Envisioning Voice: The independent web movement and self-expression on the web
In the early 1400s, a German man by the name of Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press and it forever changed our lives. I am sure Gutenberg had no idea what would ensue from his invention, much less that it would be so widely embraced around the world for years to come.
This was the first big step in building a public voice, but it had limitations. Not everyone could afford to buy their own printing press, and those who could often controlled the kind of information that would be printed. There was little freedom of the press in that time and day. Today it's a very different story.
On March 7th, 1876, a man by the name of Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone. Suddenly, the world grew much smaller. We no longer had to leave the comfort of our own homes to talk to relatives down the street or, eventually, on the other side of the world. This kind of communication became an instant source for news and information. The telephone simplified our lives and brought us together in more ways than one. We would eventually allow this medium to evolve over time and grow into something much bigger and much more powerful.
In 1957 the United States formed the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), which eventually became the foundation for establishing ARPANET, which evolved into the Internet as we know it today. We are connected once again in a more efficient way than ever before. Data could be transferred, resources could be shared, and information could be archived and retrieved. Little did we know that the technology would evolve into such a mainstream medium that one out of every three homes in the United States would have an Internet connection.
Around 12 years ago, in March of 1989, a man named Tim Berners-Lee wrote a document called "Information Management: A Proposal" that was to become the basis for the World Wide Web. The web would change how we gather and view information for a third time. I believe Berners-Lee fully knew the implications of his idea and that is why he pursued it. The hard part was not creating the web, it was convincing others that it could work -- and that it could change our lives.
To me, the most amazing thing about the web is how low the barriers to entry are. Today we don't have to pay for a costly printing press, we just need a web server and some connectivity to the Net. For the first time in history, virtually anyone can have a voice and say whatever he or she feels like saying and still be viewed without impartial judgment. The freedom of speech and self-expression can be a beautiful thing, and the web is proof of that.
So what is to become of the independent web? We can't predict the future, but we can make educated guesses. If we examine the way communication and information has changed over the years since the 1400s until today, we can estimate that, by the time our grandkids reach our age, the communication of information over networks will have become a seamless part of their lives, one that will enable them to do things that we could only have dreamed about.
I believe things are only going to get easier to do. Technology will become more of a tool and less of a challenge. More and more people will understand and use the technology than ever before, because they will have been raised with it as part of their lives. With these kinds of tools at their fingertips it is very possible that we may see the next great discovery in communications emerge within the next 25 years. What that discovery is and how it will affect us, I can't even fathom today. We can only open our minds and explore realms in which we never ventured into before.
