[Air-l] Internet vs. WWW

[Ren Reynolds]

Art >Incorrect. The Internet proper is a distributed network 
of networks which consists of a common set of technical 
protocols that serve as the foundation upon which almost all 
CMC services or groups of services currently rest, including 
the WWW. 

The individual networks do not just consist of a common set 
of protocols, they all use the TCP/IP set at the top level 
and talk to each other using BGP (boarder gateway protocol). 
However at lower levels some networks use protocols such as 
ATM for what’s known as “traffic shaping” as the wild and 
free nature of IP is all very well unless you’re trying to 
manage a large network commercially. Also some networks carry 
other protocols depending on what the network owner wants to 
do with it. Increasingly the ‘internet’ bit is actually just 
a virtual network or protocol bundle within a larger multi-
protocol network that is used for all sorts of things, the 
reason being that providers are looking to consolidate old 
data and voice networks on to a common set of fibre and big 
routers such as the large Juniper ones. Thus networks are 
common at one level and often heterogeneous at others. 

>The Internet is essentially an open communications platform 
and agreement upon which services are built. 

Well, “agreements”. Typically ‘peering’ between two networks 
that exchange similar volumes of traffic and ‘transit’ where 
a smaller network buys up stream bandwidth from a larger 
(generally better connected) one. 

>The Internet itself doesn't do anything. What makes The 
Internet special is what it allows you to build with it. 

That’s moot I think. There is the so called end-to-end design 
philosophy of the net which means that you keep the centre 
dumb and leave the smart stuff at the outside. However DNS is 
a distributed but hierarchal system with central servers. 
SMTP is based on servers that can be argued to be in the net. 
It’s arguable whether these constitute doing ‘anything’ or 
not. 


>The WWW is a subset and extension of the The Internet, 
consisting of both a communications protocol (HTTP) and a 
page markup language (HTML), whose specific purpose is the 
presentation of information in a format that previously was 
only possible via desktop publishing.

If WWW is a subset of the Internet and the internet existed 
before WWW then Internet must denote the network of 
interconnected networks and the set of common protocols that 
run on those networks at any given time. Noting that the 
protocols might change over time and that not all protocols 
might be common to all networks at all times and that some 
networks will run protocols that are exceptional; and that 
network refers to some physical stuff and some virtual 
networks that run on that physical stuff and, increasingly, 
wireless networks.

So I guess what the term Internet is doing is picking out a 
particular yet shifting group of protocols and services 
embedded within a changing network of physical, virtual and 
wireless networks and attendant contracts.  

Ren


---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 22:28:28 -0800 (PST)
>From: Art McGee <amcgee at virtualidentity.org>  
>Subject: Re: [Air-l] Internet vs. WWW  
>To: air-l-aoir.org at listserv.aoir.org
>
>> Up till now, i've commonsensically used "the Internet" to 
>> denote, essentially, everything that i can access or 
>> receive and anyone i connect with when i "go online" 
>> (connect my computer to data that is not on my computer's 
>> harddrive). In other words, i've used "the Internet" to 
>> denote the sum of all that's online.
>
>Incorrect. The sum total of all that is metaphorically 
>referred to as "online" is most properly called Cyberspace.
>
>Some people extend cyberspace to include non-computer 
>related technologies and forms of communication not 
>involving technology, but for the most part, common usage of 
>the term Cyberspace has narrowed over the years to be 
>specific to CMC.
>
>Cyberspace predates The Internet and is a superset of The 
>Internet. Cyberspace includes proprietary networks and 
>protocols that existed before the Internet was conceived of 
>and still exist outside of it.
>
>> I've always assumed commonsensically that "the world wide 
>> web" simply denotes the network of computers that are 
>> "online" (all or part of the time). Since what's online 
>> has to rest (or am i missing some basic tech fact?) on 
>> some computer, and since to access what's on a particular 
>> computer, that computer needs to connected to other 
>> computers, "the World Wide Web" and "the Internet" as i 
>> understood their meaning refer to the same referent.
>
>Incorrect. The Internet proper is a distributed network of 
>networks which consists of a common set of technical 
>protocols that serve as the foundation upon which almost all 
>CMC services or groups of services currently rest, including 
>the WWW. The Internet is essentially an open communications 
>platform and agreement upon which services are built. The 
>Internet itself doesn't do anything. What makes The Internet 
>special is what it allows you to build with it.
>
>The WWW is a subset and extension of the The Internet, 
>consisting of both a communications protocol (HTTP) and a 
>page markup language (HTML), whose specific purpose is the 
>presentation of information in a format that previously was 
>only possible via desktop publishing. In other words, the 
>WWW was created in order to move some aspects of DTP from 
>your local hard disk onto the larger network. Previously, 
>most information on the net was served in extremely simple 
>ASCII text formats.
>
>The Internet predates the WWW. The WWW is a recent extension 
>and addition to The Internet. Before the WWW, there were 
>other cruder protocols and services which had a similar 
>function and purpose. They went by names such as ARCHIE, 
>VERONICA, GOPHER, and WAIS.
>
>> also, up till now i also thought of "cyberworld" as an a 
>> term interchangeable with the other two terms, but that 
>> leaves me with no term to denote the "life-world" of 
>> people online, as distinguished from "the Internet" as 
>> defined above. Could "cyberworld" be used to denote this 
>> "life-world", or will that be another gross carelessness 
>> with definitions (i can almost feel Thomas Hobbes standing 
>> behind me getting ready to slap me ... )
>
>Cyberspace is definitely NOT interchangeable with The 
>Internet or the WWW. As I said before:
>
>Cyberspace is a superset of The Internet.
>
>Cyberspace predates The Internet.
>
>Cyberspace exists outside of The Internet.
>
>The Internet is a superset of The WWW.
>
>The Internet predates The WWW.
>
>The WWW is a subset and extension of The Internet.
>
>
>Art
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