DygiScape

Have you ever felt like you’ve crossed paths with someone online, but wasn’t sure? Well, Tamar Weinberg shares her account of the history of her online social interactions. If I was to write a similar piece (I won’t), it would be carved out the same path as she wrote.

Well, I lied. I’ll share my brief account of my interactions on the Internet. Hopefully, I won’t break below the fold.

• 1993: Exposed to creating stuff with a Mac Classic (OS 6 or 7?), writing school papers with ClarisWorks (owned and obliterated by Apple) and having a grand ‘ol time in Kid Pix. (Man, I miss that dynamite function)
• 12/1994: Parents got our first PC, followed by inserting the Prodigy disc to get on something called the “World Wide Web.” Surprised not to find the Netscape icon among the cluttered IBM Aptiva, Windows 95 desktop.
• 1/1995: After much confusion and searching for the right ISP, switched to AOL because of good customer service and a wealth of content in a lush walled garden.
• 3/1995: Mom figured out Parental Controls and the Online Timer. Bummer.
• Mid 1995: AOL offered their unlimited usage plan, we got on that insanely quick. Then I began my interest in creating stuff on the Web.
• Early 1996: Hung out in questionable chat rooms, did questionable things resulting in account termination from the “CAT?”
• 1996: Made it a mission to switch ISPs to a regional provider, went with FlashNet. Discovered IRC, “Modem Speed Boosters,” and got a little into blackhat interests.
• 1997: Locally (in Tucson), AOL became a large employer for sales and tech support for the company. Sister employed and began her tour of duty.
• 1998: Saw my first set of internal AOL staff tools, and got an AOL account free from that point.
• 1999 - 2004: Used AOL quite a bit, but was weaning off, but learned of all the technical aspects of the software thanks to Mom and Dad always requiring AOL to function around the clock. Joined other online communities, figured out Napster and how to rip CDs, learned HTML, Visual Basic and a few other computer technologies.
• June ‘04: I started working for the ‘Man, made my tour of duty around Tech support, some inside sales, and met a lot of other people.
• Nov ‘06: Promoted to manage some, rather — all online communities and blog for the ‘Man, but my dream lasted no longer than a couple years doing stuff with the Internet and social media.

That’s my really, really brief and dry account of my online interactions. Sheltered, yeah I know. Mine, yes they are. What’s your history of online interactions?