Beginnings

Everything has a beginning and so for the beginning of this blog I am touching upon the history of the beginning of the electronic age and the World Wide Web.

The desperation of war has brought about many advances in our society. With hundreds of men literally dying before their eyes, doctors improvised and came up with new ways of saving men. With the constant pressure to trump the other side scientists have worked beyond their current knowledge to do the impossible. Weapons were created and not just guns and weapons of destruction. Communication and it's expediency and secrecy was advanced. By the end of World War II we had the first calculating machines, photography, typewriters and the computer age was on the verge of it's beginning. 

At the end of World War II Dr. Vanner Bush published an article titled As We May Think. It can be found on W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium, which is an international community where member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop web standards and pursue their mission of leading the web to it's full potential. When the article was published Bush was a "Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, coordinating the activities of some six thousand leading American scientists in the application of science to warfare."

Bush touched on many of the amazing advancements of his time in his article, but his overall message to the scientists of his time, was to set aside the scientific work on war that they had been concentrating on, and come together to work towards the future filled with possiblitlies that their new advancements suggested.

He proposed a massive record that people could use to not only make their lives easier but could advance the abilities of professionals, doctors, scientists and more. He suggested 'dry' photography that could be stored and used, much like the digital photography we now have. He pictured a world where a person could sit down at their desk and access the great record, using several at a time (which is called muti-tasking in our time). He called it a "new profession of trail blazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record." Bush was eerily accurate in many of his predictions.

It's ironic that the countless lives that have been saved through the advancements of the electronic age, got it's start in war. The progress hasn't found it's peak yet though. The World Wide Web is still digging for it's roots and being defined as we speak. Groups such as the W3C are determined to see it reach it's full potential. People now have the ability to network and come together across the world to work on common goals, or even just to chat and swap news.

It's just the beginning.

Tags: Dr+Vanner+Bush, Web+beginning, As+We+May+Think