Ben Buchanan
This is me. I work on the web.
I fell into this as a career, really. It started back in 1996 with a personal website on some borrowed server space, which was a diversion while I was studying Journalism and Philosophy.
Actually I think it *really* started back in 1993 when I proudly fired up my 14.4k modem and connected to a BBS. After that, to me a computer was useless if it couldn't connect to another one.
The BBS scene had a sense of community which the internet has never quite captured. Still, the shift was inevitable and by 1994 I was on the net as well as BBSes. I used to dial up in terminal mode, since it wasn't worth firing up Windows just so I could use Mosaic.
In 2000 I took my first full-time web job, working at Griffith University. These days I work as a frontend developer at News Digital Media, which is probably as close as I'll ever go to being a journo.
The web industry is an amazing thing. It's a young industry, still finding its feet and heavily dosed with uncertainty and opportunity. The internet went from underground to mainstream in ten years. It feels entirely natural to leap in and see where it goes in the next decade!
By getting involved I've met some incredible people, who are passionate and inspiring in so many ways. Sometimes I think the web standards community feels less like an industry and more like a tribe. We share our triumphs and failures, we laugh and fight and grow stronger.
I can't help being fascinated by the way the internet is changing the world. It's the most powerful communications tool humans have devised so far. It connects people from across the planet and it connects people from up the street. It provides an information flow that is as overwhelming and uncontrollable as it is fickle. More importantly to me, it keeps me connected with friends all over the world.
So anyway, this is me. I work on the web.
[Photo by Angus Young used with permission.]