Enmeshed: A Brief History of the Internet and the World Wide Web

Last month, nearly every media outlet was abuzz with the acknowledgement of the World Wide Web's 30th birthday. But this anniversary should not be confused with the inception of the internet itself. The former is a feature of the latter. Although the internet is largely how we navigate the networks of networks colloquially referred to as the "web" today, the internet, in its roughest form, predates the web by some 20 years, turning 50 this October.

Why then, you might ask, are we turning our attention therein so prematurely? Well, dear reader, because for all intents and purposes, the internet and web are two sides of the same coin. But also, to better arrive at this point: original means do not determine or define future uses, nor set their parameters. Bear with me.

Birth of the Internet

Tracing the origins of the internet is no small feat. One could get lost in an infinite regress, reaching for the communications technologies which preceded and grew alongside it (e.g. the telephone, telegraph, steam engine, printing press, and writing itself) or the numerous allusions found most prominently in the science fiction genre.

For instance, in an 1898 Mark Twain short story entitled, From The 'London Times' of 1904, Twain writes:

As soon as the Paris contract released the telectroscope, it was delivered to public use, and was soon connected with the telephonic systems of the whole world [making it so that] the daily doings of the globe [were now] made visible to everybody, and audibly discussable too, by witnesses separated by any number of leagues.

Sounds a lot like early dial-up, no?

Therefore, to get our ball rolling, we'll begin our story in media res, where most technological advancements find their inception: in a time of war. In this case, the Cold War, with the Soviet Union launching Sputnik in 1957 and the United States' subsequently creating the Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA, now DARPA), in response, under President Eisenhower on February 7, 1958.

Under the financial support of another new appointment within ARPA, the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO), a program was implemented aimed at increasing research related to military command-and-control systems, and to link pivotal Department of Defense sites. Funds were doled out to a mixture of public and private entities, and nonprofits, such as the RAND Corporation, MIT, UCLA, and Stanford. Breakthroughs piled up as researchers built on one another's discoveries.

After a million-dollar grant from then-ARPA head, Charlie Hertzfeld, was issued to the IPTO, the various threads from research began to further converge, and were ultimately woven into the framework of what would become the ARPANET—the precursor to the internet as we know it.

Lo and Behold, Message Received

It was 1969, one of America's most notably historic years. Gay rights activists clashed with police at Stonewall Inn, Apollo 11 put the first humans on the moon, half a million counter-culturists gathered at Woodstock, and Charles Manson's vision of helter-skelter led to the Tate and LaBianca murders… but unbeknownst to most of the world, another landmark event would  soon unfurl: the first internet message:

 "[On our end at UCLA] we typed the 'L'," then-UCLA professor, Leonard Kleinrock, said in a 2008 interview with National Geographic.
"And we asked [the team at Stanford] on the phone, 'Do you see the L?'"

 

"'Yes, we see the L,' came the response."

 

"We typed the O, and we asked, 'Do you see the O?'"

 

'Yes, we see the O.'

 

"Then we typed the G and the system crashed… [but]… a revolution had begun… [and] the first message ever… was 'LO,' [I'd like to think,] as in Lo & Behold."

 

Lo and behold many people would. But not until almost 20 years later, spurred on by the advent of the WWW, HTTP, and HTML, at which point much of the optimism that began to form in peoples' minds became misplaced.
 

Equal Access to Information in the 1990s and Beyond

In the late 1990s, many pointed to the culmination of these developments as spurring a nascent "knowledge society." To some, utopia was thought to be around the bend; just as the printing press revolutionized the world by unhinging literacy from the aristocracy, so too would the widespread use of information and communication technologies, but exponentially. However, as with the original root of the word "utopia," these speculations were nowhere to be found.

By some estimates, inequality is now at an all-time high and, while we are living in what's referred to as the "Age of Information," we have since learned that a proliferation of information, or even access, is not always synonymous with literacy, competency, or knowledge. "Fake news" and "confirmation bias" has entered the public vernacular, and fears of private, public, and foreign surveillance reigns in the headlines and on our lips.

Thirty years into the advent of the World Wide Web, and on the cusp of the internet's half-century anniversary, where does this leave us, and what role can (and do) libraries play in this discussion? Since the Clinton administration, public libraries have been heralded as potential hubs for bridging the then-foreseeable digital divide that has since risen to a crescendo.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) released their first report in 1995 (with succeeding ones until 2000), highlighting public libraries' unique position in providing equal access to the disenfranchised "information have-nots." However, since the release of these reports, we have learned the problem is far more nuanced than thought—and there are still sweeping social inequities related to information and internet access that libraries cannot address alone, but only with further support and alliances alongside, and with, the private and public sectors.

The New York Public Library is actually a quasi-public entity built on, and supported by, a network of private donors and trustees, as well as city funding. Many have suggested the internet and World Wide Web of tomorrow need to be built similarly, through public-private partnerships.

The "father" of the web, Tim Berners-Lee, agrees. Last November, he unveiled a new initiative aimed at not only filling the digital divide and standing on the side of net neutrality, but also outlining for the world an international declaration of sorts, what he calls a "Contract for the Web." At base, this living document recognizes computers, the internet and the web not as they were born—as military and scholastic tools—but rather  as "a public good and basic right for everyone."

While the internet might hold a place amid the menagerie of other technological advancements originally birthed in times of war and/or necessity—from ambulances to duct tape—as Jeff Bezos wrote in a letter to his stakeholders, "yesterday's 'wow' quickly becomes tomorrow's 'ordinary.'" And as I noted earlier: original purposes need not, and should not, define future uses or policy surrounding use.

No matter what camp you're in with respect to issues of net neutrality and privacy, there's no denying the reality of the situation: we have long begun the process of structuring our society around the internet and its corollaries. Seeing as we are now tenon'd and mortise'd to this track, it pays to explore all possible avenues as to how we might serve those currently missing the train or experiencing delays.

One avenue is, and has been, supporting and utilizing the services which make up the NYPL and other public libraries' missions. But it may also pay to take a cue from the NYPL inception, Berners-Lee's new initiative, and the creation of the internet itself: succeed through open dialogue, collaboration, and public-private partnerships.

You can find information on the history of computing, the internet and the World Wide Web by checking out these recommended materials available in our catalog:

A People's History of Computing in the United States by Joy Lisi Rankin

 

How the Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone by Brian McCullough 

 

Inventing the Internet by Janet Abbate

 

Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, written and directed by Werner Herzog

 

Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet by Yasha Levine.

 

Weaving the Web by Tim Berners-Lee

 

Where Wizards Stay up Late by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon

 

To learn more about, and support, Tim Berners-Lee's "Contract for the Web," see details here.  And find technology classes near you that help bridge the digital divide by exploring our TechConnect page.