History of the internet

The internet is the youngest mass medium, joining radio, television and the press in informing and entertaining large numbers of people every day.

It is the most interactive and diverse medium as it contains elements of all the others plus new ways of creating and sharing information.

Being the youngest, the internet is still the ‘rawest’ or most immature, supporting an enormous range of experiments and innovative ideas. Anyone with an internet connection can publish information – fact or fantasy. And anyone with a connection can review and comment on information published by others, or interact in real-time with people across the world.

But how did the internet grow into what it is today? Was there a plan behind it?

Compared to other media, the internet is still in its infancy. The first connection between computers at different locations did not occur until 1965 and the internet did not take off as a medium until after the invention of the world-wide-web in the mid 1990s.