[Air-L] 'MEN Invented the Internet'?

Fri Jun 8 09:50:50 PDT 2012

Apologies for a second email, but in an odd twist of irony, I was scrolling through the huffington post website and saw an article labeled "Did this man Invent the Internet", and in that, a referenced link to Live Science on the Internet History Timeline.

Links below:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/07/paul-otlet-belgian-invent-internet-1934_n_1579417.html
http://www.livescience.com/20727-internet-history.html

Thomas Jones | Graduate Student | School of Information Studies
http://about.me/othertomjones

Syracuse University
Hinds Hall
Syracuse, New York 13244
t 919.809.9454 e tajone02syr.edu

ischool.syr.edu

THE CAMPAIGN FOR SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
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________________________________________
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] on behalf of Thomas Jones [tajone02 at syr.edu]
Sent: Friday, June 08, 2012 12:27 PM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-L] 'MEN Invented the Internet'?

I would offer that this critique is criticizing more the selection of Wu's particular Cycle identified, among the presence of many other possible cycles. It also takes aim at the lack of explanation of the true complexity of how the US Government intervened to enable or disable the mentioned cycles.

As with most scholarly dissent, they are criticizing the research method and resultant hypothetical conclusivity behind the point being made, rather than the factual substance upon which said point is based on.

In other words you have a 20,000 word scholarly critique on a book which isn't targeted toward scholars, and it would be counterproductive to have done so given who Tim Wu is. This isnt a terribly shocking revelation. Personally this is a non-issue, and this type of dissension among scholars is nothing more than an intellectual ego contest - one which is quite unproductive. If Wu's work is so discreditable, I would invite said scholars to point to other popularly accepted and published books about the other such potential cycles, and tie them together such as Wu did. Otherwise there isnt much to contend.

My background is in network engineering. I understand how the Internet is connected and operates. The underlying core of today's internet was built upon existing telephony systems (later incorporating TV Cable systems) - telephony was the only medium which connected the people of the US more densely than any other technology at the time. For anyone to assert otherwise lacks due diligence understand how information fundamentally traverses the Internet itself.

The telephony presence in the US was established mostly by the US Army and AT&T - or in other perspectives what was to become AT&T for conversational purposes. The story of how AT&T became AT&T, and currently is AT&T is a book in and of itself. One example: The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation.

US Government intellectual property protection that allowed AT&T to become such a national monopoly, is what enabled the market penetration upon which, later, the Internet depended on for its success and prominence. AT&T enjoyed this protection for approximately 80 or so years under the direction and philosophy of one Theodore Vail an early President of AT&T - I dont have the book with me now else Id be more specific.

AT&T and the USG saw the threat of innovation to be so dangerous to stability of telephony technology (reference the Hush-a-Phone), that it wasn't until a researcher of Bell Labs discovered in the 1990's that AT&T had actually created a voicemail system based on magnetic tape storage in the 1930's! They thought it would “lead the public to abandon the telephone.” Imagine where we would be today, for the good and bad, if such innovation was to allow to occur when it was originally developed.

The person who began to place the pieces of the puzzle together during the infancy of computing, and achieve traction in the initiative to what was to eventually become the Internet (a large piece of the pie of what was to become the Internet) via connecting disparate computing systems in his office together, and further for the Government, was J.C.R Licklider. He is one of the most attributable forefathers of the Internet - among Vint Cerf, and Tim Berners-Lee, but certainly not the only one.

Thomas Jones | Graduate Student | School of Information Studies
http://about.me/othertomjones

Syracuse University
Hinds Hall
Syracuse, New York 13244
t 919.809.9454 e tajone02syr.edu

ischool.syr.edu

THE CAMPAIGN FOR SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
campaign.syr.edu

________________________________________
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] on behalf of Andrew Russell [arussell at stevens.edu]
Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2012 10:00 PM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: Re: [Air-L] 'MEN Invented the Internet'?

FWIW -

The Chicago Law Review published a long (~20,000 words!) and quite critical review of Wu's "Master Switch" last fall. A free download is available at the bottom of http://lawreview.uchicago.edu/page/vol-78-issue-4-fall-2011.

Book Review: Are Those Who Ignore History Doomed to Repeat It?
Peter Decherney, Nathan Ensmenger, & Christopher S. Yoo
A Review of "The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires," by Tim Wu

Andy

On Jun 5, 2012, at 3:14 PM, Thomas Jones wrote:

> I agree - sort of.
>
> Yes, the invention of the Internet involved many parties. But we must understand that the underlying infrastructure was mostly built by the US Army and AT&T (with latecomer Verizon). Tim Wu dives into this in his book "The Master Switch".
>
> The closest singular person I can think of who "invented" the Internet would be J. C. R. Licklider. And lets not confuse the Internet with the World Wide Web. The Internet isnt composed entirely of web servers - it is here that Universities contributed heavily with the Department of Defense.
>
>
> Thomas Jones | Graduate Student | School of Information Studies
> http://about.me/othertomjones
>
> Syracuse University
> Hinds Hall
> Syracuse, New York 13244
> t 919.809.9454 e tajone02syr.edu
>
> ischool.syr.edu
>
> THE CAMPAIGN FOR SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY
> campaign.syr.edu
>
> ________________________________________
> From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] on behalf of Jeremy hunsinger [jeremy at tmttlt.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 2:56 PM
> To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> Subject: Re: [Air-L] 'MEN Invented the Internet'?
>
> other than the gender bias issue... which i agree is just distasteful
> and untrue.
>
> the other real problem with the title is the term invented.
>
> no one invented the internet.  a great number of people contributed to
> early networking technologies, and eventually someone named a protocol
> inter-networking protocol.  so at best we have someone who named one
> operational parameter of the internet, but no one invented it, no one
> as best as i can tell from my readings aimed for anything like it is
> today until around 1996 when it became an object of commercial policy
> and by then... it really was an assemblage of operating protocols and
> networks that were quite old.  it isn't like ethernet, where we have a
> possible inventor at all.  for instance, who can name the famous
> actress who worked on on operational protocol for radio switching that
> we now use in 801.11 radio based internets?  you all know her... she
> didn't invent the internet, but she patented something very important
> to today's internet.
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