use the Internet. The only holdouts left in North American are my grandmother and my hippie, vegan (stoner) friend from college, who prefers to, like, live in the real world having real, authentic experiences, man.
2009: My editor requests a story on the anniversary of the World Wide Web. I look up all the information I need in 10 minutes while simultaneously updating my Facebook status, buying an Orlando Bloom poster on eBay, checking out a Jon LaJoie video on YouTube, uploading photos to Myspace and paying off my monthly credit card bills online.
In conclusion, I'd just like to say thank you, Mr. Berners-Lee, for your forward-thinking genius. I may now have the attention span of a gnat, but all in all, the World Wide Web has significantly improved ... oh, look, a new Twitter alert!
Aprill Brandon's column appears every other Wednesday in the Victoria Advocate. To reach her, call 361-581-6584 or e-mail her at abrandon@vicad.com.
Comments
Hi April, Thanks for the cute timeline. Every change made my summers less fun. Way too many hours spent learning how to incorporate it into lessons. Major impact on planning summer vacations. LOL I was always amazed at how enthusiastic the techie instructors were. 2 to 3K a week for the instruction beat the heck out of their regular teaching salaries.
August 3, 2009 at 10:51 a.m.Yep! I copied them straight from the Advocates User Policy. I had to double check them one day as I had been deleted.
After reviewing them, I find that I can only say a few things.
1) Hi
2) I'm sorry
3) Have a nice day
Outside of that we are all breaking a rule of some kind.
August 3, 2009 at 10:25 a.m.N45.....rukidding right? Did you just make that up?
Bighorn....you have been cracking me up lately...you really need to hang around more often.
August 2, 2009 at 9:38 p.m.Now everyone look at bighorn's comment. That is how you properly and scathingly--though tastefully--critique a blog posting.
Thanks for your time. And bighorn, thanks for the laugh.
August 2, 2009 at 9:14 a.m.Waste of space. The number of "I"'s in Ms. Brandon's is equaled only by the stars in the Milky Way. For you Stoners, google it.
August 2, 2009 at 5:27 a.m.The user Policy has gotten bigger since the first time I saw the forum.
About your posts:
August 2, 2009 at 4:27 a.m.Contributions must be civil and tasteful, not mean-spirited or contributed with the intention of causing trouble.
Be civil to each other. No personal attacks, name-calling, stalking or harassing another user.
No disruptive, offensive or abusive behavior
Stay on topic
No instigating or encouraging others to commit illegal activities or cause injury or property damage to any person.
Do not use ethnic or racial slurs, or attacks against someone for their sexual orientation or religion
No profanity or vulgar language
No spamming or off-topic material: we don't allow the submission of the same or very similar contributions many times. Please don't re-submit your contribution to more than one discussion, or contribute off-topic material in subject-specific areas.
No flooding of comments or blogs. Please limit your blog postings to one every 6 hours.
No advertising or promoting.
Do not threaten violence against anyone
No stating of unsubstantiated information as fact.
No uploading or posting any off-topic or irrelevant material.
URLs (web site addresses) can only be posted if allowed under any relevant local house rules.
N45blahblahblah....actually, I am not "sensitive", but the average age of the people who actually buy the paper is sensitive, like my parents, who don't find such things amusing. I thought the paper was against the use of illegal drugs & yet their own reporter refers to a friend who is a pothead in an enderaing fashion. What kind of message are they sending?
Also a tad hypocritical of them, when they delete comments they deem unacceptable, that do not violate the actual terms of usage.
August 1, 2009 at 11:15 p.m.Al Gore claimed he did, back when he was giving speeches while running alongside Wild Bill.
http://www.sethf.com/gore/
This claim of his is no more hysterical than Hillaries claim to have landed "Under Sniper Fire".
August 1, 2009 at 10:37 a.m.who says that Al Gore invented the internet? that's news to this old stoner!
August 1, 2009 at 10:16 a.m.Oh c'mon, maybe April should have used Hippie? Nahh, thats a little old fashioned and all hippies didn't use drugs.
How about "friend that used something other than alcohol to find a way to relax"? Yeah, thats too long.
Maybe, "friend that liked to get high"? Naah, it still insinuates drug use. Remember when Jim Morrison and The Doors were told they were prohibited from using the phrase "Get much higher" in their song "Light my Fire". And they did it anyway.
