International Internet Day (Oct 29th)
Tomorrow it is International Internet day. Perhaps you might not have heard about this special day but we’re fairly certain you have heard about the ‘internet’. This incredible invention – which some say is the most important in the world – has changed our lives and opened up immeasurable opportunities. Therefore we decided to focus upon it in more detail for our latest blog…
What is International Internet Day?
It is an annual celebration in honour of the first electronic message being transmitted. Sent by student programmer Charles S. Kline on October 29th 1969, the message simply contained the word ‘login’. Initially, only the letters ‘L’ and ‘O’ were successfully transmitted as the system collapsed and then disrupted the transmission. After around an hour though, Kline was able to send the full message from his base at the University of California, Los Angeles.
It is a far cry from the text messaging we seem to take for granted nowadays. Hands up who hasn’t sent a message comprising solely of emojis? Who has not been annoyed by having to take a moment or two to correct one of them?!
How to observe this special day
The obvious thing will be to spend the entire day online, in celebration of the internet. What’s that? You do that anyway? A lot of us do, with so many jobs based around having an internet connection. Think about your typical day – does it look a little something like this?
- Wake up and check your phone for messages, emails, alerts, updates
- Commute to work whilst reading the news or watching a streaming platform on your device
- Spend the working day on a computer
- Travel home whilst referring back to point 2 above
- Relax in front of your internet television / go online to browse or play games
One way of celebrating the day itself would be to think about a world without the internet. What difference would that make to your life?
You can also think about people who do not have the internet – they do exist – what are their lives like? Are they better or worse?
There are lots of scenarios to contemplate and you can then share your thoughts on social media. Be sure to use #InternationalInternetDay and #theiceway too, so that we have a chance to respond!
International Internet Day is a very special day in the history of technology and communication. As part of theICEway ecosystem, eTestware relies upon the internet to help us deliver software testing and IT solutions.
Sources:
www.historyofinformation.com
The internet in general