26 Jul

Wired93: the idea

I recently had the happy surprise of stumbling upon a September/October 1993 (pictured, too, in the Wikipedia entry) issue of Wired magazine – with William Gibson on the cover, no less.

Since I owe a very large part of who I am to reading this publication religiously from an evening in detention in 2000 until today, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at what was going on during the innaugural year of Wired. It could be said that little is accomplished in the world of technology by way of nostalgia, but I think that there is something to be gained from a bit of reflection just the same as in the art writing.

Besides, there will be lots to laugh at as we trek through technology from 18 years ago.

So, after only the first few pages (it’s late), what have I uncovered?

• “I can record on a disc!” MiniDisc ad from Sony
• classified style ad for Microsoft looking for a Visual Interface Designer and listing an actual postal address complete with Attn: instructions for submitting a résumé
• “I want to discuss another dinosaur, one that may be on the road to extinction. I am referring to the American media…” (Not bad, not bad.)
• Global Village fax/modem two page spread

If the next 101 pages keep up the pace set by the first 19, we are in for some real treats.