“Long Live the Web” by Tim Berners-Lee made me think of the internet in a sense that I’ve never thought of before. While I previously understood the internet as a resource for humans to access and communicate information, I never thought about it in complex detail. As the author of the article describes internet to be separate from the web, I thought that this explanation was interesting as it goes more in depth as to why “internet” versus “web” are two very different areas that both act upon one another. In relation to Comm Lab specifically, this made a lot of sense to me as everything we code or create on the web is only accessible because we have the internet as a support system and for open use. After reading and understanding that the web relies on the internet to function, I thought about how this connection is crucial to understand when analyzing how the internet actually works. Although we have free access to the internet to a large extent, without the fundamentals discussed in the article revolving around keeping web and internet separate, it is difficult to fully understand how and why we use the internet the way we do. As well, I also thought that the article’s discussion of internet freedom was particularly interesting. Although we do have free access to the internet with most situations, factors such as government play a huge role in our rights to accessing online information. Therefore, I feel that it is important to acknowledge universal rights and freedoms as mentioned in the article. Even though we cannot obviously have universal agreement on internet access overall, I feel that we can still work to reach some sort of agreement to universal standards for internet use. However, with this being said, I also see human rights and the future of internet use as one of the biggest issues we face in the technological world we live in. I feel that we should work to preserve the internet and web but also ensure that privacy and respect are also valued. Due to the nature of the internet, it is so easy to access the personal information of others. As a result, by making sure companies and individuals do not overstep personal boundaries for accessing information, a secure and promising evolution of internet access can be withheld. I agree very strongly with the last section of the article. I believe that if we keep the internet’s fundamentals alive, we can make greater progress in ensuring the internet’s success and sustainability over time. As long as we strive to understand and respect the “freedom” of individuals, we can make the internet a so-called “better place.”
“A Network of Fragments” by Ingrid Burrington was interesting to me as it made me think of how the internet exists everywhere we go. I also thought of how the internet is universally connected through physical structures in order to keep certain signals and communication active. Similarly to what we do in Comm Lab, the code we use and create works in different lines or fragments being typed out rather than just one big sentence. By doing this, the final piece results in a much larger work. The internet works the same way, but I never really thought about it like that before. I found it interesting to actually think about how and why we are able to communicate a message or access a site so quickly. Based on physical landmarks such as cell towers, we are able to have internet access in rather remote locations. As well, because of physical landmarks as centers to relay information, the internet exists everywhere to a certain extent. What I also found interesting is that physical landmarks and fragments are seen as art to many people. When someone stops and recognizes objects such as cell towers or orange flags in the ground, they can often hold two meanings: to mark internet service/accessibility or to be seen as art. I immediately think of the way we use the internet in Comm Lab and how we communicate. What is most interesting to me is how we store so much information in the cloud that we cannot physically see, but continue to feel a sense of distrust or uncertainty as to where this information actually is. Therefore, like the fragments and physical landmarks in the article, I often find myself relying on or at the least, “trusting” in the physical devices we use to do work rather than the cloud.