Interpersonal Communication- A Mindful Approach to Relationships, 2020a

(Figure 12.4). The invention of IRC led to the proliferation of chatrooms throughout the 1980s and 90s.
New technology was also developed through the European organization Groupe Speciale
Mobile (GSM). The goal of the GSM was to create protocols for second-generation global cellphone
networks. One of the protocols that was created was the . The
concept was developed in 1985 by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert, but the first SMS
message wouldn’t be sent until 1992. SMS originated from the radio telegraphy in radio memo pagers
using standardized phone protocols, and was later defined as part of the Global System for Mobile
Communications series of standards in 1985. The “short” part of SMS refers to the maximum length
of the messages that could be sent at the time: 160 characters (letters, numbers, or symbols in the Latin
alphabet). If you haven’t figured it out yet, the system created by Hillebrand and Ghillebaert is the
system most of you use every day to send text messages. Although texting can be either asynchronous or
synchronous, historically it was one of the earliest technologies to facilitate real-time (synchronous) online
communication.
The World Wide Web
Our last major invention that indeed was groundbreaking came about in 1990. Tim Berners-Lee, a
scientist working for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), had an idea to help
capture information from the people who worked at CERN. The typical length of time someone spent
conducting research at CERN was only two years, so that meant a lot of new people coming and going
without a way to capture what was being done. As Berners-Lee noted, “The actual observed working
structure of the organisation is a multiply connected ‘Web’ whose interconnections evolve with time.” 5
Furthermore, “The technical details of past projects are sometimes lost forever, or only recovered after
a detective investigation in an emergency. Often, the information has been recorded, it just cannot
be found.” 6 You see, Berners-Lee realized that so much information is learned on the job and then
leaves with the people as they leave the job. Berners-Lee proposed a new system for keeping electronic
information. After getting some initial positive feedback, Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau wrote a
management report explaining hypertext:
HyperText is a way to link and access information of various kinds as a Web of nodes in which the user can
browse at will. It provides a single user interface to large classes of information (reports, notes, data-bases, computer
documentation and on line help). We propose a simple scheme incorporating servers already available at CERN...
A program which provides access to the hypertext world we call a browser... 7
CERN was not really concerned with the Internet as its primary scope and emphasis, so CERN and
Berners-Lee agreed to release the source code for the World Wide Web (WWW) to the world in April
1993. In 1994, Berners-Lee left CERN and took a job at MIT where he created the International World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to develop common standards for communication on the WWW. W3C
still exists today, and the WWW celebrated its 30 th birthday on March 10, 2019. The 5 th variation of
the hypertext markup language (HTML) created by the W3C is currently in use. You’re probably using
HTML5 daily and don’t even realize it. As the W3C notes, “HTML5 contains powerful capabilities for
Web-based applications with more powerful interaction, video support, graphics, more styling effects,
and a full set of APIs. HTML5 adapts to any device, whether desktop, mobile, tablet, or television.” 8
Key Takeaways
Starting with the invention of the Internet in 1969, computer-mediated
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Interpersonal Communication