| Internet, also known as the World Wide Web, did | | | | allowing more people to communicate through it. |
| not always exist. This is hard to believe for my 4 | | | | There was email. It was not as friendly as it is |
| year old son. For him, it is natural and simple to | | | | today, by no means, but it was easy enough for |
| play an Internet game, or sit with me to look at | | | | non-technical people to use it, to communicate |
| pictures of his favourite TV show online. So I | | | | and share files and resources.The network grew, |
| decided it would be a good idea to tell him, and | | | | there was a lot of content and it became |
| many others, a bit about how Internet became | | | | necessary to have easier ways to find the |
| what it is today. I will keep it simple, avoiding the | | | | information. The first Internet index was created |
| usage of technical terms.Back on 1969, a network | | | | in 1989. It was called Archie. You had to learn a |
| called ARPANET was born. This network evolved | | | | set of commands to be able to search Archie. |
| to be the Internet we know today. ARPANET | | | | The first browser, gopher, was a text browser. It |
| was created by ARPA, which stands for | | | | was created in 1991, at the University of |
| Advanced Research Projects Agency. ARPA is | | | | Minnesota, and got its name from the University |
| the central research and development organization | | | | mascot, the golden gopher. You did not need to |
| for the Department of Defense of the United | | | | learn commands to use gopher. You just typed in |
| States. At first, ARPANET connected 4 | | | | a number to select the menu option you wanted. |
| educational institutions. By 1971, it connected 15. | | | | The next step was the first graphical browser. It |
| This network was not easy to use nor open to | | | | was created in 1993 and it was called Mosaic. |
| the wide public. People who used it (computer | | | | Mosaic evolved to be Netscape, a very successful |
| experts, scientists, engineers) had to learn a | | | | graphical browser. Then other graphical browsers |
| complex system. As years went by, and thanks | | | | entered the picture, like Internet Explorer. |
| to the hard work of several visionnaires, this | | | | Browsers let us use the Internet and hide all its |
| network matured and became easier to use, | | | | complexity from us. |