Revisiting Business Historians and the Internet

Extract

During the 1996 annual meeting of the Business History Conference, a session on the World Wide Web attracted considerable attention from curious members (see Business and Economic History 25 [Fall 1996]: 46—54). The Internet was then somewhat of an infant, and most of us, just becoming accustomed to the speed and convenience of electronic mail, were barely aware of the opportunities afforded by the then-new graphical interface known as the Web. No more! At least not in the United States, where advertisers bombard us with their Internet addresses and news accounts inform us of vast fortunes made in new Internet ventures that have not yet turned a profit. There is, in short, a “dot.com” revolution occurring in American business. It is also happening, albeit more slowly, in scholarly and educational circles.