History of the Internet Speech
Here’s the latest Speech that I gave today in my class. Overall it went pretty well but as always, I could have used more rehearsing. My main areas of focus are to use hand gestures and to create better conclusions that wrap up my points better. Other than that I had pretty good feedback.
History of the Internet
Attention Getter: The year is 1969. Apollo 11 lands on the moon; ½ million people gather at the first Woodstock festival; Children’s Television Workshop begins airing Sesame Street; and Charley Kline crashed his computer while logging in — over 300 miles away from his desk.
Thesis: Unbeknownst to many, this was a milestone of a long history of events leading up to the development of the Internet.
Statement of Significance: Only by understanding how and why the Internet was created, can we truly begin to appreciate its’ usefulness and uniqueness.
Statement of Credibility: After thorough research and many years of professional experience, I hope to present an objective view of this history.
Preview of Main Points: First, we will look into the events that led up to the first data transmission in 1969, then we will see its’ progression until 1982 where the name Internet was coined. Finally, we will observe how the Internet has developed into its current state today.
Body
I) To start, we will look at why the Internet was developed and researched in the first place.
A) Interestingly enough, the roots actually date back to the Cold War.
1) When the Soviet Union launched their Sputnik satellite in 1957, one of President Eisenhowers responses was creating the Pentagon’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA, as stated by US News & World Report, April 22, 2002.
2) The ARPA team was given the task to create a system of communication that could withstand the loss of many points, thus a decentralized network.
3) The military wanted this type of network to maintain control of their arms in the event a nuclear strike on US soil.
4) The initial name for this project was ARPANET.
B) Although many individuals were directly responsible for its’ creation, according to Business Week, September 27, 2004, Lawrence G. Roberts was the first to compile the ideas and bring it into reality.
1) In the mid-1960’s he began to hold conferences and enlist the help of other researchers.
2) Computers at that time were expensive, but luckily ARPA had the financial backing needed to help other scientists cooperate.
3) According to Business Week, when Roberts called for assistance with the necessary hardware to drive ARPANET, he received a stack of proposals nearly 7 feet high, eventually settling with Bolt, Beranek & Newman (BBN) to build the very first network switches.
4) These switches are the devices that have become the backbone of the Internet and we still rely on that same technology today.
Transition: Now that we’ve looked at the initial ideas and driving forces behind the Internet, we can take a look at what the researchers did to further expand it before it’s final takeoff.
II) Over the next several years there were major developments of ARPANET before the actual name Internet was assigned.
A) The very first Internet transmission took place in October of 1969.
1) As Charley Kline typed the word login, his own computer crashed when he hit the letter “g”. The receiving computer at the Stanford Research Institute did get the “l” and the “o” first though.
2) Within an hour they had the connection up and running again with no more problems.
B) The initial network that had only consisted of 4 hosts, or computers attached to the network, expanded to nearly 50.
1) Towards the end of the decade, that number jumped to over 100.
2) There was no private access to the network though; universities and government sites had the exclusive rights.
C) In a timeline by US News & World Report, Robert Metcalfe of Xerox Palo Alto Research Facility engineered the first local area Ethernet network.
1) According to the January 2005 issue of Control Engineering, Metcalfe scribbled down the early workings of Ethernet on a napkin, which is now framed at their research facility.
2) Ethernet has become a standard in the networking industry and is by far the most popular medium.
Transition: After the 70’s, there were only a few major adjustments and breakthroughs before it’s popularity and recognition took off.
III) In 1982, TCP/IP is set as the standard for all ARPANET communication, and the name of the project is officially changed to the more commonly known, Internet.
A) According to Futurics, volume 27, published in 2003, it was in 1983 that we saw another crucial development take place: the Domain Name System, otherwise referred to as DNS.
1) There were already over 1000 sites at this time on the network and although each had it’s own numbered address, most people had a hard time remembering them.
2) DNS was created as a decentralized system of attaching an easy to remember name with the actual numbered address of the assigned host.
(a) This breaks down to the user choosing if they want to type in 216.239.57.99, or maybe they would rather type in google.com.
(b) In the world of the Internet, there is no difference between these two addresses.
B) The last important breakthrough was the development of the World Wide Web.
1) As also reported by Futurics, a Swiss physicist by the name of Tim Berners-Leo designed the first programs that revolutionized the way in which information was retrieved across the Internet.
2) At this time there was nothing available other than text documents, but it set the groundwork for the multi-media web browsing experience that we have all come to enjoy today.
Conclusion
From the harrowing threat of the Cold War, to the napkin of Bob Metcalfe at Xerox, ARPANET and the Internet have endured a long and twisted journey over the past 35 years. The creation of it’s naming system, DNS, and the work of a Swiss physicist, all played another key role in this international network. The Internet has continually enjoyed the involvement of scientists across the globe for its additions and improvements. Who could have known that when Charley Kline crashed his computer, his team was pioneering a technological and societal revolution that is continuing to evolve every day?
Works Cited
Bernardi, Mario & VanDore, Vance. “Control Engineering” Barrington Jan 2005: Vol. 52, Iss. 1; pg. 28
Day, Alana. “Futurics” St. Paul 2003: Vol 27, Iss. 3/4; pg. 71
Port, Otis. “The Great Innovators” Business Week. New York Sep 27, 2004: Iss. 3901; pg. 20
Rae-Dupree, Janet. “Science & Technology; American Ingenuity” U.S. News & World Report. Washigton Apr 22, 2002: Vol 132, Iss. 13; pg. 68
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