Topic : The Internet (2018/19)
How have key developments in the history of the internet made us more connected to information, and each other?
This is an archived version of a page from Digital Society 2018/9, to preserve content for past participants. See the main page for the latest materials.
Manchester students: we will cover this topic in the session on Monday week 2 4th Feb. If you missed the session, please work through the below and leave a comment, then contact the course leaders (details in Blackboard) to catch up.
The session will be led by James Sumner.
The internet is an old technology, at least in a sense: the networked information systems that define how it works were built in the 1970's. But it was not until the 1990's that there was much public awareness of its possibilities, and the familiar modern-day world of social media is more recent still. In this class, we’ll look at how the internet’s past shapes its present and future, and how far its development shapes how users see their world.
Reading/Watching
The Net (BBC Documentary, 1994) — watch the section on the internet which starts after 17m43s.
It’s Complicated: the Social Lives of Networked Teens, Danah Boyd -New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014
Read Chapter 1, “Identity: why do teens seem strange online?”, pp. 29–53.
Additional reading/watching
You will also find it interesting to take a look at some early websites that have been preserved unchanged. There’s a good index on the 404 Page Found site: use the navigation bar at the top to choose dates in the 1990’s, when public audiences first found out about the internet.
An interesting example is Internet Explorer is EVIL!, which very much reflects typical website design in the late 90's, and is specifically about the web browser wars of the day.
Kids’ Guide to the Internet: an informational film made in 1997, with a fictional all-American family exploring the possibilities of the Web and email. Look beyond the cheesy presentation and notice how the Internet is constantly presented as a force for positive change, and how different the Web seems without modern-day social media.
Niels Brügger and Ralph Schroeder, eds, The Web as History, London: UCL Press, 2017. Perspectives on changes in the Web over time from various authors. Full text available from the publisher’s website as a PDF.
Access the full reading list (all topics in one place plus optional reading)
What do you think?
Thinking about your views on the above, try to answer these questions:
- What has obviously changed between 1994 and today?
- How do people present themselves differently in different online and offline spaces?
- How does this affect the opportunities or the difficulties that people have? Does it increase the risks of misunderstanding?
- What changes have you witnessed in online culture in your own lifetime?
Leave a comment
After accessing the above, please leave a comment below to share an idea, a question, or a response before the 4th Feb.
Please email digisoc@manchester.ac.uk with any questions or problems.
