TheInternet,itsHistoryandOriginalImpact

Introduction
TheInternethaschangedtheworldasweknowit.Morethananyothertypeofcommunicationdevice,
includingthetelephone,thetelevision,orradio,theInternethasinfluencedoursocietylikenothingelse.In
onlyonegeneration,wehavegonefrompeopletoneverusingtheInternettonotknowinghowtosurvive
withoutit.
TheInternetismadeofbillionsofWebpagesandmillionsofwebsites,fromsmallandverypersonalones
tolargecorporategiantsiteslikeMicrosoft.Today,anythingyouwanttoknowaboutanythingcanbe
foundontheInternet,forbetterandforworse.
ThiscoursewillfirstdelveintotheoriginsoftheInternetanditsimpact,andhowitwillaffectusinthe
future.Thenwewillstudywebsiteanddesignprinciples.Finally,wewillcreateWebpagesforthe
websitesofthefuture.

Didyouknow?

Therewereabout1.5billionInternetusersintheworldin2008?

36billionemailsaresenteachday,ofwhich32billionareSPAMemails?

Thefirstdigitalcomputer,theENIAC,builtin1945,weighed30tonnes?(Itwasnotportable.)

TherewasmoreprocessingpowerinaGameBoyunitintheyear2000thantherewasinthe
computersthatsentthefirstmentothemoonin1969?

PONGwasthefirstvideogamebackin1972?

In1975,IBMreleasedaportablecomputercalledtheIBM5100.Itweighed55pounds,hadafive
inchscreenanditcost$19,000.

Therearemoreadultsintheworldthathaveneverusedatelephonethantherearepeoplewho
haveusedtheInternet?

TheBirthoftheInternet

TheHistoryoftheInternet

MostpeoplethinkoftheInternetasbeingafairlynewphenomenon.However,onDecember6,
1967,theUnitedStatesDefenseDepartmentissueda$19,800contractforthepurposeofstudying
thedesignandspecificationofacomputernetwork. By1969,theDepartmentofDefense
(DOD)createdanetworkcalledtheARPANET(AdvancedResearchProjectsAgencyNetwork).
TheARPANETprovidedDODresearchagencieswithaccesstohardwareandsoftwarethe
averageagenciescouldnotafford.Anadditionalgoalwastocreateanetworkthatcouldstillsend
andreceivedataifapartofithadbeendisabled.TherewerefearsofanuclearwarandtheUnited
StateswantedtohavetheabilitytocommunicateincyberspaceifmostoftheU.S.military
stationsweredestroyedbybombs.
Duringthe1970s,othernetworks,havingnothingtodowithARPANET,cameintobeing.These
includedBITNET,USENET,ANDTHEUUCP.Thesemajornetworkswereacrosssectionof
public(fundedbytheU.S.government)andprivateorganizations.The1980ssawthecreationof
theNSFNET,theNationalScienceFoundationNetwork.TheNSFNETlinkeditssupercomputers
toresearchagenciesanduniversitiesusingastateoftheartsystemthatpermittedanycomputer
onthesystemtomakecontactwithanyothercomputeronthesystem.
By1990,someofthepioneeringnetworkshadshutdown,andalloftheformerlyindependent
remainingnetworksjumpedontheNSFNET.Theywerejoinedbyadditionalnetworksthat
wantedtobeconnectedtothequicklygrowingwebofnetworkingthatisnowtheInternet.The
diagrambelowillustratesatypicalsmallnetwork.Acollectionofthesenetworksresultsinthe
Internet.Acollectionofcomputersinasmallareathatcommunicatewitheachotherisknowasa
LAN(LocalAreaNetwork).AcollectionoftheseLANsmakeupaWAN(WideAreaNetwork).
ThisisthebackboneoftheInternet.

Oncethesoledomainofgovernmentinstitutions,themilitary,researchagencies,anduniversities,
theInternetnowisavailabletowhoeverwantstouseit.

HereisabrieftimelineofmajoreventsfortheInternet:
1969ARPANETisestablished

1972Firstemailissent

1976AppleComputerisfoundedbySteveJobsandSteveWozniak.

1982InternetProtocol(IP)becomesthestandardfornetworkcommunicationandtheInternetis
born.

1988InternetChatiscreated

1989TheWorldWideWebprojectisproposedatCERN

1992Internethosts(capableofwebsites)reach1millioninnumber.

1993Mosaic,thefirstbrowserisreleased.
GrowthrateoftheWebreaches350,000%peryear.

1994Yahoo!iscreated.

1995Netscape,RealAudioandJavaiscreated.

1998Googleisbornandisworth$2billionby2004.

2008Thereareover1.5billionInternetusersand1billionemailaccounts.

WhatistheInternet?
TheInternetisaninterlinkingofthousandsofdifferentsizesandtypesofnetworksfromallovertheglobe.
EventhoughInternetisasingularnoun,itimpliesaplural:theInternetisnotonenetwork;itisa
coordinatedmultitudeofnetworks.
Howdataandmessagesaresentandreceived
TheInternetisapacketswitchingnetwork.Thatis,thesoftwarethatmakestheInternetfunctionismade
upoftwocomponents:theTCPandtheIP.TCPstandsforTransmissionControlProtocol.TCPbreaks
datathatistobetransmittedintopackets,orunitsofinformation.TheIP,orInternetProtocol,is
responsibleforrouting,ormoving,thepackets.Thinkofafamilyoftwoparentsandfourchildren.The
father(theserver)cangiveinformationtohissonbytalkingtohimusingseverallongsentences(the
packets).TCPwouldbetheprocessoftalkingandtheIPwouldbetheprocessofreceivingthe
instructionsinaseriesofsentencesandunderstandingit.Ifthereareforexample,instructionstobe
completedinfoursteps(fourpackets),butsteptwoisspokeninonlyawhisperorveryslowly,orevencut
off,theson(client),willnotgettheentireinformation.Thiswillleadtoincompleteinstructionsandcause
amalfunctionincommunication.Sometimes,browserslikeInternetExplorerandFirefox,oroperating
systemslikeLinuxandWindows,haveadifficulttimeunderstandinginformationamongthemselves.This
wouldbetheequivalentofthefatherspeakingJapanesetohisEnglishspeakingson.Thelanguagemaybe
correctbutthecommunicationislostintranslation,orlackofit!

What"beingontheInternet"means
YourmostlikelydirectlinktotheInternetwillbeatanetworkedPCatschool,work,oracomputerthat
usesamodemathome.InternetServiceProviders(ISPs)arecommercialorganizationsthatlinkdirectlyto
theInternet.InManitoba,MTSandShawareexamplesofISPs.Thesecompaniesuseanetworkmodem
usingphonelinestoconnecttotheprovider.Theterminalserverusesoneoftwoprotocols:SLIP(Serial
LineInternetProtocol)orPPP(PointtoPointProtocol).PPPandSLIParemethodsofconnectinga
computertotheInternet.Thereisnoneedtogointotechnologicaldetailatthispointaboutthisbuta
protocolisastandardofhowsomethingisunderstood.Forexample,itwillbeprotocolfortheteacherto
speaktotheclassinEnglishifitisanEnglishclass.YourPCbecomesapeercomputerontheInternet,
withitsownuniqueInternetaddress.Speedshaveincreaseddramaticallyinonlythelastdecade.High
speedInternetreferstohavingtheInternetonallthetimeandathighspeeds.Canadahasoneofthe
highestlevelsofhighspeedInternetintheworld,usuallyplacingsecondtoKorea.Manypeoplein
CanadatodayhavehighspeedwirelessInternetathome.Thisresultsinaveryfastconnectionalongwith
theflexibilityofusingacomputerorlaptopwithouttheissueofcables.Thisisaccomplishedthroughthe
useofawirelessmodemasshownbelow.

AddressingontheInternet

Somesystemmustexisttokeeptrackofthemillionsofusers,theiraddresses,andthecountlessmessage
andfiletransferringthatoccurs24hourseachday.Infact,thereareacoupleofsystemsthatdothis.
ThefirstistheInternetProtocoladdressingsystem.TheIPaddressingsystemusestwoformsof
addressinglettersandnumbers.Theletterandnumberaddresspointtoasinglecomputer,calledahost.
Theletteraddressisaseriesofwordsorwordabbreviationsseparatedbyperiods,calleddots.Forexample,
canada.gc.caistheIPaddressfortheCanadiangovernment.
Notethelasttwolettersca,atthefarrightpartofthisIPaddress.Theseletterstellwhatkindof
organizationorcountryownsthatIPaddress.IPaddressingschemesfeatureahandfuloforganizational
types.Themajoronesare:

edu:educational,university,college

mil:military

gov:government

net:network

com:commercial

org:organization

Countrycodesusetwoletters:caforCanada,usfortheUSA,andsoforth.SomeofthelargerInternet
countriesinclude:

au:Australia

de:Germany

jp:Japan

uk:UnitedKingdom

fr:France

mb.ca:Manitoba,Canada

Thisletteringsystemiscalledthedomainnamesystem(DNS).
Anotherwebsite,forexample,istheUniversityofMichiganWeatherUndergroundanditsnumericIP
addressis141.212.196.197.Thiscombinationoffournumbersiscalledadottedquad.Thedottedquad
addressisactuallymorespecificthantheletteredIPaddress.However,humanscanremembersequencesof
wordsorabbreviationsmoreeasilythansequencesofnumbers,sotheletteredIPaddresssystemisused
moreextensivelythanthedottedquadsystem.
NetworkSolutions,Inc.maintainsthemasterlistofallIPaddresses.Occasionally,thedottedquadaddress
willchangeandanewdottedquadsequencewillbeassociatedwiththeletteredaddress.However,these
changesarerarelypublicized,soalwaysusetheletteredsequence.
Notetheuseoflowercaseinaddressing.Whilecertainlyuniquelooking,lowercaseaddressingisnot
necessary.Somesystemsuseuppercaseastheirdefaultmodeoflettering.

TheWorldWideWeb

DuringmyserviceintheUnitedStatesCongress,ItooktheinitiativeincreatingtheInternet.
Al Gore, former U.S. VicePresident and climate change guru, describing his 1986 legislation to
interconnectfivesupercomputercenters(17yearsaftertheInternet/ARPANETbegan)
TheInternetisagreatwaytogetontheNet.
BobDole,formerU.S.Presidentialcandidate
Contrarytothesestatements,AlGoredidnotinventtheInternet!TheInternetisoftensynonymously
calledtheNetortheWeb.Althoughtheyhavethesamemeaning,theNetiswhatpeopleusuallyrefer
toattheWWWortheWorldWideWeb.
TheWWWistheInternetformostpeople.Itisverygraphicalandinteractive.TheWWWusesapowerful
querytechniquecalledhypertext.Hypertextdocumentscontainhighlightedkeywordscalledahyperlink.
Whenyouselectahyperlink,thehypertextsystemmovesyoutoanotherdocumentormediafilethat
hopefullydescribesthatparticularword.Inthatsecondarydocument,therewillbemorehypertextwords.
Selectingoneofthosewilltakeyoutoathirddocument,andsoon.Sometimestheresultisunexpected!
ThemostpopularpartoftheInternetistheWorldWideWeb,whichisalsoanetworkofinterconnected
computersdesignedtotransportbothtextandgraphicsacrosstheNet.

TheWebwasdevelopedattheEuropeanParticlePhysicsLaboratoryatCERN,Switzerlandin1990,by
scientistssearchingforawaytotransportmultimediadocumentsacrosstheNet.
ThefirstwebpagewasactuallycreatedonNovember13th,1990.In1993,Lycos,auniversityproject,
createdasearchenginesothatpagescouldbeorganized.Therewere800,000pagesatthetime.Adecade
later,Google,anothersearchenginehadeightbillionpages.Ayearafterthat,Yahoo!announcedthatit
possessed20billiondocumentsandimagesonitssearchengineandindex.
TheWeb'spopularitystemsfromitsabilitytodisplaytext,graphics,andmediaonthesamepage,aswell
asallowingforsoundandvideoobjectsincorporatedwithintext.AmajoradvantageoftheWebisthatit
supportsotherformsofinformationthathavealreadyexistedontheNetforsometime(e.g.Gopher,FTP,
Archie,etc.).
ToaccesstheWeb,youneedaclientsoftwareprogramcalledabrowser(e.g.InternetExplorer,Firefox,
Lynx,Opera).ThebrowserclientmakescontactwithWebservers,andretrievesthedocument(calleda

