ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 144/C&RL News Time to put the Internet in perspective By K ristin J a c o b se n The Internet may seem new, but it began over 30 years ago T he Internet has virtually ex p lo d ed into the public consciousness in the last few years. It has m ade th e pages o f th e New York Times, th e Wall Street Journal, an d countless o th er new spapers, an d it has b een featured as the cover story in Time, Business Week, th e Nation, an d the New Republic. T hose w h o h ad never h eard o f the Internet before last year might b e­ lieve, incorrectly, that it is essentially an over­ night success, a concep­ tion that could lead to a faulty u n d e rsta n d in g o f Those wh the Internet. To help our heard of t patrons at N orthw estern University Libraries have before las a m ore accurate m ental believe, in m odel o f th e Internet, I that it is e created an Internet time­ lin e th a t illu strates th e overnight m ajor events shaping its developm ent. Most m edia portrayals of th e Internet focus o n its possibilities and applications, a valid strat­ egy w h en trying to explain an u n k n o w n and pow erful phen o m en o n . Many m ention that this netw ork o f netw orks started as a D epartm ent o f D efense project to design a decentralized com m unications netw ork that cou ld w ithstand nuclear attack. They norm ally d o not have the space, how ever, to describe its evolution over the course o f m ore than 30 years. In th e d e ­ cades o f this evolution, th e original ARPANET has grow n far b ey o n d its original purpose. It has b e e n sh ap ed an d m olded by its users to m eet far different need s than originally envi­ sioned, a process that continues today in m any ways. This timeline originally served as background material during a o n e-h o u r presentation at an alum ni continuing education program an d later at a w ork sh o p for graduate m anagem ent stu­ dents o n business uses o f the Internet. We have a ls o m a d e it a v a ila b le in th e R e fe re n c e D epartm ent’s Electronic Reference Center, along w ith a selection of books and journals o n the Internet an d o n inform ation technology. Many events could b e included in a tim e­ line ab o u t th e dev elo p ­ m en t o f th e Internet. I had never d e c id e d th at im p o rtan t e Internet aspects to concentrate on year might w e r e th e e x p o n e n ti a l g ro w th o f th e Internet; orrectly, th e c r e a tio n o f m a jo r sentially an structural elem ents an d uccess. navigational tools such as g o p h e r, V ero n ica, an d Mosaic; exam ples of leg­ islation co n c e rn in g th e In tern et; a n d o th e r events that have h ad an im pact on the Internet o r that cam e ab o u t because o f it. As w e continue to explore ways to demystify th e Internet, w e look to p u t it in a context that m akes sense in o u r p atro n s’ lives. We w ant patrons to un d erstan d not only w hat the Inter­ n et is, bu t h o w it developed, w here it is going, an d w h at significance it will have for them and for society as a w hole. I h o p e that this timeline provides the beginnings of a fram ew ork for understanding the Internet an d its im pact on society. o h t c s s Kristin Jacobsen is m anagem ent reference librarian a t Northwestern University; e-mail: k-jacobsen@nwu.edu mailto:k-jacobsen@nwu.edu March 1 9 9 5 /1 4 5 In te rn e t tim e lin e 1 9 6 4 • Paul B aran at RAND designs a packet-sw itching n etw o rk to survive nuclear attack. M essage is b ro k en d o w n into units o f eq u al size, ro u ted along a functional path, th en reassem bled at th e destination. T 9 6 9 • D epartm ent o f D efense com m issions ARPANET, a d ecentralized netw ork built so th at m essages co u ld b e rero u ted in th e e v en t that p art o f the com m unications system w as destroyed by nuclear attack. ea r ly 19 7 0 s • Ethernet, a h igh-speed netw ork, is d ev elo p e d at X erox Palo Alto Research C enter (PARC). It provides th e basis for local area netw orks (LANs). 1971 • 15 no d es (23 hosts) are online. 1 9 7 3 • First international ARPANET co nnections are established to E ngland an d Norway. 1 9 7 9 • U senet originates at D uke University an d th e University of North Carolina. 1981 • BITNET (“B ecause It’s Time (T here) NETwork”) starts as a netw ork at City University of N ew York a n d offers a m eth o d for scholarly discussion for academ ics n o t involved in the sciences. 