CHAPTER 3

THE INTERNET AND THE WORD WIDE WEB

Topic 1: Origin of the Internet and Evolution

The precursor to the Internet was jumpstarted in the early days of
computing history, in 1969 with the U.S. Defense Department's Advanced
Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET). ARPA-funded researchers
developed many of the protocols used for Internet communication today.
This timeline offers a brief history of the Internet’s evolution:
1965: Two computers at MIT Lincoln Lab communicate with one another using
packet-switching technology.
1968: Beranek and Newman, Inc. (BBN) unveils the final version of the Interface
Message Processor (IMP) specifications. BBN wins ARPANET contract.
1969: On Oct. 29, UCLA’s Network Measurement Center, Stanford Research
Institute (SRI), University of California-Santa Barbara and University of Utah
install nodes. The first message is "LO," which was an attempt by student
Charles Kline to "LOGIN" to the SRI computer from the university. However, the
message was unable to be completed because the SRI system crashed.
1972: BBN’s Ray Tomlinson introduces network email. The Internetworking
Working Group (INWG) forms to address need for establishing standard
protocols.
1973: Global networking becomes a reality as the University College of London
(England) and Royal Radar Establishment (Norway) connect to ARPANET. The
term Internet is born.
1974: The first Internet Service Provider (ISP) is born with the introduction of a
commercial version of ARPANET, known as Telenet.
1974: Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn (the duo said by many to be the Fathers of the
Internet) publish "A Protocol for Packet Network Interconnection," which details
the design of TCP.
1976: Queen Elizabeth II hits the “send button” on her first email.
1979: USENET forms to host news and discussion groups.
1982: Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), as the
protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, emerge as the protocol for
ARPANET. This results in the fledgling definition of the Internet as connected
TCP/IP internets. TCP/IP remains the standard protocol for the Internet.
1983: The Domain Name System (DNS) establishes the familiar .edu, .gov, .com,
.mil, .org, .net, and .int system for naming websites. This is easier to remember
than the previous designation for websites, such as 123.456.789.10.
1984: William Gibson, author of "Neuromancer," is the first to use the term
"cyberspace."
1985: Symbolics.com, the website for Symbolics Computer Corp. in
Massachusetts, becomes the first registered domain.
1987: The number of hosts on the Internet exceeds 20,000. Cisco ships its first
router.
1989: World.std.com becomes the first commercial provider of dial-up access to
the Internet.
1990: Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at CERN, the European Organization for
Nuclear Research, develops HyperText Markup Language (HTML). This
technology continues to have a large impact on how we navigate and view the
Internet today.
1991: CERN introduces the World Wide Web to the public.
1992: The first audio and video are distributed over the Internet. The phrase
"surfing the Internet" is popularized.
1993: The number of websites reaches 600 and the White House and United
Nations go online. Marc Andreesen develops the Mosaic Web browser at the
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. The number of computers connected to
NSFNET grows from 2,000 in 1985 to more than 2 million in 1993.
1994: Netscape Communications is born. Microsoft creates a Web browser for
Windows 95.
1994: Yahoo! is created by Jerry Yang and David Filo, two electrical engineering
graduate students at Stanford University. The site was originally called "Jerry and
David's Guide to the World Wide Web." The company was later incorporated in
March 1995.
1995: Compuserve, America Online and Prodigy begin to provide Internet
access. Amazon.com, Craigslist and eBay go live. The original NSFNET
backbone is decommissioned as the Internet’s transformation to a commercial
enterprise is largely completed.
1995: The first online dating site, Match.com, launches.
1996: The browser war, primarily between the two major players Microsoft and
Netscape, heats up.
1996: A 3D animation dubbed "The Dancing Baby" becomes one of the first viral
videos.
1997: Netflix is founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph as a company
that sends users DVDs by mail.
1997: PC makers can remove or hide Microsoft’s Internet software on new
versions of Windows 95, thanks to a settlement with the Justice Department.
Netscape announces that its browser will be free.
1998: The Google search engine is born, changing the way users engage with
the Internet.
1998: The Internet Protocol version 6 introduced, to allow for future growth of
Internet Addresses. The current most widely used protocol is version 4. IPv4
uses 32-bit addresses allowing for 4.3 billion unique addresses; IPv6, with 128-
bit addresses, will allow 3.4 x 1038 unique addresses, or 340 trillion trillion trillion.
1999: AOL buys Netscape. Peer-to-peer file sharing becomes a reality as
Napster arrives on the Internet, much to the displeasure of the music industry.
2000: The dot-com bubble bursts.
2001: A federal judge shuts down Napster, ruling that it must find a way to stop
users from sharing copyrighted material before it can go back online.
2003: Myspace, Skype and the Safari Web browser debut.
2003: The blog publishing platform WordPress is launched.
2004: Facebook goes online and the era of social networking begins. Mozilla
unveils the Mozilla Firefox browser.
2005: YouTube.com launches. The social news site Reddit is also founded.
2006: Twitter launches. The company's founder, Jack Dorsey, sends out the very
first tweet: "just setting up my twttr."
2009: The Internet marks its 40th anniversary.
2010: Facebook reaches 400 million active users.
2010: The social media sites Pinterest and Instagram are launched.
2011: Twitter and Facebook play a large role in the Middle East revolts.
2015: Instagram, the photo-sharing site, reaches 400 million users, outpacing
Twitter, which would go on to reach 316 million users by the middle of the same
year.
2016: Google unveils Google Assistant, a voice-activated personal assistant
program, marking the entry of the Internet giant into the "smart" computerized
assistant marketplace. Google joins Amazon's Alexa, Siri from Apple, and
Cortana from Microsoft.
TOPIC 2: ONLINE CULTURE
*Here is a published news article of The Philippine Star on January 31,
2019.
Filipinos are world’s heaviest internet users in 2018, report says
Rosette Adel (Philstar.com) - January 31, 2019 - 6:44pm
MANILA, Philippines — The Digital 2019 report of a social media platform
management application and social media marketing agency revealed that
Filipinos are the world’s heaviest internet users.

