Remembering Our First Times...

...With the web, that is.

A new podcast, On the Network, is asking you (and every other web user) to submit a story about the moment you realized the internet was a big deal.

The point is to show how the internet is ingrained in our daily lives, and that it is a legitimate source of information-- despite the propaganda you often hear in the mainstream media.  Check out the Manifesto.

We think this is a great idea (hatched by founder Derek Powazek from Fertile Medium and Fray), and it got us thinking. So we did a quick roundup of our own first times with the triple dub:

Dean: In 1993 I was working in the marketing department of a small engineering company. I approached my boss to inform her I thought we needed a website. She laughed at me and told me, "mark my word, this is just a fad." Consider it marked.

Dave: Mine was probably playing "rise of the triad" in the dorm computer lab. Played that for hours... was amazed that I could play against people all over campus from one machine. I’m a big dork.

Javie: I was like an explorer out at sea looking to see what cool things I could find in the open web, getting lost in all the cool images I found.

Bruce: Boy, I’m dating myself, but I used to do command line email when I was at the University of Michigan. Student leaders had to use it to communicate with the university administration. I think my modem was 2400k/s! Ugh, I’m old.

Vanessa: A friend’s mom set me up with my very first email account so I could sign up to receive points that would one day lead to free stuff. Yeah, that didn’t last long with all the spammy emails that flooded my inbox…

Nate: I think mine was playing "Deathmatch" mode in the first Doom release -- which kind of makes me want to go home and download an emulator from somewhere!

Victor: One of my friends in middle school had AOL and I went over to his house a few times. We would log into KARATE chat rooms and flame people. Pretty badass. This was  around 1994. I was 12.

Cory (me): It was 1999. A year of firsts: First real job, first new car, first cell phone, first love connection over instant message. We were set up by a mutual friend, so I guess you’d call it a “blind IM.” In any case, the chime of an incoming AIM message will forever make my heart skip a beat.