The Web/Internet did not start out as a commercial venture. Just like with subsequent commercial ventures, the Web began as a military development. In this video we look at some of the technical basics behind how the Internet first worked. Your burning questions here are 1- what wicked problem did the military have that needed to be solved? 2- what was it about this government/military venture that allowed the visionaries to commercialize it?
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Self Check Questions
Reflective Question 2
What historical event took place that stimulated the military to decide it needed to rapidly advance its technology?
I think you know it was Sputnik. What you may not know is that during the 1950s the USA was going through a post WWII euphoria. We had just 'won' the war and folks were back at home restoring their lives back to some sense of normalcy. During these halcyon days our technology was falling behind the Russians. Sputnik woke us up. It was not small coincidence that our president was ex-military. The need to re-establish our technological superiority was a big motivator. The military-industrial complex emerged (supported by the largest universities in the country that became majorly government funded arms of our military).
Incorrect
Reflective Question 3
What was the main driver of the need for packet switching?
There was actually more than one driver: 1- the technology/bandwidth was not sufficient to support the amount of data that needed to be delivered for military purposes and 2- the military needed a back up means to deliver information in case of a disruption .. by splitting it all up... if one node went down it did not prevent all of it from being dropped, as multiple pathways were established and rebuilt at the receiving end
Incorrect
Reflective Question 3
What problems did the military share with the eventual commercial ventures that evolved when the Web became commercialized
communication needs were established by all the military bases being built all over the Globe communication needs were established by all the military bases being built all over the Globe
ok almost correct but not quite.... This is perhaps a minor issue being overcome by breaking the files down into packets. The big issue here was bandwidth This is perhaps a minor issue being overcome by breaking the files down into packets. The big issue here was bandwidth
This is a biggie... in these times bandwidth was not 5G but perhaps even 1G .. This also gave rise to the multiple compression techniques developed over the years... and even was one of the issues surrounding the famous Y2K problem This is a biggie... in these times bandwidth was not 5G but perhaps even 1G .. This also gave rise to the multiple compression techniques developed over the years... and even was one of the issues surrounding the famous Y2K problem
Again a close one.. yes this was and issue (bandwidth) but the need for color at that time was not high on the list,. In fact resolution of images was not the need until later advances in graphical User interfaces (GUIs)Again a close one.. yes this was and issue (bandwidth) but the need for color at that time was not high on the list,. In fact resolution of images was not the need until later advances in graphical User interfaces (GUIs)
Once again bandwidth was the issue here... all interactions with computers was text based and was not needed during the early years Once again bandwidth was the issue here... all interactions with computers was text based and was not needed during the early years