Twenty years after the launch of The Digital City (De Digitale Stad - DDS) it will get a place in the permanent collection of the Amsterdam Museum. DDS was the first virtual city in the world and the first online community in The Netherlands, long before Facebook. DDS will be the first phenomenon from the digital history of Amsterdam that becomes part the museum collection. This fact will be celebrated at the museum on 29 October 2014.
Why this date? It is exactly 45 years ago that for the first time in history the computers of the University of California and Stanford connected. This network was the predecessor to the Internet as we know it now. The first message to be exchanged between the two universities over the Arpanet should have been 'Login'. The connection was broken at the letter 'g', after L...O...
"In the Beginning, ARPA created the ARPANET.
And the ARPANET was without form and void.
And darkness was upon the deep.
And the spirit of ARPA moved upon the face of the network and ARPA said, 'Let there be a protocol,' and there was a protocol. And ARPA saw that it was good.
And ARPA said, 'Let there be more protocols,' and it was so. And ARPA saw that it was good.
And ARPA said, 'Let there be more networks,' and it was so."
- Danny Cohen
