COM 215 Media History

OUTLINE

Discussion Internet Origins

Internet TimelineWeb TimelineLessons, valuesCulture of HackingOpen Source

Problems, issuesSurveillance, digital divides

Defining Internet– three layers

1. The physical layer (the network's hardware and wires)

2. the logical layer (the protocols that determine who connects to what)

3. the content layer (the actual material delivered by the protocols over the wires

Lawrence Lessig, The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World

1. The physical layer or infrastructure of new mediaTelephone systems/cable systemsInternet service providersComputer hardware (including routers,

modems)Mobile phonesComputer softwarePortals

gateway sites, search engines

2. The logical layer of new media

Protocols/languages/file formatsHTMLPHPMP3TCP/IP

3. Content layer

Transforms old cultural formsweb radio, web TV, movies online, online

newspapers, web zines, itunes

Creates new formsVideo games, blogs, tweets, retweets, status

updates, video games, new video genres (remix, etc), memes

What is the Internet?

A set of standards for interconnecting networks A network of networks

Internet Timeline

1958 Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA)

1962 J.C.R. Licklider DirectorMemo “Members and affiliates of the

intergalactic computer network”“integrated network operation”Funded Douglas Englebert

Human computer “interfaces”: Screen, keyboard, mouse

Douglas Engelbart’s “mouse”

Internet Timeline

Paul Baran, RAND Institute1961 packet switchingInterface Message

Processer(node/router)1964 distributed computer

networking - “a highly redundant system”

“to permit survivors to do all those things necessary to shuck their ashes and reconstruct the economy.

Distributed network

Internet Timeline

1969 ARPANETprecursor to Internet

ARPANET 1971

Internet Timeline (cont)

1972 ARPANET demonstrated (operational by 1975)1974 TCP (TCP/IP by 1978) Vint Cerf & Bob Kahn

Enables packet switching IP – packets, TCP – connections

1983 ARPANET separates into MILNET and ARPA-INTERNET Domain Name System .edu, .gov, .com, .mil, .org, .net, .int

1984 NSF expands high speed network1990 ARPANET decommissioned, net privatized

ISPs create networks based on ARPANET’s design 1000s of ISPs cooperate with one another to create the Internet

Principles of Internet Architecture:

distributed (no central control)end to end principle “stupid network”

Passing of packets are neutral (though some ISPs filter

open communication protocols (language)multilayered (layers isolated)compatibility between networks

“An open system of computer communication” –Castells

Bedrock values of communication on the InternetOpen access (open communication)Freedom/autonomy Sharing/Cooperation (time-sharing)Non discrimination (net neutrality)

Interoperability

[Embraced by hackers]

[Screen: War Games, Richard Stallman]

Internet Communities and Culture

Network cultureFIDONET (1983) Alternative communitiesSharing documents

Hackers

computer enthusiasts (hobbyists)modifyinglearning by doingsharing and creating

The Steve’s (Jobs & Wozniak)

Countercutlure

Access to tools of liberation

Alternative networksDiverse computing

usesContribute to spread of

the InternetCommercial usesInternational growth

Internet’s cultural values…

Individual freedom (autonomy)Independent thinking Culture of sharing and cooperation

w/peersRight to accessRight to tinker

“Information must be free”-The Internet Galaxy by Manuel Castells

Internet origins and values

ARPANET cooperation, openness, consensus

Shared protocolsAgreement on technical standardsDecentralized and distributed network Run by volunteersFor freeFor the public good

“The Internet cannot be regulated”Nicholas Negroponte in Being Digital (1995)

The Internet a volunteer baseddecentralized distributed network of networks No point of centralized control…Or is there?

the root of the Internetthe top of the Domain Name hierarchy and

internet address system

Domain Name System (DNS) Tree with root at top

Jon Postel (1943-1998)

documented and developed

key Internet standardsTCP/IP – basic Net protocolsSMTP – email transferDNS – name servers

ran the Internet naming & address system on a voluntary, free-of-charge, and public

interest basis

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)

Organization established by DARPA to perform various technical functions:Root zone management

Top of hierarchical DNS tree – top level domains (.com)

• divided into zones and subzones - for the geeks

IP address allocationInternet Protocol address (http://10.2.10.82/)

Domain name management Internet naming system (msj.edu)

Challenging root authority

Internet goes globalroot authority is challenged

Sell to highest bidder?put under US control?Or…put under authority of the Internet Society

At 5:04pm on Jan 28th 1998 Jon Postel pulls the root!

attempt to wrestle root control away from US Gov. and Network Solutions

Jan 29th US secures

root authorityOctober 16th 1998

Jon Postel dies (some say

from stress over DNS root

authority)

ICANN established to rule the root

ICANN (1998) - non profit, private corporationgiven authority by US Department of Commerce to manage the Internet naming system

Root server system managementIP address allocationDomain name management (internet naming system)

• top level domain (TLD)• country code top level domain (ccTLDs)

Critiques of ICANNAmerican dominanceUnique relationship with DoCPartnership with Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI)

the monopoly registry and dominant registrar

Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP)

ccTLD registration issuesNon transparent board selection processdecisions not a consensus of Internet communityNon representative body of global InternetToo much control by a non representative body

Map of root servers

Web Timeline

Tim Berners Lee Hypertext – datalinking system (1989)HTML (hypertext markup language;

1990)Browser (GUI) – Nexus (1991)

Mark AndreessenMosaic (1993; Netscape 1994) 1st popular browser

Web 1.0 (write only web)

1995 Amazon.com & e-commerce take off1998 Internet Corporation for Assigned Names

and Numbers (ICANN) governs domain names (URLs)

1999 p2p file sharing (via Napster)Blogger Software released2001 Instant Messaging services flourishCultural forms:

blogs; virtual spaces (game and non game)

Web 2.0 (read/write web)

2005 broadband increases (dial-up declines)Platforms for user-generated content!

Wikis – Wikipedia (2001)social network sites (SNSs) – MySpace (2003),

Facebook (2005)photo and video sharing sites – Flickr (2004),

YouTube (2005)

Democratizing effects

Interactivityparticipationaltered social relations

lowered barriers to entryremoval of intermediaries or gait-keepers

(disintermediation)

DiY ethos (do it yourself)