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Evolution of the Internet: Introduction

coevolutionA longer title for this course might have been "CoEvolution of the Internet and Human Society". Some of you may remember the CoEvolution Quarterly from the 1970s, with its theme of bridging the gap between humanities and sciences.

The Internet is a human-created tool enabling us with new ways to communicate, learn and create (including further Internet technologies and services) -- and with any technology we choose to develop and use, along with the benefits, there can also be negative consequences.

This course

  • covers internet history: when something occurred chronologically -- briefly, what it is/does, who involved, why important
  • surveys underlying technologies and applications: by category of functionality -- some basic description and details about how something works, with a few practical "how-tos" for later exploration
  • highlights selected issues: how the Internet affects us as individuals and as a society -- universal access, censorship, privacy, social, psychological, copyright, .... In the first version of this course, issues were covered after technologies, in a separate section, in more or less the same order (by functionality). In the second version of this course, issues are interspersed within the categories of the Tech & Apps section

Course Materials

As you might expect -- especially for a course about the Internet, these online pages will be used for course presentation & resources:
   http://communicrossings.com/olli-course-evolution-internet
you can also find this link on the OLLI site: Current Courses: Class Materials (at least for the current semester & course number). There will be no PowerPoint slides or paper handouts; however, most pages have a [.pdf] link to a file you can download; and, of course, you can Print any page from your own browser or use the Printer-friendly command (link at bottom left of each page). This online version allows you to explore items that we skip or that you miss -- and allows me to update easily with new or revised items. If I were more ambitious (and with lots more time on my hands), and if students were comfortable using wiki-like tools to comment and contribute (this site already uses Drupal CMS), this might have been an online, ongoing, collaborative course!

I welcome feedback -- during class or via Contact Us (link at upper right) -- about particular topics/issues you'd like to discuss, about the pace and level of technical detail (and terminology), favorite web sites, referrals to any local 'Internet pioneers' you may know, etc. If there's enough interest, I may offer this course again, or offer other classes or forums.

Notes: Feel free to explore the following pages now for a general idea of scope and topics, but don't be alarmed by the number of milestones, technologies, issues, etc. Based on your backgrounds, interests, and questions, we'll adjust pace and level of detail to provide an enjoyable exploration. For most topics, I generally refer to Wikipedia, HowStuffWorks "[HSW]", LifeHacker "[LH]" and New York Times -- as good starting points (though certainly not the only ones) for exploration.

[updated: 9-Feb-2011] [.pdf]