The Arrival of the Internet
Speaker: Justin Zobel – Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaTopic(s): Society and the Computing Profession
Abstract
The Internet underpins modern society: commerce, government, and our ordinary daily activities are completely reliant on it. But how did it emerge? What factors led to its existence? What was it going to be used for? This lecture is a brief history of some of the underlying ideas, from the 1900s on, and of how the Internet changed over time. In particular, it explains how, in 1989, when it was still a niche technology that few had heard of and which didn't seem to be much needed, the University of Melbourne came to connect Australia to the world.
Entwined with this story of the technology are anecdotes of the experience of using the Internet from its first incarnation to the present day, and of the changes that it brought. This history shows that in some ways its emergence was not a certainty but also shows how quickly – and in surprising ways, how recently – we became dependent on this universal, ubiquitous entity that connects the planet.
About this Lecture
Number of Slides: 60 - 90Duration: 40 - 60 minutes
Languages Available: English
Last Updated:
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