Social media firms Hootsuite and We Are Social on Thursday released

their latest 200-page Digital 2019 report showing that internet users in the
Philippines dethroned Thailand as the country that spends the most time online.
The study conducted in 2018 showed that internet users in the country
increased their average time online to 10 hours and two minutes from its
previous record of nine hours and 29 minutes last year.
Philippine users also maintained their global lead in time spent on social
media.
According to the report, Filipino users spend an average of four hours and
12 minutes on social media platforms. This record is a huge leap from the global
average of two hours and 16 minutes.
Mobile internet emerged as the most used method of Filipino users to
access the world wide web. They are using mobile internet for four hours and 58
minutes on average.
The record of mobile internet usage made the Philippines second highest
globally behind Thailand.
The study added that 70 percent of internet users in the country spend
money on eCommerce platforms.
On the other hand, 57 and 54 percent of Filipino internet users spend
their usage on mobile commerce platforms and mobile banking, respectively. The
percentage is higher than the global averages of 55 and 41 percent, respectively.

Asia Pacific online users grew in 2018

Meanwhile, the Digital 2019 report highlighting the key stats and trends
on the internet and social media, also revealed that the Asia Pacific has some of
the highest growth in social media users worldwide with 218 million users
recorded last year.
“Asia is one of the world’s fastest-growing regions for Internet and mobile
usage, and with that comes a huge appetite for technological adoption, foreign
investment and digital innovation. Brands and companies are recognising this
opportunity and demonstrating a strong sense of urgency to integrate digital and
social media into their business,” Roger Graham, Asia head of Hootsuite, said in
a release.
The report said that the social media use increased by nearly nine
percent annually with 3.5 billion now active on social media and a million new
people go online every day despite growing concerns on fake news, fake
followers and data privacy in 2018.
“Although social media came under increased scrutiny and saw
diminished trust among users in 2018, people around the world are spending
more time on social—the global daily average is now 2 hours and 16 minutes, or
one seventh of their waking lives,” Penny Wilson, chief marketing officer of
Hootsuite said in a release.

