Home, home on the web

Even a year ago, having an e‐mail address and a fax number were enough to ensure that you were considered among the most technologically advantaged. Now, my old aunt Matilda has them, and she is crocheting an Afghan that includes gothic text URLs of her favorite places on the web. The World Wide Web, that is. If you have not spent the last year under a rock in Katmandu, you have heard about “the web”. The web gives you access to the Internet. Of course, gopher gives you access to the Internet too, but the cute little rodent never made it to News Week, Business Week, Time and even People, as the web does in every issue. Does Al Gore have a gopher server? Does Intel? Does IRS?Even if they did, no one would care any more. The adorable little gopher has been fatally trampled by the faceless web. Today, to be anybody, you must be on the web.