I used to be an Internet Guru
I was interviewed by a writer for the Montgomery Advertiser in 1996. When the article was published, I was surprised to find that the writer identified me as an Internet guru. I didn’t think of myself in that light. I’m a documentary filmmaker and instructor but I was using the Internet before it became commonplace.
At that time I had already developed a few websites. The web pages I had created to promote broadcast of my documentary about the kudzu vine had been picked up by the Yahoo directory and listed as a cool site. They had little sunglasses by the directory listing. Along with a work associate, I had created a website for my department at the University of Alabama. I had also created a couple of small web directories of my own, an outgrowth of my obsessive-compulsive leanings. And I was involved in the development of an early web community or social network for a client.
My how times change. Not too long after that interview, the University of Alabama deleted my kudzu web pages and they were removed from the Yahoo directory. (I have since moved them to my personal website at http://www.maxshores.com/kudzu.) My department head hired a web development professional to do our department website. He added some stuff, then left, and the site has been left dormant for years. The client with which I was working to create an early social network died and the project died with him.
My little web directories remain but I don’t have much time to devote to them anymore. I got married to a wonderful lady who already had two beautiful daughters. I got a life, and had a lot less time to obsess about web projects.
Oh well. Life has been good. I used to be an Internet guru. I’m a lot happier now.