Facebook is still top used social media network

Aside from this, Facebook still maintained its spot as the most popular
social media network used worldwide. Its monthly active users jumped by 1.7
percent or 37 million.
On the other hand, Instagram only has around 1 billion active users in
total while Twitter and Snapchat declined its audience by 2.7 percent and 12
percent, respectively.
“Despite controversy around privacy, hacking, fake news and all the other
negative aspects of online life, the world continues to embrace the internet and
social media.” co-founder and group CEO of We Are Social Nathan McDonald
said in a release.
Meanwhile, Facebook’s Whatsapp and Messenger are the top messaging
apps among online users. Whatsapp is a global favorite in 133 countries while
Facebook Messenger is the top favorite in 75 countries.
WeChat retains its place as the top messaging app in China.
The Digital 2019 report was conducted in 2018 and surveyed over 230
countries.

TOPIC 3: POST TRUTH ERA

What is fake news?

Lots of things you read online especially in your social media feeds may
appear to be true, often is not. Fake news is news, stories or hoaxes created
to deliberately misinform or deceive readers. Usually, these stories are
created to either influence people’s views, push a political agenda or cause
confusion and can often be a profitable business for online publishers. Fake
news stories can deceive people by looking like trusted websites or using similar
names and web addresses to reputable news organizations.

False Information v Fake News

Experts now recommend avoiding the term ‘fake news’, or at least limit its use,
as the term ‘fake news’ is closely associated with politics, and this association can
unhelpfully narrow the focus of the issue. The term ‘false information’ is preferable as it
can refer to a diverse range of disinformation covering topics such as health,
environmental and economics across all platforms and genres, while ‘fake news’ is more
narrowly understood as political news stories.

What is False Information?

Lots of things you read online especially in your social media feeds may appear
to be true, often is not. False information is news, stories or hoaxes created to
deliberately misinform or deceive readers. Usually, these stories are created to either
influence people’s views, push a political agenda or cause confusion and can often be a
profitable business for online publishers. False information can deceive people by
looking like trusted websites or using similar names and web addresses to reputable
news organisations.

According to Martina Chapman (Media Literacy Expert), there are three elements to
fake news; ‘Mistrust, misinformation and manipulation’.

The Rise of False Information

False information is not new, however it has become a hot topic since 2017.
Traditionally we got our news from trusted sources, journalists and media outlets that
are required to follow strict codes of practice. However, the internet has enabled a
whole new way to publish, share and consume information and news with very little
regulation or editorial standards.

Many people now get news from social media sites and networks and often it
can be difficult to tell whether stories are credible or not. Information overload and a
general lack of understanding about how the internet works by people has also
contributed to an increase in fake news or hoax stories. Social media sites can play a big
part in increasing the reach of these type of stories.

The economics of social media favor gossip, novelty, speed and “shareability”’ Simeon
Yates

Types of Fake News

There are differing opinions when it comes to identifying types of fake
news. However, when it comes to evaluating content online there are various
types of fake or misleading news we need to be aware of. These include:
1. Clickbait
 These are stories that are
deliberately fabricated to gain
more website visitors and
increase advertising revenue for
websites. Clickbait stories use
sensationalist headlines to grab
attention and drive click-
throughs to the publisher
website, normally at the
expense of truth or accuracy.

2. Propaganda
Stories that are created to deliberately
mislead audiences, promote a biased
point of view or particular political cause
or agenda.

3. Satire/Parody
Lots of websites and social media accounts
publish fake news stories for entertainment
and parody. For example; The Onion,
Waterford Whispers, The Daily Mash, etc.

