NSF goes big with 'The Birth of the Internet’

Editor’s note: Writing today’s Skinny and filling in for LTW Editor Rick Smith this week is Noah Garrett. You can email Noah at noah@thinkngc.com.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK — The National Science Foundation (NSF) has put together a truly awesome production on its Web site that tells the story of the birth of the Internet, using videos, presentations and documents from its archives.

The history is divided into decades, and it definitely should be on your list of things to do this week.

It begins: There was a time in the not-so-distant past when the world was not connected. But then a small group of visionaries created the Internet; and changed the world.

That alone, should intrigue you to check out this puppy.

I have only just started going through all of it, and already I am mesmerized. The scary thing is remembering first-hand a lot of the things covered – well more of the stuff in the '90s and beyond. The coolest part for me so far is that in the '60s you could get a computer with a whopping 8,192 bytes of memory for just $1,000 per month. Boy, what a deal!

We know today that the Internet has changed our society in ways not seen since the invention of the printing press. But how did we get here?

A transcript of the presentation reads: “Just as the development of the printed word was really about two technologies – the invention of movable type and mass-produced paper – the story of the Internet is about computing and the development of sophisticated networks to connect them. This report tells the story of how NSF helped these two technologies develop into the modern Internet.”

Scanning the decades, you learn how the potential power of computers to transform the world started to become a reality in the 1960s. How the 1970s saw computers grow in strength, speed and capabilities and soon begin to integrate into everyday life. How in 1972, researchers sent out the first e-mail message using the familiar name@domain.com syntax – the same phrasing we still use today.

Also, the 1980s are remembered as the time computers truly changed our everyday lives. Companies such as Atari, Apple, Commodore and IBM began producing small, affordable computers designed to help people perform everyday tasks like typing letters, balancing checkbooks and playing games. The 1990s will forever be remembered as the decade when the world came online and Tim Berners-Lee, a researcher at CERN, developed a new tool for sharing information on the Internet using hypertext that he called the World Wide Web. The first Web page was launched on Aug. 6, 1991.

It is truly fascinating, even for non-techies, to see how the Internet has truly transformed the world.

And, the really cool part is that we have only just begun. The Internet is just starting to get zits and is barely in adolescence. It will be interesting to see all the exciting challenges – and possibilities – that await the next generation of Internet pioneers.

Like I said, checking this out should be on your list of things to do this week.