10 Internet years is 70 dog years, or something like that

I am cleaning up my office this month (and, before you open your mouth, just remember Ike didn't plan D-Day over lunch)  and just ran across some clippings from the spring of 1995.

One, titled "Jobs of the Future on the Internet", states:

"If you want to be sure of work in the information age, you should be a multimedia designer or an interactive advertising manager"

And it goes on to note another other hot job:

"The 'Internet surfer'... has the skill to navigate on the Internet, package information, and sell it to online subscribers...

The other clipping is an editorial by Carsten Graff, a local New Age management consultant. In a full-page rant called "What can Mrs. Hansen do with the Internet", Graff calls the Internet "the most overhyped technology to make its way into the information age":

"Journalists write often of Internet users 'surfing in cyberspace'. Which really means they are just writing documents to each other.  I have been a windsurfer for many years, and I don't like my sport compared with something a computer user can sit and do in front of a screen."

"... [Internet] is the most incomprehensible and time-demanding thing since the baby was discovered... Mrs. Hansen won't be a loser if she's not on the Internet. The only ones that lose if she doesn't go along are the phone companies."

Yowsa. Well, that was 70 dog years ago.

Sources: Berlingske Tidende, April 25, 1995, and Børsen, April 25, 1995.

Hat tip to Flemming Wisler, 10 years late.

Posted by Allan Jenkins on January 26, 2006 at 02:46 PM in History | Permalink

Comments

Oh, how your posts lighten my day. I wonder what Mr. Graff is doing now, probably not in the internet business.

I wonder where we'll be in another 10 years...

Posted by: Emily | Jan 26, 2006 7:04:02 PM

Check his link... he's doing stuff with swamis, now, the total yoga immersion thing.

Posted by: Allan Jenkins | Jan 27, 2006 12:57:37 AM

Ahhh - Carsten Graff - that guy dropped out when it all exploded in the mid nineties.

An interesting question would be: where were you all in 1996?

I was on paternal leave, writing articles for my (unfinished) phd in computer and gaming culture, consulting with a couple of municipalities on Multi-Media education, and going to LEGO to write a report on the future of digital LEGO culture. And I was the "Webmaster" of the institute website - writing html markup in a Mac editor. The site was ugly as hell - had a graphic background - and a very nice little left site navigational menu.

Posted by: Gunnar | Jan 27, 2006 7:32:21 AM

Wow! It is really amazing to think that just 10 years ago people thought the internet was just a fad. I am young enough to say that I grew up with the internet, but I definitely remember when it wasn't around. I am pretty sure I spent a lot more time at the library, and I think I even learned the dewey decimal system at one point! I wonder if they teach that anymore?
I have to admit though, I at first thought that blogging was just a fad. I actually hoped it would go away so I wouldn't have to do it in Robert's class. But I feel like I am actually starting to get something out of it. Who knows, maybe one day I will like it!
Thanks for the reminder of the past, except I feel old now! I remember when we had a computer that just used the color orange...scary!

Posted by: Lindsey | Feb 13, 2006 4:32:56 AM

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