Here's one for the history books, especially for those among us interested in how we got to the point that I can be sitting here in my study typing and you can be wherever you are and both of us are learning about this incredible, deep-history view of the web. Alex Wright has a great piece in June 17, 2008, NY Times, "The Web Time Forgot." Not to be missed. Click now or forever hold your view of when the web really started:
In 1934, Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or “electric telescopes,” as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a “réseau,” which might be translated as “network” — or arguably, “web.”