4. Sloppy Journalism
Sometimes reporters or journalists may
publish a story with unreliable
information or without checking all of
the facts which can mislead audiences.
For example, during the U.S. elections,
fashion retailer Urban Outfitters
published an Election Day Guide, the
guide contained incorrect information
telling voters that they needed a ‘voter registration card’. This is not required by
any state in the U.S. for voting.

5. Misleading Headings
Stories that are not completely false can
be distorted using misleading or
sensationalist headlines. These types of
news can spread quickly on social media
sites where only headlines and small
snippets of the full article are displayed
on audience newsfeeds.

6. Biased/Slanted News
Many people are drawn to news or stories
that confirm their own beliefs or biases
and fake news can prey on these biases.
Social media news feeds tend to display
news and articles that they think we will
like based on our personalized searches.

TOPIC 4: Effective use of the Internet

The internet and social media have made it very easy for anyone to
publish content on a website, blog or social media profile and potentially reach
large audiences. With so many people now getting news from social media sites,
many content creators/publishers have used this to their advantage.
Fake news can be a profitable business, generating large sums of
advertising revenue for publishers who create and publish stories that go viral.
The more clicks a story gets, the more money online publishers make through
advertising revenue and for many publishers social media is an ideal platform to
share content and drive web traffic.
Fake News, Social Media, and the Filter Bubble
In a recent article on media literacy, Hugh Linehan noted; “Media is no
longer passively consumed – it’s created, shared, liked, commented on, attacked
and defended in all sorts of different ways by hundreds of millions of people. And
the algorithms used by the most powerful tech companies
– Google and Facebook in particular – are brilliantly designed to personalize and
tailor these services to each user’s profile.”
When we go online or login to a social network we are generally
presented with news, articles and content based on our own searches
online. This type of content tends to reflect our own likes, views and beliefs and
therefore isolating us from differing views and opinions. This is often referred to
as a filter bubble.
What can we do about fake news?
Google and Facebook have announced new measures to tackle fake
news with the introduction of reporting and flagging tools. Media organizations
like the BBC and Channel 4 have also established fact checking sites While
these are welcome developments, digital media literacy and developing skills to
critically evaluate information are essential skills for anyone navigating the
internet and especially for young people.
The vast amount of information available online and rise in fake news
highlights the need for critical thinking. Children need to develop critical thinking
from an early age. This is a key skill for young people to develop as they enter
third level education and prepare themselves for the workplace.
How to spot fake news?
There are a number of things to watch out for when evaluating content online.

 Take a closer look

Check the source of the story, do you recognize the website? Is it a
credible/reliable source? If you are unfamiliar with the site, look in the
about section or find out more information about the author.
 Look beyond the headline
Check the entire article, many fake news stories use sensationalist or
shocking headlines to grab attention. Often the headlines of fake new
stories are in all caps and use exclamation points.
 Check other sources
Are other reputable news/media outlets reporting on the story? Are
there any sources in the story? If so, check they are reliable or if they
even exist!
 Check the facts
Fake news stories often contain incorrect dates or altered timelines. It is
also a good idea to check when the article was published, is it current or
an old news story?
 Check your biases
Are your own views or beliefs affecting your judgement of a news
feature or report?
 Is it a joke?
Satirical sites are popular online and sometimes it is not always clear
whether a story is just a joke or parody… Check the website, is it known
for satire or creating funny stories?

REFERENCES
 Botedazu, T.(2018, January 30).New Media Timeline.”M”.Retrieved
from https://medium.com/@botezatuteodora/new-media-
8cd989cb45fc
 Adel, R.(2019, January 31). Filipinos are world’s heaviest internet
users in 2018, report says.The Philippine Star. Retrieved from
https://www.philstar.com/business/technology/2019/01/31/1889736/fili
pinos-are-worlds-heaviest-internet-users-2018-report-says
 Explained: What is False Information (Fake News)?.
(n.d).Webwise.Retrieved 2020, July 28 from
https://www.webwise.ie/teachers/what-is-fake-news/