A History of the Internet and the Digital Future

by Johnny Ryan

A great adjustment in human affairs is underway. Political, commercial and cultural life is changing from the centralized, hierarchical and standardized structures of the industrial age to something radically different: the economy of the emerging digital era. A History of the Internet and the Digital Future tells the story of the development of the Internet from the 1950s to the present, and examines how the balance of power has shifted between the individual and the state in the areas of censorship, copyright infringement, intellectual freedom and terrorism and warfare. Johnny Ryan explains how the Internet has revolutionized political campaigns; how the development of the World Wide Web enfranchised a new online population of assertive, niche consumers; and how the dot-com bust taught smarter firms to capitalize on the power of digital artisans. In the coming years platforms such as the iPhone and Android rise or fall depending on their treading the line between proprietary control and open innovation. The trends of the past may hold out hope for the record and newspaper industry. From the government-controlled systems of the Cold War to today's move towards cloud computing, user-driven content and the new global commons, this book reveals the trends that are shaping the businesses, politics and media of the digital future.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Internet, Technology, Science

260 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2010

Reviews

[Sabrina DeVito · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Internet is something that almost everyone utilizes, but probably has no idea as to how it was created. Due to this, understanding the history of the Internet is important because it helps us recognize how it gained momentum and became an integral part of society in recent years. Johnny Ryan, a researcher at the Institute of International and European Affairs, located in Dublin wrote A History of the Internet and the Digital Future that traces the development of the Internet from the Cold War Era, to one of the most utilized devices in modern society. Ryan develops this idea by categorizing his book into three specific subsections: the first section, entitled “Distributed Network, Centrifugal Ideas,” identifies the history of the internet and its emergence from the Cold War Era; the second phase, entitled “Expansion,” primarily discusses how the internet expanded to incorporate search engines, websites, and increased availability to the public; the last phase to which Ryan refers to as, “The Emerging Environment,” highlights modern uses of the internet and the direction in which he thinks the web is going. After carefully evaluating Ryan’s book, it appears as though he successfully manages to create a vivid understanding of how the Internet was not only created, but also how it evolved into what it is today and the direction to which he thinks technology like this is heading.
Within the first phase, Ryan’s sole purpose is to reiterate to the reader how the Internet that we know today emerged out of the experiments and research developments that were conducted during the Cold War Era. Ryan successfully develops this argument by providing the reader with several examples from the past and effectively connecting them to the development of the Internet. For example, Ryan provides an in depth description of the creation of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and not only how they created the first functioning networks including, Arpnet, Prnet, and Satnet, but how they essentially gave way to the overall “essence of the internet (p. 39).” Thus, by providing the reader with significant background information and proof such as this, it not only contributes to the validity of his argument, but also proves that his book is an excellent read for individuals not just within academia, but outside it as well. Ryan thoroughly provides the reader with constant knowledge of key figures like President Roosevelt who supported advancements in technology well before the development of the Web, and inviduals who actually contributed to the creation of the global Internet like J.C.R Licklider well in advance that the reader already has a thorough understanding(p. 25).
Secondly, one of the most engaging aspects of Ryan’s book is how he utilizes factual information. By incorporating specific information like the creation of the first computer game called “Spacewar!” in 1962, it continues to spark interest in reading his book, especially for people like myself, who had no formal ideas or even thought about the first interactive games that were made for the computer (p. 52). Not only, does he provide opportunities for readers to learn new things, but they essentially help prove his point as well. Something as simple as mentioning when the first game was created for the computer or when programs like “Sketchpad” were created and by whom, it showcases how the technology was continuously evolving and it helps explain why the digital age has become so sophisticated in present society (p. 53). In this case, by showcasing how computers were becoming more user- friendly and sophisticated it is of no surprise that a dramatic shift toward purchasing computers was becoming a norm for people across the globe. Interestingly enough, whilst Ryan points to advancements to the internet, he also points to the pitfalls particularly, with the dot-com, by elaborating on the limitations the way he does and how at first even though people were able to use the internet for business orientated purposes, they initially did not succeed because as Ryan specifically points out, “the internet only made an impact on digital communication, not physical delivery (p. 127).” Thus, Ryan’s incorporation of the limitation of the internet provides an interesting spin on the world of technology and how, even in the digital world there is always room for improvement, hence why the digital future will never end, but rather continue to expand; a common philosophy that continues to remain relevant and true to today’s society.
Lastly, Ryan’s decision to incorporate the modern uses of the Internet allows him to unlock the potential of the computer and the future of the web. For example, by taking up how the Internet is being used to download music, videos, movies, images and so on whether it is done illegally or legally, or simply, how popular social media has become based off initial innovations like “sixdegrees.com”, Ryan allows the reader to come to the conclusion of how far the internet has come since its onset (p.149). However, one of the most captivating moments in the last phase comes in the form of a statement, “humanity faces the risk of ruining the Internet even before it becomes a mature technology.” With this concluding remark, it appears as though Ryan suggests to the audience that the Internet still has room for development, whether it will be negative or positive is left up to the reader to decide. Personally, it seems as though Ryan is a skeptic of humanity, perhaps Ryan is suggesting that the internet will collapse if taken advantage or will develop into something even more sophisticated that is still beyond our time, regardless, his concluding statements put a great finish to a great book!
Even though, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future was originally published in 2010, it is an effective piece of literature for any individual who is interested in the historiography of the Web. Not only does Ryan manage to maintain the reader’s attention, but separating his book into three specific phases helps develop his arguments in a clear and informative manner making it easier for any individual to understand and by doing so, he successfully writes an effective history of the infamous web’s development from the past, present, to future. Not only has the Internet become integrated as part of everyday life for most people, but it has also enabled individuals to receive infinite amounts of information and connect with individuals across the globe with a click of a button, and Ryan’s book essentially enables us to understand how this was all made possible in the first place.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

A History is essentially what it says in the title: a history of the Internet, and a few notes on how it has and will continue to alter the way we do business, carry out politics and interact with other people. The book is segmented into three ‘phases’, each spanning four or five chapters. Ryan begins by looking at fundamental changes in thinking about networks happening during and after the Cold War – such as the idea of a network distributed across many points of weakness – which eventually led to the creation of the Internet’s precursors. Phase Two, aptly titled ‘Expansion’, traces the evolution of these early networks into the Internet that we know and love today. Finally, Ryan concludes with the state of the Internet today (2009/2010) and some predictions about how it will shape the future.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, finishing it in one 90-minute sitting, but that is probably because I am an avid technology enthusiast. While it may get a little dry or too full of technical acronyms at points, most of the key technologies are well-explained by the author and simple enough for the lay reader to understand without backtracking. Interesting anecdotes about the invention of technologies – such as how webcams were created out of researchers’ laziness (researchers at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory connected a camera to the network to monitor the building’s communal coffee pot, to avoid having to make the trip to get coffee until it had been refilled) – and an easy-to-read style meant that I never got bogged down in the technicalities. I found myself sharing in the excitement and dismay of early web entrepreneurs as the dot-com bubble rose and burst.
Through the use of many anecdotes and vivid descriptions of Internet culture, the book manages to dispel the commonly-held belief that the Internet is something very technical and machine-oriented. Ryan’s history of the Internet revolves not around TCP/IP, URIs, GPL and other indecipherable acronyms, but around the people who created it and their trials and tribulations. As Internet founding father David Clark is quoted as saying in the book: ‘[the Internet’s] best success was not computing, but hooking people together’. Ryan’s people-centric approach makes this book – which could easily have turned into a compendium of code – a fascinating read for anyone who wishes to learn more about this powerful technology that pervades our lives today.

As with all histories, this book gave me a deeper insight into the origins and development of the Internet. I bookmarked many interesting points as I read, but will present just a few here.
An American think-tank researcher, Paul Baran, was one of the inventors of the ‘centrifugal’ approach to networking, the backbone of the Internet today. Centrifugal, or ‘distributed’ networking, would be both cheaper and more reliable than the analogue communications systems of the day. Unfortunately, communications powerhouse AT&T simply could not accept this paradigm shift in networking and rejected developing his idea not once, but twice. In its account of the birth and development of the Internet such stories of large corporations being afraid of innovation are repeated many times. It was almost funny to see how companies repeatedly failed to see the potential that lay in small start-up ideas despite historical precedents. Thankfully the same mistake is less often made today, with the angel investors of Silicon Valley eager to throw money at start-ups they think will be the ‘next big thing’.
For anyone who has ever marveled at the unique, somewhat subversive culture that exists at the heart of the Internet, the book offers an excellent way to understand how it came to be through a detailed journey through the development of the Internet. The culture of the Internet today has very much been defined by then-graduate student Steve Crocker’s ‘Request for Comments’, an informal proposal for network protocols typed in a bathroom, which adopted a humble and inclusive stance due in part to the fear of disapproving professors. Ryan then brings us across America and the UK into universities, research institutions and hobbyist clubs, showing us how a culture of continual improvement, openness and friendly one-upmanship built upon the RFC tone developed over the years into the Internet culture of today.
The 2007 cyber-attacks on Estonia are used to illustrate something Ryan calls ‘iWar’, which he claims is different from cyberwar. In Ryan’s context cyberwar involves governments using the Internet to gain access to command and control, carry out espionage and so on, while iWar ‘can be waged by […] any reasonably tech-savvy individual’, its disruptive power coming from how it targets networks that consumers use. Military might has traditionally come with large numbers and brute strength. Online, however, the balance of power changes, and a handful of ‘hacktivists’ can cause panic in an entire country. This was thought-provoking for me: I have witnessed online spats between rival groups of hackers, usually solved when one side manages to shut down the other’s website, but have never really thought about criminals using the Internet to disrupt ‘real’ life. In my mind the Internet is still a safe zone, isolated from the offline world, but as the developed world grows increasingly dependent on it the prospect of cyber warfare is an interesting one to consider.

Many of the resources listed in the bibliography are also worth pursuing for a more complete look at the development of the Internet.

[Drew Wakutz · Rating 3 out of 5]

In his book, Johnny Ryan summarizes the advancements and planted seeds that would one day lead to the internet and the digital age we now live in. Ryan discusses the struggles of the internet’s creation, and where he believes the digital age will lead us in the future. His book is very thorough in detail, and chronicles the individuals and historical events vital to the digital age. From building better communications for military purposes to the battle with telecommunications, and the creation of integrated circuits, Ryan uses a rich bank of sources to lay out a very complete historical timeline. Ryan breaks up his book into three sections highlighting the process of the internet’s growth, chapters 1-4 being the creation and emergence of the internet, chapters 5-9 on growing digital community and network sharing, and lastly chapters 10-13 on the impact of the internet on the modern world, and how is has transformed many aspects of our culture.
The beginning of this book definitely grabs the reader’s attention; I didn’t expect a book about the history of the internet to begin with a chapter on nuclear war. The connection being made is that the pioneers of digital information began their work in the nuclear age, so it’s not far-fetched. It’s just a great way to throw the reader off-balance early, showing that this book would be more entertaining than many would assume. The reader learns about companies, networks, and terms that likely they’ve never heard of before. Such as the centrifugal approach to data created by Paul Baran, which Ryan says it’s a lot like Hot-potato; sending information not through a bulky control point, but through centrifugal nodes that send data on and on like Hot-potato(page 14). This allows the data to be relayed to other points without having to refer to a central control which takes much longer. It’s not surprising that as it is now, even back then the emphasis on accessing data is speed. This may be an over simplified point but comparisons like hot potato make it a lot easier to grasp the concept, not being a computer person.
Today it’s interesting that most telephone companies will bundle monthly packages with internet considering how hard they fought the internet for years arguing that the internet was not the future. Bell for example, who worked for AT&T, had a chokehold on the telecommunications market, and prohibited their clients from modifying their telephone sets to become compatible with networking devices (page 41). Even when ARPANET preformed a successful test of their packet-switched distribution network, AT&T refused to acknowledge the idea of the internet becoming a profitable and successful medium of communication (page42). Today internet and telephones go hand in hand, either handheld devices like smartphones, or cable service providers. At one point for expansions sake; specialist knew that computers would have to connect to phone lines (page 65). I found it interesting that they were once so far apart.
The military however was never at odds with the internet’s creation, the pioneers who planted the seeds were originally provided funding in order to create a faster way to send battle orders and defend themselves against the soviets (page 13). This was the driving force that began the development of digital data sharing across faster networks. Years later it would be military advancements that in turn would help the digital age advance, especially when it comes to interactive systems. When creating the SAGA (Semi-Automatic Ground Environment), a system monitoring enemy aircraft too fast for radar, they used a pilot simulation computer called Whirlwind to create an interactive computer for operators to monitor (page 46, 47). This got me excited because when I hear interactive computers I think of video games, and surely enough Ryan covers the creation of Spacewar, one of the first ever video games, created in 1962 (page 52). After this point I began to guess how one advancement would lead to another, from video games to the small microchip, and PC’s. Ryan covers a variety of information, topics, and hobbies.

