[Air-L] the history of connecting to the Internet

[Sandra Braman]

Norway and the UK were connected to what was then called ARPANet in 1973.  (The name Internet came into use just a year or so later.)  Norway was the first, and the UK was linked a few minutes later. 

Canadians were involved in design discussions as early as 1971, but the first functional linkages were these with Norway and the UK.  Importantly, it was the Canadians who, in 1971, insisted that designers incorporate the need to design a network that could connect all users across vast geographic spaces into their governing design principles.

(I'm just completing work on an analysis of the internationalization of the Internet during the first decade of the design process, 1969-1979, based on study of the technical document series recording the history of that design process, the Internet Requests for Comments, or RFCs.  My Telecommunications Policy Research Conference paper of last October ["The Framing Years"] presented an analysis of the policy frames that developed during the Internet design process during that decade.  Other related work is underway.  An overview of this very large project was published in INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION, & SOCIETY in 2010 -- "The Interpenetration of Technical and Legal Decision-Making for the Internet.")

Sandra Braman