Do you remember life before the Internet? I'm sure most of us do. Today, it almost seems a common thing to possess a home computer with Internet access. And while it's something about which most of our children take for granted, the Web and the Internet are quite young. In fact, the Web is only a "teenager." The Web and the Internet are history in the making, and that history is something we may want to share with our children.
This week marks the 15th birthday of the World Wide Web (WWW).Yes, that's right - the "Web" was conceived in 1989 (http://www.w3.org/Consortium/) but its formal birth announcement came August 6, 1991 (coincidentally or not, that date is also the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord).
I first became acquainted with the Web when it just a few years old. The friendship started when I was busy preparing for the Spring 1994 debut of my magazine, The Catholic Family's Magnificat! Like everybody else at the time who wasn't a "computer geek," I was on a steep learning curve, becoming acquainted with both computer software and "the Internet." To give you an idea about how much I didn't know when I first started, I had never heard of "cut and paste." Email was still a mystery to me, and so was writing email off-line and uploading it later! And when a friend recommended I use a "search engine," I was totally dismayed. A search what?
Now, twelve years later, I wouldn't pretend to know all the ways of the Internet and the Web - because "they" keep growing, while I am only growing older 
- but I would say that we are good acquaintances.
Btw, did you know that the WWW and the Internet are not the same thing? Most us may consider them to be "the same thing only different," but the facts say otherwise. The Internet itself came about in the late 1960's. The WWW, however, "is a part of the Internet designed to allow easier navigation through the use of graphical user interfaces and hypertext links between different addresses" while the Internet itself "is the structure on which the World Wide Web is based." (Wendy Boswell, http://websearch.about.com/od/whatistheinternet/a/worldwideweb.htm)
If you don't mind allegory, I might say that the "Internet" is the building, while the Web might be considered nifty shortcuts through the halls, elevators, and stairways of the Internet building (because it - the Web - allows us to navigate through the Internet building). Or if you prefer surfing terms, the Web is the surfboard which allows people to "surf" the Internet Ocean (commonly called "surfing the Web" - which only confuses the issue, because one is really "surfing on the Web" surfboard to "ride the waves" of the Internet Ocean). And think of all the terms that come to mind, all due to the Web. If the Internet is an "ocean," perhaps that explains why our computers have "ports" (short for "portals"). ???
What impact has the WWW and the Net had on the Catholic world and the "world at large"? To merely scratch the surface, the Vatican itself boasts a website, but there are also Catholic websites of many kinds, all with different reasons for existence. There are all kinds of search engines out there, like "Dogpile" (Yikes! What a name! ), "Metacrawler" and "MamametaSearch" (which calls itself "The Mother of All Search Engines"). "Google," which didn't even exist 15 years ago, has practically become a verb, as in "I think I'll 'google' it" (meaning, "I'll use Google to conduct a search on something of interest to me"). Even "Yahoo!" is no longer a way to just "verbally" yell greetings over a distance (much less a type of insult, as in "What kind of Yahoo would do something like that?")! No, now we can "Yoo-hoo" others via Yahoo, too!
Back in 1994, when I was an Internet (or would that be a Web?) "newbie," your favorite Catholic homeschool websites did not exist. Neither did Email Lists like ours, Keeping It Catholic (KIC). On AOL, Prodigy, and other ISP's, there were "boards" for all natures of interests, but there were no specific "email lists" or websites for Catholic homeschooling parents. By early 1995, I was fortunate to have a website for my magazine (but I did not design it, since I then knew nothing of "html" - Hyper Text Mark-up Language). Because I recognized that the "Web" was the wave of the future, I also recall personally urging other Catholic homeschooling parents (as well as Catholic home study programs) to "get on-line."
Today, Catholic homeschooling parents can accomplish "online enrollment" in the Catholic home study program of their choice, peruse homeschool catalogs online, make "online orders" for other books and supplements if they wish to customize their own curriculum and, in a few instances, even have their children take tests online. To save money, parents can also email the Catholic curriculum providers rather than place long-distance phone calls!
As for Catholic homeschool support - by 1995, "email loops" took off, mainly among individuals who were on the boards and wanted to discuss various matters among fellow Catholics. From there, "listservs" came about - small computer software programs that allowed a user to email hundreds of individuals at one time. (That's how the KIC List got its start). In 1999, when our family moved from the city to the country, our ISP changed, so I moved to KIC List to "One List," which eventually became Yahoogroups.
On a personal note, just think of the changes that have been wrought in all of our lives, due to computers and the "Net"! For example: Although I had learned "word processing" while in college, I was 32 years old when I truly learned how to use a computer. As a result, my children are used to having a computer in the house. While I learned how to type "the old fashioned way," they learned how to type by using computer software. Because I quickly became aware of both the "good and the bad" of the Net, I rarely allowed our children to have Internet access. Recently, I had to "give in" to that house-rule, since two of the three older "babies" simultaneously entered college last year. They use the Internet for a few "distance learning classes," as well as research papers for their "sit-in" classes.
On a professional level, this Year of Our Lord 2006 marks the 10th anniversary of "Keeping It Catholic on the Net." Hundreds of thousands of people visit the KIC website, and we've literally had thousands come and go on the KIC List itself. Many of you have been with us from our beginning in 1996, and many more have joined since our move to Yahoogroups in 1999. There are also many of you have been kind enough to let me know that KIC is an important part of your life, and that means so much to me.
"The times, they keep a'changing," but it is my hope that, come what may, we'll be "Keeping It Catholic on the Net" for many more years to come.
In the love of Christ and His Virgin Mother,
Marianna Bartold, KIC Founder
Author of the Keeping It Catholic Home Education Guides
We're "Keeping It Catholic" on the Net at www.keepingitcatholic.org
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"Unless the Lord keep the city, he watched in vain that keepeth it."
~ Psalm 126:1
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