Ryan finishes with some concerns about what he calls “promise and Peril”, a self-destruct of the internet before its potential is reached. One of his concerns is the control of platforms, as examples he uses china keeping silk worms but selling the silk, and the romans keeping the vine but selling their wine (pg.182, 183). In modern times the iPhone allowed programmers to create apps, however policies prevented the sharing of information between programmers, protecting the platform, however it threatened the platform as users were angered, one programmer stating that “Anything that I’ve been able to do on computer has been because somebody else has laid the foundation.”(Page 184). This illustrates the one of the biggest issues with the internet and the largest threat to its growth, and that is both the freedom of information, and the accuracy of information. Culture like the internet has always grown most when past mistakes and successes can be learned from, I believe as long as information is openly shared the internet, and how we use it will only grow for the better.
I personally enjoyed this book; I would not consider myself a technologically savvy person, so this was all new and exciting information. I felt at times however that the language was so technical that I found myself reading things over twice. Ryan tends to show the reader a different side to history which can be very fun, we know about the space race and nuclear testing, but to see the impact and connections it had on networking and data transfer is really interesting. Convenience and ease of access has driven the internet into many professional fields of work, study and play. It has become so interconnected to our daily lives that I believe it will be preserved and enhanced as time moves on. Johnny Ryan wrote his book a few years ago (2010), and in that 4 years, the internet has made impressive changes. It is likely Ryan’s opinion may have changed. I would recommend the book to anyone who is a fan of the internet, or Computers as this book provides a very detailed history, however at times the content can be dry if technology isn’t a strong interest for you.

[Svalbard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anche se si tratta di un passato recentissimo, è sempre bello leggere un libro sulla storia di Internet, e capire in che modo una serie di idee casuali e spesso del tutto slegate tra loro sono state capaci di produrre qualcosa di inusuale che ha cambiato - secondo me in meglio - la faccia del pianeta. Anche questo libro ha un approccio positivo ad internet. Racconta cose che già si sapevano - la necessità da parte del governo degli USA di implementare una rete militare che fosse in grado di sopravvivere ad eventuali attacchi, atomici o meno, il ruolo delle comunità californiane di programmatori hippy che per primi inocularono nella rete il germe della libertà e della paritarietà, e molto altro - ma lo fa in maniera documentatissima e dettagliatissima. L’unico rischio è quello di perdersi nella marea di sigle e di nomi astrusi che rendono tributo alle numerose organizzazioni spontanee, governative o commerciali, che hanno dato il loro contributo a costruire il sistema informativo nel quale oggi viviamo. Interessante anche il fatto che, trattando dell’allucinante bolla speculativa del 2000, l’autore - pur senza fare sconti alla follia degli speculatori - riconosca il fatto che molti danni vennero dall'aver creduto a un sogno che in realtà sogno non era, ma solo realtà futura, nel senso che all’epoca la diffusione di internet e delle infrastrutture di rete non erano ancora tali da garantire i riscontri che molti si aspettavano - ma lo sarebbero state presto; le idee non erano sbagliate, solo troppo in anticipo. Fermo restando che sarebbe anche interessante che qualche pubblicazione facesse un po’ di luce sulla “via italiana ad internet”, ovvero su ciò che successe in quegli anni dalle nostre parti. Qualche ricordo a caso: intere imprese di comunicazione venite su dal nulla, con tanto di infrastrutture, lussuosissimi uffici e filiali di zona, nel giro di pochi mesi e scomparse nel nulla in tempi altrettanto rapidi; me ne ricordo ogni volta che, camminando per strada, vedo un tombino con scritto sopra “E-planet”, di cui rimangono, appunto, null’altro che i tombini dei cablaggi urbani, oppure quando vedo una presa del telefono di vecchio tipo, quella con tre buchi, simbolo di “Noicom”. Portali e motori di ricerca pretenziosissimi, tutti “made in Italy”, nati e presto morti (o nati morti); tutte iniziative, peraltro, che facevano elevare da politici e giornalisti peana alla eccelsa capacità imprenditoriale italiana di tale tenore apologetico che sembrava di essere tornati in pieni anni Ottanta craxiani, e per le quali è legittimo il sospetto che fossero finalizzate più che altro, come in quelli, a fare il colpo e fuggire col bottino. Poi: faticosissime e costosissime linee commutate a scatti e una tecnologia obsoleta come l’ISDN venduta come se fosse il non plus ultra; provider di linee “flat” perennemente occupate; gente che pensava di fare il botto pubblicando bannerini, inserendo stacchi pubblicitari sulle telefonate a voce e capitalizzando indirizzi di posta elettronica, e si potrebbe continuare a lungo... Una mia amica, dipendente di un’importante azienda aerospaziale, mi disse: quarant’anni fa, il futuro lo si immaginava fatto di missili interplanetari e stazioni spaziali, ma nessuno pensava a una “cosa” come questa... Vero, Internet è un bel sogno che si è realizzato senza che nessuno lo avesse sognato. Bisogna però anche dire che l’utopia di comunicazione globale tra pari e di democrazia dal basso, ben presente tra gli informatici-hippy californiani e gli accademici americani, al cui contributo vanno ascritti eventi un tempo improbabili (ad esempio l’elezione di un nero alla presidenza degli USA, per la quale il ruolo di internet è ampiamente dibattuto in questo libro) si è parecchio annacquata in aspetti della Rete che non hanno una grande dannosità, ma sono un po’ un inutile rumore di fondo, un po’ un insulto all’intelligenza di coloro che di essa sono stati i padri fondatori. Faccio un elenco non esaustivo: miriadi di troll e bimbiminkia che hanno reso inutilizzabili le gerarchie di Usenet; gente che utilizza i forum e i commenti sostanzialmente per aggredire e insultare, e comunque per puntellare un ego traballante; l’ignorante fanatismo di cui grondano i siti degli adoratori della Madonna, di Ratzinger o di Padre Pio, o dei negatori dell’olocausto; gente che afferma e crede di provare che nessun aereo cadde l’11 settembre sul Pentagono o che l’ortoressia non esiste ed è solo un’invenzione delle multinazionali alimentari per criminalizzare l’alimentazione sana; moltissimi siti, soprattutto di carattere tecnologico o turistico, del tutto insulsi come contenuti e che hanno l’unica finalità di intercettare clic e dirottare a contenuti pubblicitari; spam a profusione; melense mail della fortuna, giornate dell’amicizia e richieste di aiuto per bimbi affetti dalla rarissima sindrome di Skrolking-Pawn; tonnellate di siti-trappola che cercano di catturarti e farti pagare per quello che dovrebbe essere gratuito quando sei alla ricerca di un Torrent, o - senza andare troppo lontano - tenutarie di gruppi anobiani che s’incazzano se qualcuno condivide l’informazione di siti da cui scaricare e-book gratuitamente... Nonostante tutto questo, internet è ancora un bel posto, e una rivoluzione certo non inferiore. per importanza all'invenzione della stampa. E' una grande fortuna, nonostante tutto, essere qui, adesso.

[Paul Tennant · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book that talks about centrifugal communications, and digital formats. I found it surprisingly fascinating. It made me reflect on capitalism, and decentralized collaboration and control. A bottom up approach. Yes I got this from a book of the internet. It also made me reflect on the concept of supper position in quantum mechanics, and got me exited about dust computing. Those are all things you wont find in the book. In the book youll get a very rich history of the computer industry.

[Uwe Hook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Required read for anyone working int the digital industry (Aren't we all at this point?) it will give you a good overview and insights while nothing will ever be the same again and why we're just at the beginning of this transformation.

[Serban · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book looking both at the past of the internet as well as the future and how it influenced the world at large, be they individuals or groups, small companies and large corporations.

[cihan kan · Rating 3 out of 5]

If the book would proceed in chronological order, it could be read more easily

[Sarah Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his highly pedagogical piece, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, Johnny Ryan, Senior Researcher at the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin, endeavors to fulfill his work’s titular promise: providing a comprehensive history of the development and maturation of the Internet and plotting a trajectory for the innovative and transformative entity into the future. His monograph is divided into three “phases” or sections which collectively formulate a tri-partite consideration of the subject’s past, present, and future. Ryan begins by exploring the cultural landscape that acted as the foundation for the Internet’s development, which was spurred on by Cold War anxieties and a subsequent thirst for knowledge. Such convoluted origins then segue into the equally intricate expansion of computers’ networking and technological capabilities, including the birth of the World Wide Web and its subsequent commercial hiccup in the form of the “1996-2000 dot com bubble” (122). Finally, Ryan looks to the admittedly astonishing connectivity and influence of the (then) current Web and its both thrilling and fearsome potential in the decades to come. It is here that the author falters, for though he provides a detailed and well-researched account of the Internet’s history, his future projections fail to be convincing due to their fragile foundations. Overall, however, Ryan is extremely successful in demonstrating the fascinating collaborative and fluid facets of Internet culture that ensured its formulation and pervade to this day, a goal achieved through his compelling rhetoric, formatting, and focus.

Admittedly, Ryan’s prose becomes bogged down at times within the first two sections of his work, veering into “tech-speak,” which begets an immediate reread of certain passages for anyone who is unfamiliar with the complex interworkings of network communication and computational coding, or having a block of text dominated by a confusing amalgamation of names, acronyms, and statistics. However, Ryan is extremely self-aware of such ruts, giving the reader “warn[ings] in advance” of such “torrents,” and thereby demonstrating a consciousness and understanding of his audience (90, 96). For the most part, Ryan’s rhetoric is compelling in its use of short and crisp sentences, avoiding flowery prose in favour of communicating facts as directly and clearly as possible. His passion for the subject acts as a driving undercurrent throughout, and his fascination and amusement with the various stories and influences at work over the course of the Internet’s creative history results in entertaining rhetorical deviations that help break up the text for the reader. For example, Ryan traces the ironic lineage of Ada Lovelace, the “world’s first programmer,” to Lord Byron, the famous poet and Luddite sympathizer (97-98). Ryan is also fond of beginning new subheadings with explanations of relatable or simply quirky and interesting topics that act as allegories or examples of the idea that he is about to explore. For instance, Chinese misconceptions surrounding the applications of gunpowder are representative of the “failure” of ARPNET, the first packet-switching network, to fulfill its objectives (82). Both strategies thus inadvertently demonstrate the Internet’s role as a medium of discovery, which offers information on any topic of interest, be it through forum discussion or solitary searches, and is thereby a source of unique and varied knowledge. In addition, true to the “bottom-up” approach, both of historiography and the “flattened hierarchies” of networking phenomena such as email or Wikipedia, Ryan seeks to focus on the individual, highlighting people’s contributions in almost exhaustive detail to showcase the “power of the networked individual” as an important unit of change and production (133, 79, 7).

As a scholarly source, Ryan’s work possesses potential. He draws from a vast array of resources, both primary and secondary in nature, including, but not limited to, fellow monographs, interviews, research publications, speeches, letters, memos, and a plethora of Internet resources, including blog posts and those from digital archives. The diversity of his source material compliments his subject matter well, for it both mirrors and relies upon the collaborative network of information that the Internet represents. However, a historian would be wise to treat Ryan’s monograph as an encyclopedia of sorts, using his survey of the subject and its resources as a catalyst for further research. Ryan, in primarily regurgitating facts and arranging them in a comprehensive manner, provides only a limited analysis of his findings. His work, having relied heavily upon web-based resources, is also partially undermined by his own findings, in that by emphasizing the “perpetual beta” nature of information on the web, the validity of a large part of his material is called into question (191). Thus, such a mutable topic, if pursued by a responsible historian, requires research that is consistently more up-to-date and substantiated by peer-reviewed publications.