page)writteninalanguagecalledHTML(HyperTextMarkupLanguage).TheHTMLfileisatextfile
thatcontainscodesdescribingdocumentstructure,hyperlinks,andpointerstoothermedia.Thebrowser
interpretsthecodesandthendisplaystheWebpage.
LocationsforinformationordataontheWebarecalledUniformResourceLocators(URL).AnURL
containsinformationthattellsabrowserhowtoconnecttoacertainsite.Forexample:
http://www.google.ca

AnURLwillmostoftentakeyoutoahomepage.AhomepageistheWebpagethatloadswhenyoustart
yourbrowser.Generallythough,itistheentrypointorpageofsomeone'swebsite.Youcanalsoaccess
otherInternetservicesthroughabrowserandtheWWWsuchasFTP(FileTransferProtocol).

TheInternetandWWWLeadership
NobodycontrolsInternet.Thisisgood....andnotsogood.Itisthemostbottomuporganizationinthe
world.MillionsofpeopleusetheInterneteveryday,andthereisnoboss!Thismeansthatcontrolscome
fromtheorganizationorpersonthatusesit.Ifaparentdoesnotwanttheirchildtologontoacertainchat
line,thentheparentbecomesthefinalcontrolunitontheInternet.ThereisnocensorshipontheNet,
however,thebenefitsoutweightheproblemsmostofthetime!

W3C(WorldWideWebConsortium)wascreatedin1994asacollaborationbetweentheMassachusetts
InstituteofTechnology(MIT)andtheEuropeanOrganizationforNuclearResearch(CERN),withsupport
fromtheU.S.DefenseAdvancedResearchProjectAgency(DARPA)andtheEuropeanCommission.Its
objectivewastodevelopcommonprotocolsthatpromotetheWebsevolutionandensureacohesive
systemofstandards.
ThemostimportantworkdonebytheW3CisthedevelopmentofWebspecificationsthatdescribe
communicationprotocols(likeHTML,XHTML,andXML)andotherbuildingblocksoftheWeb.Some
wellknownmembersinclude:

IBM

Microsoft

AmericaOnline

Apple

Adobe/Macromedia

SunMicrosystems

Whorealisticallyowns,operates,andsetsrulesandstandardsforInternetuse?Theactualansweris
nobody.TheInternetisavastcollaborationofnetworksthatspantheglobe.Becauseofthis,nosingle
countryororganizationwithinacountrycanowntheInternet.Notcoincidentally,suchanarrangement
helpsminimizeautocraticruleandtheimpositionofarbitrarycensorship.Thatfreedomistheessenceand
alsotheAchillesheeloftheInternet.TheWebissimplyamirrorofsociety,withallthegoodandbadthat
goeswithit.EverypossibletopicisavailablefortheuserontheNet.Someorganizationsandcountriestry
tofiltertheInternettoblockundesirablesites.Thesesitescouldbespecificallypolitical,obscene,
private,sensitive,etc.Forexample,theChinesegovernmentfiltersYahoo!andGoogletoblocksitesthat
mayexposehumanrightsviolationsinChina.MostlargecompaniesalsofiltertheInternettoblock
pornographyandotherobscenesites.

RulesofbehaviorarespecifictoeachnetworkoperatingontheInternet.IfyouusetheInternetbywayof
yourschool,youremployer,oracommercialservice,theownersofthosenetworkswillenforceonline
behavior.Violationofthosenormscouldleadfrommild(removalfromthecomputer)tosevere(prison
sentence)consequences.
TheInternetandtheWorldWideWebhaverevolutionizedthewayourdigitalculturefunctionstoday.
Belowisquotethatputsthingsinhumorousperspective!
Ifautomobileshadfollowedthesamedevelopmentcycleasthecomputer,aRollsRoycewouldcost$100
today,getamillionmilespergallon,andexplodeonceayear,killingeveryoneinside.
RobertCringely,authorandtechnologyjournalist