Unit G325: Critical Perspectives In Media

Media In The Online Age

A2 Media Studies
Unit G325: Section B

Critical Perspectives In Media

Media In The Online Age

Learning Booklet 1 – A Brief History Of The Internet

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 Unit G325: Critical Perspectives In Media
Media In The Online Age

Aims/Objectives
1. Introduce students to the history of The Internet

Assessment Objectives and Key Skills Links

1. AO1: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of media concepts, contexts and
critical debates, using terminology appropriately and with accurate and coherent written
expression.

A Brief History Of The Internet1

It’s the cold war and the US government had a problem; if we have a nuclear war how are we
going to maintain communications? If one city is destroyed on the US eastern seaboard, all
communications in the east will be lost. A US military agency called Advanced Research
Projects Agency (ARPA) was charged with solving the problem. They devised a communication
system that would still work if one or more "nodes" of the system were destroyed. A kind of
communications web, that if one link of the web was broken, information could flow around the
broken link to get to its final destination.

TCP/IP And Packet Switching

Later, in 1969, ARPA linked university computers and researchers to the network to assist them
in conducting basic research through information sharing. This project became known as the
ARPAnet. In 1977 ARPAnet engineers realized that the new communications network was going
to grow into something much larger than originally anticipated so new communication technology
would be required. They devised a communication protocol known as TCP/IP, or transmission
control protocol/internet protocol. TCP/IP remains the fundamental way computer file are moved
around the Internet today.

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http://www.dynamicwebs.com.au/tutorials/history.htm

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 Unit G325: Critical Perspectives In Media
Media In The Online Age
Under TCP/IP a file is broken into smaller parts called "packets" by the file server. Each packet is
assigned an IP (Internet protocol) address of the computer it has to travel to. As the packet
moves through the network it is "switched" by a number of servers along the way toward its
destination. The IP address tells those servers which way to switch the packet.

The packets do not necessarily travel together on the Internet. Packets from the same file may
travel via different paths through different servers, but toward the same destination. Packaging
technology allows us to use limited bandwidth most efficiently. It means parts of a file can be
shared across a number of phone lines instead of having to find one phone line to put a large file
into.

The Birth Of The Internet

On January 1, 1983, all of the ARPAnet was switched to TCP/IP and became what is now known
as the Internet. The US National Science Foundation (NSF) funded most of the early
development of the Internet, but on April 30, 1995, the U.S. government released the Internet to
commercial networks and service providers and shut down the old National Science Foundation
backbone.

The World Wide Web

In March 1989, Tim Berners-Lee at the European Laboratory for Particle
Physics (CERN) proposed a new set of protocols for Internet information
distribution. They were; http (hyper text transfer protocol), ftp (file transfer
protocol), pop (post office protocol), smtp (simple mail transfer protocol) and
nntp (newsgroups protocol). These five protocols became known as the World
Wide Web protocols and the W3 protocols and were soon adopted by the early
Internet community. A consortium of organizations was formed to oversee
Internet development and became known as the W3 Consortium. No
organisation or individual owns the Internet.

Before the World Wide Web, the Internet

consisted mostly of electronic mail (e-mail),
newsgroups and ftp. Tools were invented to
help categorize what information could be found
and where it was, but the Internet was not what
you would call "user friendly". If you needed a
particular computer program or file, it was
nearly impossible to find unless you knew
exactly where it was.

Today however, we have specific software to

address each of the W3 protocols. We have
"browsers" to help us locate and look at web
pages. We have e-mail clients to help us create,
send and receive e-mail. We have newsreaders
just to read news, FTP clients just to download
program files and chat clients to help us do
Internet Rely Chat. Today you don’t have to be
a rocket scientist to work out where to find
information and what to do when you get there.

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 Unit G325: Critical Perspectives In Media
Media In The Online Age
Summary
• 1960’s US government seeks nuclear war proof communications, briefs project to APRA
• 1969 Universities and researches connected to ARPAnet
• 1977 ARPAnet engineers realise the network is going to grow beyond expectations
• 1983 ARPAnet switched to TCP/IP
• 1989 Tim Berners-Lee proposes a new set of Internet protocols known as the World
Wide Web.
• 1995 US government releases Internet for commercial use

Differentiation
For a more detailed history of The Internet see the attached blog video.