History of zee interwebs and other exciting tales

So this was our first week of the semester and the discovering of the Internet and all its secrets!

I always thought of myself as 'computer savvy' but it seems that the addiction I have to the web comes without any thought towards its history. After being shown part of a BBC2 doco called 'The Virtual Revolution' I realised how little I actually know about it or how it came to be.

The birth of the Internet we know today began with a U.S government program named ARPA. This was in 1962 before the word 'Internet' had even been coined. By 1969 university's were beginning to use the systems, known as ARPANET which became the basis of hosts and new operating systems were being created. Interest was slowly growing and ideas flowing and by 1974 the idea of linking these ARPANET networks together became the creation of TCP/IP by Vint Cerf. Around 1977 the first commercial PC was created which also had a massive effect on how we have such readily available access to the web today, unfortunately the following year was also the first for spam :[. With this new development and PCs becoming more common the first virtual communities started to appear, the first of these was The Well. People were suddenly able to connect and discuss anything and everything with others who had similar interests and knowledge and this created a large (for its time) online community. The Well is still online and operating to this day with an active underground community of dedicated members!

 A prominent name comes up when you search for creator often internet and its Tim Berners-Lee. Berners-Lee wasn't the creator of the Internet but is the creator of the version of the internet that we know today. He created the idea of the World Wide Web and the use of a global hypertext system and by 1990 this was in place as well as HTML, HTTP and URLs.

The Internet has since expanded at an amazing rate with most homes having a computer with a connection and the introduction of computers into technologically secluded countries such as Africa. Seeing the effect the web has had on our society through availability of information and the freedom it gives to its users, will this change the societies not yet affected by it in a negative or a positive way? The web gives its uses the ability to research anything, see places they would normally never dream of, express their own opinions, listen to others and have the freedom to think for themselves. Access to the rest of the world has never been easier, as here I sit on my comfy couch on my iPad typing away. I have to say, the iPad was not a good choice for writing this essay of a short story.

So what have I learned? Who created the reason I have the freedom to learn and have access to knowledge I require. I'd give them a big high five!

And I have learned how to make a blog. Hurray! Hopefully someday ill be a web master, not just a social media addict.

K, thnx for reading.


Elle