week 1 reflections.

Humans tend to overlook and take things for granted, especially if we are exposed to it everyday, and utilize it so often we actually feel handicapped without it. What is it I am talking about?

The Internet.

I have been using the Internet for as long as I could remember myself gingerly touching the keyboard of my desktop while I was in primary school. Back then, I was attached to Pacific Net and usage costs were determined according to the specific hours and minutes spent connected online. The backbone speed was only at 56Kbps; anciently slow compared to the 10Mbps we have now. Costs have also been drastically lowered, and the once-dominant companies have lost their influence to stronger ones.

Should I go further backwards to the invention and inventor of WWW, I might not have known the answer last week. Neither have I bothered to make the effort to Wikipedia or Google my search. Now, I know—Tim Berners-Lee invented WWW in 1991!

As I read further into the text, I was awestruck at how Internet and WWW evolved. From telegraph, transatlantic cables, packet-switching, email, USENET, use of domain names, modernization of the Internet, WWW revolution to today’s commercialization and Microsoft grand entrance into the field. I realized that such changes are never-ending. For someone once told me: What in this world is constant? Change is constant.

What would be the future of Internet?

Today, youngsters like us use the net for social networking; establishing the Web as a social media where we get to know people of all ages, from all walks of lives, and literally, from across the globe! Ask any one young person on the streets, and they can easily tell you about their Facebook, Friendster, MySpace, Flickr, Shutterfly, Xanga, Wordpress, Blogspot addresses. Such usage is so prevalent and permeates our lives so imminently that we cannot deny its existence. Yet, many of us do not have any idea how these websites came about, or how weblogs evolved to wee-blogs to blogs. Picture and file-sharing has become so common and convenient such that we no longer need to zip up pictures to send to many friends on out email list. All we have to do is to upload pictures on sites such as Shutterfly and Flickr and inform them about the link.

Likewise, websites such as Friendster and Facebook allows one to make new friends, regardless of the fact that you could be extremely shy in real life. Just a click of the button declares that a cute boy or girl in school is now your friend in virtual space. Outlets such as MSN enables us to chat with friends or acquaintances at any time, any where. E-mailing has becoming convenient where project discussions and file sending is concerned. Truth to be told, I am a victim of these forms of social networking.

Recently, I’ve discovered the wonders of Skype because more and more of my friends are going overseas for further studies. Being able to speak and see their faces on my computer screen is indeed heartwarming, despite knowing the fact that they are halfway across the globe in the United States or in Australia.

The “scariest” discovery from the first two lessons of the week was the extensiveness, power and influence of Google, the search engine.


I’ve never really put any serious thought into the things I aimlessly Google out of sudden interest or simply because I was bored. Needless to say, I’ve used the search engine for countless projects. Truth to be told, I was rather freaked out when I realized that the company keeps and records all searches of all individuals in order to come up with this market analysis or breakdown for future uses. Now, I truly come to understand the influence of this particular search engine…when all of us tend to say “Just Google it!” whenever we need answers to our questions.

Many may say that the Internet has alienated humans, reducing us to beings unable to communicate in real life, cooped up at home in front of the white screen, fingers actively clicking the mouse and flying across our keyboards. Such claims are true to a certain extent, but I’m not going to discredit the fact that it has given me much more convenience and efficiency which is desperately needed in today’s world.

The future of Internet could probably incorporate the negatives of the net today, with its current pros.
For instance, websites in the future might greet us with voice-overs and take us on a 3D-tour around the site—all automated.
A personalized virtual buddy who speaks, jokes, and smiles at you may be offered to every single Internet user, accompanying us during our online experiences.
Shopping websites will be equipped with personal fashion consultants who are tailored to know our styles inside out.

I foresee that technology may in fact bring us to scenes from movies of Minority Report, Star Wars, or even Matrix. The technology seen is awe-inducing, and perhaps not far from us at the rate of development and research we live in today.

As I anticipate such magnificent ideas to be realized by creators and inventors out there, I still have a nagging worry that I would lag behind in learning these skills as time goes by. One cannot remain backward in today’s world; with the digital divide becoming more and more apparent globally.

As for now, I would want to know more things from this course. So till next time, bye!

Ps: leave comments by clicking the rubbish link below or on the tagboard. (: