Remember the days of dial up? MSN messaging? And oh god—Internet Explorer? Lasting longer than floppy disks, what we now use on a daily basis celebrated its big three zero yesterday. It is commonly confused with the Internet, which is a global network around since the '60s. The WorldWideWeb however, is pretty much an online application.
It all began with inventor and software engineer Tim Berners-Lee's proposal, titled 'Information Management'. Written in HTML into a working model, the first generation of it is unrecognisable. Surf the old school browser, best experienced with the Spotify playlist recommended by the research centre itself.
Happy 30th anniversary to the Internet! I got you all my personal data.
— Stephen Colbert (@StephenAtHome) 13 March 2019
Whether you regard it as the monster hole of personal data or a tool for the ages, we cannot deny how integral it has become in our lives, and probably cannot imagine going on without it. Let's just set aside the dysfunctions of fake news and the dark web and think of all the good it gave to us instead. Global connectivity, increased convenience, and most importantly, memes.
Happy 30th birthday, WorldWideWeb!
