Essays

The Internet didn't just happen overnight—rather it was the end result of a search that had been in place since the late 1950s. By the time the world started to get online in the mid-1990s, the Net had been almost 40 years in the making.

The   Internet   has   revolutionized   the   computer   and communications world like never before. The invention of the telegraph, telephone, radio, and computer set the stage for this unprecedented integration of capabilities. The Internet has a worldwide broadcasting capability, a mechanism for information dissemination, and a medium for collaboration and interaction between individuals and their computers without regard for geographic location. 

By the end of the 1980s, the European Particle Research Laboratory, CERN in Geneva was one of the premier Internet sites in Europe. CERN desperately needed a better way of locating all the files, documents and other resources that now threatened to overwhelm it. A young British scientist, Tim Berners-Lee, working as a consultant for CERN, had the answer. His 'World Wide Web' system assigned a common system of written addresses and hypertext links to all information. Hypertext is the organization of information units into connections that a user can make the association being called a 'link'.

The Internet has changed much in the two decades since it came into existence. It was conceived in the era of time-sharing, but has survived into the era of personal computers, client-server and peer-to-peer computing, and the network computer. It was designed before LANs existed, but has accommodated that new network technology, as well as the more recent ATM and frame switched services. It was envisioned as supporting a range of functions from file sharing and remote log in to resource sharing and collaboration, and has spawned electronic mail and more recently the World Wide Web. But most important, it started as the creation of a small band of dedicated researchers, and has grown to be a commercial success with billions of dollars of annual investment.

This evolution has brought us new applications—Internet telephone and Internet television. It is evolving to permit more sophisticated forms of pricing and cost recovery, perhaps a painful requirement in this commercial world. It is changing to accommodate yet another generation of underlying network technologies with different characteristics and recruirements, from broadband residential access to satellites. New modes of access and new forms of service will spawn new applications, which in turn will drive further evolution of the net itself.

The most pressing question for the future of the Internet is not how the technology will change, but how the process of change and evolution itself will be managed. The architecture of the Internet has always been driven by a core group of designers, but the form of that group has changed as the number of interested parties has grown. With the success of the Internet has come a proliferation of stakeholders—stakeholders now with an economic as well as an intellectual investment in the network. We now see, in the debates over control of the domain name space and the form of the next generation IP addresses, a struggle to find the next social structure that will guide the Internet in the future. 'The form of that structure will be harder to find, given the large number of concerned stakeholders. At the same time, the industry struggles to find the economic rationale for the large investment needed for the future growth, for example to upgrade residential access to a more suitable technology. If the Internet stumbles, it will not be because we lack technology, vision, or motivation. It will be because we cannot set a direction and march collectively into the future.

Thus, we see that the Internet is unlike all other communication mediums anyone has ever encountered. People of all ages, colours, creeds, and countries freely share ideas, stories, data, opinions, and products. Increasingly, news gets out on the Internet before it's available on other media, and the cyber-deprived are losing ground in keeping tab on the world's happenings.

Some of the ways the Internet is being used are—Finding people: If you've lost track of your childhood sweetheart, now is your chance to find him or her anywhere in the country. You can use one of the directory services to search the phone books of the entire United States. Finding businesses, products, and services: New yellow page directory services enable you to search by the type of company you're looking for. You can indicate the area code or zip code to help specify the location. People are shopping for that hard-to-find, special gift item. Research: Law firms are realizing that a great deal of information they formerly paid substantially to find from commercial services can be found for almost nothing when they go directly to the Net. Real estate appraisers use demographic data available on the Net, including unemployment statistics, to help assess property values. Genetics researchers and other scientists download up-to-date research results from around the world. Businesses and potential businesses research their competition over the Internet. Education: School teachers co-ordinate projects with classrooms all over the globe, College students and their families exchange e-mails to facilitate letter writing and keep down the cost of phone calls. Students do research with the help of their home computers. The latest encyclopaedias are online. Travel: Cities, towns, states, and countries are using the Web to put up (post) tourist and event information. Travellers find weather information, maps, transportation schedules and tickets, and museum hours online. Marketing and sales: Software companies are selling software and providing updates via the Net (The folks making money from the manufacture of floppy disks are looking for new products. Aside from the large pile of AOL disks we now use as coasters, most software distribution is migrating to the Net.). Companies are selling products over the Net. Online bookstores and music stores enable people to browse online, choose titles, and pay for stuff over the Net. Job searches: Not just for students, the Internet is an incredible tool for finding a job. It's especially good for students because it provides a powerful, economical way to conduct a real job search. You can distribute your resume online for prospective employers. You can check out the Monsterboaid, which has an impressive compilation of job-related information that enables you to search by discipline (the area of study — all searches need the other kind) or geography or a host of other criteria. You can find the Monsterboard at Monster.com. However, if you're already employed, you might want to use caution when using monster.com. If you register and your employer uses monster.com, your resume might show up where you least desire it. Love: People are finding romance on the Net. Singles ads and Matchmaking sites vie for users. Contrary to Internet lore, the Net community is no longer just a bunch of socially challenged male nerds under 25.

Healing: Patients and doctors keep up-to-date with the latest medical findings, share treatment experience, and give one another support in medical problems around the globe. Some practitioners exchange e-mails directly with their patients.

Investing: People do financial research, buy stock, and invest money. Some companies are online and trade their own shares. Investors are finding new ventures, and new ventures are finding capital. Organizing events: Conference and trade-show organizers are finding that the best way to disseminate information, call for papers, and do registration is to do it on the Web. Information can be updated regularly, and paper and shipping costs are dramatically reduced. Registering online saves the cost of on-site registration staff and the hassle of on-site registration lines. Non-profits: Churches, synagogues, and other community organizations put up pages telling about themselves and inviting new people.