Monday, March 8, 2010

you say it’s your birthday…

While driving home from the airport last night, I had the chance to hear a series of discussions on the BBC about the 20th birthday of the internet, which happens this month. They even talked about a poll which said that 80% of people surveyed around the globe believe that access to the internet is a fundamental human right which shouldn’t be denied to any society. Now that may be a little further than I was thinking of it, but it raises some interesting thinking. People living in a particular age never seem to know exactly what the most monumental thing is within it, but I daresay that the internet is the most monumental of ours. For kids, birthdays elicit comments like “look how big you are” and “oh my, how you’ve grown”. Although a 20 year old doesn’t typically get that, I think it not only applies to the internet, but we can also say “my how you’ve changed us”.

Twenty years ago, there were closed societies throughout eastern Europe – as the Berlin Wall had only opened 4 months prior – where information, access, knowledge and power were tightly controlled. Two decades ago, we almost exclusively used landlines for telephone transmission, video conferencing was rare, mail was on paper or fax, and when we needed to know something, we looked it up in books or libraries and hoped it was the most recent edition. And work was mostly done in offices, by clusters of people tied together because that is how it was supposed to be done. To cover all the “20 years ago” memories would take far too long. Now we live in a world where even closed societies can’t stop those who Twitter for their civil rights, where we can wirelessly see and talk to people in high definition anywhere, conduct our business from our palms, be anywhere by camera, call, and digit; and where working is anywhere where passion, intellect and quality can be ignited. This twenty year old has changed us – and we can only imagine what it will do next.

Another birthday comes to mind this week. virtualwirks turned a year old on March 1 and that achievement drives contemplation as well. These past 12 months have spurred the best ideas to the forefront of what we do everyday. Tadd and I reflected this week on where we’ve been, where we’re headed, who we owe gratitude to, how much that 20-year old internet is a key to changing the way the world works and how much fun it is to be a 1-year old. Oh my, how we’ve grown.

– Jim