Internet and the Web

The merging of Moore's Law, Metcalfe's Law, and easy-to-use graphical interfaces form the 

foundation of the communication revolution we are now experiencing. The International Data 

Corporation (IDC) forecasts that 320 million people will be able to access the World Wide Web by 

2002. In 1997, 78 million devices connected to the Web; by 2002 this number will increase to 515 

million (WISTA, 1998). In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service delivered an astonishing 185 billion 

pieces of first class mail, yet in that same year the Internet handled about one trillion e-mail 

messages. Federal Communications Committee Chairman Reed Hunt has said, "The 

communication age is connected to the greatest revolution in the history of education since the 

invention of the printing press" (Thourburg, 1997).