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Creating a Worldwide Network

Dwight D. Eisenhower created the U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Project

Agency (DARPA).In the 1950’s and 1960’s, communication was limited to stations on a

computer network. Starting in 1960, J.C.R. Linklider began calling for a global network

connecting all computers. His vision was very much like the Internet is today. In 1962, he was

appointed to be the director of DARPA. Within DARPA, Linklider created an informal group

whose purpose was to look for ways to develop an interconnected computer system. Through

the development of “packet switching”, an interconnected net work began to emerge. There

were considerable obstacles to overcome as there was no “uniformity of command” between

differing computer systems. This led to the creation of a one logical network approach.

(www.isoc.org)

When Robert Taylor was promoted to head the Information Processing Office of DARPA

he sought to realize Linklider’s dream. In 1969, the first ARPANET link was established

between UCLA and Stanford. Later, two more links were created with the University of Utah

and UC Santa Barbara. These four inter connected computers formed the first real internet. This

early internet focused both on its own research and trying to improve the quality of the network

itself. Gradually, the network expanded. (www.wikipedia.org\wiki)

At this time, computers on the “internet” were separately designed. Initially, this was

seen as a good thing as it allowed each computer to develop programs for its own needs.
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Developers of the internet wanted minimal control as the formation was new and maximum

creativity was encouraged. Unfortunately, it became critical that each computer develop a

protocol that would ensure connection and prevent disruption due to “radio interference” or

“jamming”. Thus, the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) came into

creation. Once established, it would prevent intercommunications between computers from

being lost. Key to the problems of the internet was the need of computers to change codes on the

internet. The various languages used by the differing computers were often incongruous. Also,

once information was not properly transmitted, it was often lost. These differing host systems

continued to dog DARPA and ARPANET. In 1973, a major breakthrough took place when

Robert Kahn of ARPANET and Vinton Cerf of Stanford University reconfigured the network

protocols and required the host computers to be responsible for the actions of their computers.

This forced the programmers to ensure the reliability of their own system. With its neutral

approach to all networks, it came to be seen user friendly by all networks. Eventually, the

TCP/IP programs would eventually come to be adopted by all networks. (www.isoc.org)

In November of 1977, the first successful link between ARPANET, a Packet Radio

Network, and an Atlantic Packet Satellite Network took place. Thanks to the creation of the

TCP, this was possible. A message was sent from a van in San Francisco over the Atlantic

Ocean to a gateway computer in Norway. From there it was transferred via radio and cable to

the University College in London, and then successfully transferred to the University of Southern

California. Its purpose was to reenact a theoretical battlefield scenario. The message was sent

over 94,000 miles and arrived in southern California exactly as the same message had been sent.

(Poole pg. 58-59)

In 1979, two graduate students at Duke University were able to develop network

programming that was much cheaper than the giant computer networks that ARPANET had been

developing. The students started letting others use their network. The program, Usenet, became

very popular since so many institutions that wanted to start adopting computers found them too

expensive to consider. Also, ARPANET started to consider decreasing the size of their

computers for communication. Usenet began to be used by people in Europe and Australia in the

early 80's. Much of its style was adopted later by the Internet. Initially, it was used by people

looking to communicate across academic fields but gradually was used exactly as the internet is

used today, for personal interests and hobbies. (Poole pg. 66-67)

In 1984, the TCP/IP protocol became the standard for all military computer networking.

By 1988, it was recognized as the best program available. This lead to a separation between

military and non military functions for networking on the internet. Increasingly, TCP/IP method

came to be adopted by all Internet systems worldwide.iBy 1985, the internet was being used by a

broad group of researchers across a broad range of fields. Electronic mail also began to be used

at this time between office workers. This began to show the advantages of electronic

communications to a broader audience. (www.isoc.org)

As early networks were built for specific communities, there was no pressure for the

original networks to be compatible with each other. With the development of NSFNET in 1985,

this changed. Dennis Jennings, NSFNET’s leader, mandated that all of its programs serving the

academic community would adopt TCP/IP. At this time NSF also adopted DARPA’s existing

network. Eventually, the NSF and ARPA would decide to decommission DARPA. NSF had a

program that was much faster than the old DARPA system.
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Federal agencies began to coordinate some policies that further streamlined the Internet.

They began to share costs on such items as trans-oceanic circuits and “managed interconnection

points” for intercommunity messaging. Furthermore, the Federal Networking Council was

formed, which began to coordinate with international networking organizations. The NSF also

began encouraging academic users of the internet to seek commercial users. The NSF also

encouraged privatization by limiting use of its “Backbone” to academic research only. In 1988,

the NSF published an article, “Towards a National Research Network” that was read by Sen. Al

Gore. He sponsored legislation leading to the creation of an “information superhighway”.

