Towards a global conversation

Abstract

The Internet came into the world in earnest a little more than twenty years ago, and it came with a vengeance, criss-crossing the planet with invisible ties of connectedness and seemingly heralding a new era in global communication. From one day to the next, you could correspond with colleagues and friends on the other side of the planet; you could read newspapers from Australia and Botswana; you could join special interest groups and build professional networks. It was an exhilarating time for many of us, one which appeared to hold out a promise of truly global communication for the first time in human history.