With regards to Ryan’s future predictions, the author notes that the “centrifugal trend” of the Internet’s creation was “only evident in hindsight,” a cycle of ignorance that the author purports will only continue due to the network’s mutable nature and technology’s abrupt and often accidental advances (178). Such a self-conscious concession thereby immediately undermines Ryan’s predictions. Furthermore, it is important to avoid the cliché of the past informing or offering insight as to the present in that, given social, economic, and cultural changes throughout time, to which the Internet contributes heavily and rapidly, circumstances are never truly the same, meaning projections cannot accurately be made within the framework of a unique past. Nevertheless, Ryan attempts to chart future development, suggesting the simultaneous possibility of a “utopian future of mass participation,” in which individual agency is paramount and the democratization of globalization would allow for a truly competitive and global market, and a “battle of control over the platform” that would threaten such “openness” (173, 183). The ambiguity of such conflicting possibilities renders both logically jeopardized. Furthermore, the concept of the “iWar” harkens back to the Cold War concerns at the monograph’s start in that technology and humanity must adapt to resist threats to the “new global commons” (196). If Ryan truly believes that the past may inform the present, then his decidedly foreboding and pessimistic tone at the work’s end is unfounded. As it did in the past, society will adapt and overcome in ways that will engender new development and, subsequently, new concerns. We are all inhabitants of the digital age, making the concerns raised by Ryan’s work relevant to our immediate and future interests; however, Ryan’s construction of the Internet’s past and its pervading significance is much more useful than his future extrapolations within the context of his methodology and reasoning.

[Keilah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A History of the Internet and the Digital Future by Johnny Ryan is a great read for anyone who wants a quick, yet thorough history of the Internet and the computer. The book was published in the United Kingdom in 2010 by Reaktion Books. Divided into three sections, Ryan dissects each facet of the Web as a whole and gives as complete a history as he is able to. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect of the Internet and its history, yet Ryan presents this information in a narrative manner, using anecdotes to bring the lives of the creators of the Internet more colour. In this way, Ryan is able to not only convey the pertinent historical facts, but also keep the reader interested and entertained. All things considered, this book is an absolutely wonderful read for anyone – you certainly don’t need to be a computer guru to understand his arguments nor the more technical terms and acronyms (for which there is a glossary included).
Beginning with the space race and continuing into the late 2000s, author Johnny Ryan discusses both the technological advancements which led to the creation of the modern computer, as well as the people who came together to build the world wide web as we know it today. In his endeavour, Ryan was able to produce a book spanning a plethora of topics, including the first sale on Amazon.com (pg. 156) to the Internet’s political capabilities (“Chapter 12: Two-way Politics”). By giving a brief history of nearly everything involved with the creation and its advancement, Ryan allows the modern technological consumer to gain an understanding of the world we live in.
While almost any book about technology has the potential to very quickly become outdated, Ryan’s narrative seeks to give the foundation story of many (currently) popular sites, as well as the evolution of both the computer itself, and the Internet. In so doing, he is able to keep his work relevant to Internet users, though as he states, “[to] the reader of the Internet’s history much must appear obvious that was opaque to its participants” (pg. 178). Those who were most intimately involved with the foundation of the computer system and the creation of those Internet tools that are regularly and increasingly used were unaware of the impact their research and products would have on the world of today. Even now, as new innovations are presented, it is unknown which will fail, and which will become the new standards of the Internet.
To illustrate this, Ryan considers first the advent of electronic mail. In chapter 6 (“Communities Based on Interest, not Proximity”), Ryan notes that, “‘the largest single surprise of the ARPANET program has been the incredible popularity and success of network mail’” (pg. 78). For something so widely used in today’s world, e-mail came from very humble beginnings. And it’s innovations like these that will continue to drive the technological market in the future. Continuing on page 79, the first use of the ‘smiley’ [ :-) ] is noted, which was (and continues to be) used to denote the difference between the humorous and serious. For something that seems so small in the overall history of the Internet, it has become somewhat momentous, as with what is now often composed of only two characters [ :) ], the ‘smiley’ has become a mainstay of informal text based communications and conversations. Later, Ryan uses the invention of the webcam as a means for programmers to avoid leaving their offices until someone had made a fresh pot of coffee (pg. 116). It is anecdotes such as these that stick with the reader and allow the transmission of historical lessons. In addition, by relating such stories, Ryan allows the reader to see the everyday actions of normal people in creating and improving something wonderful.
Through reading this book, the history not only of the Internet itself, but also of the technology and of popular sites is given. For example, chapter 9 (“A Platform for Trade and the Pitfalls of the Dot-com”) begins with documenting the first sale made by eBay in 1995 (pg. 120). By providing a history of popular sites, Ryan reaches out to the reader and forms a bond of common interest. Much like the relationships he describes throughout his book, Ryan attempts, and in my opinion succeeds, in establishing a one-dimensional connection with the reader, as he presents the historical information in an easily digested and anecdotal manner.
Ryan’s use of historical examples to illustrate the burgeoning companies that would shape the technological future help the reader to understand the point which he is trying to get across. In so doing, Ryan is able to accurately show the continuance of business practices and the relationship between the on-line and the real world. For example, to describe the more casual dress associated with larger technological firms (like Google), Ryan discussed the evolution of attire, specifically the tailored suit. He then quotes Google, stating that, “You can be serious without a suit” (pg. 132). This was done to prove that in a world of increased technology, appearance was no longer as important a qualification for business people. What had traditionally been saved for the elite aristocrats, had now been abandoned for increased comfort.
By “ The Emerging Environment” Ryan has moved into more recent history. However, his narrative becomes more one-sided. Focusing more on Apple computers, Ryan seems to believe the Macintosh Computer Company to be the most innovative and cutting edge technology company, as opposed to other technological companies which are perhaps more innovative. On pages 183-4, Ryan notes that PC users choose their operating system based on available applications (‘apps’), and seems to discount brand loyalty, costs, and the usability of newer features (which invariably take time to get used to). In addition, the (at the time) newer Android system is given very little credit in the way of technological advancements.
Overall, this book was a fantastic read worthy of any bookshelf. Its concise nature and flowing text make it easily digestible and fun. Its entertaining anecdotes and brief glimpses into the lives of those who helped to create the Internet (which you are now using!) portray the given information in a pleasing and entertaining manner. Despite a few minor shortcomings, as a brief overview of the foundation of the Internet and today’s increasingly digital world, this book is a top pick.

[Forbesj · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A History of the Internet and the Digital Future” by Johnny Ryan is two-hundred and thirty-five pages of history, technological advancement, and the future of the Internet. Published in 2010, by Reaktion Books, the author Johnny Ryan goes into such detail that the reader can see the building blocks and players who had a hand in taking an idea and turning it into something so massive that today it's hard to think of life without the Internet.
Focusing on United States Cold War history, I could not be more happy with the start of the book, the reality of nuclear war, how to prepare, react and survive an attack. Ryan grasps the reader with the threat and the seriousness of the time, and turns the reader to the importance of a command and control system to communicate with the nation after receiving a nuclear strike. This leads to the Paul Baran coming up with the idea that would start the process of networks and would expand to what we know now as the Internet.
Once computers could communicate to each other, the next challenge was to use phone lines. AT&T wouldn't allow for any devices to modify their product, but in 1975 the FCC forced AT&T to allow people to modify their product, as long as it did not damage the telephone lines. After this in 1977, modems were on the market for purchase. The Computer Bulletin Board System (BBS) that allowed computer hobbyists to communicate and to share small computer files. CompuServe and America OnLine would make the communication more popular. Businesses and universities would have their computers on a Local Area Network (LAN), LANs would connect to each other, personal users at home could connect to form an Internet, and more and more users were able to access it.
Email was a military message service that allowed messages to instantly display messages on screen. The public was allowed access to the communication network and was one of the biggest surprises of the military program. With more communication via email, the smiley face would be used to denote emotion in 1980, as text did not capture the emotion in a message. (Page 76-79) Ryan also looks at the results of email communication, from group messages, relationships and marriages.
The military would seek to control network in 1980 to enforce work use and not personal use. Eventually the military would create “MilNet” which had more security and allowed ARPANet for research. The University of Wisconsin would create a computer science network (CSNet) allowing all universities access for a fee to pay for system equipment while allowing the communication of ideas from each university. Yale and New York City University would create a network for the study of humanities named the “Because It's There” Network (BITNet). In ten years, 1,400 organizations from 49 nations took part in the exchange of ideas. The National Science Foundation in 1984 created a program to research supercomputing at US universities. It would take regional networks, increase their speed and government departments like NASA would make use of it. The National Science Foundation Network (NSFNet) would become faster and more popular than ARPNet – the US military research network and the military would end the network in 1990, ending twenty-one years of service. By 1990 300,000 computers were connected to NSFNet and in 1993 it would increase to 2 million. (Page 88-94)
A system of organization would be set up so all information would be easily accessed on the Internet and would be titled the World Wide Web (WWW). The Internet would also be used for more than sharing information. In 1995 eBay came online and the first item sold was a broken laser pointer. Amazon would become a power-house and quickly business spread to this new online world and continued to do so.
Ryan writes of Web 2.0 with Wikipedia starting in 2002 and the change from professional to user content. Users were able to create content as they chose and mentions of the battle over editing the George W. Bush Jr. Article, stating it may be the most edited document in human history. (page 137-138) Youtube.com allowed users to become film directors, actors or video stars, while Myspace and Facebook allowed individuals to author their own page on the Internet. Craigslist.com classified ad website is largely user based content and gets more Internet traffic than eBay and Amazon. People had the ability to share files for years, but music and film would be pirated and transferred online. Napster was sued for hosting music content, to which would be downloaded for free. BitTorrent websites would begin to where users would contribute media, and other users would download it, avoiding legal issues like Napster faced, as users contributed content, not the website itself.
“A History of the Internet and the Digital Future” ends with politics and iWar. Politicians could use media to get elected, from an independent former wrestler Jesse Ventura to the first Black president of the United States. In military conflict, insurgents could use the Internet to counter government statements, gain support for their cause in a media war, and recruit new members. The use of hackers to attack governments is named as iWar, using the Internet to damage a government. The attacker can be anywhere in the world, in a jurisdiction that may hinder prosecution, by relatively cheap technology compared to a military force. Ryan ends with the warning that the Internet may be ruined before it reaches maturity, and that we must consider its possible demise.
I enjoyed the book, and from a historical sense, it captures the creation of a system we use daily, in some cases survive on, yet really can't explain how it started. Being a rapidly evolving technology, it may be hard to capture its evolution, but Johnny Ryan does a good, thorough job. One topic I would have liked to know Ryan's views on would be what he sees in the future. He mentions the continuation of current use, but no future predictions, whether projects RAND or the new version of ARPA, DARPA are working on at the time of writing the book, or reasonable assumptions to the future. As the “future” part of the title is lacking, Ryan has produced a comprehensive history of the technology we take for granted today, in a relative and understandable manner. As the future of the Internet is still unfolding, it leaves others to predict the future, and continue the history at which Ryan leaves off.

[Will Cornett · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing that has become fairly certain in society is that humanity is stricken by the impulsive need to share everything and anything through social media and the Internet. But how did we get here? Executive Director at UCD and emerging digital activist Dr. Johnny Ryan attempts to provide an understanding of the impact the Internet has made on North American culture and society. Ryan’s A History of the Internet and the Digital Future provides an in-depth look into how the digital age was born out of necessity in a time that beckoned change in the communication infrastructure of North America. The birth of the Internet is a tale of reform, as its creation (or at least the first prototype) was justified as a defense mechanism to be used for the sole purpose of protecting American communication systems from Soviet attacks during the Cold War era. However, the evolution of the Internet has proven that this system is a greater asset than a mere communication service. A History of the Internet is promptly named as Ryan provides an array of stories that outline the various stages of the life of the Internet, from its earliest incarnation to, at the time, its most updated version. A History of the Internet can be divided into three sections, or phases as outlined by Ryan, with the first chapters providing an understanding of the factors that led to the Internet’s creation, and the later sections yielding information on the rise of the digital age, with focus on Corporate America and dot-coms, as well as the impact the digital age has had on society.

