The ‘Net: Cool Then, Cool Again
posted at 11:01 am
on Sep. 16, 2003
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The ‘Net was cool, back when I started using it (1990, for those keeping track). It was full of braniacs and idealists and people with ADD who found a place that could keep them occupied. (It also let me keep in touch with my long-distance girlfriend—thanks, Internet!)
Then it turned Cool, and even Hot, and there was gold in them thar hills, and I was at networking events with tall women selling products that would never exist and driving BMW Z3s bought with their commissions.
And that was OK, too, because during the boom I met all sorts of friends like Heather and Carlos and Adam and Rob and Mark, who moved from all over the place to near me because the ‘Net was cool—though I suppose that the people who moved away from me to other place, the ones I never met, they would have been cool, too.
Anyway, there were dreamers and schemers and both were interesting and fun, but the basic thing I loved about the Internet got lost a little. A lot. OK, completely.
But then this week I got this email sent to a mailing list I’m on. The mailing list is for people who are involved with a branch of the Internet called RSS, which is basically a commonly accepted way for sites to notify people about any new content they’ve published.
Here’s the email:
--- In , NAME WITHHELD
Dear Folks,
I am taking up the suggestion in the welcome e-mail to natter about my reasons for joining. I am rather ancient - 83 to be exact - and my physical mobility is bothered by arthritis. The Net has been my window on the world and I visit several newspapers from around the world every evening, but I am hoping that with [RSS] I can access a much wider range of news - and even maybe information - sources.
The two terms are not necessarily synonymous.
Yours faithfully,
NAME WITHHELD
OK, it’s me again. First of all, this octogenarian is using RSS to access a wide range of news—which is why I’m interested in the technology. Even more generally, the Internet has allowed him to read, despite his physical limitations, the newspapers of the world.
He might use that information to make his community better, to educate those around him, or to try to have some influence on those world events himself. But even if he doesn’t, at the least, he has improved his own quality of life spectacularly, and by participating this RSS group, he’s passing along what has benefited him, to others.
That’s the promise of the Internet, fulfilled. That’s cool.
