Tim Berners-Lee and the Internet Revolution - Research Paper Example

TIM BERNERS-LEE AND THE INTERNET REVOLUTION ID and Area of Concentration Your e-mail Your Number and The Internet has been one of the most powerful tools in recent years that were able to revolutionize the way how people communicate, as well as mobilizing the globalization process. While initially taken for granted, the Internet and its vital components have been in existence since the beginning of the world wars. The basic principles that govern and eventually lead to the creation of hypertext have been developed by Dr. Vannevar Bush as parts of the scientific policy and strategy of the US Government in the coming World War. The program was basically used for searching documents through links, which today might be as similar as trying to find a keyword in electronic documents. However, the other ways of using kind of program has remained untouched until a group of computer programmers found a way to use them during the late 1980’s to the early 1990’s. After Sir Tim Berners-Lee and his team of software developers were able to develop hypertext markup language (HTML), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), and universal resource locator (URL), as well as putting these components together and successfully making them work as one unit, the World Wide Web and the Internet as the world knew it, were born. INTRODUCTION The Internet is one of the many modern marvels that most people take for granted. It is very accessible, as long as one has a computer unit with a modem and an internet cable, or for some laptops, a wireless fidelity modem (Wi-Fi). It can even be accessed in mobile phones via mobile carriers, making the Internet a ubiquitous entity that can reach across many kinds of people in different areas of the world. Aside from the Internet being a vast information network that anybody can use, it is also a network that anybody can contribute their thoughts too. Even with the various restrictions that powerful entities such as governments can impose, there is still a considerable amount of freedom that can be expressed in a large interconnected network. While the Internet’s existence and its ease of accessing is virtually known by most people, the origins of the Internet, as well as most of its various programs that needed for it to function properly are rather obscure for most people. Even some abbreviations that can be seen in a web interface may not be known by most of its users. Thus, by the end of this paper, the important people behind the development of the Internet, the World Wide Web, as well as the origins of the computer programs would be recounted, in order to appreciate their contributions in the creation of one of the world’s most influential and scientific marvels. ORIGINS OF THE INTERNET LANGUAGE The pre- and post-world war II events During the Second World War, a need to utilize science in warfare as well as in upgrading military strategies was imposed by the US government. A scientist in the military named Dr. Vannevar Bush was the brain child of the invention of the hypertext, which was useful in the development of a computer program that would be able to find documents easily and efficiently using a search and link method. By creating a much more efficient data retrieval system, not only would the military be able to find the information that they needed immediately, but by doing so they could also make quick decisions in terms of tactics and strategies, which essentially helped the US succeed surviving the Second World War. The development of a large database system was due to Bush’s dissatisfaction in the inefficiency and frustration in the management of a large number of documents as well as the hard accessibility of these documents [1]. He thus proposed and helped in the development of the “memex”, a photograph-storing system which was very useful for so many decades due to its large capacity of storing large quantities of data. Instead of trying to find information for a large filing cabinet, the “memex” made it possible to do this in a much more efficient way, while not sacrificing speed and flexibility [2]. While the appearance of the “memex” like a desk can look very cumbersome and archaic in this age of wireless and small laptop computers, during the time of its invention it was still highly sophisticated compared to the computers that were as large as a room. Fig. 1 shows the blueprint of the “memex” as well as the matter how information is recorded [3]. The “memex” was very influential and useful, as well as iconic. It even served as an inspiration for the development of other databases, the creation of artificial intelligence, as well as the eventual invention of the Internet [1]. The fact that an unlimited amount of information can be stored is a possibility that was not fully realized and hardly imaginable until the creation of the World Wide Web and the Internet. Fig. 1. The blue print of the world’s first database system, the “memex”. Fig. 2. The early interface of the web as initially developed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee. DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNET Sir Tim Berners-Lee During the First International World Wide Web Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, Sir Tim Berners-Lee was very excited in how a creation that was inspired by the “memex” was geared up to change the human way of thinking and communication forever. While the World Wide Web, or simply the web was already functional around late 1990, it was after the 1994 convention that it was able to show a strong potential for doing pretty much everything [4]. At a young age, Tim was already fascinated with computers, and his parents both worked on these computers