1 9 8 3 • ARPANET splits in to ARPANET fo r re se a rc h a n d MILNET for military operations. • TCP/IP, co m p u ter c o d e for com m unicating w ith th e Internet, is d ev elo p ed at th e Univ. o f California, fu n d e d b y ARPA, a n d built into B erkeley Unix. 1 9 8 4 • N u m b er o f h o s t s su r p a s se s 1,000. m id -1 9 8 0 s • N e tw o rk o f n e tw o rk s — in c lu d in g ARPANET, MILNET, BITNET, a n d others— is referred to as ARPA Internet, th e n sim ply Internet. 1 9 8 6 • National Science Foundation (NSF) creates NSFNET to connect 5 supercom p u te r centers for scholarly research. It b eco m es th e Internet backbone. • N u m b er o f h o s t s su r p a s se s 10,000 . 1 9 8 7 • NSF signs contracts w ith IBM, MCI, an d Merit N etw ork, Inc., to m anage an d up g rad e NSFNET, th e Internet backbone. 1 9 8 9 • N u m b er o f h o s t s su r p a s s e s 100,000. • Staff an d students at McGill University in Q u eb ec d evelop Archie to help k e e p track o f free softw are from anonym ous ftp sites. 1 9 9 0 • ARPANET is decom m issioned. • Initial W orld W ide W eb (WWW) p rototype is d e v elo p e d by CERN, Euro­ p ean Particle Physics Laboratory in Switzerland. It allows a user to brow se an d select links that bring text, graphics, audio, o r video o n screen. • H ytelnet, a hypertext b ro w ser for telnet-accessible sites, is d ev elo p e d by Peter Scott o f the University o f Saskatchew an to provide a m eth o d for users to bro w se an d select from lists o f Internet resources. • Electronic Frontier Foundation is fo u n d ed by Mitch K apor o f Lotus. 1991 • “Team G o p h e r” at th e University o f M innesota dev elo p s g o p h e r to help th e cam pus com m unity find answ ers to com puter-related questions. 1 4 6 /C&RL News • WAIS (Wide-Area Inform ation Server) is distributed by Thinking M achines C orporation in Menlo Park, California, to provide “a dynam ic hypertext system ,” a m eth o d o f searching a w ide variety of types o f information from a w ide variety o f sources by asking a question instead o f typing in key w ords. WAIS also allows searches to be refined to produce m ore relevant results. • WWW is released o n central CERN m achines. • NSF lifts restrictions against com m ercial use o f the Internet. Commercial Internet Exchange (CIX) Association, Inc., is form ed by G eneral Atomics (CERFnet), Perform ance Systems International (PSInet), an d UUNET Technologies, Inc. (AlterNet). • President G eorge Bush signs into law the H igh Perform ance C om puting Act providing $650 million in new spendin g by the NSF, $388 million by DARPA, an d $31 million by the D epartm ent o f C om m erce’s N ational Institute o f Standards an d Technology. 1 9 9 2 • N u m b er o f h o s t s su r p a s se s 1,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 . • Line m ode brow sing o f WWW is m ade available by anonym ous ftp. • President Bill Clinton a n n o u n ces plans to develop a national electronic infrastructure through governm ent an d private efforts, w ith m ost governm ent su p p o rt going to the N ational Research a n d Education Netw ork (NREN). • T he University o f N evada developm ent team introduces Veronica to allow subject searching o n gopher. • T he Internet Society is chartered. • Rick Gates, then director o f library autom ation for the University of California, Santa Barbara, starts th e Internet Hunt. 1 9 9 3 • N u m b er o f h o s t s su r p a s se s 2,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 . • NSF releases plans to restructure Internet by redirecting regional netw ork subsidies to colleges for netw ork fees. Internet to be privately m anaged un d er governm ent contract. Eight regional netw orks form th e for-profit C orporation for Regional a n d Enterprise N etw orking (CoREN). • InterNIC is created to provide Internet resources an d services. Contracts aw arded for: directory an d database services (AT&T); registration ser­ vices (N etw ork Solutions, Inc.); inform ation services (G eneral Atomics). • “Internet Talk Radio” begins broadcasting. • President Bill Clinton signs the G overnm ent Printing Office Electronic Access Act to provide online access of federal docum ents, including the Federal Register, th e C ongressional Record, a n d o th er sources distributed through the G overnm ent Printing Office. • The National Inform ation Infrastructure Act is introduced into the H ouse o f R epresentatives a n d passes. Its co m panion bill, th e N ational C om peti­ tiveness Act, is introduced into the Senate. The Senate bill is designed to u p d ate the High Perform ance C om puting Act of 1991 by focusing o