Web navigation
Web navigation came about with the introduction of the World Wide Web, in 1989 when Timothy Berners-Lee invented it. Once the world wide web was available, web navigation increasingly became a major aspect and role in jobs and everyday lives. With one-third of the world’s population now using the internet, web navigation maintains a global use in today's ever evolving international society. Web navigation is not restricted to just computers, either, as mobile phones and tablets have added avenues for access to the ever-growing information on the web today. The most recent wave of technology which has affected web navigation is the introduction and growth of the smartphone. As of January 2014, 58% of American adults owned a smart phone, and that number is on the rise from previous years. Web navigation has evolved from a restricted action, to something that many people across the world now do on a daily basis.
Online health communities
In 1991 CERN labs introduced the World Wide Web, allowing a more graphical representation of the topic to be discussed. This change lessened barriers to communication and enhanced community building. For example, the growth potential from linear to geometric was made possible through this change in medium because audiences could access static content more easily without the author’s knowledge or synchronicity in time. Further, the graphical nature of the World Wide Web made the exchange of more medically relevant information more easily possible. Lastly, the widespread use of the World Wide Web in PC's made during the mid-1990s made the technology available to a much wider audience than previous technologies. By 1997, the World Wide Web was the predominate medium for "ad hoc" online health communities to form.