[ A Brief History ]

The internet of today was born in 1973 when Vint Cerf developed the TCP/IP
protocol.
Not only could files be transferred quite simply but also information could
be posted for public perusal leading to the emergence of email and news services. The introduction of computers as personal productivity devices first began to appear
around 1977 with Apple, Tandy and Commodore computers. Although computers
could be connected in networks for the purposes of transferring files although such
operations remained complex and technically demanding.
In 1989 Robert Cailliau (Gillies, J. & Cailliau, R., 2001) and Tim Berners-Lee at
CERN in Switzerland put forward a proposal for the management of documents using
computers. Management at CERN received the proposal as ‘vague but exciting
(Gillies, 2001, p. 181). Cailliau and Berners-Lee envisaged a service that could share
files, documents, information, dialogue, graphics, sound files and more. They called
this service the World Wide Web (WWW). Networking using the WWW continued
frenetically until in 2001 the dot com crash rationalised the services that could be
provided and consolidated the first round of the WWW for the provision of
information globally.
Throughout this entire period, a computer and desktop software needed to be
purchased and software installed. The software included an operating system,
applications and utilities for checking viruses and the like. When computers were
connected they then required additional software and network servers to communicate
on the internet and use the WWW services.
The initial stages of the WWW from 1990 to 2001 provided the capacity for an
information service. Schools, training colleges and universities developed websites as
part of the proliferation of information accessible globally. The websites were
institutionally focussed and somewhat akin to reading manuals. This meant that
access by users was limited to the provision of information only in text formats with
littleconsideration for being user friendly or user focussed. This was described in a
predictions about the internet in 1999 called The ClueTrain Manifesto (Levine et al,
2000) as a passive ‘push’ model of communication.The Cluetrain Manifesto predicted
that users of the internet would become more actively involved in a networked ‘pull’
environment.
Then beginning in 2001, other types of services began to appear on the WWW. These
included Google, Wikipedia, MySpace, FaceBook, Digg, Technorati, Twitter, Spock
and many more which provided their services remotely and freely. These services are
known as Software as a Service (SaaS) applications and remove the need for common
desktop productivity software of the kind Word, Excel, PowerPoint and the like.
The WWW had moved towards becoming a read/write platform where users could
engage with others, contribute and publish information in several formats including
text, graphics, animation, audio and video. Tim O’Rielly (2005) popularised this new
use of the WWW as Web 2.0, a term that became widely accepted although the term
had been used several years previously. The term did not mean that the WWW
underwent a technical change but instead became a platform where interactive
communication was possible. In the ClueTrain Manifesto this was described s the
‘pull’ model of communication.
The combined internet and the WWW has matured as a communications, productivity
and social networking platform in its own right with no precedent in history. Professor
Jim Bosco (2006) from Western Michigan University has traced the development of
communication through history and highlights the development of human
communications through verbal, written and now electronic communication. He
concludes by suggesting that today we are in a period where verbal and written
communication operate electronically, globally and more personally than ever before
and that has profound implications for education, business and research. Bosco (2006,
p. 8) also states that the hegemony of formal education - school - as the educational
agency for society - has ended because the available capacity for personalisation and
individual contribution will be increasingly used by a diverse range of groups for
education.
In examining the brief history above, a number of issues emerged. The computer has
become a productivity and communication networking device beyond use as a stand
alone machine which it was when personal computers began. The new trend towards
SaaS services from remote central locations does not require the purchase and
installation of desktop software productivity applications but does require access to
the internet. Mention has also been made of changes which need to be further
explored in education, research and business with the impact of personalisation and
the ‘pull’ versus ‘push’ expectations of experienced and connected online users.

References from :: [ ICT Trends in Education ]