From diversity to convergence : British computer networks and the Internet, 1970-1995

The Internet's success in the 21st century has encouraged analysts to investigate the origin of this network. Much of this literature adopts a teleological approach. Works often begin by discussing the invention of packet switching, describe the design and development of the ARPANET, and then examine how this network evolved into the Internet. Although the ARPANET was a seminal computer network, these accounts usually only briefly consider the many other diverse networks that existed. In addition, apart from momentary asides to alternative internetworking solutions, such as the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) seven-layer reference model, this literature concentrates exclusively on the ARPANET, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. While focusing on these subjects is important and therefore justified, it can leave the reader with the impression that the world of networking started with the ARPANET and ended with the Internet. This thesis is an attempt to help correct this misconception. This thesis analyses the evolution of British computer networks and the Internet between the years 1970 and 1995. After an introduction in Chapter 1, the thesis analyses several networks. In Chapters 2 and 3, the focus is on academic networks, especially JANET and SuperJANET. Attention moves to videotex networks in Chapter 4, specifically Prestel, and in Chapter 5, the dissertation examines electronic mail networks such as Telecom Gold and Cable & Wireless Easylink. Chapter 6 considers online services, including CompuServe, American Online, and the Microsoft Network, and the thesis ends with a conclusion in Chapter 7. All of the networks discussed used protocols that were incompatible with each other which limited the utility of the networks for their users. Although it was possible that OSI or another solution could have solved this problem, the Internet's protocols achieved this objective. This thesis shows how the networks converged around TCP/IP

From diversity to convergence : British computer networks and the Internet, 1970-1995

The Internet's success in the 21st century has encouraged analysts to investigate the origin of this network. Much of this literature adopts a teleological approach. Works often begin by discussing the invention of packet switching, describe the design and development of the ARPANET, and then examine how this network evolved into the Internet. Although the ARPANET was a seminal computer network, these accounts usually only briefly consider the many other diverse networks that existed. In addition, apart from momentary asides to alternative internetworking solutions, such as the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) seven-layer reference model, this literature concentrates exclusively on the ARPANET, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. While focusing on these subjects is important and therefore justified, it can leave the reader with the impression that the world of networking started with the ARPANET and ended with the Internet. This thesis is an attempt to help correct this misconception. This thesis analyses the evolution of British computer networks and the Internet between the years 1970 and 1995. After an introduction in Chapter 1, the thesis analyses several networks. In Chapters 2 and 3, the focus is on academic networks, especially JANET and SuperJANET. Attention moves to videotex networks in Chapter 4, specifically Prestel, and in Chapter 5, the dissertation examines electronic mail networks such as Telecom Gold and Cable & Wireless Easylink. Chapter 6 considers online services, including CompuServe, American Online, and the Microsoft Network, and the thesis ends with a conclusion in Chapter 7. All of the networks discussed used protocols that were incompatible with each other which limited the utility of the networks for their users. Although it was possible that OSI or another solution could have solved this problem, the Internet's protocols achieved this objective. This thesis shows how the networks converged around TCP/IP.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

La teledocumentación y sus repercusiones en el desarrollo de la investigación científica

Tesis Univ. Complutense.Universidad Complutense de MadridTRUEProQuestpu

The U.S. newspaper industry’s relationship with online media 1980-2005

This thesis examines from a historical perspective the issues and forces that shaped the U.S. newspaper industry during the formative years of the online era, specifically 1980 through 2005. The thesis explains this period as one of extreme change and transition as it explores the years leading up to the mid-1990s when newspaper publishers first confronted the Internet and adopted it as an online distribution platform. The thesis also discusses the early 2000s as the time when an Internet based media economy emerged to the detriment of newspaper business models. The thesis relies on the tenets of media industries scholarship, and in doing so, provides a thorough examination into the business relationships that existed between newspaper companies and online media forms during this period. Using numerous examples, the thesis details how newspaper companies viewed online media forms, how they deployed them, and for what purpose. The analysis of this activity provides insight about how the decisions made during this period influenced the newspaper industry’s economic condition at the end of the decade.The thesis explains from the perspective of the newspaper industry that the Internet arrived as part of a progression of technologies that had influenced the media during this period. Beginning with videotext through to proprietary online systems, the thesis demonstrates that these earlier platforms had informed newspaper companies how online media operates as a communication platform. The thesis discusses the importance of interactivity as a practical attribute of online media, but recounts how cultural and organizational artefacts kept newspaper companies from embracing interactive functions as they developed online products. As interactivity increasingly led to user empowerment during the Internet era, the thesis reveals how the reluctance of newspaper companies to cede or share content control with their audience placed them at a competitive disadvantage and contributed to discrediting the newspaper industry’s overall business model

Sistemas de información de marketing en las entidades financieras

El estudio de la economía de empresa se fundamenta en un cuerpo doctrinal multidisciplinar cuyos elementos, y sus relaciones, no están exentos de ser tratados desde la óptica de la información. Los distintos niveles jerárquicos de la organización -estratégico, táctico y operativo- se encuentran unidos entre si mediante flujos de autoridad, de material de trabajo, de información y de procesos de decisión. El propósito de esta tesis, es encontrar el entronque entre estos dos últimos flujos de unión de la organización; demostrar como el uso de sistemas de información y de sistemas de apoyo a la decisión en el ámbito del marketing puede acrecentar el flujo de información con un fuerte valor añadido hacia los directivos y ejecutivos, y, en consecuencia, mejorar sus procesos de toma de decisiones. El campo de contrastación seleccionado ha sido la entidad financiera, dado que no hay institución mas genuina de una sociedad de la información que un banco

Computerising gentlemen: the automation of the London Stock Exchange, c. 1945-1995

This dissertation concerns the development of market information technologies in the London Stock Exchange, c. 1945-1992. Based on archival research in London, Cambridge and Edinburgh, and 20 semistructured interviews with former technologists, brokers, and marketmakers, my dissertation identifies the social, technological and institutional factors that allowed dealings in bonds and equities to move off the trading floor of the Stock Exchange and onto competing electronic platforms. My dissertation utilises the history of market information technologies as an occasion for producing a multi-layered analysis of the material, social, and regulatory transformations of finance in the City of London between c. 1945 and the mid 1990s. In particular, my dissertation deals with the rise of the so-called ‘information age’ in relation to British finance. The analysis is carried out in three parts, each tackling a specific ‘myth’ on the role of information and communication technologies in contemporary finance. The first part (chapters 3-4) deals with the dematerialisation of finance, demonstrating the often ignored character of technologies, materialities and their associated expertise in the constitution of the market. The second part (chapter 5) deconstructs the concept of disintermediation by analysing the social history of broking and jobbing in post-war City of London. Specifically, this part argues that changes in financial practices amongst the membership of the Stock Exchange were neither determined by the adoption of computers nor defined by a pre-existing culture of gentlemanly capitalism. Rather, they derived from the adaptation of market participants to a changing economic and social environment. The third part of this thesis (chapter 6) engages with deregulation. In particular, it provides an account of three broad patterns of financial regulation in Britain and the emergence of the current understanding of financial markets as manageable entities. The dissertation finalises by exploring the role of ‘informational metaphors’ in mediating the practices, materialities and regulations of the London Stock Exchange