Serendipity35

Depending on the age of your students, this may be a history and page views that seem as old as those black & white movies that we keep telling them are classics.

If you don't allow Flash on your computer, so you can't see the embedded video - and we know who you are - follow the link to http://blip.tv/file/752713/ later.

The narrator starts in part 1 of this introduction to the Internet with:

"The explosive growth in the number of people who have discovered the power of the Internet for learning, marketing and just plain having fun has been incredible. The Internet is changing the way we learn, work, and play forever. Today, some 35 to 40 million people from around the world are linked together through the Internet, the world's largest computer network. Students of all ages are discovering the online power of the Internet as the ultimate tool for learning. Whether you're in grade school or college or beyond, or you just want to be entertained and have a good time, the Internet has something for everyone."

Part 2 opens with the same lame video intro, but then it's new and talks about learning online. The big search tool is Yahoo! and there are lessons here about the validity of the information found on sites. I like that "through the magic of video editing" the sites pop up instantly. I'd actually like to see the old image appearing that I recall from my first modem!

There are a good number of old videos available now that can be used to teach the modern history of the Internet. The Net was a slick BBC show tha was shot professionally. Here is Episode 1 from April 1994. You can hear that old modem connecting sound and them bashing the American term "the information superhighway" and a user's "new" way of accessing the world through Compuserve.