Christ Church -- FAQ: How did the Internet Start?

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
with answers

How did the Internet start?

"The Internet has had a relatively brief, but explosive history so far. It grew out of an experiment begun in the 1960's by the U.S. Department of Defense. The DoD wanted to create a computer network that would continue to function in the event of a disaster, such as a nuclear war. If part of the network were damaged or destroyed, the rest of the system still had to work. That network was ARPANET, which linked U.S. scientific and academic researchers. It was the forerunner of today's Internet." (5)

After the Internet was started by the Defense Department, one of its first uses was as a means of communication and collaboration amongst researchers, many of whom were at colleges and universities. As the need (or desire) for different forms of communication arose, different protocols were developed. For example, SMTP (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) was developed for e-mail. This facilitated person to person communication. NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol) was created for Usenet newsgroups. These are (supposed to be) topical discussion forums where messages are available for anyone to read and respond to, as opposed to e-mail which is targeted to specific people. And there is GOPHER (which functions similarly to websites), FTP (File Transfer Protocol), WAIS (Wide-Area Information Service), and many more.

Historically these protocols have been open, meaning anyone can get the technical specifications and develop tools (software) to use them. This open "culture" stimulated innovation at a break-neck pace, yet many of the protocols and software developed during the early years of the Internet are still in use today. (Indeed, much of the Internet runs on software developed under this same open model.) This culture is typified by the freedom to innovate, probably a result of the close ties to the research and university communities. While it may sometimes resemble a scene from the Wild West, technologies which are revolutionizing communications in our world continue to emerge from this seeming chaos.

Other Resources:

FYI on "What is the Internet?"
Hobbes' Internet Timeline
A History of the Internet