A reader does not necessarily need a background in quantum physics to understand Ryan’s literary prowess in A History of the Internet; however, it would not hurt. The language used throughout Ryan’s work leans heavily on technological phrases and descriptions of anything relating to the inherent makeup of the Internet. This approach to writing the narrative of the Internet could produce some issues for those without professional or specialized knowledge in this particular field. This is not to say that A History of the Internet is filled with illegible rhetoric, but merely an observation that Ryan expects his readers to have a prior understanding of the material covered in his work.

One of the major issues argued in the later stages of Ryan’s work is the fact that businesses and investors threw caution to the wind and acted irrationally in the impromptu situations that arose during the dot-com era. This is perhaps one of the most interesting ideas found in A History of the Internet, but more importantly, it is perhaps the most comprehensive of Ryan’s arguments. Through facts and personal accounts, Ryan argues that the Internet proved to be damaging to the wellbeing of inexperienced businesses, as digital proficiency was held to a higher standard than experience. Development of this new business model led to business startups using the “get big fast” strategy, which resulted in their inevitable demise, as Ryan states, “a number of high-profile collapses were typified by brash, frivolous spending of investors’ funds” (129). Ryan cites many renowned figures, such as Warren Buffet, in an attempt to showcase the severity of the lack of preparedness when it came to economic decision-making on the stock exchange during the 90s. Dot-coms such as eBay and Amazon caused investors to “drift into behaviour akin to that of Cinderella,” as they would be weary enough to understand the risks of trading, but still reap the benefits of this phenomenon before the clock ran out; unfortunately, investors were “dancing in a room in which the clocks have no hands” (124).

By the late 1990s, the Web had created a fair playing field for smaller businesses competing against major corporate conglomerates. It is through this idea that Ryan argues a new definition for globalization. Prior to the turn of the century, consortiums like Starbucks and GAP would utilize low prices and working standards found outside of First World society in order to increase profitable gains. Now obviously Ryan was being optimistic in suggesting the Internet would somehow end the tyrannical stranglehold corporations have on business, as it is known that this type of business venture is still in existence, but Ryan’s argument that the Internet forced anti-globalists to rethink the concept of globalization is interesting. Ryan strengthens his argument by further explaining the fact that the digital age is no longer dominated exclusively by big business but shared by a “multitude of tiny, niche operations” and offers examples of developers who operate out of their own garages (180).

Ryan concludes by stating “the future of the Internet and its impact on business, government, and society remains oblique” (178). I agree with Ryan’s conclusion due to the fact that a lack of control will imminently decide the fate of the Internet that our generation has come to love. As outlined in the chapter “Promise and Peril”, the cloud phenomenon puts projectivity of the Internet in harm’s way due to the fact that cyber warfare has become a viable form of action. Piracy is something to be concerned about as the thievery of manufactured cyber goods and services is on the rise, leaving programming software and other online rarities susceptible to being stolen and shared, with the businesses that create them losing out on potential funds. Sure, Ryan is able to offer the conclusion that society will ruin the Internet before we can harness the true potential of it, but he fails to offer any tangible or informative information on how to go about yielding results.

In conclusion, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future was surprisingly enjoyable to read, from the first pages outlining the severity of possible nuclear annihilation to the concluding arguments that “humanity faces the risk of ruining the Internet” (197). The format was stellar as the use of endnotes allowed for a more enjoyable and fluent read. The in-text citations provided colourful commentary that presented a greater sense of the struggle, apprehension, and general inquiry that has revolved around the Internet since its coronation. Overall, I believe Ryan’s focus was to promote general awareness and to provide the public with a better understanding of the digital age by focusing on factual information, rather than providing a tedious argument.

[Melanie Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

A History of the Internet and the Digital Future is an in-depth look into the early stages of the Internet and how technology progressed over the next half century to develop the Internet we all know and love today. Author Johnny Ryan divides the book into three phases based on the timeline of the history of the Internet: Phase I: Distributed Network, Centrifugal Ideas, Phase II: Expansion, and Phase III: The Emerging Environment. It is through these phases that Ryan discusses pivotal moments in the Internet’s history and the various people responsible for pushing technology further. Ryan’s main argument is outlined in the preface of the book which states that “three characteristics have asserted themselves throughout the Internet’s history… the Internet is a centrifugal force, user-driven, and open” (8). Throughout the book Ryan emphasises these three characteristics and how they came to be a part of the Internet’s history. Ryan begins the book by discussing the United States military’s need for a better communication system in the 1950s when a nuclear attack by the USSR was threatening the safety and security of the United States. Ryan makes many similar connections between the Internet and the military throughout the book; it is interesting to understand how the two connect. Following the history of why a new communication system was needed for the United States, Ryan explores the very early stages of the Internet and the various people who were theorizing a similar network. Ryan’s in-depth historical background of the very early stages of the Internet consumes the first third of the book in Phase I. For the most part, Phase I is about the foundations that were laid in the very beginning of the Internet. In this section, readers may get lost in the computer jargon, as I did, but computer enthusiasts would be more likely to understand the material. However, as the book progresses into Phase II it becomes easier to understand as most of the computer jargon gets left behind in Phase I. This section of the book explores the expansion of the Internet and the rise of personal computers. Furthermore, this is sort of a mid-way point in the book which highlights the shift from privatized, expensive equipment to personal, highly accessible equipment; computers were commodities and many people could now afford them. Phase III progresses into how the Internet was used among the masses. Ryan provides many examples of the technology that was developed out of this digital era and how average people pushed the Internet further. The final section of the book is written in terms that even the computer-illiterate could understand which made for much easier reading. The book as a whole is a very insightful look into the history of the Internet and provides an in-depth explanation of how the Internet was developed. Although the first half of the book has many technical terms that can be confusing for the computer-illiterate, the last half highlights more interesting developments about the Internet and how it became a social tool.
The first section, Phase I: Distributed Network, Centrifugal Ideas, begins with the historical reasons as to why a new communication system was needed in the United States in the 1950s. Ryan explains how the threat of a nuclear attack by the USSR on American soil led military leaders to strategize a new way of communicating with troops overseas; a whole new network was needed. To navigate through the early stages of the Internet, Ryan often refers to the state of the United States military at a particular point in time. He makes many connections between the early developments of the Internet and the United States military which helps the reader to put the technological boom on a timeline that relates to the United States military history. Furthermore, this section of the book contains an extensive explanation of many of the first technologies that were developed during the early stages of the digital age. Unfortunately, the extensive explanation of computer technologies was difficult to read because it contained a lot of computer jargon that made it difficult to follow and understand. Although it was difficult to read this section of the book due to the abundance of computer jargon, such content had to be covered in order to explain the way that the Internet began and evolved.
The second section, Phase II: Expansion, begins with a brief history of the telephone and how it came to be controlled by one company, Bell (later AT&T). Rather than making military connections, Ryan now makes connections with comparable mediums. I appreciate the connections that Ryan makes because it provides insight to past technologies and the obstacles that they occurred and had to work through – much like the Internet had to do. Throughout Phase II Ryan emphasises the importance of an open, user-friendly network that could be shared among people around the world and through all devices. The invention of the World Wide Web opened a whole new market for commercial activity and allowed people from all over the world to connect. The Internet was shifting from the privatized sphere to the public sphere as personal computers became more affordable and user-friendly; the Internet had reached the masses.
Lastly, the final section, Phase III: The Emerging Environment, is where we see the era of upgraded programmes. Ryan explained how the basic foundation of the Internet came to be and in this final section how the users made the possibilities endless. Although most of the early work was done by selective researchers, the way that the Internet is utilized today was driven by users themselves. The Internet was designed to be open to adaptations by users and many users took advantage of this; users shared ideas and collaborated on applications in order to push the Internet further. Ryan provides us with many examples as to how users of the Internet made it better for the masses: file sharing between users was available in Napster and other piracy sites, shared knowledge led to the success of Wikipedia, and sites such as eBay made it easy to buy and sell items globally. The final section of the book explains how the Internet is used today and really reiterates Ryan’s main argument that throughout the history of the Internet three characteristics asserted themselves: the Internet is a centrifugal force, user-driven, and open (8).

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though the first third is a mess of jargon and technical details (which are in my opinion unnecessary for this sort of book), the latter chapters discuss the ways in which the internet has been shaped, how it has reflected the philosophies of its artificers, and how it has in turn changed the face of the world. The book's thesis is that the net is a new form of global commons, a new method of not only communication but of existence whereby decentralized, centrifugal connections allow for huge leaps in innovation and exploration. From its birth as the government/academic ARPANET to its adolescence through hacker culture, the internet has always been a product of non-hierarchical systems. A continual beta of sorts. Ryan discusses how this is an intrinsic part of the internet which, if not fostered, can diminish the power in which the net provides.

My complaints would be the overly technical nature of the early chapters, and the speed in which certain important theoretical threads are glossed over. Ryan is often too concerned with giving a history of the people, organizations, and events that shaped the internet rather than the cultural or sociological impacts of such innovations. In my head, dates and figures are easily forgotten but trends and philosophies are not — for the purposes of making a edifying text, I wish that certain trends in thought and intent had been more fully explored.

[Sarah Meeke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Title: A History of the Internet and the Digital Future
Author: Johnny Ryan
Book Price: $27 US

Johnny Ryan’s, “A History of the Internet and the Digital Future” is an informational book, that explores the power behind the Internet and how its development over the past decades has led to our modern day, technologically advanced world. Ryan makes clear how the Internet has, and continues to provide vital information for mankind, making the collection of certain resources, like information on our past, easier and easier to access as technology progresses. The Internet’s ability to provide information in a time efficient and easy to access manor for everyday individuals, gives power to the little guy, rather than just to those with political power. Ryan makes clear that because of the advancement of the Internet, so many old methodologies and practices are dramatically wiped out because of the Internet’s superiority. Ryan explores the advancement of the Internet and how it has impacted life as we know it today, and how it will effect future generations. “A History of the Internet and the Digital Future” displays the significance of viewing and studying past tendencies of the Internet and how it has developed through time, in order to maintain and add to the power of the Internet and those who use it.
Johnny Ryan’s book is written in a manor that is what I believe, to be difficult for the average person to read. The concept, content, and idea’s in the chapters throughout the book are interesting and well organized, but one cannot just read this book without doing other research, like looking up what certain words mean. A factor that affects the efficiency of reading for an average person is the amount of acronyms that is used throughout each of the sections. Ryan uses acronyms of importance to the understanding of the content in the book, and if his average reader isn’t able to distinguish these acronyms, they will be confused while reading this book. In sub-section six the book entitled, “Communities Based on Interest, not Proximity”, Ryan uses acronyms like “ARPA” and “RFC” with no words attached to them, making the definition of what the author is talking about to be confusing (77). These are just two examples of the many acronyms Ryan uses throughout the course of the book, and even with a glossary located at the back of his book, keeping up with the definitions of the acronyms was something I personally found difficult.
Johnny Ryan’s book is sectioned into three, what he calls, “phases”. Ryan organizes these sections to move in chronological order, making phase one more about the past, where as phase three is more about the present and future. Phase one is entitled “Distributed Network, Centrifugal Ideas” where Ryan introduces to his readers concepts and events about the past that have affected the Internet, and where it stood in a time when technology wasn’t as advanced as it is today. Ryan begins this section with describing where technology stood within political powers, for example the book writes, “by the mid-1960s the Air Force had upgraded its nuclear missiles…that reduced their launch time from eight hours to a matter of minutes” (11). Ryan uses this example to introduce the beginning of a technological advancement that clearly gave the Air Force power. From this I believe Ryan was attempting to display the larger image of, technological advancement gives people (in this specific case, the government) power. Furthermore, Ryan cleverly mixes in historical situations that involved modern day innovations. For example, within the first section Ryan discusses, what he calls the “Innovation incubator” RAND, which was the idea for a research team during the course of the Second World War because these historical events and the people involved with them had a modern day belief that “foundational science research could win wars” (17). As a reader being introduced to the development of the Internet within Ryan’s book, it was interesting reading about the historical process of obtaining research and how the Internet was vital to those involved with politics. In today’s generation many students are doing the majority of their research using the Internet, and by Ryan highlighting the importance of research historically, his readers are able to fully grasp the idea that the Internet essentially provides power, a concept made very clear by Ryan. Phase two entitled, “Expansion” truly displays exactly what the title means. The computer and Internet expand leading to even further technological advancement, beginning with dial-up – giving only certain people who work for certain business access to the Internet and computers, but ending with more and more regular civilians accessing the online world. Ryan describes a type of jealousy that went along with those who had access to the computer and those who did not, but Ryan does not go far into detail about this. I believe that the book could have dissected more of the human reaction to some people having the Internet’s power in comparison to those who did not because it is still relatable within society today. For example, Eurocentric places and North America controls the majority of the Internet in a lot of ways, leaving countries like Africa left without any online voice, which is exactly what Ryan discusses in his book, only about everyday North American people. The last phase, “The Emerging Environment” truly shows how the Internet has created the world we live in today, where social media and everything online has risen to be a definition of our current and future generations. To end his book with this section was a great choice because it displays what the Internet has come to, then Ryan suggests further growth for the Internet, leaving his readers wondering the same things.
Ryan’s book was very informational, but lacked a certain connection with its audience. I believe it is difficult for people to understand a book that contains many references, acronyms, and facts that make keeping up with the content difficult. My overall rating of the book 2.5/5 because the research involved with the book is extensive and how it is written is pretty well, but the average person might find the book, for lack of a better word, boring.

