Assignment Overview
As we said earlier, the development of the Internet involved a considerable period of more-or-less parallel evolution of a number of technologies and organizations. But like any process of social evolution, some events were more important than others in terms of influencing where we are today. Your task in this project is to identify some of those key turning points.
There are a lot of tools to help you. One of the most useful is "Hobbes' Internet Timeline" found at https://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/, a compilation of key events in Internet evolution dating back to the 1950s. You should also be prepared to consult some of the readings and other resources suggested in the Background page as useful sources of information. Your aim is to get a picture clear in your mind about how the different threads of the Internet got woven together.
Case Assignment
For this assignment, write a 3- to 4-page paper that addresses the following question:
Identify what you consider to be the five most important and/or significant events contributing to the evolution of the modern Internet that occurred in the period 1800-1991.
Provide a few paragraphs explaining why you consider each event to be one of the most important Internet-related milestones. Be sure to cite any resources that you used. The fifth and last event in your catalog should be the following, from Hobbes' 1991 listing:
World-Wide Web (WWW) released by CERN; Tim Berners-Lee developer (:pb1:). First Web server is nxoc01.cern.ch, launched in Nov 1990 and later renamed info.cern.ch.
Many of the events you choose will be listed in the Hobbes timeline, but it is not the only source you will want to draw on. Be sure to include examples of 1) technological developments and 2) social/organizational events in your listing.
Assignment Expectations
Your paper should be 3-4 pages in length and reflect your personal experiences with the timeline. The important part of the project assignments is to carefully assess your own experiences with the topic, and then reflect critically on what you might have learned about yourself and about situations through this assessment process.
The more you can use the exercise to develop personal implications for your growth as a potential businessperson as well as an Internet-savvy individual, the more value you will get out of the exercise.