History of the Internet

Melih Bilgil's "History of the Internet" clip offers extensive background information regarding the Internet and how it came to be this massive platform for communication. Like many of the other students, I too use the Internet every single day. I would even go as far as saying that I have become dependent on the Internet, so much so, that when it is not available to me I feel incapable of completing many tasks and completely disconnected from the world. One would think that having used the Internet almost every day for so many years that I would have taken the time to learn about its foundation and how it came to be, but the truth is I have taken this brilliant concept for granted.

All of the information presented in this clip was new knowledge to me; however, one portion that struck me as predominantly interesting was the fact that Internet was a global effort. The coming together of France’s scientific network, England’s commercial network and the U.S.’s military network to create the Internet we know today is fascinating when studying the Internet's present capabilities. Furthermore, the fact that the structure of the architecture of the Internet was developed in response to military threats is also a particularly interesting fact.

Bilgil’s effort to explain the Internet’s history is well done, and although he did offer a lot of information, I found the video rather confusing. There are many things I learned from the video; however, the Internet is such a complex concept that I found myself lost in a sea of acronyms and historical references. I feel that although “History of the Internet” does offer the key historical points that lead to the Internet we know today, this video can only serve as an introduction. I hope that with further reading and class lectures, I will be able to grasp a better understanding of the history of the Internet.