Google have worked with illustrator Chrisoph Nimann to create an ebook that provides a mini history of the Internet. It is available to view here: 20thingsilearned.com
“20 Things” is written by the Chrome team, and continues our tradition of finding new ways to help explain complex but fascinating ideas about technology. Many of the examples used to illustrate the features of the browser refer back to Chrome.
For things you’ve always wanted to know about the web and browsers but may have been afraid to ask, read on at 20thingsilearned.com (or, you can use the handy shortened URL at goo.gl/20things). If you find “20 Things” informative, don’t forget to share it with your friends and family! – Google.com Blog
So if you use the web but have no idea how it all works, then read this ebook and you will learn a few things that you can use to impress your friends and family at the dinner table.
This month (November 2010) marks 20 years since the Internet started growing (Tim Berners-Lee made a proposal for interconnected computers to share information). It is a very different place to the Internet today. 20 years ago the Internet was little more than the primeval sludge with a few single celled organisms floating aimlessly about. Nobody knew where it was going, everyone knew it was important. Nobody could have predicted how important the Internet has become.
Children are now brought up “on the net” and take it for granted, but so recently it did not exist at all. As a child I have vivid memories of the ways in which you gathered new information:
- From clever people
- From television (just 3 channels)
- The wireless (radio, not wireless Internet!)
- The library
I remember going to the library to learn about the university I wanted to apply for, to learn about martial arts, to find a class. Now libraries are only useful for storing books, research takes place online. As for social networks and media online, its a whole new World.
