The End of the Internet

It was just another day. Another day in the life of a very curious soul. But unlike any other day, this was the day I clicked on my very first hyper-link. And on this day my life changed forever.

The year was 1997 and I was trying out the Internet for the very first time. I had a 56k modem and was using something unfortunately named Dogpile. Browsing was so slow that I was quickly driven mad and didn’t try the Internet again until I upgraded to ISDN speed and Netscape in 1998.

By 1999 I was reading Michael Lewis’ “The New New Thing” and doing research on a T-1 line and got very excited about this unparalleled research tool. Little did I know that soon I would get caught up in a web of desire and possibility I never before thought possible.

Enter Google.

Just after I get my socks knocked off, Google blows my mind. I read all about it in the New Yorker magazine, like a good Manhattanite. It was the promised land. It was science. It was art. Since 2003 I haven’t had to go the the Library of Performing Arts, nor to Colony Records to do music research.

Post the Google Books Project I have been able to track down obscure references; even buy e-book versions so that I can have the resources immediately for less than ever before. To say that this technology was disruptive was a vast understatement. But even Google could not prepare me for Twitter.

Twitter was open, whereas Facebook was closed. Twitter was elegant whereas MySpace was an assault on the senses. I immediately was fascinated. The lure of short-form literature and the links; oh the links! I step into my Twitter streams each day like a brisk morning shower, covering me with news and information, ideas and thought-provoking questions.

I spent the first year people watching; observing all the different ways people were using Twitter. Fascinating, sometimes frustrating, but always fabulous, Twitter offers something for everyone. And no matter what the “topic of the day” is I will find someone in my streams posting a link to that very thing.

Of course there is Facebook too and I just started playing with Foursquare. I am sure there are brain-childs in the making as we speak. I am beginning to think that we will never, ever reach the end of the Internet. I hope that we never do!

photos by Thomas Hudson Reeve © Kat Caverly Enterprises