World Internet Project

General Reference 5 of 10

"From the beginning it was recognized that the increasing influence of digital technology and the Internet is not an American phenomenon. It has always been the project’s intent to expand to include all the regions of the world and within five years to include 25 or more countries.

The originators of this project believe that the Internet (in whatever distribution system: PC, television, wireless or some yet to be developed system) will transform our social, political and economic lives. We further believe that the influence and importance of the Internet will dwarf that of the most important cultural influence of the past 50 years: television. Potentially the Internet represents change on the order of the industrial revolution or the printing press. Believing this, our Internet Project is designed to get in on the ground floor of that change and to watch and document what happens as households and nations acquire and use the Internet...

Everything in our social, political and economic lives is being affected and much will be transformed. This technology promises to have a far larger and more serious impact on our society than the introduction of television, possibly as great an influence on history as the industrial revolution or the printing press. Television primarily involves only leisure time; this technology will affect work, school and play personal, family and business relationships."