n the provision o f applications rath er th an o n high-speed netw orks. • Mosaic is d eveloped by the N ational C enter for Supercom puting A pplications in C ham paign, Illinois. It allows use o f WWW to brow se a n d click o r select links that bring text, graphics, audio, or video to the screen. • The White H ouse receives e-m ail connections. • The White H ouse an n o u n ces the form ation o f the N ational Inform ation Infrastructure T estbed, an industry/governm ent coalition to develop applications for the Internet, including rem ote research collaboration March 1 9 9 5 /1 4 7 an d medical consulting. M em bers include AT&T, Sprint, H ew lett Packard, Digital E quipm ent C orporation, th e University o f California at B erkeley, O regon State University, a n d the D epartm ent o f Energy. 1 9 9 4 • N u m b er o f h o s t s su r p a s se s 3 ,8 0 0 ,0 0 0 . • V ice-President G ore conducts co m puter-based new s conference from the W hite H ouse. • T he N ational C om petitiveness Act is a p p ro v e d by Senate. • T he U.S. Postal Service is ask ed by V ice-President G ore’s N ational Perform ance Review to explore the delivery o f federal inform ation electronically via kiosks in post offices. • T he U.S. Senate an d H ouse o f R epresentatives m ount g o p h e r servers. • N etscape, a WWW brow ser, is introduced by Mosaic C om m unications Corp o ratio n , a com pany form ed by Jim Clark, founder of Silicon G raphics, Inc.; Mark A ndreessen, o n e o f th e developers o f Mosaic; an d o th er Mosaic developers from th e N ational C enter for S upercom puting Applications. Mosaic Com m unications C orporation later changes its nam e to N etscape C om m unications C orporation. • T he W hite H ouse puts h o m e page, “An Interactive C itizens’s H and­ b o o k ,” o n the WWW. Includes inform ation o n the First Family, agencies an d com m issions o f the Executive Branch, W hite H ouse electronic publications, a n d virtual tours o f th e W hite H ouse, th e O ld Executive Office, a n d th e First Ladies’ Garden. • Electronic shopping malls, catalogs, and storefronts app ear o n the Internet. • K ey-word searching b eco m es available through search engines such as Lycos, W ebCrawler, an d the W orld W ide W eb Worm. 1 9 9 5 • N u m b er o f h o s t s su r p a s se s 4 ,8 0 0 ,0 0 0 . References D ern, D aniell P. Internet Guide f o r New Users. N ew York: McGraw Hill, 1994. Duffy, Caroline. “Never T oo Soon for a Trial Run: N ational Inform ation Infrastructure T estbed Unveiled.” PC Week 22 (N ovem ber 1993): N l. Elmer-Dewit, Philip. “First Nation in C yberspace.” Time 6 (D ecem ber 1993): 62-64. “Interactive Citizens’ H a n d b o o k .” White H ouse h o m e pag e online. Available at W orld W ide Web: h ttp ://w w w .w h iteh o u se.g o v . Internet D om ain Survey. (January 1995.) Avail­ able at W orld W ide Web: h ttp ://w w w .n w . c o m /zo n e/W W W /rep o rt.h tm l. Krol, Edward. The Whole Internet: Users Guide a n d Catalog. Sebastopol, Calif.: O ’Reilly & Associates, 1992. McDonald, Gary. 1993 n etw ork new s rou n d u p . MOREnet User’s Discussion List [Missouri Research a n d E ducation Network], (Jan. 4, 1994.) Available at MOUSER-L@more.net. N etscape hom e page. Available at W orld W ide Web: h ttp ://h o m e.m co m .co m . Patch, Kimberly. “Calling o n W ashington: The Industry Girds Up to Steer D evelopm en t o f a N ational Inform ation Infrastructure.” Week 1 (N ovem ber 1993): 91. _ _ _ . “Coalition Puts Nil T estbed into Play.” PC Week 10 (January 1994): 21. heingold, H oward. The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier. Reading, Mass.: A ddison-W esley Pub., 1993. huler, J o h n A. “G reat Expectations, G rand C hallenges, Limited O pportunities: National Inform ation Infrastructure.” Computers in Libraries 13 (O ctober 1993): 46. tuivenga, Will. Postal Service a n d Inform ation Superhighw ay. Public-Access Computer Sys­ tems Forum. (June 1, 1994.) Available at: PA CS-L@ uhupvm l.uh.edu. .S. H ouse o f Representatives G opher. Avail­ able at gopher: gopher.house.gov. .S. S enate G opher. A vailable at g o p h er: g o p h er.sen ate.g o v /1 . WW “H istory to D ate.” Available at telnet: info.cern.ch. akon, Robert Hobbes. “H obbes’s Internet Time line v l . 1." Available at: timeline@hobbes.mitre, org. Auto reply sends timeline. For questions send e-mail to: hobbes@ hobbes.mitre.org. PC _ R S S U U W Z http://www.whitehouse.gov http://www.nw mailto:MOUSER-L@more.net http://home.mcom.com mailto:PACS-L@uhupvml.uh.edu mailto:hobbes@hobbes.mitre.org