[Sean Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his book, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, Johnny Ryan conducts a chronological and deeply rich history of the Internet from its early conception as a military communication device, to the present all consuming web of information and communication it has become today. Ryan throughout this dizzying tale of technological development emphasizes not just the people and organizations, which made the Internet what it is today, but also the culture from which it was developed. Ryan calls this the “hacker” culture, which emphasized the hopeful spirit of what this could do for humanity and the lack of regulation and oversight so that it could grow organically (33). In doing so he has captured the very essence of what the Internet means and what it has remained over its history. Amidst all the technical terms and acronyms for the multitude of organizations mentioned, Ryan has located the key to what has made the Internet such a success story. A complete history of the Internet requires much more than 197 pages, however, the amount of detail he has crammed into this book should be commended and it gives a rich background of the success and challenges the Internet has faced over the 65 years since its conception. The one fault I find in Ryan’s book is that while he is quick to emphasize the positives the ‘hacker’ culture has brought to the Internet, he only quickly discusses how the Internet has also brought the worst of humanity right to our computer screens. While the Internet has fostered mass communication, networking, and spread of knowledge; it has also provided forums for cyber bullying, software and credit card hackers and criminals to easily associate because of the anonymous nature that exists in places on the web, which was also a result of the culture Ryan judiciously praises for the first twelve chapters of the book.

Ryan’s argument focuses on how this hacker culture has been a common thread throughout the development of the Internet and the Web. He links the various qualities of this culture to the key events and people in the development process. For example he relates the open platform anarchy of the work done in the AARPA labs at the beginning of the project to the collaborative hobby environment of the Homebrew Club, which saw the development of various early software programs and included key members that would become massively important in the tech community like Steve Wozniak (57). By doing so he continues his argument that it was this collaborative, open sourced spirit, which was critical to what the Internet became. He later discusses the success of what would become Linux software as a result of a community of members making small improvements to the whole. He also relates this to the success of Wikipedia as storage of human knowledge, which was not overseen by a few experts but rather the collective contributions of thousands of normal people. Ryan comes to the rather idealistic, but in my opinion correct conclusion that the Internet was created through collaborative efforts and that humanity as a whole must protect its ideals if it is to stay the open source communication and knowledge-sharing device it has become. Ryan’s ability to create these links across the large period of time while showing the progress and complications the development of the Internet had is without a doubt the strength of his work.

While collaboration is a key point for Ryan in the history of the Internet, so are the open source protocols, lack of control, and lack of private property that remain necessary parts of the Internet. It is here where Ryan has mixed results in his argument. His discussion how it was essential that AARPA not have a military style structure and control over the project and it’s link to the Internet remaining free of any country or corporations control going forward is done rather well. In this he raises key points like net neutrality and preventing monopolies from controlling the networks, which have been big topics of discussion since this book has been published 185-186). However there are parts where he is less successful, where it is clear, partially to the detriment of the book given how important Apple and Microsoft are, that he favors Linux software because of the openness of their platform compared to the mega corporations, which sought to protect and monetize theirs. It is in this part of the book that his argument struggles because he largely ignores the role these corporations played in the success and development of the web, because it does not fit the communal idea that he has emphasized throughout the history.

Ryan throughout the book has emphasized a lack of censorship as a necessary feature for the Internet to become the living thing it is today. To censor the Internet is to put limits and control on it, which isn’t organic and which was essential to the culture derived around the development of the web. While I’ll agree that this has been a mostly positive thing, what it troublesome about the book is how he easily skates over the moral conundrum that this culture has produced. A more extensive look at the problems of piracy, criminal associations and cyber bullying, that the anonymous nature of the web has created would be welcome and give the book a more objective viewpoint rather than the purely idealistic look at the Internet.
Overall Ryan has presented a well-researched and knowledgeable history of the development of the Internet that would be useful to both academics and enthusiasts alike. His use of sources are thorough, averaging close to 50 footnotes a chapter, and relevant providing information on technical data to anecdotes from interviews with prominent members of the process. His use of the hacker culture to construct his overall theme and argument for the book is mostly strong and provides connections between the earliest days of the project to the present. While he at times becomes “preachy” in his idealistic beliefs for the Internet which limits some of the history, he finishes with a strong concluding chapter that is thought provoking and insightful into how the Internet will be used and governed going forward.

[Lauren Miceli · Rating 3 out of 5]

A History of the Internet and the Digital Future written by Johnny Ryan is a book that examines the creation and development of the Internet, from the end of the Second World War to the present. He also discusses the areas of possible Internet growth in the future. The book is segmented into three parts, which easily identify periods of extensive change and significant figures in the Internet’s development. The first part of the book examines the conception of the Internet, from and its initial uses, primarily quick communication in the event of nuclear warfare. The second portion of the book discusses the growth and expansion of the Internet, particularly regarding the accessibility and development of networks and the personal computer. The third portion of the book examines more recent developments on the Internet, such as the increase in social media websites like Facebook, and open source websites such as Wikipedia.

The first segment of the book, or “phase” as Ryan refers to it, is initially confusing to the reader. It comes as a shock to learn that the Internet was essentially the child of nuclear warfare, a method that captivates the reader. However, it seems that much of Ryan’s depictions of computing in relation to nuclear warfare appear confusing, and much of the first phase could have been condensed and identified as “a way to stay in contact with its nuclear strike force” (14). It is clear that Ryan’s description of certain concepts, such as packet switching and analogue systems in the early years of the Internet, were simplified for those that are not technologically savvy (15). However, often times his description of concepts, especially with the addition of the numerous acronyms, is confusing to the reader. Regardless, it is clear he has a genuine interest in identifying the history and important figures and organizations behind the development of the Internet, not strictly the theoretical and physical science behind it.

There is not a particular message that Ryan attempts to convey. It is more an assembly of data and other forms of information constructed into a narrative. Ryan is not convincing the reader to have a particular viewpoint of the Internet, however he does try to convince the reader of his beliefs in regards to the changing direction of the Internet and its importance in current society. Most notably, he selectively mentions certain companies, such as Facebook and Youtube, and other social media sites, concerning the political campaigns of Jesse Ventura and current American president, Barack Obama (164). Ryan attributes their successful campaigns to their effective use of the Internet and social media (171). His perspective on current social media tactics, and the possible future markets, particularly in China, where the Internet is closely monitored, is useful to any individual, not solely persons interested in technology (191).

Furthermore, Ryan explores the impact of the Internet on other industries, such as the news media. Through factual evidence, he conveys that the Internet has overtaken print media as the primary source of news and identifies possible issues this could create in the near future (162). One of Ryan's primary strengths is the sources that he utilizes, and the statistical data he mentions throughout the book to support his claims. He uses data in order to decipher possible Internet trends, for example the apparent power shift on the Internet, from hubs of power instead to individual power to each user. This is evident in his description of the website Craigslist.com, where Ryan quantifies the sites success through its “20 billion views per month” and vast amount of advertisements, which are user controlled (141). The primary sources utilized can be considered credible, as interviews conducted with major technological figures, such as Steve Jobs offer credibility to Ryan's claims (179). For example, Ryan applied a New York Times article to describe the fastest modem available in 1985, where he then compared the modem to a more recent and familiar piece of technology, the first generation iPhone (83).

Ryan also employs various secondary sources to add additional information. Typically, Ryan applies such sources apply to describe the invention or first use of some particular Internet tool, for example, when Ryan mentions the first use of spam (121). Often times, Ryan includes pertinent information, which assists the reader, however there is also many instances of the book where the inclusion of excessive examples of the far distant past do not seem applicable and can confuse the reader. This is apparent with Ryan’s unnecessary explanation of the telephone industry and marketing strategies in the 1800s (65-67). Another example is when he attempts to draw a parallel in with the British parliament in the 1800s with “protective tariffs” in order to assist with “domestic prosperity through more trade” to the platforms of Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS (183). It is through these parallels that are frequently used, that the audience can be confused. It may jump from other periods of time, without identifying a clear connection or direct message he is trying to convey.

Overall, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future is focused on an interesting subject and it is clear that Ryan is eager to explain the creation and development of the Internet. It can confusing at times to the reader that may not be skilled with technology, but Ryan attempts to simplify any technological information, and his inclusion of anecdotes can keep the reader entertained. However, the main message, or lack thereof, can be lost within other information or claims. In terms of its historical use, it spans a large span of time, but offers an interesting and detailed narrative that is effectively supported. It is a valuable asset to anyone that wants to familiarize themselves with computing technology, and serves as great resource in understanding trends in Internet power, particularly in regards to commercial businesses like Amazon, or through social media use, like Facebook and Twitter.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his book, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, Johnny Ryan outlines the internet’s past, present, and its possible future. He accomplishes this by dividing A History of the Internet into three distinct parts: “PHASE I: Distributed Network, Centrifugal Ideas”, “PHASE II: Expansion”, and “PHASE III: The Emerging Environment.” With fluid prose, Ryan navigates the history of the internet from its inception as a concept derived from American militaristic need to the open-source, user-driven, centrifugal network it is today. He supports his writing with twenty-seven pages of references and a five page bibliography- mostly interviews and correspondence; however, Ryan also finds use in the books and journal articles written on this topic. A History of the Internet and the Digital Future is an engaging book to say the least although sometimes difficult to follow, with countless acronyms and abbreviations of software, settings, and organizations not to mention the countless individuals whom he weaves through his narrative. At the heart of Ryan’s writing lies the theme of this book, ‘centripetal versus centrifugal.’ He pits the “hackers” and early engineers of the internet against those who could not fathom a centrifugal system ever working; most notably, AT&T. Ultimately, Ryan’s book analyses the forces that contributed and hindered the development of the internet with great success; however, his prediction for “the digital future” is lacking.

The first “phase” of A History of the Internet chronicles the creation and growth of the internet. Ryan does this with great detail, meticulously outlining the: who, what, when, where, and how of the internet’s coming-of-age. Ryan traces the internet’s origins back to the need to effectively counter a Russian nuclear strike in 1950’s Cold War era America. It is here that he introduces a man named Paul Baran whom, he posits, laid the intellectual frame work for the modern internet. Baran advocated for a centrifugal network of data sharing, user-driven and open-sourced, where no one individual or conglomerate could control the entirety of the internet. Paul Baran, and his work, is constantly referred to throughout the book. After introducing the theoretical framework on which the internet would work, Ryan spends the rest of the first “phase” of his book introducing numerous individuals, institutions, and technological advancements that brought the internet to a wider audience.

