Category: JH Moon

Throughout “Long Live the Web” by Tim Berners-Lee, Lee differentiates the difference between the web and the internet and discusses how quickly and drastically both have evolved and changed overtime and how it is our responsibility to protect the uses of the internet such as net neutrality for example and how it is incredibly important. He states that despite how old the internet was been, people can still improve upon it without changing the internet itself and provides examples such as how manufacturers can improve household appliances without changing how electricity functions. I think because the internet was built to be this way, is part of the reasons to why it has became a giant global force, and is exactly part of the reason to why it has become an international force that everyone can attribute too. It is easy and versatile to use and for tasks such as doing international trade and business, the internet would be the perfect tool to aid in that.

I then chose to read “The Room Where the Internet Was Born” by Ingrid Burrington. Throughout reading it, I kept thinking about how it felt to be one of the people who invented the ARPANET in a small room, which later became the internet, and how they probably did not expect their creation to have such a world wide influence and change human history forever. It’s also crazy to imagine that the internet hasn’t been around for a long time at all and has changed so much within a short time frame. And while throughout the majority of human history, the internet was never a part of someone’s daily lives but in our generation, it has become a crucial aspect of our everyday life now. 

After reading Tim Berners Lee’s “Long Live the Web”, the metaphor that came to mind is the internet as a special society. We, the Web’s users are all members of this society. And every one of us is responsible for the future development of this society. The Web as “an application that runs on the Internet” therefore plays an important role. This Internet soccer is different from other communities since it doesn’t have any boundaries. People can use the Internet as long as they have access to it. And all the members are linked through data (or information). The open standards and the principle of universality allow the Web to work no matter what language or connection people use, giving the Web developers and users enough space of freedom.

The threats to the Internet is also closely related to the precious freedom. The censorship on the Internet, the interference on the Internet traffic and the walled-off system (like iTunes) are all factors undermining the rights of the Web users. These are not potential or future threats but things that are happening around us. For example, data company Cambridge Analytica uses private data on Facebook has affected millions of Facebook users. Censorship on the Internet blocks people from accessing information. The empowerment of the web is a double-edged sword which can be used to spread the knowledge to a wide range but also do harm to people worldwide. That’s why it’s the responsibility of all the web users — not just the web developers — to protect the Internet environment. How to do is another question. Protect the principles like universality and open standards are one of the priorities. Meanwhile, the Internet is a grey area due to the complicated countries and issues involved, which makes the legislation more difficult. How to balance freedom and regulation is also a question.

“A Network of Fragments” by Burrington offering insights into the Internet infrastructure approaches the Internet society from the physical world. Unlike other countries, the Internet is abstract and even the infrastructures that build the network of the internet are made up of pieces. The fiber, towers are all existing as small units. What’s magical about the internet may be the way these small points connect into a huge network with such a big impact.

In “Long Live the Web”, the advancement of both the web and internet is discussed, but the fact that the web and the internet are both separate from each other is what is mainly emphasized. Berners-Lee compares the internet to an electronic network, and the web can be compared to household appliances that feed off of the electricity brought to them via the electronic network. This analogy is important because, while the internet exists in the background, the web can continuously be changed and altered. As we progress into the modern era, there is constantly new web pages, sites, or other phenomenons being created. In fact, it is miraculous to look back and see how far we have come. However, with the positives of advancement comes realities that some may not want to face. This stems from how much is on the web, and how some items are not full deleted forever as users may think, or that there are people out there with potential access to hundreds of thousands of pools of personal data and a mind that could think of equally as many ways to use that data. This article brought up this reality of web security, and the connection to human rights (personal information being stolen, and the worries of snooping in general, etc). It was interesting to read through, because most people look at the internet and the web with excitement, without actually knowing what any of it means, or what the reality is. As we progress with development of internet and the web, we also need to progress with the protection of human rights on this platform, as well as educating people about it as much as possible. 

When reading “The Room Where the Internet Was Born”, it was just so interesting to picture a single room where the first breakthrough message was sent out via ARPANET. What is even more interesting is that this happened exactly 50 years ago this year in 1969! I think that a lot of young people today, including myself, don’t fully understand how young the phenomenon of the internet really is. For most of us grew up knowing about the internet, mobile devices, and a general idea of how to use those things. In reality, it was just when we were growing up, that development began to pick up speed. I remember when iPhones started coming out, and when wireless options were becoming more and more popular. But, reading this article and realizing that the breakthrough of all of this came from a single message being sent, gave me a bit of a shock. It is so cool to think that, from that one message (and who knows what that message was) we are able to use the internet to complete every day tasks from school to work, and even at home. it almost reminds me of the rapid urbanization of cities such as Shanghai, that massively grew and changed over a course of only 20 years from the 80s to the 2000s. Just as Shanghai changed into the global city it is today, the internet also grew in a similar fashion on its own. It is so cool to read this article, and look back to see just how far we have come.

http://imanas.shanghai.nyu.edu/~op531/week01/aboutme

This is the “About” page I created using the techniques we have learned in class so far!

In the introduction of the first article, the author compares the web to democracy, thus turning it to the product of human rights rather than the technology.

The universality is the foundation of the operation of webs because the web is in every corner of our society for sure. Almost all kinds of information and tools can be accessible to all people. But the problem is that the isolation, as well as the monopoly of the information, is wearing down the universality little by little. Therefore, an open standard is a must. Openness guarantees the diverse richness of the web design, the liberty of people and innovation of the society.

Simultaneously, separating the web from the Internet is necessary. They should not be bound tightly together. Otherwise, it will also prevent innovation due to the limit of development space. The best way of developing the web, according to the author, is to let the two layers of technology “work together and advance independently”.

The achievement of human rights, which is the most significant part of the development of the web, includes removing commercial discrimination and protecting the privacy of web users.

Fortunately, the totalitarian governments, the law institutions, the companies, and the public are making joint efforts to improve the situation. A bright future is there to be taken.

As for the next article, I’ve learned that the setting of a data center is not only related to the economic and politic factors, but also the climates or something. Jurisdiction over user data, which is a new-proposed idea, remains an issue in the international environment. Moreover, the USA somehow remains the depute center of the issue related to its economic interests.