Going Back to 1993: Unpacking the Internet, Then and Now

The year 1993 was a watershed for the internet. It was the year developers of the web at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (French acronym CERN) made it open and free to everyone.

It’s also the year that Mosaic, the first general-use internet browser, was released.

Twenty-five years later, the internet has become one of the most important tools in our lives, so much so that it feels strange to call it a “thing.” Our digital lives allow us to communicate and connect like never before, but it has also opened up a Pandora’s box of complicated ethical issues.

What better place to muse on how technology has changed our lives than the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California?

KQED’s Silicon Valley tech team — senior editor Tonya Mosley and reporters Peter Jon Shuler and Sam Harnett — visited the museum for this week’s show to take us back in time.

Virtual Worlds: Reassessing Our Tech Predictions 25 Years Later

Along with colleague Rachael Myrow, the team investigated how our first experiences of this “futuristic” technology from a quarter-century ago have evolved to present day. That series, Virtual Worlds, revisits KQED’s reporting from 1993.

The first story in the series re-examines 25-year-old tech predictions about the dangers of feeling tied to technology, and futuristic ads showing people buying concert tickets from an ATM machine, making video calls from a pay phone and sending their beach messages through a fax.

The Internet Really Did Lead to an Explosion of Creative Content: Good, Bad and Ugly

Back in 1993, there were new ideas about how the internet could let you pay for content you like (and get paid for making your own content!).

We revisit just how that has played out 25 years later.

Innovation in East Oakland: The Realities of Keeping Up Outside of Silicon Valley’s Bubble

Twenty-five years ago, students at Fremont High School in East Oakland were learning all about how to use the latest technologies.

But even back then, teachers were questioning whether they were creating passive consumers or active creators of tech. We revisit East Oakland to let see if anything has changed.

Online Privacy … a Thing of the Past?

As part of this week’s special, guest host Tonya Mosley also walks through the museum with technology journalist and internet safety advocate Larry Magid, to talk about our evolving standards for privacy and security online.