The second “phase” is aptly named “EXPANSION.” It is here that he focuses on the developments that made the internet more than simply a data sharing platform. He outlines the ‘by-chance’ creation of e-mail; the shift from a government funded data sharing platform to a user-driven, open-sourced, community of the like-minded; how the invention of the World Wide Web changed the way internet is accessed, used, and manipulated; and the dot-com bubble. In this “phase” Ryan’s focus shifts from the technological developments (although still present) to the cultural and social developments that arose alongside the creation of the internet. His emphasis is on the culture that the internet created. He puts forward the idea that the internet brought the world together in a way that no analogue technology had done before. It is here that he makes the statement that, “humanity was about to liberate itself from geography” (74). He chooses to use the popularity of discussion boards and e-mail lists to prove this point. People from all around the globe could connect on a basis of shared interests and were no longer held prisoner to their geographical surroundings.

The third “phase” of Ryan’s book focuses mainly on the present state of the internet and his own predictions for its future. It is here that the author focuses on the idea of a truly open-sourced internet. In the face of growing controversy over who controls the web, who maintains it, and who accesses it, Ryan repeatedly points to the success of user-driven websites like Amazon, E-bay, Craigslist, and Wikipedia. He is in this “phase,” as he did the others, promoting the centrifugal idea of the internet first put forth by Paul Baran in the 1950’s. In a throwback to the cultural and social developments made alongside the internet, which Ryan discusses in the previous “phase,” he devotes a fourteen page chapter to what he terms “Two-way Politics” (164). He credits the internet, and for good reason, with the political success of people like Jesse Ventura, Howard Dean, and Barack Obama. It is in his predictions for the future that Johnny Ryan fails to deliver the same eloquence and in-depth analysis that A History of the Internet had thus far achieved.

Ryan devotes only one chapter, the last, to his predictions of the future. In sum, he alludes to the need for an international recognition of how the internet should be policed. He uses a quote from J.C.R. Licklider to highlight his point when he said that, “if networks are going to be to the future what the high seas were to the past, then their control is going to be the focus of international competition’ (197). Beyond speculation, though, Ryan does little more with his predictions for the future. This is not the only particularity the reader may take issue with. Ryan’s prose, though fluid and aloof, leaves a few glaring mistakes with concern to grammar; for instance, his use of “then” instead of ‘than,’ “to” instead of ‘too,’ or “is” instead of ‘it’ (77, 78, 145). Perhaps Ryan’s editor relied too much on technology when proof reading this work. Although one can hardly fault Johnny Ryan for harmless grammatical errors, it is worth noting that the reader is berated with acronyms throughout the book. With countless barrages of acronyms like ARPANET, DECNET, NSFNET, RIPE, RARE, or RAND (to name a few) can make all but the most computer literate individuals lost at various intervals in the books narrative. Nevertheless, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future successfully chronicles the development of the internet, as well as offering a prediction for its future.

[Candace]

Johnny Ryan’s A History of the Internet and the Digital Future examines the development of the Internet in all its forms dating back to the 1950s until present day. Ryan investigates and educates readers in areas of censorship, terrorism and infringement, with focus on the transition of power between the networked individual and traditional forms of control. Published by Reaktion Books in the United Kingdom in 2010, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future explains how the Internet played a revolutionary role during the Cold War and how it has transformed and modernized the way political campaigns run. Johnny Ryan grew up in Dublin, Ireland and attended University College Dublin and completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge, focusing on how terrorist memes multiply online. Ryan is successful in informing readers how the Internet’s development was a partial accident and how its fundamental values were important factors in the profound development of the World Wide Web.
Prior to reading A History of the Internet and the Digital Future I had mixed reviews on how entertaining the content of the book would be. The first chapter caught me off guard because I did not think it would start so militaristic and discuss issues dealing with the Cold War. I enjoyed how Johnny Ryan instantly grasped my attention by starting the book off by examining the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. He does so by stating
the 1950s were a time of high tension. The US and Soviet Union prepared themselves for a nuclear war in which casualties would be counted not in the millions but in the hundreds of millions (11).
This made it easier to read and gave me a slight foreshadow into the origins of the Internet. Although the book was particularly easy to read and follow, there were certain points that were challenging to understand. When the reading began to interpret terms regarding the technological aspects on the Internet such as Pulse-Code Modulation (PCM) and other abbreviations such as ARPANET, it became challenging to remember what each one was and also how each term was important to the creation of the Internet. Largely, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future did an outstanding job in highlighting the fundamental aspects in the creation of the Internet in the most reader-friendly way, all while emphasizing the importance of the World Wide Web to our society in all its forms.
As such the case with many books, readers can find biases of their own as well as those created by the author. While reading Johnny Ryan’s book, I found that his piece was written more so as a science and history book rather than for an academic audience. This is noticeable when Ryan consistently glorifies the dispersed research conducted by BBN and ARPA, putting them in hostility between tenacious groups such as IBM who believed that networking was not a useful project to dedicate research on. An example can be seen when Ryan states “the systems they were building were unproven…their offices were at desks made from wooden doors with legs nailed to them (30).” Although it may be factual that these work environments were present, Ryan does not make the full argument as to how and why this could impact their research and therefore is portrayed as glorifying and unreliable.
In chapter 5: The Hoi Polloi Connect, the history of Bell and AT&T’s controlling business is explained along with the introduction of the Communications Act, enabling new competitors in the market strictly for the public’s attention. In this chapter we also learn of the creation of group messages through FidoNet, fashioned by Jess Rush at EchoMail. In earlier years, Local Area Networking (LAN) was introduced to many universities and other areas, and in 1985 MIT published Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP), commonly referred to as TCP/IP to computers running Disk Operating Software (DOS). This allowed for the expansion of the number of computers connected to the Internet. I found that in this chapter Ryan was indistinct in explaining how and why these new developments impacted each other. It is elucidated that FidoNet and ARPANET were very different and separate companies, however, Ryan does not suggest whether any connections were made between the two companies.
Chapter 8: The Web highlights the sequence of events that lead to the creation of the Internet. Ryan is successful in informing the reader of the important factors in the establishment of the World Wide Web and its initial origins. However, I found that some elaboration was necessary for specific important factors in this chapter. For starters, when Ryan indicates that Netscape “alerted Wall Street that something new was happening (109)” he does not assess this – a point in which I thought was important and interestingly enough to examine. Seeing as Wall Street is referred to as the world’s principal financial center, it only seemed necessary that Ryan explain how and why something as centrifugal as the Internet can have an impact on Wall Street. Another noteworthy mention is seen when Ryan states that CERN deferred the World Wide Web proposals twice, yet does not explain why they did this.
As previously stated, Johnny Ryan’s A History of the Internet and the Digital Future is successful in educating readers of the deep and rich history of how the Internet was erected. For readers interested in examining the focal points of the establishment of the World Wide Web, this book does numbers in portraying that detail. It creates an astounding introduction to capture the reader’s attention and is seen as an excellent source in understanding the historical roots of the Internet. However, some circumstances find Ryan incapable of explaining certain arguments throughout the chapters, therefore leaving the book as an unreliable source for an academic audience. Although seen as unreliable in some instances, Ryan is successful in developing a book that is reader-friendly yet capable of distributing crucial points of Internet history.

[Doran · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the book A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, the author Johnny Ryan gives a description, in great detail, of the beginning development and continuing advancements of the Internet and World Wide Web from the 1950’s to present day. His book goes on to explore the changes that this new technology goes about bringing; causing a shift of power between the average individual and government institutions on matters such as the restriction of delicate information (censorship), copyright violations, and even modern warfare. Ryan describes the beginnings of the internet thoroughly, and after the history, he turns and focuses on how the Internet has become the go-to for everything in this rapidly evolving digital age. He identifies the Internet as revolutionizing modern day, from larger matters such as political campaigns, down to the presumably smaller chores of a university student’s homework. Ryan’s book works towards giving a (not too brief) history of the short existence of the Internet as well as an overview of how this development is effecting the modern age and possibly where this digital age will lead by looking at the trends shaping and innovating changes in the media, businesses and jobs, and politics. While I feel Ryan is successful in his efforts to recount the history of the Internet, and gives an astute examination of the Internet of today, and what this is leading to, I find his method of delivery to be lacking in any attempts he may have to reach audiences wider than that of computer sciences individuals, the ‘techies’ of the digital age.
I found the opening that Ryan starts with to be a bit of a surprise, as he begins with a narration of the early 1950’s Cold War Era, describing in great detail the causes which led up to the initial call for the development of what would eventually become the World Wide Web. The amount of information he includes is fascinating and overwhelming at the same time, as he illustrates the turmoil and constant stress that the world’s superpowers operated under during the post-World War II years. Ryan is effective in the deliverance of the development of the Internet from its initial intent as a method to enable communication capabilities in the event of a nuclear conflict, as the technology of the time was rendered useless as nuclear radiation proved to be the kryptonite of the 1950’s and 60’s communication technology. He goes into depth on the idea of the method of which the Internet would operate, introducing methods of transferring data or messages (in reference to the need of a communication network) that were considered to be illogical and absurd for the time. As a student of history, I found this interesting to read into, but also felt the considerable inclusion of detail was a bit much, as he even included old 1960’s presidential nuclear response scenarios, which while fascinating, did not add much to the history that Ryan was trying to convey of the internet, and certainly would not be that remarkable of a read to an individual that lacked interest in the field of history.
After the account of the Internet history, Ryan turns his books direction to the effect that the Internet has on the modern day society. Moving up from the 1960’s with the ‘nuclear family’, the passage of information in those days relied heavily on newspapers, radio broadcasts, and whatever television news reports existed the time; most of which was commonly censored heavily by the government or wealthy businesses to keep the general populace in a state of need and reliance on them. The population expected whatever was put out in any of these news outlets to be factual, and the difficulty in actually looking up and researching on your own to verify facts and events was so demanding of time that any information that was released was commonly accepted at face value. With the public release of the Internet and the continual development in the years to follow, people were able to search up information with ease, capable of verifying information that was released, and even find material that contradicted reports released. The Internet began to replace many old aspects of life, sites that filled the same need that existed in the 20th century. Newspaper companies began developing their own websites, allowing the newspapers to be viewed online rather than have to go out and get a copy. Sites such as Craigslist, Kijiji, and Ebay appeared, further reducing the common use of newspapers, allowing people to post up ‘want/need/selling’ ads that would have been listed in the local newspapers. Going larger than that, online shopping came out, allowing people to stay in the comfort of their homes and search through a ‘store’ with ease, and able to have that sent to their homes.
The Internet also allowed for changes in political approaches and even warfare. Politicians could use the Internet to spread their campaign messages faster and more simply than traditional methods. Communications attached to the Internet allowed for automated surveys and promotional messages to be circulated in a more time efficient manner. Warfare is effected by this technology as the balance of the typical ‘army strength’ is completely swapped, as something Ryan refers to an ‘iWar’, which does not need numbers, rather a small number of talented technicians can easily cause panic and wage wars in the digital world.
Because of the Internet and its ever-developing technology, Ryan speculates that the future of the digital age ‘office’ will need no more than an Internet connection for the job, and some can even say that is the reality already. It is a new era in which technology and advancement is powered by the Internet where more and more innovation and development is able to flourish with the changing and progression of the modern Internet. Among this account of dry details and diverse inclusion of sources, Ryan is able to draw a connection between the early development and present day digital age.

[Taylor Masse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Johnny Ryan, the author of A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, discusses the history of the Internet and how it has blossomed over the years through its expansion and evolution around political and commercial life. His main argument is that the Internet is here to stay and therefore the world must adapt to it, as the Internet is centre of change today. It became a way of life that emerged in the 1960’s to the 1970’s and so on until the present. It gave power to individuals, businesses and the government. The Internet can challenge the state, compete for markets and create media. Our lives revolve around the Internet on a daily basis. The Internet is considered the centre of information. Johnny Ryan describes the Internet using three characteristics: centrifugal force, user-driven, and open (8). These characteristics define the digital age, causing users to adjust.