Finally, funding for the NSF’s Backbone was cut, dispersing it to now abundant private entities.

But, it was the standardization of NSF and its developments that gave us the formation of the

modern day internet. (www.isoc.org)

The development of the World Wide Web (www) was developed by Tim Berners-Lee

who worked at the Centre Europeen pour la Recherche de Nucleaire (CERN). Berners-Lee was

tired of the lack of a network link and sought a connection. Finally CERN was connected in

1984. By 1989, it was the largest internet site in Europe. However, Berners-Lee was

dissatisfied with the quality of the information readily available. He pushed and eventually got

permission to improve hypertext so that information could be more easily accessed by individual

users. He wanted people to gain access to databases, reports, and other links. In 1991, he

introduced the methodology of What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWIG) as well as the

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTL), Hypertext Markup Language (HML), and the Universal

Resource Locator (URL). The World Wide Web was now being redeveloped and improved

upon by programmers worldwide. (Poole chronology pg 94)

Once the Internet became more public, it began to transform as did the people using it.

Initially, it was used for its original intentions, research and other governmentally related affairs.

However, gradually commercial interest began to take an interest in the Internet. (Poole

chronology pg. 99-100)

In 1991, funding ran out for CERN, so Berners-Lee, as well as others, began to

encourage individuals outside of the research facilities to begin to write their own applications

that could be Internet compliant. Some of these initial applications were very small in nature

such as Cello, Midas, and Viola-Web. While they did not last, they paved the way for Microsoft

Internet Explorer and some of the now ubiquitous web servers present today. (Poole Chronology

103)

The Internet Society (ISOC) was created in 1992 and its purpose was to ensure that the

Internet would be able to provide quality service and be beneficial to those using it. This was

also the same year that all restrictions on commercial activity were lifted on the Internet. (Poole

chronology pg. 106)

By 1994, most government and business entities were fully active and integrating into the

online world. It was also at this time that entrepreneurs started recognizing the possibility of

opening business online, functioning solely as an Internet business. (Poole Chronology Pg. 111-

119)

Back when the Soviets launched the Sputnik, many recognized that we had entered a new

era. For Linklider, a global internet was just a vision and it was unclear how it would develop.

The United States and Europe have successfully created a worldwide network, where any person

can communicate with any other person anywhere in the world. Well, that is the theory. Indeed
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any member of any affluent society can communicate on the World Wide Web. And, the

Internet has greatly changed how the first world does business. Increasingly, manufacturing and

farming are becoming devalued in the global economy. The skills now in demand are focused

on knowledge and information. The skills needed today are requiring web skills which are

leading to a new challenge for the world economy. (Poole issues 89-92)

Consequentially, now nearly all American school children have access to the internet and

most educated adults can access the internet easily. Nonetheless, many Americans, mostly the

elderly and the poor, do not have access to the internet. There is a clear digital divide between

these two demographic groups and the rest of society. Obviously the young are the most likely

to have net access, but there is also a clear correlation with internet use and educational levels in

America. (Poole issues pg. 68)

While the Internet is transforming our economy, Internet usage throughout the world is

the exception rather than the rule. In most of the developing world, especially in Africa, basic

telephone communication is the exception rather than the rule. Our digitalized world is like

outer space to the rest of the world. Our poor are far more sophisticated in terms of their

computer and internet knowledge, than community leaders in the developing world. (Poole

issues pg. 69)

To many, the poor nations of the world seem to have too many other issues to make

Internet connectivity much of a priority when one considers themes such as health and poverty

problems that bedevil poor nations. Still, as the Internet sweeps across the global economy, it is

becoming increasingly necessary to have basic Internet skill. Without it, how can these countries

ever hope to develop economies that have a chance to compete against the more advanced
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nations that use the Internet for their commerce? As manufacturing and agriculture become

increasingly lower wage industries, is there any chance for poor nations to develop without

knowledge and use of the Internet? (Poole issues pg. 70-73)

Work Cited

Author Unknown, Computer History Museum, www.computerhistory.org 12/12/2008.

Author Unknown, History of the Internet-Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia, www.wikipedia.org\wiki

11/17/2008.

Author Unknown. Internet History, www.livinginternet.com 11/17/2008.

Leiner, Barry. A Brief History of the Internet, Internet Society (ISOC) www.isoc.org 12/10/2008.

Poole, Hillary W. and Christos J.P. Moschovitis, Editors. The Internet: A Historical Encyclopedia:

Chronology. MTM Publishing Co. 2005.

Poole, Hillary W. and Christos J.P. Moschovitis, Editors. The Internet: A Historical Encyclopedia: Issues.
MTM Publishing Co. 2005.
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