EBFU
Chapter 1 – origins of the internet
Origins of the internet
The basis created by the Cold War
Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) – set up by the Department of Defence of the US
o Developed a system of dividing the data into small digital packets and sending them
individually via the best route to the final destination, where they could be reassembled into
the original message
1989 – the hypertext system was developed on the World Wide Web
Hypertext – a special form of digital text
o uses words, concepts or images linking to other text, concepts or images
o the content can be seen on any other computer, anywhere in the world
o hyperlinks
o files can also be retrieved
o the basis of the computer language HTML
Website and webpage
A website – a collection of related webpages, including multimedia content, typically identified with
a common domain name, and published on at least one web server
A single website can hold thousands of webpages
1990 – developing a system designed to simplify navigation on the internet, which became known as
the World Wide Web
The major breakthrough
1991 – Introduction of the World Wide Web as part of the internet
o the internet – a global interconnection of computer networks
o the World Wide Web – a way to navigate the massive network
2000 – Wireless Internet (Wi-Fi)
2004 – rise of social media
o Facebook launched a social networking site
o Snapchat, YouTube and Instagram meanwhile
2012 – second screens
o smartphones and tablets make a worldwide break through and add content to existing
media (e.g. television), a system known as second screens
o first apps for mobile
2014 – social media adopted on websites
2015 – increasingly lower roaming tariffs in the EU
2019 – IoT
o the Internet of Things (IoT) is exploding: more and more apparatus have access to the
internet (e.g. fridges)
Roaming
roaming service is made possible through internet service providers who have cooperative
agreements to grant each other’s customers local access to the internet
special software allows cooperating ISPs to keep track of and calculate prearranges payments for
usage differences
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, roaming charges: providers have made agreements of the rates for use of each other’s networks
telecoms, so customer doesn’t pay
Internet usage figures
Definitions?
The internet – an expanding global infrastructure network of computers, servers, routers and other
devices based on generally accepted standards and established techniques and standards
o an infrastructure in which different activities are possible
o ‘online’ – the equipment (device) on which we are working has contact with the internet/the
website is online once the site is accessible via the internet
Development of communication
offline and online are merging, more and more
Trends in communication
One-to-many (mass media)
o the internet used as a mass medium, where companies communicated information to
anyone who wanted to see it through their website
One-to-few (segmented media)
o through technical developments, companies can target their message to a group of people
or send them an individual message
o websites specifically targeted at particular groups and/or niches in the market
One-to-one (personal media)
o companies can send direct messages to consumers
o websites and social media ‘designed’ for a concrete person, so have different looks or
content for different consumers
Many-to-many (social media)
o individuals post information online that can be read for many other users
o consumers create content (Yt, Ig, etc.)
Few-to-few (social media, internet)
o smaller, closed ‘units’ arise, with better privacy (personal webpages, blogs)
o the impact of the traditional mass media declines
Internet access
Browser – computer program for displaying HTML files and used to navigate the World Wide Web
Computes are physically in contact with each other, mainly via cabling
Internet is not set out in a specific plan - there are strict technical agreements (protocols) on the use
of the internet
IoT influences the internet
There is no international law applicable to the entire internet
The most important cable – the Atlantic Crossing 1 (AC-1), from US to England, Germany and the
Netherlands (municipality of Beverwijk)
The Semantic Web (‘Web 3.0’)
Web 3.0 (‘intelligent’ Web) – the tendency of internet applications to be more attuned to each
other, cooperate with each other or can be integrated
o we will get increasingly personalized content and combinations of ‘traditional’ websites and
with content from social media
o the context is understood and data cleverly combined with improved technology and
application integration
Web 1.0 – the web of static documents
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, Web 2.0 – the web that also interacts with users
Structure of the internet
The computers have to be connected with each other and there must be an arrangement about how
they communicate, which is defined within protocols
Issues arise from this:
o each computer or any device with access to the internet must have a unique ‘address’,
which is controlled via the IP address – a unique ‘number’ under which the device is known
on the internet
o all providers of information on the internet need to be found through an ‘address’: this is
arranged through the domain names in the Domain Name System – the system which
converts illogical IP address number into recognizable names
o all information sent is divided into small ‘packets’ of data (that is controlled by the TCP.IP
protocol)
all these ‘packets’ follow their own route across the internet
this goes through many intermediate stations
only ‘after arrival’ are the ‘packets’ joined again
Routing
The routing – layering in the structure of the internet by sending all those packets of data
The backbone – the ‘highway’ of the internet, the main wiring of the internet
o the further you are situated from this backbone, the more intermediate stations are
required to take this highway (and more sensitive to disturbances your connection is,
compare to the regular road network)
o backbones can transport bulk quantities of data, linking the complete networks with each
other
Local Area Network (LAN) – network via which computers are linked together inside companies (in
this way they can share printers, access to shared files)
Client/server model
The server is permanently available to the clients and responds to them
The server is waiting for a ‘request’ from the client -> the client’s computer starts communication
with the server
E-mail and World Wide Web
Peer-to-peer network
P2P – a network based on equality of the various connected computers, so they are able to start and
end tasks
Each device acts as client as well as server -> there is no hierarchy in this system
File sharing (BitTorrent.com and Thepiratebay.org)
Networking Concepts
Download speed
The speed of the internet depends on :
o the throughput of the hardware, the devices
o the type of connection (4G, 5G, Wi-Fi)
o the number of users on the network
o the total traffic throughout the internet or on the visited website atm
o using cookies
o the technology behind the construction of the website
o the speed of the processors of the devices that are on the job
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