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The Internet and the World Wide Web

Chapter 12

© 2009, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

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CHAPTER OUTLINE

• A Brief History of the Computer• The Internet• Structure And Features of the Internet• The Evolving Internet• Economics• Feedback• Social Implications• The Future: The Evernet

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A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE COMPUTER

• Earliest computers were basically adding machines– Pascal’s arithematique– Babbage & Byron’s analytical engine– Hollerith’s punch cards– Aiken’s Mark I

• Transistors, integrated circuits (1950s)– Personal computers (1970s)

• Modem• Local Area Networks (LAN)

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THE INTERNET• The Internet is a network of computer

networks• No one owns or run the Internet• There is no “Internet company”

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From ARPANET to Internet (1 of 2)

• Cold War idea: keep vital computer networks connected– Decentralized– Information bundled in Internet Protocol

packets– ARPANET (Advanced Research projects

Agency Network)• 1980s NSF (National Science Foundation)

– More widespread network

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From ARPANET to Internet (2 of 2)

• 1990s key developments– World Wide Web and hypertext– Browsers– Search engines

• Mid-2000s– Internet more popular than ever– 2005: more than 400 million host computers

connected to web

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STRUCTURE AND FEATURES OF THE INTERNET

• TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol– Allows computers to talk with other computers

• Access to the Internet– ISPs (Internet Service Providers)– OSPs (Online Service Providers)

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E-Mail• Electronic mail (e-mail)

– Fast, cheap, reliable– Can send text, graphics, and much more

• Drawbacks– Not suited for all message content– Not as private as letters– Spam– Time loss

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Newsgroups• Internet equivalent of bulletin boards

– Based on themes, or specialized topics– People read and post messages– More than 40,000 newsgroups

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World Wide Web• WWW: network of varied information sources

– Hypertext allows nonlinear linkages• The web is part of the Internet (terms not

synonymous) – WWW includes Web sites, web pages, home pages,

portals• URL: Uniform resource locator

– www.uga.edu (University of Georgia) • 3.3 billion pages by 2006

– 85% in English, German, French, Japanese

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Online Service Providers• OSPs key during formative years of

Internet– Provide exclusive information and

entertainment plus access to Internet– AOL (America Online) was biggest OSP

• At its peak, AOL had 29 million subscribers• Now a free service

– MSN (Microsoft Network) 2nd largest OSP

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THE EVOLVING INTERNET• Predictions are risky• Most experts agree on a few trends likely

to change the web

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Broadband• Internet transmission channel fast enough for

the large information transfers required by– Video-on-demand, interactive TV, streaming video,

downloadable movies• Broadband access is by satellite modem, cable

modem, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)• 2007: 50% of US homes have broadband

– US lags behind 24 other countries

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Going Mobile: The Wireless Web

• Wireless Internet access will increase as wireless technology becomes more common– Laptop computers, cell phones, PDAs– WiFi: Wireless Fidelity

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Web 2.0• New, interactive ways of using the Internet

– Second-generation web services, reflecting sharing and collaboration

• Social networking sites• User-generated sites• Group-effort sites

• Web 1.0 was about consuming content; Web 2.0 is about generating and sharing content

• To entrepreneurs, Web 2.0 = site representing little risk and huge rewards potential

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Monetizing the Web• Monetizing: Converting something to

money• Investors and many web site operators

want to convert visitors into monetary reward– Different web 2.0 sites approach monetizing

differently• Fees for extra services, display advertising,

sponsored links, etc

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Blogs• Blogs (weblogs) allow people to produce

their own journals about whatever they want.– A web 2.0 application– Almost anyone can become a mass

communicator– Blogging took off when software made it easy

to create and post blogs– “Blogosphere” doubles every six months– Blogs have influenced traditional media

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Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VOIP)

• Supports telephone calls over broadband Internet connections– Cable systems and Internet providers– Cheaper than traditional phone services– Quality and reliability may not be as high– Vulnerable to spam, viruses, hackers

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ECONOMICS• We will look at the impact of the Internet

on the national economy, e-commerce, and then the finances of individual web sites

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The Internet and the National Economy

• About 40% of publicly-traded Internet companies profitable (E-Bay, Expedia, Yahoo)

• Traditional companies use Internet more effectively

• Traditional stores use Internet as additional revenue stream

• Internet can be an effective business tool

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E-Commerce• Selling goods and services online• Two types

– Traditional consumer commerce– B2B (business-to-business), or E-business

• Consumer e-commerce $240 billion worldwide by 2007

• B2B e-commerce $2 trillion worldwide by 2006

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Web Site Economics• Main ways to make money over the

Internet– Site subscription– Product/service sales– Advertising sales

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FEEDBACK• Audience data provided by

– ComScore– Nielsen/NetRatings

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Audiences• 2/3 of US adults use the Internet daily• More than 80 million adults use Internet on

any given day• Internet audience mirrors US population

demographics• Top 5 activities: email, news, shop, pay

bills, send instant messages• Web 2.0: increased popularity of blogging,

sharing videos, social networking is likely

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SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS• The social implications of the Internet are

constantly changing, but some are clear:

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A New Model for News• The Internet supplements surveillance

function of news media– Any blogger can become a reporter– “Top-down” model of news has shifted: news

can start at source and go “sideways” to anyone

– Blogs provide checks and balances for traditional media

• The Internet also expands the media’s interpretation function

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Lack of Gatekeepers• Gatekeepers serve as evaluators of

information– Without gatekeepers, the Internet can be

overwhelmed with unwanted messages– We must evaluate the credibility of online

information ourselves– No gatekeepers = no censorship

• Can provide additional information, but may be partisan

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Information Overload• The Internet is an unparalleled information

retrieval source– We might retrieve so much information on a

subject that we are overwhelmed rather than helped

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Privacy Concerns• Internet databases provide information

about many people– Identity theft is more easy

• Laws and regulations have been discussed– Some say that voluntary guidelines are better

than laws

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Escapism and Isolation• Internet addiction• Some early studies found heavy Internet

users to show signs of isolation and depression– Subsequent studies did not find the same line– Many people go online to engage with others

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THE FUTURE: THE EVERNET

• The Evernet is the successor to the Internet– Also called the Supranet or Internet II– Convergence of wireless, broadband, other

devices– Will result in being continuously connected to

the Internet, anywhere, with any information device

• Staggering implications