Or a short history of how the Internet changed everything.
When future history books are written, the Internet Era will likely form a chapter, if not an entire volume, as important as that describing the Industrial Revolution (1760-1840 and 1870-1914). In this talk we will examine a few fundamental inventions and discoveries that have made possible a system we collectively call “The Internet.”
The economic, political, societal, and governance aspects of the Internet are already major topics for discussion at EuroSSIG events. This talk examines some of the technological underpinnings of a system that is immensely powerful, yet also quite fragile. Without going into detailed technical explanations, we will describe how the Internet was built using parts of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and evolved into a very large collection of interconnected networks and systems, some of which are replacing the PSTN itself. We will also discuss how another invention—the radio—paved the way for an Internet that reaches billions of devices in every imaginable location. Along the way, we will take a few side-steps, recount a few true stories, and marvel at a few “random” events that changed the course of Internet history and the society that depends so heavily on its existence. If time and local technological conditions permit, we will perform a small demonstration that uses a pre-Internet device to illustrate how “one thing leads to another.”
INSPIRATION: At one EuroSSIG event that I attended, students were asked to imagine the Internet 10 or 20 years into the future. Many scenarios and concerns were raised, but no mention was made of how technology itself might once again “change everything.” While I certainly cannot predict the future, I CAN point to some lessons from my own relationship with the Internet which started 50 years ago (!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABOUT Ole:
Ole J. Jacobsen, the Editor and Publisher of The Internet Protocol Journal, has been active in the computer networking field since 1976 when he went to work for the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, an early ARPANET site. From 1984 to 1987 Ole worked at the Network Information Center (NIC) at SRI International. Prior to the introduction of the Domain Name System (DNS) SRI published weekly HOSTS.TXT tables. Ole was with Interop Company since shortly after its formation in 1987 until 1998. He was the Editor and Publisher of ConneXions—The Interoperability Report, a monthly technical journal in the field of computer-communications, published by Interop Company.
Jacobsen holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering and Computing Science from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. He has served on the board of the Asia Pacific Network Operators Group Ltd (APNOG) from 2000 to 2026 (http://www.apnog.org). APNOG hosts the annual APRICOT conference (http://www.apricot.net), and previously served as chair of the Meetings Committee for IETF Administrative Oversight Committee (IAOC) (https://iaoc.ietf.org/). Ole has also served on multiple ICANN and IETF nominations committees. He was Chair of the ICANN 2021 Nominations Committee.(https://www.icann.org/nomcom2021).
He is a member of:
The Association for Computing Machinery (http://www.acm.org)
The American Guild of Organists (http://www.agohq.org)
The Organ Historical Society (http://www.organsociety.org)
The House Rabbit Society (http://www.rabbit.org)
He can be reached at ole@protocoljournal.org