Monkeys, typewriters and networks: the internet in the light of the theory of accidental excellence

Viewed in the light of the theory of accidental excellence, there is much to suggest that the success of the Internet and its various protocols derives from a communications technology accident, or better, a series of accidents. In the early 1990s, many experts still saw the Internet as an academic toy that would soon vanish into thin air again. The Internet probably gained its reputation as an academic toy largely because it violated the basic principles of traditional communications networks. The quarrel about paradigms that erupted in the 1970s between the telephony world and the newly emerging Internet community was not, however, only about transmission technology doctrines. It was also about the question – still unresolved today – as to who actually governs the flow of information: the operators or the users of the network? The paper first describes various network architectures in relation to the communication cultures expressed in their make-up. It then examines the creative environment found at the nodes of the network, whose coincidental importance for the Internet boom must not be forgotten. Finally, the example of Usenet is taken to look at the kind of regulatory practices that have emerged in the communications services provided within the framework of a decentralised network architecture. --

Monkeys, typewriters and networks: the internet in the light of the theory of accidental excellence

"Viewed in the light of the theory of accidental excellence, there is much to suggest that the success of the Internet and its various protocols derives from a communications technology accident, or better, a series of accidents. In the early 1990s, many experts still saw the Internet as an academic toy that would soon vanish into thin air again. The Internet probably gained its reputation as an academic toy largely because it violated the basic principles of traditional communications networks. The quarrel about paradigms that erupted in the 1970s between the telephony world and the newly emerging Internet community was not, however, only about transmission technology doctrines. It was also about the question - still unresolved today - as to who actually governs the flow of information: the operators or the users of the network? The paper first describes various network architectures in relation to the communication cultures expressed in their make-up. It then examines the creative environment found at the nodes of the network, whose coincidental importance for the Internet boom must not be forgotten. Finally, the example of Usenet is taken to look at the kind of regulatory practices that have emerged in the communications services provided within the framework of a decentralised network architecture." (author's abstract)"Aus der Perspektive der Theorie von der zufälligen Entstehung herausragender Leistungen spricht vieles dafür, daß sich der Erfolg des Internet und der ihm zugrundeliegenden technischen Standards einer Reihe von kommunikationstechnischen Zufällen verdankt. Noch in den frühen 1990er Jahren galt das Internet in den Augen vieler Experten als akademisches Spielzeug ohne große Zukunft, denn es widersprach allen Konstruktionslehren herkömmlicher Telekommunikationsnetze. Der Paradigmenstreit, der in den 1970er Jahren zwischen der Telefonwelt und der sich herausbildenden Internetgemeinde ausbrach, drehte sich nicht nur um die 'rechte' Art von Übertragungstechnik. Es ging dabei auch um die - bis heute unentschiedene - Frage, wer über den Kommunikationsfluß herrscht: die Betreiber oder die Nutzer des Netzes? Der Aufsatz beschreibt zunächst unterschiedliche Netzarchitekturen und setzt diese in Beziehung zu den jeweiligen Kommunikationskulturen, die sich in ihre Gestalt eingeschrieben haben. Anschließend wird die an den Netzknoten beheimatete, kreative Umgebung dargestellt, deren Bedeutung für die rasche Ausbreitung des Internet nicht unterschätzt werden sollte. Am Beispiel des Usenet wird schließlich auf die regulativen Praktiken eingegangen, die sich im Rahmen der dezentralen Internetarchitektur bei den Kommunikationsdiensten gebildet haben." (Autorenreferat

WTprocess : uma ferramenta para ensino de microfabricação

Orientador : Jacobus Willibrordus SwartDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de ComputaçãoMestrad

A midsummer night's dream, by William Shakespeare, directed by Phillip David Robb

Thesis (M.F.A.)--Boston Universit

Moral values in the internet architecture design

Filozofsko određenje interneta polazi od izbora pravog nivoa tehnološke apstrakcije na kome se može govoriti o njemu kao promenljivom tehnološkom sistemu, a isto tako i od izbora arhitekture kao objekta analize dizajna interneta. Arhitektura je sinonim za tumačenje interneta od strane inžinjera tj. mrežnih dizajnera, tokom koga su se oni upustili u kreiranje šireg viđenja o tome kako vide ili žele da vide, izgrade ili regulišu taj sistem. U originalnu arhitekturu interneta založene su vrednosti libertarijanske kulture i principi koji vode računa pre svega o što široj interkonekciji putem jedinstvenog seta protokola. Vremenom je internet zajednica morala da odustane od arhitekture mreže u korist postavljanja u centar pažnje velikog broja aplikacija. U toj post-arhitekturalnoj fazi, do filozofskog određenja interneta se dolazi kroz razmatranje pitanja vezanih za upravljanje internetom, njegovu materijalno-prostornu realizaciju i njegovu interakciju sa komercijalnom sferom. Upravljanje internetom, ma kako funkcionalno, nije sprečilo da se pojavi neupravljani internet tzv. tamni internet iliti mračna strana javnog interneta. Tamni internet je moguć zahvaljujući kriptografiji, i inherentna mu je subverzivnost. Iz tamnog interneta stiže ne samo ozloglašeni sajber kriminal, već i prodor istine zarad opšteg dobra tj. raskrinkavanje nadzora nad javnim internetom. Mapiranje interneta na planeti ukazuje da jedan mali broj lokacija prima, razmenjuje i transmituje veliki deo internet saobraćaja i komunikacija na planet

12.2 Traditions & Innovations

Christian Burgaud, Alistair MacLeod/Shelagh Rogers, Sophie Grenier, Robert Lepage/Pia Kleber, Claudel Huot, Carla Bertola, Frank Davey, Steve McCaffery, Karen MacCormack, Irene Guilford, Antanas Sileika, Jean-Claude Gagnon, André Marceau, Richard Martel, Monty Cantsin, Loss Pequeño Glazier, Helen Lovekin, Opal L. Nations, Eveyln Lau, bill bissett. Paul Dutton, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Gary Barwin, Steven Ross Smith, Louise Bak, Rob McLennan, Spencer Selby, Stan Rogal, John Swan, Mark Dunn, Jim Francis, Joseph Revells, Geeta Kothari, W.M. Sutherland. Cover Art: Steve Venright

Research and technology, 1992

Selected research and technology activities at Ames Research Center, including the Moffett Field site and the Dryden Flight Research Facility, are summarized. These activities exemplify the Center's varied and productive research efforts for 1992