Paul Baran, a researcher for RAND (think-tank), came up with a concept of chopping up messages and sending them through the Internet. His goal was to improve the communication network across the United States to advert a war. His argument on networking is that digital messages would be more efficient if they were chopped up into small ‘packets’. Donald Davies, the superintendent of the Computer Science Division of the United Kingdom’s National Physics Division Laboratory, also developed his own packet-switched networking theory at the same time as Paul Baran. Together they realized that by the time a chopped up message ‘packet’ travelled through the Internet (hitting each node as it went), it would be reconstructed into a full message when it hit its destination. In which, this was beneficial to the U.S. government. The U.S. did not keep Baran’s concept a secret. The logic for this was that U.S control system was better off than the Soviet Unions (15). Baran’s concept had the centrifugal characteristic that defines the Internet. From the mid to late 1970’s telecommunication companies in Europe, Canada, Japan, and the U.S. began to appreciate the potential of digital packet-switched networks and believed they should not be overlooked. The data packets that were invented by Paul Baran and Donald Davies were the dawn of digital networking in the sixties (154). This was the beginning of the Internet.

In 2001, the Apple company launched the iPod mp3 player, which could hold 1,000 songs. In the years between 1999 and 2008, there was a significant drop in the sales of top ten albums. In 2008, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, found that 95% of all music downloaded on the Internet was illegal (151). The digital distribution of mp3 music came from pirated networks such as Netfrack. This caused a loss of billions of dollars. Internet users were connecting to ‘broadband’ speeds, which allowed faster access to the pirated music. The music industry, along with film and television, felt threatened by the Internet because there was greater access to their media. These industries, especially film, were finding commercials for their work circulating on the Internet before the commercial was released to the public. Digital distribution, legal or illegal, gave users two revolutionary things that broadcast and physical had not: choice and availability. People could now watch or listen to whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.
This leads to the second characteristics that Johnny Ryan discusses which is that the Internet is very user-driven. Many websites are popular for advertising and announcements. In 1999, Craig’s List was established. This website was designed so that users could post their own announcements or advertisements for others to see. This was only one of 50 websites that were very popular in a poll taken in 2009. On January 9th, 2007, the iPhone was first released. This brought connectivity and usability to users. People could now connect on the go. Douglas Engelbert established the Augment Human Intellect Research Centre, which created computer tools such as the mouse. These tools would be used to help Internet users to comprehend and work the Internet. There was a study done by Engelbert and his students that resulted in an ‘on-line-system’ (NLS). This introduced the mouse, word processing, and multiple windows for programs. All of this contributed to making social networking easier. Johnny Ryan believed this is the future.

The third characteristic that is a central theme is the idea that the internet is an open source. In 1998, Netscape, was the most popular web browser. It began the open source used to allow users to collaborate on improvements to the Internet. The ‘apache’ project created a free open source server for users, which became the dominate software to allow websites everywhere to be available on the web. It is still a dominate force that we rely on today.

Overall, I liked the book. I thought the book was well written; however, the beginning seemed quite choppy. I felt as though he kept losing me, so I would reread some parts a second or third time. As Johnny Ryan talks about how the Internet has changed and evolved becoming a way of life for people today, I would say that I definitely agree. Many Internet users have come to depend on it on a daily basis. The first thing people do when they wake up is check their e-mail or social media. The introduction of smartphones, such as the iPhone, now allows people to constantly keep checking these programs throughout the day. Since the Internet has become the centre for all information, many people have begun losing their jobs. Newspaper subscriptions have dwindled. Banking can be done online. Politicians run their campaigns online. All of this has contributed to job loss. You can even find your spouse online! The number one downfall that people tend to ignore is that there could be someone out there who can hack into the system and access your personal information. In retrospect, the Internet has become a way of life and the digital future is our future!

[Tyler Pickel]

Johnny Ryan’s A History of the Internet and the Digital Future tracks the growth of the Internet from Cold War era military project to grassroots ‘homebrew’ movement, to the global forum that permeates society today. Ryan focuses on decentralization as a guiding principle of the Internet, placing it at the centre of each challenge faced; whether it was creating a communication system impervious to nuclear attack, breaking the exclusivity of analog communication and the telephone monopoly, or liberating the consumer from a predetermined mainstream culture of push broadcasting. Throughout A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, Ryan argues that the advent of the World Wide Web and the digital age marks the shift from a societal focus on the centre to the periphery; this theme of decentralization weaves its way through the entire book.

Ryan argues that the introduction of the Internet signifies a break in the historical trend towards centralization and a societal focus on the centre. The result is the rise to prominence of both the individual and the peripheries of society as a whole; or according to Ryan, “the coming to power of the networked individual” (p.7). Related to the rise of individual agency is the theme of flattening established hierarchies. Ryan details the budding computer hacker culture’s propensity to “eschew formal rules,” both in the physical world and the online community (p. 99). The reader is offered the example of email, a medium which “stripped away the accumulated layers of formality” of pen and paper correspondence; the result is a reduction in the hierarchical stratification within organizations, allowing superiors and subordinates to communicate more openly equally (p. 79). An extreme example of such hierarchical flattening is the case of Linux creator Linus Torvalds, who was able to defend his work against his professors criticisms with an authority not afforded to him in the academic hierarchy of the physical world. In a related vein, the affordability and user-friendly design of personal computers made it possible for employers to task their employees with word processing and financial calculations that had previously been the responsibility of externally contracted firms. This would become the antithesis of Fredrick Taylor’s Scientific Management, allowing the individual employee to become “the lowest atomic unit of effective creativity within an organization” (p. 133).

Beyond creating a more accessible forum for conversation free from hierarchical mores and restrictions, the Internet was able to negate “the tyranny of geography,” which had previously limited the ability of humans to network beyond their immediate proximity (p. 74). Ryan describes the modern expanse of online communities as “a historical parallel [to] the correspondences and the books of past intellectuals” (p. 83). Not unlike the Republic of Letters, modern citizens of the Web are able to access and contribute to conversations regardless of geographical proximity. For Ryan, an even more significant change ushered in by the Internet is that digital information has become “increasingly plastic and malleable” (p. 138). Previous forms of mass media, from the printed word to radio and television, have relied on the push broadcasting method, where the content and information is prescribed to the audience. The introduction of user-driven sites such as Wikipedia and social networking platforms has drastically minimized the “final cut” on digital information, a change Ryan likens to a return to oral tradition (p. 138).

According to Ryan, the decline of push broadcasting is the result of an inherent advantage to digital networking; the internet facilitates two-way communication in a way newspaper, radio, and television could not. The result of such a fundamental change in the distribution of information and culture is ultimately the rise of the periphery. The individual is increasingly able to dictate what they want to consume, as well as how and when they would like to do it. Ryan argues that this is minimizing the influence of both media and industry to determine what constitutes mainstream culture. The reader may recognize this in the recent expansion in subscription based television, the biggest names being Netflix and HBO. These services (not to mention the truly massive illegitimate market for free streaming of television shows and movies) are examples of pull downloading, which allows the viewer to watch television series at their own leisure as opposed to the imposed schedule of primetime network television.

Despite an overall holistic approach to A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, little international context is provided in the first half of the book. This leaves the reader wondering if the Internet is primarily an American born invention, a question the author does not address. However, an overtly American bias seems unlikely considering that the book was published in the United Kingdom. In addition, the book’s ending feels rather abrupt, lacking so much as a concluding paragraph. Surely many readers will be left wondering about ‘the Digital Future’ mentioned in the book’s title yet sparsely addressed in the text itself. Despite this, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future is an entertaining and accessible read; Ryan manages to include what seems like volumes of information on the development of computer networking and packet-switching without bogging the reader down or being too technical for the layman to follow. As well, the author employs numerous anecdotes and a diverse array of examples to help illustrate his arguments. From nuclear threats and Cold War politics to phone phreaks and decades of evolving hackers, A History of the Internet and the Digital Future is a comprehensive and enjoyable guide to the dawn of the digital age.

[Matt P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Today the internet is used as a modern day tool for everyday work, whether it is sending emails, interacting on social media, or promoting a business. In Johnny Ryan’s A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, he thoroughly examines the history and progression of the Internet from 1950’s Cold War America up to today. Ryan argues that the current drive of the Internet heavily relies upon the individual user and how this should be taken into account for the forthcoming adjustments in which politics, and media will take.

Phase One of the book delves deep into the greater ideas and tensions of the Cold War, which brought about the initial concepts of what is now known as the Internet. Most of this section shows how the first intentions of the Internet were supposed to be made mainly for military and governmental purposes. The second phase examines the shift from military to public use of networks and how this came to be. Through the work of academics and large companies, these people discovered the true potential of the internet. The third and final phase of the book analyses how the rapid and large expansion of the internet has made a rippling effect on the world. All of these phases, while rich with history and interesting facts, often become over-powered by dense computer science terms. Details such as packet-switching, nodes, networking, along with many statistics condensed within a short span of writing could be confusing for the average reader and is definitely targeted to an audience with computer science knowledge. This, in turn, can make it difficult for the reader to maintain the overall message.

In Phase One, Ryan describes the evolution of the Internet as centrifugal, meaning a push from centralized, small use within the United States government to the beginnings of the push for greater expansion. The cause of such change was the emerging Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union. This part of the book is well researched and shows a variety of interesting sources both primary and secondary. A large number of sources, however, can prove to be problematic as too much information can be present. For example, the last part of this phase discusses the large-scale production and purchasing of computers. While this indeed is relevant to the history, small details about topics such as individual processing speed of these computers are not always necessary.

Phase Two describes the transition from individual and local networks, to what we know as the Web. This part of the book is not as linear as the first phase and can sometimes lose focus. The beginning of this phase starts strong with the topic of the connection of networks for the sake of a more broad use. Other strong topics include the coming of what we know as the Web and the effect of the internet after the events of September 11, 2001. While reading this phase, the information begins to lose the continuity held in the previous phase. Where each chapter of Phase One has kept to a concise timeline, this part of the book tends to lose that grasp of time.

Phase Three of the book takes an interesting turn by discussing where the Web is in the current day and what it may possibly turn into. He brings up a point he calls the “Web 2.0” (137) where the internet enters a new era due to the general public with programming abilities being able to create their own content for everyone. His inclusion of applications and social media tie really well into his argument. Tying off his book, he discusses the impact of the Internet on politics. Ryan uses good examples of those in the political field, correlating it to the greater effect of the Internet on politics. The last phase is important because of how strongly it relates back to what Ryan argues within his introduction.

While the message Ryan is conveying is present, it is often difficult to retain due the vast amount of detail used in his writing. The lists of people, places, government divisions, and statistics involved in the process can seem overwhelming. His research documented in the end notes are thorough which show in the amount of detail he uses. His sources consist of a large variety of both primary and secondary types such as letters from Presidents of the time, studies, and other books discussing the topic, to name a few examples. However, while many sources can contribute greatly to one’s research, it may also be another small downfall of the book. While reading, it could be difficult to keep track of what is being presented. Also, the large block quotations, used repeatedly, may be an indication of possibly too much information and less room for interpretation. Another issue present is the type of language used. This book is most definitely intended for an academic audience, but possibly not to those studying history as suggested by the title. Instead, it seems to lean towards those in the field of computer science due to the knowledge given about the specifics of computers and networking. The book often refers to concepts such as coding, processing, size of data, and many others the average reader and computer user may not be knowledgeable of. While this may be good for those studying or interested in this area, the book may present itself to be overwhelming to some readers. Ryan has certainly shown that the Internet and digital world are rapidly changing, and having an enormous effect on the day-to-day lives of individuals. His arguments reveal a lot of deep thought as to what the Internet is and may become, but this message can get lost quickly through his writing style and inclusion of many detailed findings.

