Makes You 'Wonder'
By Maria Weiskott, Editor-in-Chief -- Gifts & Decorative Accessories, 7/1/2007
The other day, a few of us were standing around the water cooler trying to remember the Seven Wonders of the World. (Yes, it is a rather obscure topic for gift editors.) What had sparked the conversation was a press packet for the Handicrafts & Gifts Fair in India, home of the Taj Mahal — one of the man-made Wonders of the World. From there, everyone offered a guess at the other six, a task that's about as difficult as naming the other dwarfs after Doc.
But of course, this is the new millennium. Instead of taxing our memories to recall all the wonders, one editor turned to Google. Up came an Associated Press report on CNN.com: “New 'Wonders' poll in final month of voting.”
“What?” we said. Final month of voting on the new Seven Wonders? Who knew? There we were struggling to come up with the old wonders. Meanwhile, the rest of the world was voting on a new group.
As it turns out, six of the original wonders of the ancient world are long vanished; only the Great Pyramids of Giza remain. So in 1999, Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber came up with the idea for a new set of wonders. A non-profit organization was created to support the “New 7 Wonders of the World” campaign. The New 7 Wonders were to be named on July 7. That is, seven named on 7/7/07.
Over 50 million votes were cast for the New 7 Wonders. How is that possible? In one word: technology. In two words: the Internet. Only in this age could a global vote possibly be registered and counted. Such a phenomenon gives new meaning to the phrase, “boggles the imagination.”
The power of the Internet is sure to achieve many things that are as yet unimaginable. In the meantime, Gifts & Decorative Accessories is using the imagination we have right now to improve our Internet presence and more fully engage readers in its potential.
Later this month, when you log on to giftsanddec.com, you'll see what we mean. We'll have a new look, a host of new features and a vast amount of information to help keep you on the leading edge of the gift business.
We may be celebrating our 90th anniversary, but Gifts & Dec is anything but outdated. Rather, we're moving ahead at the mind-boggling speed of technology — kind of makes you wonder what the next 90 years will bring.