The people trying to stop them were the ultra-sensitive types like VBB.
Thanks April Brandon for your efforts to buck the system a little and do what you do. It's good for Victoria to see that there is a world outside of this one.
August 1, 2009 at 9:55 a.m.I'm not talking to April...my comment was directed at N4whatever.
August 1, 2009 at 12:38 a.m.Ok, I stand corrected...stoner is fine for a family paper but my comment, as innocuous as it was, is not fine for this forum. I didn't delete my own comment BTW.
How bout the line from the Trident commercial.....chew on this.
August 1, 2009 at 12:06 a.m.This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.
July 31, 2009 at 11:34 p.m.That's their claim....I stand by my statement....inappropriate for the newspaper, would've been fine in her blog.
July 31, 2009 at 11:32 p.m.April you Rock Girl!
July 31, 2009 at 11:03 p.m.Great article April. Stoner friend...LMAO!!!
VBB try to lighten up a little. Family paper??? Heaven forbid someone use the word stoner in the same paper as "shooting and stabbing".
Family paper! Thats as funny as stoner.
July 31, 2009 at 10:26 p.m.I will admit, the stoner friend part had me stop for a minute. Wasn't sure that would of been something to put in there, but there it is!
July 30, 2009 at 8:19 a.m.stoned and on red bull.. whee
July 29, 2009 at 10:28 p.m.I was offended by the reference to her stoner friend...a tad inappropriate in a family paper.
July 29, 2009 at 9:40 p.m.ReyRey, if that is what happened then I am sorry to hear it, but you cannot have everyone censor their stories because you had a bad incident. I had friends killed in car wrecks, yet I do not attack stories that talk about cars without telling the danger that could be involved.
July 29, 2009 at 9:38 p.m.Aprill...If you seriously want to know the EXACT age of the internet, shoot an e-mail to Al Gore. After all, HE invented it and should remember when.
July 29, 2009 at 9:05 p.m.Ban Redbull Mr. Obama!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously tho, lots of caffeine and sugar, add a little alcohol and it makes a Da** good blaster.
Red bull is no where near as harmful as good old No-Doze tablet, I would guess 3 or 4 thousand No-Doze tablets would fit in a Red Bull can.While were at it, a person could probably cram about a half pound of crank, meth, ice whatever, in a Red Bull can.
July 29, 2009 at 6:48 p.m.itsallfunny, yes is funny specially when one possibly had a family passed away due to a heart problem and that person drinking redbull. Now, if you like sarcasm, I am happy for you and do hope that nothings happens to you. Enjoy, I was just making a comment about possibly connection between people dying and drinking redbull.
July 29, 2009 at 6:13 p.m.And yes, whether is is a good one or not, RedBull did indeed start off a huge trend of energy drinks. It is a true statement and makes sense to those of us who think is through.
July 29, 2009 at 3:07 p.m.Oh good gosh. For real?? We are so bitter at the world that we are going to point out a RedBull comparison?? People say "best thing since sliced bread". What about the many kids and children who choke on bread? OR get electrocuted with the toaster. Really??? If the "young crowd" is reading this, then they already know about RedBull and it is their parents duty to let them drink it or not. If they don't know about RedBull and RUSH to the store because of Aprill's story to buy it, then great. WHO CARES????? Look at commercials hawking sodas, mcdonald's, CARS KILL as well but are being sold and mentioned. I am done now.
July 29, 2009 at 3:06 p.m.Red Bull comparison or not, nice story! Entertaining and informative :)
July 29, 2009 at 2:50 p.m.I know that you audience is the high school crow but you might want to rethink about the redbull statement or comparison. Although redbull is not the main point of the story, you are claiming that is the second most important discovery right after the internet, however, you neglected to inform us that Redbull is not a healthy drink. You being a newspaper reporter should not be encouraging people to drink it due to the damage that this drink could cause people with heart condition and just in case, young people dont think they could have a condition as such. Although the drink has not been the direct reason why people got heart attacks, it sure was one of the contributors. Please, think before you submit your reports, redbull was a bad comparison and perhaps this comment should not be directed towards you; you are young but more to your editor for not catching such a careless oversight. Once again, there has been reports of young people with heart conditions that have died due to drinking this stuff before exercising. Just in case you want to compared to coffee consumption, I dont know many young people that drink a few cups of Java before a pick up game.
July 29, 2009 at 12:50 p.m.