internet Goes Down

Starting today, Wired News will no longer capitalize the "I" in internet. At the same time, Web becomes web and Net becomes net. It's Just the 'internet' Now [Wired.com].

Wired explains that "in the case of internet, web and net, a change in our house style was necessary to put into perspective what the internet is: another medium for delivering and receiving information. That it transformed human communication is beyond dispute. But no more so than moveable type did in its day. Or the radio. Or television."

I don't disagree, but changing conventions here is far more revealing than Wired lets on. While the Internet (before) was revolutionary, the internet (now) is just part of everyday life. Coupled with today's somewhat contradictory news that a majority of people still do not use internet search engines for information retrieval routinely, I think this development means that the first phase of the internet's development is well and truly over. Most pundits felt that phase ended in 2001 with the dot.com meltdown, but this small change in punctuation is actually far more significant. Or at least symbolic.

 Posted by glenn