The Internet Is Awesome

I think the Internet is awesome. It is a wonderful tool that provides me with information and it allows me to communicate with friends from around the world. I gave up television and turned to games for recreation. I went from TV news and newspapers to web based news services. I still read some print news, but not as much as I used to. I still use the phone and snail mail but the 'net is important for my 'social life'.

I came online a few years ago and have enjoyed the experience for the most part. There was a time when my computer use was restricted to offline games and surfing the web. I almost gave up my Internet connection because it seemed superfluous. When I discovered blogging things changed. I was able to express myself online and get read. I made friends and my cybersocial network grew. Now I can't live with out that interaction.

This post is partly a celebration of the 'net and my place in it. It is also a mini demonstration/documentary about the Internet. The idea for it came from a number of sources:

• I wrote several blog posts about online friends and how I am connected to them.


• I found a video for one of my "Firemind Cinema" posts created by students from the Maimonides Class Of '06. I googled Maimonides and found information about their school. Recently two students from Maimonides left comments on the post in which I used the video. They had done a search and found my post. According to my "referrer" some of the links to the post came from web based email programs. The students were passing the information about my post via email.


• This week I found two interesting videos about the Internet. These videos provided ideas and examples for a post.


• Today I discovered some more material and found myself experiencing a common problem associated with the 'net: information overload. I decided to leave the new material for another post.

So far I this post has been limited to text and hyperlinks. Like many people I also use the 'net to listen to audio and to watch videos. I also enjoy podcasts (audioblogs) and vlogs (videoblogs). Multimedia is a big part of the 'Internet Experience'.

The next part of this post will consist of a podcast and two videos.

Podcast:

This Is A Podcast - 9:06 - This is a sample podcast in which I explain my podcasts and comment on the videos. I end with a promo from Josh's Podcast.

Videos:

Internet - by CBC - 6 min 21 sec. I found this at Google Video but didn't know when it was first broadcast. I did a search and found:

1993 - There are 15 million people online worldwide and the CBC's Bill Cameron reports, "The internet is growing like an embryonic brain at a rate of 10 per cent a month." from Birth of the internet.

Frontline/World: The Hole in the Wall - by Globalvision, Inc - 8 min 48 sec. An interesting video about Indian kids teaching themselves how to use the 'net. It was broadcast in 2002 on PBS. Read more.