While
the Internet and World Wide Web as we know it is an invention
of the 21st century, according to Tom
Standage, the earliest "version" of the Internet
was believed to be the telegraph.
In
a Nutshell: It
is inevitable that some of a person's information is available
online. This should not be an alarming nor intimidating fact.
The person who participates online, however, has better control
over what information of theirs is posted. They also have the
advantage of ensuring that information is accurate. Knowledge
is power and participation
is the key to knowing.
People
are not just findable, they are knowable. In our participatory
culture people's reputations can be "Googleable".
(Pew Internet)
"The
average American consumes about 34 gigabytes of data and information
each day -- an increase of about 350 percent over nearly three
decades -- according to ta report published Wednesday by researchers
at the University of California, San Diego." (Bilton)
"According
to an ABC News poll taken in November 2001, almost half of
all Americans now get some of their news over the Internet,
and over a third of them increased their use of online sources
after September 11." (Williams)
The nature
of personal information on the internet is changing the age of
Web 2.0. The digitization of public records and the increasing
accuracy of search engines has made it easy in recent years for
the general population to join creditors, law enforcement, and
other professional investigators in the hunt for individuals'
personal information.
Definition
of the Internet
In
a Nutshell: the Internet is what the World Wide Web (and
all of its websites) sits on top of.
The Internet
is a global system of interconnected computer networks that
use the standard Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions
of users worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists
of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government
networks of local to global scope that are linked by a broad
array of electronic and optical networking technologies. The
Internet carries a vast array of information resources and services,
most notably the inter-linked hypertext documents of the World
Wide Web (WWW) and the infrastructure to support electronic
mail. The
Internet has enabled or accelerated the creation of new forms
of human interactions through instant messaging, Internet forums,
and social networking sites. Source
History
of the Internet
The
origins of the Internet reach back to the 1960s when the United
States funded research projects of its military agencies to build
robust, fault-tolerant and distributed computer networks. As of
2009, an estimated quarter of Earth's population uses the services
of the Internet. Source
For
a detailed timeline of the Internet's history, click
here. View a slideshow of the Internet's evolution here.
The
Benefits of the Internet
˜The
mere existence of the Internet affects other cultures, in that
as the latest invention of the Information Age, the Internet can
be seen as an affirmation of the superiority of western technology
and western culture." (Irvine,
1998) Source
One can
stay connected with friends and family through online communities
(see also social media).
Having
Internet experience allows one to contribute and speak intelligently
in conversations about the Internet experience.
During
President Obama's 2008 campaign he used new media and the Internet
to discuss his points and further his campaign. No president
before him had utilized the Internet in such a way as to connect
to the voters.
Statistics
and metrics can be gathered, allowing a business to cater to
an array of demographics or strengthen weak marketing to appeal
to a broader demographic.
It is cheap
and easy to get connected to the Internet.
One can
partake in the democracy of the public auction online through
such services as eBay.
A plethora
of valuable services can be accessed online from the comfort
of one's home or office.
One can
pay bills online, thus saving stamps ($$$).
One can
conduct business online as well as hold meetings remotely with
offices all over the globe with such Internet-based services
like NetMeeting
or Microsoft
Office. Travelling to meet for business has shifted to the
online realm, saving time and money.
One can
participate in educational classes online.
One can
track metrics and statistics about their business website or
develop social capital on the Internet using social media.
One can
research and gather information online - on anything.
The
Negatives
According
to PCWorld,
there are 10 things the Internet has allegedly ruined (semi-serious
list)
Trust
in Encyclopedias - Now--thanks to Wikipedia--having
"encyclopedic knowledge" of a topic isn't as impressive
when there's a good chance most of what you think you know
was concocted by a 12-year-old. After a 2005 study by the
British journal Nature showed Britannica and Wikipedia to
be equally inaccurate, faith in all encyclopedias plummeted.
Britannica attacked that study's methodology as "fatally
flawed," but it was too late.
Barroom
arguments - It used to be you could kill many hours
and even more brain cells drinking beer and arguing over arcane
trivia. Now whenever there's a question of fact, somebody
just whips out a smartphone and does a search on Google. Where's
the fun in that?
Your
Old Flame - They're on Facebook. Guess what? Assuming
their pictures are current, they're just as old and fat as
you are. The good news? You might not care. There's a reason
Facebook was named as a contributing cause in 20 percent of
divorces last year.
Civil
Discourse - The niceties of polite disagreement are
mostly dead, thanks to the Internet. Rudeness and name-calling
have devolved into forms of entertainment; entire sites are
devoted just to cataloging flame wars.
Listening
to Albums - Over the past decade, sales of complete
albums--even the nonmolecular versions--declined 55 percent
to less than 400 million in 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
During roughly the same period, sales of individual digital
tracks have soared from zero to nearly 1.2 billion.
Expertise
- Before the Web, if you wanted call yourself an expert, you
usually needed expertise in some field. Now all you need is
a blog and sufficient quantities of chutzpah. For example,
in a recent survey by PR Week, 52 percent of bloggers call
themselves "journalists." Because calling yourself
a "typist" isn't nearly as impressive.
Nigeria's
Reputation -
The country's name has become synonymous with advanced-fee
fraud e-mail missives, better known as "419 scams,"
after the section of Nigerian law that they violate.
Gud
Spelling
- You can blame the rise in texting (and sexting) as much
as Twitter for the death of the King's English, though "relaxed"
standards for bloggers have also played a role. Will the last
copy editor left standing please turn off the lites--er, lights?
Celebrity
- Now, thanks to reality TV, viral video, and social media,
the fatter and more demented you are, the better your chances
of becoming a household name.
Sex
- Sex is more plentiful than ever thanks to the Internet. You
know what it isn't any more? Sexy.
