Blog Post built in HTML

I remember my first encounter with the internet. It was the mid 90's and my father brought home a Gateway PC and a dial-up modem. Now these were the days where you had a land line in your home and no cell phone (oddly enough my dad had a car phone), so if you happened to sign on to the internet your phone became a large, corded, paperweight. The handful of web pages you could visit were probably all built just like this, where a person has a simple interface, like a word processor, and typed every minute detail and hoped that they had not missed a simple keystroke. Now programmers mostly still have this problem, but for the average joe trying to get their web page up and running is as easy as paying a service, selecting the template you like, and inputting whatever typeface, verbiage, and pictures you want. I prefer the new way. I've never dabbled in HTML before, but it seems much like guess and check. Even now as I write this I keep hitting the "preview" button just make sure that it all works.

But it is an interesting exercise. It gives me a whole new perspective and level of respect for the dot-com pioneers. They probably spent far too much time typing out the exacting details for whatever business or organization that they were building the site for. I accidentally hit F12 constantly and see the complexity and inner workings of the website. I can barely fathom this much, much less something as complex as a large website like Amazon or Walmart. It's pretty crazy, but kind of fun.

Email vs. Snail Mail

Email seems superior in many ways to traditional snail mail. We can send an infinite amount of copies of something to as many different people with virtually no added effort, not worry about having a stamp handy, and not have the anxiety that maybe it just never showed up. But even email has its limitations; overly exact addresses, data corruption, and the fact that you can not send tangible items are real issues that email has.

But I think there is a certain amount of joy that comes with getting a hand-written letter. I received numerous letters from my family and a few friends when I was in basic training. While I was there it felt as I if were traveling back in time. I was cut off from the internet and access to a convenient phone I could use whenever I liked and receiving those letters made it seem easier to get through. I have NEVER received an email that made me fell like those snail mail letters made me feel. So very much like the happy little guy picture below, I think the biggest difference is that the effort put into a snail mail letter makes it more special. Knowing that someone went through the effort of finding paper, an envelope, and a stamp, sat down and wrote something, sealed it in that envelope and walked or drove their happy ass to the nearest post office and deposited the letter in that bin just for me makes it feel real. Email just doesn't have that "X" factor.

Through taking this class, I would like to have a better understanding of the inception and changes that the digital world has gone through. I've spent a great amount of time over my life in the pursuit technology. My father first brought home a Gateway PC in the mid 90's and I became instantly addicted, and as a result now, build PCs, spend way too much time playing games, and daydream about the next great piece of hardware, software, and everything in between.

I hope that my time in Living and Working in a Virtual World will add a tighter grip to my grasp on technological advancement. Especially knowing that fast moving obsolescence is all too real in the technological world. Adapt, or die.