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Waxy.org is the sandbox of Andy Baio, an independent journalist and programmer living in Portland, Oregon. I created Upcoming.org and some other stuff too.

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Olympia School District's Technology Program from 1995

Posted Mar 20, 2008 (Updated Mar 23, 2008)
The second in my series of Internet Videos from the VHS Era was contributed by James Burke. Here's what he said about it:
"I enjoyed the Internet Power VHS tape and dug up an old VHS tape from my old school district. It's a 20-minute video from June 1995 that discusses the district's technology plan with lots of funny and archaic technology and it's an interesting look at a school district that was on the cutting edge back in the mid nineties."
After watching the whole film, it's clear this public school district was way ahead of their time. Some of the video was a bit fluffy, so I edited the original video to focus on the technology and screen captures.


Josh Lake's awesome homepage. Dig that big blue throbber on Netscape 1.0.

A breathless 3rd grader checks her email before learning about "Netscaping and writing our own homepages."


Searching Webcrawler in Netscape 2.0.

The Clinton-era Whitehouse homepage in Netscape 1.0.


The sexy Netscape homepage, with interlaced GIF banner.

Telnet in Windows 3.1. The only PC in this video.


A pile of US Robotics modems jammed into holes in a cardboard box for dial-in network access.

Mildly-creepy student profiling application.


IP address as official URL. Charming!

7 Comments (Add Yours)

Mar 21, 2008
1:37 AM  
Gen Kanai wrote:

Josh Lake, where are you today?


Mar 21, 2008
4:22 AM  
Philipp Lenssen wrote:

Love this stuff. Screenshots are a bit tiny but oh well. Also have a look at Ghost Sites which sometimes has older screenshots http://www.disobey.com/ghostsites/


Mar 21, 2008
2:26 PM  
Todd Prouty wrote:

Corny video, Internet nostalgia, and old Macs. It doesn't get much better than this.


Mar 22, 2008
7:33 AM  
Pinky wrote:

And where are these students 13 years later I wonder...

I was born to early, DRAT!


Mar 30, 2008
8:39 AM  
Shawn Fumo wrote:

Wow, that was really cool! I started surfing the web at around that time period (a BBS I was on first got shell access and then became an ISP), so it brings back a lot of memories.

How cool would it have been to be in that school district at the time? They were doing more than most schools do today. I agree that it'd be neat to see where some of the students are now..


Apr 19, 2008
12:03 PM  
Http500 wrote:

Love this stuff!


Jun 16, 2008
8:33 AM  
Dennis Harper wrote:

It was great seeing this video again. We really were ahead of all the other schools in those days. Most schools aren't at this point yet. It was good seeing all the youth in the film. I am still working youth throughout the country to carry on this student-centered technology support. Drop me an email at dennis@genyes.com if you get the chance.

Dennis Harper


 

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