internet sections

Brief summaries of the Internet article

Section 1: Naughton uses St Petersburg 1917 revolution to explain. He says that there’s many “conflicting rumours and theories” but that no one knows what the result will be. He says how hindsight is the only way for people to be clear what’s going on, but it can also be misleading as it leads to confusion. He then describes us as “living a radical transformation of our communications environment”. We’ve learnt from the history that with hindsight we start to overestimate the short and long impact and implications of technology. Naughton then explains how we see this all the time as professional people try to interpret and define the internet for all kinds of reasons. The writer uses examples of casual answers such as: “wants to be free”, but explains how it doesn’t explain much to us. He then uses a radical idea of how technology has changed the world once before by the invention of movable images and printing. Naughton then uses the first printed Bibles to convey the better use of print. The writer then ends section 1 by saying that we have the right to demand answers about the internet, as long as we are patient.

Section 2: The widespread conception is that the internet and webpage are the same thing. However, they are not. The internet is used to “track and signal”. Whereas, the web deals with much more disruptions such as: “freight trains”. On the Internet, webpages are only one problem that it has to face. The other problems consist of music files exchange, movie files travelling, software updates, email, instant messaging, phone conversations on skype and many more. There will also be many more problems in the future. 

Section 3: It troubles society how peoples net capacity leads to disruption and how one minute a business is doing really well and then the next there “struggling for survival”. Naughton believes the answer lies deep in the “networks architecture. In 1970, Vint Cert and Robert Kahn (lead designers) came up with a theory that, whilst coming up with how to link networks together,  it all comes down to two axioms. One, that there should be no central ownership or control and the network should not be optimized for particular application. This then lead to the twin protocols essentially known as “Global machine for spring surprises” and the idea that by using data packets, you have access to the internet. In 1991, Tim Bernes-lee put a code on an internet server without any permission. However, his teenage son (Shawn Fanning) spent six months writing software for sharing music files and in 1999 put his information on an internet server. This then started many people putting programmers on the net.

Section 4: In an analytical framework of mind, it’s become useful to look at what’s happening in the media  through ecologist eyes. As the web went mainstream in 1993, it has become “immeasurably complex”. Whereas, the old industrialised media ecosystem has been expanding rapidly. To an ecologist, it can be considered that “an ecosystem who’s biodiversity has expanded radically”.

Section 5: If you don’t agree with the ecological theory, its still clear to see that the information environment has still become a lot more complex. We have to address the new reality of the complexity even if it’s difficult and harder to predict. Naughton believes that the mindset and government are not well adapted for dealing with the complexity. Organisations have to deal with this problem by reducing complexity. This provides in providing better strategies for dealing with what the network environment might do next.

Section 6: A while ago a computer was described as a “standalone Pc running Microsoft software.” However, it eventually held internet network via office networks and then Globally. As broadband became a commonplace, the faster your connection the more people didn’t worry about there location or the computional tasks such as: yahoo and Google. These taks also became easier and more updated. As time has gone by, it has led to the emergence of “cloud computing”  that provide “powerful services” wherever you are on the net. This enables you to be able to use you own privacy, security and perceptions.

Section 7: The web was once a “publication medium”. However, for media businesses they still have a “mental model of the web”. The web has gone through three stages, Web 1.0, Web.2.0 and is now verging on web 3.0 due to Tim Bernes – lee idea. This will result in enough pages fit metadata.

Section 8: Many critics, such as Neil Postman predictedthat two writers would “bracker our future”. Aldous Huxley believed we’d be destroyed by what we fear. The next has been a profoundly liberating influence (Huxley). It has required communication, opportunities for communication and more. However, on the other hand (convellian), the internet could be described as the “nearest thing to a perfect surveillance machine the world has overseas”.

Section 9: A few years ago, copying was strenuous task. However, now its effortless and in some circumstances it gets done for you. As, copying was difficult, Haughton believes that its not surprising that it seems “increasingly out of sync.” The internet provides us with software tools to create bloggers and webpages themselves. However, this can be seem as a disagreeable fact. Our copyright laws don’t have as much of an impact then they should.