This Is For Everyone

Like many people, I watched the London Olympics Opening Ceremony this weekend.  I say weekend, as Friday night in UK, is Saturday morning here in New Zealand, but it was great to be able to watch the event live.  There were many spectacular happenings, but one that got me thinking was Tim Berners-Lee appearance.

We often glibly talk about how things have changed, without really stopping to think how true that is.  From New Zealand I can text or ring family in England as if they were next door, and I have friends I've never met through Twitter, blogs, email and online forums, groups and courses.

In the late 90s and early 2000s, I taught a lot of computer programmes, and among the subjects was an introduction to the Internet and internet searching. At that time, while Google was one of the main search engines, there were several others that were used as much, and Google hadn't entered our vocabulary as a verb!

The internet is an everyday tool for many of us, and has certainly changed the way we do business, shop and interact with each other.

What Tim Berners-Lee gave to the world is nothing short of amazing.