The Economic Impacts of the Internet - Essay Example

Section/# The Invention that Has Changed the World: A Research Proposal for the Economic Impacts of the Internet Whereas many discussions regarding inventions that have changed the world will doubtless revolve around an analysis and review of such important tools such as the traditional landline telephone, the internal combustion engine, or even the gun, it is hard to think of a single invention that has more profoundly affected the way that our current life is led, subjects are studied, work is performed, leisure time is passed, communications are transmitted than that of the internet. Whereas each of the previous inventions that have been listed have helped to define the way that the 20th and 21 century has developed, it is exceedingly hard to argue that any one invention has changed the way in which life exists more than that of the internet. Due to the fact that the internet allows a level of communication, and information distribution across such a wide range of topics, one can view it in an entirely different way the other tools that have thus far been listed. Regardless of the level of utilization that can be had from any range of inventions that such an study could reveal, the revolution that the internet has provided spans across nearly each and every layer of available knowledge and information that one can hope to engage with. For this reason, understanding, appreciating, and analyzing the unique ways that that internet has fundamentally reshaped our world will the point towards which this research proposal seeks to analyze. The idea of the internet has existed within minds of scientists and engineers since the dawn of the communication age; however, it was not until research from the last 1960’s that the United States government saw the benefit to such an interconnected group of robust computer networks. This was primarily born out of the fact that early computing power was so limited that it had to be maximized by utilizing a type of “piggyback” approach which allowed one server system to piggyback on another and communicate as a means to maximizing existing output. In such a way, this eagerly representation of the internet was less about person to person communication or information retrieval as it was about seeking to ameliorate a given alack within the realm of computing. Regardless of the reason, the growth and development of these network of interconnected computers soon began to expand beyond the realm of government research and soon began to see rapid growth within the field of private business and finally, with the advent of personal computers (PCs), the individual user himself/herself. As a function of this rapid growth and development as well as the exponential growth of knowledge that this entailed, the growth of the internet, as far as an invention is concerned, has taken on a life of its own. Whereas other ideas have had the possibility of being patented and controlled, the internet has grown and developed in an unpredicted and unprecedented way. As a means of understanding the nuanced way in which the early internet took shape, this proposal will seek to utilize a level of information from the Congressional Digest as well as other governmental sources as a means of projecting a level of expert explanation onto a topic that would otherwise be shrouded in a degree of mystery. Furthermore, through seeking to detail the way in which the internet grow in the earliest stages as a product of government research, the analysis will be helpful in determining the level to which many government scientists and shareholders held views for the future with relation to what the technology was capable of accomplishing for society as well as for the individual. Although somewhat tedious, an examination of the historical components of the internet and the ways in which its earliest shareholders believed it may enrich and benefit the lives of the global economy as well as the individual shareholder is essential in seeking to understand just what a paradigm shift the information age has been with relation to what the internet was believed to be able of doing and what it has actually affected on the history of mankind. One does not need to look very hard to find ways in which the internet has been, and continues to be, beneficial to those around the world. For this purpose, the research proposal has considered the work of Dennis Brown in his article “Broadband Internet’s Value for Rural America”. Though the piece itself is somewhat dated (2010), it helps to engage the reader with the necessary questions of how and why the internet serves as a vital component of business and everyday life in issues and within matters that many would not automatically assume bear any particular correlation to the use of the internet. Seeking to understand each of these and place a value behind the benefits that the internet can bring to both rural and developed populations is an integral component of just how useful such an organism as the internet can be with regards to growth, development, education, and information acquisition of nearly each and every variety. Although it would of course be convenient to state that the internet has been nothing but a net good for society, certain aspects of the growth of the internet bear unmistakable negative drawbacks that bear discussion and analysis. One of these negative drawbacks is discussed in Suzan Gencer and Mustafa Koc piece entitled, “Internet Abuse among Teenagers and Its Relations to Internet Usage Patterns and Demographics”. As such, utilization of such a data source will be useful in helping the analysis to take a well balanced approach to the ways in which internet use and addiction has begun to be experienced on the first true generation of full-time web users. Whereas many individuals have grown up during the “age of the internet” the current generation of teenagers is the first to have grown up at a time in which the internet truly dominates all aspects of life, travel, communication, education, and leisure. As such, seeking to understand the means by which individuals are affected and respond to the internet is of primal importance to a well informed body of research. Through a review of the extant research, it is the understanding of this researcher that there has been a true glut of information researched pertaining to the internet and its affect on society, culture, marital relations, health, dating, inter-cultural relations, sex, and the availability of what may otherwise be censored information. All of these cultural and societal interpretations of how the internet affects the ways that humans interact with one another, their own governments, and the way in which relationships subsequently develop is no doubt important; however, for purposes of the literature review that has been performed, it has become evident that they are somewhat overdone. Furthermore, a great deal of available research has discussed the fact that the internet provides a powerful and facile tool in which regions, and nations can ultimately compete within the field of global economics. Whereas many players had previously been locked out of such matters, the internet has provided the means of commerce and communication that otherwise would not have existed. Yet, the biggest gap that exists, according to the analysis performed by this research, is an actual measured analysis of the means whereby the internet actually effects a measurable economic change upon a given economy, region, or nation. Naturally, such variables may be somewhat hard to measure; however, it nonetheless bears a significant degree of consideration. For his fact, it is the proposal of this researcher that the focus of further research on the topic should be concentric around measurable economic factors that can shed a light on the numerical degree or percentage rate of growth/change that could be measured within a given economic system as the result of the injection of the internet. As a result of the fact that almost every world economic system has long since been digitalized and introduced to the internet, the ultimate goal would be to seek to find a level of influence that the internet has had upon the system and correlate this to a further increase that internet usage within the society or economic system might hope to confer upon the system as a whole. In this way, the study would be one in which economics of scale would be employed to seek to define the region to which internet usage within a given economy or population can maximize the potential of the system. It is therefore the assumption of this researcher that if the aforementioned research question is studied, it will ultimately be noted that there exists a point of economic “maximalization” and equilibrium whereby a successful incorporation of a high degree of internet usage and data transmission will began to have spillover effects into other regions of the nation/state’s economy; thereby providing synergetic effects throughout. References Berners-Lee, T. (2010). LONG LIVE THE WEB. Scientific American, 303(6), 80-85. Hazan, E., Manyika, J., & du Rausas, M. (2011). Sizing the Internets economic impact. Mckinsey Quarterly, (4), 18-21. Internet History From ARPANET to Broadband. (2007). Congressional Digest, 86(2), 35-64. Gencer, S., & Koc, M. (2012). Internet Abuse among Teenagers and Its Relations to Internet Usage Patterns and Demographics. Journal Of Educational Technology & Society, 15(2), 25-36. Stenberg, P., Morehart, M., Vogel, S., Cromartie, J., Breneman, V., & Brown, D. (2010). BROADBAND INTERNETS VALUE FOR RURAL AMERICA. Journal Of Current Issues In Media & Telecommunications, 2(4), 331-385. . Read More