We started at the Media Park, 26 people who went on foot to the underground, where we got a short introduction to the main theme. Mr. Borgmann, our guide, told us something about the similarities between the rail transport system and the Internet.
Just as the train transports people and goods so the Internet links people and ideas. Both systems are concerned with contact but in the case of the railway it is physical contact, while Internet contact is virtual. Both are real, but in different ways. And today we travelled in both ways.

Our physical journey was to Thielenbruch, to the tram museum. This museum has two halls. The first hall was build in 1906, to be used as the station. The other one contains a train and photo collection. We got a short introdution from our museum guide, about the history of the public tram system of Cologne. In the past the first trams connected the cities with the suburbs. For that reason people were able to work in cities and live in suburbs. Today people do not need to travel from their homes to work, today they travel by Internet not just from the suburbs to the city but from country to country - only one click away. Yesterday horses provided the power for the trams, they were replaced by electricity.
The source of  power became invisible just as the power of the Internet is invisibile. The faster transport moved the less sense of distance people had; today on the Internet no sense of distance exists at all. Distance between places  has been obliterated. New technology always creates fear whether it is electricity or the Internet.

In the tram station Ian Gledhill gave a talk pointing out the parallels between the feared danger of the first electric railway in the world (in Brighton, England, and the introduction of new technologies such as the internet. All were fascinated to hear that this railway has been running more or less non-stop since 1884 until today. Ian continued his talk on the tram when we physically travelled back to Eigelstein, where we had a real lunch. During lunch we were addressed by the virtual Kaiser Wilhelm II concerning the opening of the first tramway. Finally we walked back to the Media Park, where we worked on this travelogue.

Written by Miriam Dahlmann & Andreas Weber