TMCnet News
The Internet of Yesterday and Today [Rural Telecommunications](Rural Telecommunications Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) I recently stumbled upon a New York Times article from 1994 that made me laugh. The article-on the emergence of the newly hip Internet-cited a survey finding that estimates of the number of people actively using the Internet (about 20 million at the time) may have been grossly exaggerated and the usefulness of the Internet overhyped. The reason: pesky "firewalls" that reportedly prevented throngs of desktop computer users from gaining access to workplace Internet ports. Reading the report today, almost exactly 20 years later, I wonder how different our lives would be if its findings had been correct. A 1996 story in Rural Telecom fared a bit better, predicting that Americans' reliance on the Internet would forever change the way we work, learn and communicate. Today, the Internet has nearly 3 billion users globally or around 40% of the world population, and a Pew poll found that 87% of American adults use the Internet today, up from 14% in 1995. At NTCA-The Rural Broadband Association, we are always searching for ways to employ Internet technologies to improve our members' experience, and in the coming year we will be making some big leaps toward that goal with a new online member services tool and a complete redesign of our association and Rural Telecom websites. The process to bring these tools to you has been challenging but exciting as we discover how these new systems will increase the value of your membership, help us communicate with you in new and different ways, and make life a little easier for all of us. We may not have known it in 1994, but it's clear today that the Internet is a hugely powerful tool. We're using that power to make your relationship with NTCA more fun, more rewarding and, most of all, more valuable. Laura Withers Director of Communications [email protected] (c) 2014 National Telephone Cooperative |