as mathematicians that were creating algorithms for the programming language [4]. Around the 1950’s data were mostly stored in cards by punching holes in them, and back then magnetic tape was not yet used. However, seeing the unlimited possibilities only limited by the number of punch cards that can hold data, Tim was able to envision a future where computers would be very powerful, so powerful that storing a large number of information would never be a problem, and that smaller hardware can be invented in order to store vast quantities of any kind of information. His unorthodox way of thinking, along with his natural inclination and interest for science also helped him visualize the future of information storage and retrieval. THE INTERNET OF THE FUTURE The need for information storage and retrieval After getting a new job in Geneva, Switzerland in a Physics laboratory called CERN, Tim had a chance to create a program which he would initially use as a database for all the computer programs that the laboratory was using. He was able to develop such a computer system due to him having a rather ineffective memory that could memorize all computer program names [4]. However, he was able to recall what a program is able to do. He thus envisioned a similar-functioning computer program that would be text-based not just in finding the information needed, but also would be efficient and user-friendly. Tim’s first program was called Enquire¸ because anything and everything can be inquired in it [4]. Instead of using a hierarchy system however, he used an associative structure of information, wherein anything that is related to anything would come up, regardless of whether a person needs the related information or not. By doing so, it would be much easier for a person to search things within a similar category, like, say a category of scientist names. This was an exciting moment for Tim, especially when he thought about combining hypertext and an even wider range of information retrieval systems. However, his proposal in doing so got postponed when CERN did not give its immediate approval. Also, being a physics laboratory, the idea did not generate enthusiasm for some scientists, since it was more on programming than physics itself. The birth of the world wide web Tim’s ideas for globalizing Enquire did not materialize immediately, however, after learning that a new high-technology computer named NeXt was available, he immediately went to work. His initial idea was to create a program that computers from other users around the world can connect to, and store their data in, so that the users would not just rely on the internal data space that the computers have [4]. By using hypertext markup language (HTML) as the main language, it would be possible to put many information without much human effort, and letting only the program do the work [5]. An initial web browser page is shown in Fig. 2. Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) was initially used to transfer the hypertext, and this makes the data retrieval rapid, especially when multiple data are loaded up simultaneously. This is even more noticeable when texts and images are combined into a single unit, like most web pages today. HTTP also made it possible for other users to post various and additional information over the internet, even when done simultaneously. Universal resource locator (URL) was used in order to anchor the places where the information where initially stored, which functions as a designated area where the data are stored, much like a person’s address. The whole system was named as the World Wide Web, which was later called simply as the web, and much like a spider web, the information that was contained in the web were mostly interconnected with each other, making anything accessible to anyone as long as they know how key words and how to type them. The future by the internet A world of possibilities was made by the Internet. It does not need to have computer experts to operate it, and anyone can contribute their data on the web. It also allows non-experts to create links to other users as long as one is connected to the internet [5]. The internet also gave way for a rapid globalization process, where people from different parts of the world can communicate, sell products, and exchange various data types, in real-time. This also made information exchanges even faster, as compared to earlier types of communication. The invention of the web has made things progress at a faster rate, with the information retrieval system as its main core. With Tim’s major contribution (he made the program highly-accessible and free for all users), the world was able to change and develop as well as connect different people at the same time. From “memex”, information retrieval systems have come a long way, which gave rise to the internet and the birth of the web, globalizing the world as we know it today. References 1. Reference 1 [Houston, Ronald and Glynn Harmon. "Vannebar Bush and Memex." Cuadra, Carlos A. Annual Review of Information Science & Technology. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc., 2007. 55-93.] 2. Reference 2 [Bush, Vannebar. "As We May Think." Wardrip-Fruin, Noah and Nick Montfort. The new media reader. MIT Press, 2003. 37-49.] 3. Reference 3 [Bellis, Mary. The History of HTML. n.d. Web. 06 December 2012. retrieved from ] 4. Reference 4 [Sammartino McPherson, Stephanie. Tim Berners-Lee: Inventor of the World Wide Web. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First Century Books, 2010.] 5. Reference 5 [Berners-Lee, Tim; Cailliau, Robert; Luotonen, Ari; Nielsen, Henrik, and Arthur Secret. "The World Wide Web." Wardrip-Fruin, Noah and Nick Montfort. The new media reader. MIT Press, 2003. 792-797.] Read More