Government Technology - December 2007 - (Page 17)

‘WE SAW A LOT OF WHAT WAS POSSIBLE’ T HERE? we at Government Technology took a look back at our own history. Our Way Back Machine feature covered some of the highs and lows of our existence, recalled notable stories and issues of days gone by, and many pioneers from those early days were highlighted once again. Normally in the December issue, we run our annual Year in Review. But since this is the 20th anniversary of Government Technology, we felt something special was in order. So we’ve dispensed with a mere year in review and have instead gazed backward through time to reminisce on 20 years’ worth of government and technology — the stories, the technology and the people. What follows is not our story. It’s yours. It’s an attempt to recapture just a bit of the astonishing ride, from the pre-Web era to today’s always-on — and always-online — society. It’s the tale of people who helped change government’s perception of technology, moving it from novelty to necessity. Finally, this look back is also an account of the slew of wonderful gadgets that two decades ago we couldn’t imagine, and today we can’t live without. You’ve all been part of the journey. Come with us as we look back at where you’ve been. Internet pioneer Vint Cerf recalls the early days of personal computing. Modern e-government wouldn’t exist without the Internet, and the Net as we know it wouldn’t exist without Vint Cerf. In the early ’70s, he and colleague Robert Kahn developed the TCP/IP protocols that let computers of any type link together via a common network. Did Cerf have any idea of the massive changes his work would set in motion? The answer is both yes and no. His initial research, conducted at Stanford University, was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The U.S. military, which thought computers would be valuable for command-and-control functions, needed a way to make different networks and computing platforms compatible. Even then, however, Cerf glimpsed how the Internet eventually would be used more broadly. His research occurred when the core tenets of modern personal computing were forming and in a place — the area that would soon be known as Silicon Valley — that was a hotbed of innovation. “By 1973, e-mail was already two years old, the concepts behind the Web had been explored in a single machine environment, not a multiple one, by Douglas Engelbart at SRI International in Mountain View, Calif. He invented the idea of hyper linking or hyper text. He invented the mouse,” said Cerf. “By the time we got the Arpanet up, the predecessor to the Internet, we were accessing the SRI online system through the network with all of these text capabilities, the sharing of documents, the unique identification, e-mails were flowing, file transfers were going back and forth, people could log in and interact remotely.” Researchers at the famed Xerox PARC research facility in Palo Alto, Calif., built on those ideas, while Cerf was nearby at Stanford. The Xerox facility became a test-tube for exotic computing concepts that are now commonplace. Researchers there built the first PCs, invented a word processing system, adopted the mouse and created Ethernet local area network technology. These innovations in computer usability, combined with TCP/IP’s ability to link millions of computing devices, eventually set the stage for a monumental shift in how the world creates, consumes and shares information. “In 1973 they were living in a world that the rest of the world didn’t see for 20 years,” said Cerf. “So the answer is, we saw a lot of what was possible. [But] it’s still pretty amazing to see what actually happens when a billion people are online, personal computers are something you carry around in your pocket and broadband is available everywhere.” STEVE TOWNS, EDITOR FOR MUCH OF 2007 , VISIT WWW.GOVTECH.COM/20YEARS FOR CONTENT RELATED TO THIS ARTICLE. 1987 ACCESS OUR INTERACTIVE TIMELINE SHOWING HOW 20 YEARS OF TECHNICAL INNOVATION HAVE SHAPED TODAY’S GOVERNMENT. YOU’LL FIND ADDITIONAL INTERVIEWS AND EXCLUSIVE VIDEO FROM THOUGHT LEADERS ON THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN GOVERNMENT. j http://www.govtech.com http://WWW.GOVTECH.COM/20YEARS

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - December 2007

Government Technology - December 2007 Contents Point of View Big Picture Profile The Last Mile GT Spectrum Well...How Did We Get Here? Dark Spaces A Paler Shade of Green? Decertification Dilemma Game On Two Cents Products Signal:Noise

Government Technology - December 2007

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