[Chris Teeuwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A History of the Internet and the Digital Future Review
Today everyone uses the internet in their everyday lives, whether it be sending an email to a co-worker for work, getting information for a school project, or just talking to a friend that is away at school. Internet has become an important aspect in many of our lives. Johnny Ryan is the author of the book A History of the Internet and the Digital Future. In this book, Johnny Ryan talks about the history of the internet. Ryan goes into more depth throughout the book. He splits the book into three phases, and each phase discusses the progression that the internet made throughout the years. This book is a great learning tool for anyone who wants to learn about how the internet came to be. The book is loaded with lots of information and provides a vivid timeline of the creation of the internet.
As mentioned earlier, Ryan splits the book into three phases. The first phase consists of the first four chapters of the book. The first phase discusses the initial stages of the creation of the internet. The initial thought process for the internet came to fruition during the 1950s. Initially the internet began as a government project and consisted of two nodes. The main purpose of the internet during the 1950s and 1960s, was to communicate with the different points throughout the United States if they lost radio and telephone communications during a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. It was during the decade of the sixties that the internet started to take form. Many different people contributed to the initial stages of the internet, which was just for the use of the military. The military wanted to create a better way to communicate with each other throughout the United States in cause of they lost the use of the radio or telephone after the Soviets attacked using their nuclear missiles. They never envisioned what the internet would become 4 decades later and how much of an impact on our lives it would be. It wasn’t until the 1970’s and after the military attached a satellite to the original operating system, that the public first witnessed the internet. During the 1970’s undergraduate students from around the United States started to create software and codes and created the first glimpse of the internet, mainly e-mail. The last part of the first phase discusses the creation of more affordable computer that many of US citizens could have in their homes. This was the next step in the creation of the internet which was still in the infant stages.
The next phase consists of chapters five through nine, and discusses the expansion of the internet. This phase goes into more detail about the undergrads that had a hand in creating the software and codes needed to make the internet accessible the public. It was groups like homebrew and BBS that helped to bring the internet into everyone’s homes. Although the internet was expanding, it was nothing like the internet we have today. There were no search engines, or social media like Facebook, or Twitter, they only thing that the internet could do during the 1970s was send a form of email out, and there were forum groups that people from the community discussed events and such. During the expansion phase, it is the first time the internet started to shift from military to civilian use of the internet. The internet was now showing up not only in the homes of the US people but also in businesses. Universities were now able to use the internet for research and soon it would expand beyond the United States. Finally five decades after the military began to use the internet, the first server was created that was able to view documents across the web. Over the next few years, people were able to not only add things to the web, but also edit. This creation would lead to the digital era we now live in. This phase also discusses the change of ownership of the internet from the US government to a public domain. Ryan also discusses the rapid acceleration of business trying to compete in the online market. Business’ tried to replicate the success of site such as Amazon and EBay, but failed miserably because they didn't get the concept of the internet quite yet.
The final phase of the book contains the remaining 4 chapters, chapters ten through thirteen. In this phase, Ryan discusses the emerging environment of the internet. This is the beginning on the new era of the internet, many of the expansions made are what we can access today. Ryan also discusses the birth of social media and the creation of the mp3 that leads to piracy of music and later on movies and television shows. The internet would become so influential that people running in governmental elections. With the internet becoming such a big part of our lives, we have left ourselves vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Just like terrorism in the real world, there are people that use the internet as a weapon and can wipe out a nation with the click of a button. Hackers can access anything on a country from the web, even the finances of a country. If they were to erase that data, it could send the country back and ultimately bankrupt that nation.
A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, by Johnny Ryan is a great read. It creates a vivid timeline of information on the creation of the internet. It is also a great learning tool for any teachers or professors that are teaching a class on the internet. Anyone that is interested in technology should read this book. It has everything that you need to know and all of the people that contributed to the internet that sits before us. The internet wasn't created in a day, a week or even a year, it took many decades. This book is recommended to anyone that is interested in a good read.

[Tom Lynch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Johnny Ryan’s book A history of the Internet and the digital future takes a look at the internet from its simplest of roots. It draws from a vast array of different areas of study which together contributed to what is now the modern internet. Throughout the work the author continually refers to the three major themes in which the web was born. These three themes are that “…the Internet is a centrifugal force, user-driven and open.” (8) The author’s main goal in writing this work is to show where these three characteristics came from and their importance over time so that one might understand where the internet is heading in the future. Upon reading this work it can be concluded that the author does a respectable job in writing a history of the internet. He provides information on items that many people deal with on a daily basis without having an actual understanding of. A good example of this being the various acronyms used on the web as well as in the book, such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), which are explained in detail throughout the work. Ryan supplies a book that allows for an understanding of the internet’s complex past, and urges readers to begin thinking about its future.
This work highlights three major themes in which the author insists are of great importance to the internet: its expansion outwards from a central point of ideas, its development by its users and its ease of accessibility. Firstly, a term used countlessly throughout the work is centrifugal. This refers to the internet’s basis on central ideas and since have been exponentially expanding outward in an unstoppable and unprecedented manner. The author refers several times to the speed at which the internet took off after a long road filled with skeptics. Next, the author highlights the web’s user driven nature. Even in its humble beginnings the original workers of the software, hackers and users alike all shared this common mentality. People wanted to maintain a decentralized plain in which all individuals had the power to create and change what was on the web. Wikipedia can be seen as a great modern example of this longstanding idea on the internet. Lastly, the World Wide Web was created to be open for all people. It is a vast network of information with endless possibilities in areas such as communication and entertainment. The author shows where these three characteristics came from, how they were maintained throughout time and their presence on the internet today. By understanding these concepts Ryan hopes that the reader will gain insight into the internet and its future trajectories.
The author does a good job writing this book overall, however, there are some criticisms that can be made. Any individual that plans on reading this work should know beforehand that, in Ryan’s words, “[w]hat follows, the reader is warned in advance, is a steady flow of acronyms.”(90) Although this quote can be found halfway through the work, and not at the beginning as it should be, the reader will notice within only a few pages that the book relies heavily on the use of acronyms. At times these can be found to be overwhelming as some of them are so similar or are even simply a new version of a past abbreviation that has been used. The author demonstrates this in several locations throughout the work, listing off numerous acronyms in a row over a span of several pages. This can lead to the audience getting lost and even diminish the overall meaning that the author was attempting to present in that given section. Ryan does warn of the heavy use of abbreviations and even puts a glossary in the back of the book that does help to a degree. However, even with these included the extensive use of these acronyms takes away from the overall flow of the book.
Another area of critique is the author’s tendency to go too in depth with some of the historical analysis. One particular incident that should be noted occurs in a section regarding Ada, daughter of Lord Byron, and, as Ryan describes her, “…the world’s first programmer.” (98) However, given that this section is about her it seems unnecessary to go in to as much detail as the author does about Lord Byron himself. The author even describes him as “…a promiscuous bisexual, the most flamboyant figure of the romantic movement, constantly in debt, and ever surrounded in scandal.” (97) This information seems unnecessary even given the fact that the author is talking about the peculiarity of computer programmers in this section. There are several other occurrences where the author deviates off of the history of the internet and gives too much information on something of little importance. It is true that the information presented may be correct and pertain specifically to the history in some way. However, as a reader this causes one to lose focus from the major themes and to lose sight of more prominent information. The author would have benefited from summarizing more in these sections to ensure that the main focus remained on the history of the web.
In conclusion, Johnny Ryan’s book A History of the Internet and Digital Future does its title justice and successfully traces the World Wide Web’s vast origins to its humblest of beginnings. Anyone from newcomer to that of someone proficient in internet history can benefit from reading this book as it dives so deep into the story of the World Wide Web. Those whom are brand new to the subject may at times find it overwhelming and slightly confusing. However, something as prominent in today’s world as the internet should have its story told to the masses and using this book that can be accomplished.

[Brittney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A History of the Internet and the Digital Future, written by Johnny Ryan is a 246 page book, with 49 pages of glossary sources and other information that examines the history and inventing of the internet, computer, and other digital processes. The book is split into three separate sections with each section dealing with a different time frame of discovery. The first phase explores what was already being used and the ideas and original conceptions, the second phase being the expansion on the products and the third and final phase being the cultural beginnings and more recent expansions of the digital products. Overall, I enjoyed the book as it was an easy and understandable read that provided much information to the descriptions of the products as well as the history.

Ryan's book begins with a preface that speaks first about the present (the period in which he wrote) and then tells the reader the layout of the book and describes what he believes are the three characteristics of the internet; that it is a centrifugal force, it is user-driven and open. (Ryan, 2010 p. 3) The information provided by Ryan is vast and all encompassing. He discuses in detail each subject that he sees as important to the history. When speaking of the more difficult aspects of technology he explains what is important and builds upon what has already been discussed. Ryan also does a fair good of explaining about the different organizations, acronyms and groups and how they improved or participated in the changing technologies of the internet and its predecessors. After this, Ryan spends time on each area of technology that developed into the digital form, spending most of his time on the varying ways the internet and the computer developed. Going as far as the 2000s to speak about the cultures and the different ways that this new technology built upon preexisting processes, such as campaigning for politics. (Ryan, 2010, Chapter 12 pages 164-177)

Throughout the book, Ryan focuses on a sequential timeline while also separating each topic into subdivided topics. This division allows for an easy read as it allows the reader to get the sequential information of on topic, such as the phone system or creation of Google or Wikipedia, without muddling the information with a completely sequential flow of events. This layout allows for a reader to know the timeline of the one topic before moving on and trying to keep each topic separate in one's own mind. This layout; however, does usually make it more difficult to remember when each single product was created, although Ryan does a good job of referencing when a previous mentioned topic or product is occurring around the same time.

One of the aspects of Ryan's book that I greatly enjoyed about the book is that Ryan explains about different aspects outside the internet. He not only explains the different processes that researchers and governments pursued that helped shape the internet and digital sharing, but he also discusses the different computers that were formed and improved upon. He speaks about the technologies that allowed for different types of sharing to be accessible as well as more user friendly than when first made. He spends a great deal of time speaking about what was first available during the 1950s and before and how the different people started to look into the different ways in order to improve communications, mainly for government and military purposes. Doing this puts emphasis on the beginnings of the digital age, it shows that while its main purpose is now mass consumption, the original idea was to be used as a military and defensive nature. He also spends a great deal of time talking about other digital aspects that don't relate directly to internet and computers. For example, he spends time speaking about the revolution of the phone system and companies as well as the cultures that came out of experimenting with the system, whether legal or not. Something else that Ryan utilizes well in his text are quotations from writings and people who were involved with e different aspects of the evolving technologies. From the beginning ideas and conceptions, to the military and government involvement all the way to discussing political campaigns and the creation of Google and Wikipedia, Ryan takes a plethora of quotes and thoughts from the people who have been crucial and a part of the process. These quotes help enhance Ryan's work as it allows readers to fully understand the point of view of these central people and processes, it indicates that while some may have fully embraced the concept and where looking to the future and what it could eventually become, others where living in their present and was only looking into what they could create and not the future, while again others did not want to change the way things where at all.

Overall, I believe that Ryan did a fair job of explaining the different technological leaps to bring digital information and the internet to form. I feel that it was well explained and laid out in a way that someone who is unfamiliar in technology would still be able to understand. I believe that the information that he used in this history was informative and interesting to read being that I myself am an avid internet and computer user. He did a fine job with connecting the improvements over time with the current generation by speaking about how the technology related to current products such as the Iphone. I would recommend this to anyone who has an interest in the different aspects that brought the computer and internet to the common person.

[Megan Chau · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book being reviewed here is “A History of the Internet and the Digital Future” by Johnny Ryan. The book “tells the story of the development of the Internet from the 1950s to present, and examines how the balance of power had shifted between the individual and the state in the areas of censorship, copyright infringement, intellectual freedom and terrorism and warfare.” (dust jacket synopsis) In my opinion, the book has some redeeming qualities, but overall, the book is lackluster and quite a boring read.

The biggest issue with the writing, I found, was that it was oftentimes pedantic, repetitive, and needlessly long-winded. It took until the end of Phase II for the book to gain any real momentum and capture any real interest. Before that, it was a barrage of “this network was created, this was its purpose, this is what replaced it.” He spent perhaps too much attention to the minute, irrelevant details. On pages 33 to 34, he goes off on a tangent and writes a spiel about a public house called Zott’s, which took up nearly a page of the book and, in my opinion, was completely redundant. Ryan did not need to regale the readers with the house’s century long history to simply tell them that a team of researchers sent “the first ever packet data transmission across two networks using the new ‘internet’ protocol.” (p. 34) It was almost a daunting task to have to read Phase I and early Phase II of the book, especially as a person who grew up using the Internet, takes it for granted, and never gave its history a second thought.

Late Phase II and Phase III were the parts that were truly interesting. I believe most of the development of the Internet took place during these times (the 1990s to 2000s). Chronologically, the longest part took place between Phase I and early Phase II, but the most advancements were made in the latter part of the book. I felt like the beginning of Ryan’s book could have been summarized and presented in a better fashion, and that more emphasis should have been put on the advancements of the Internet in the late 90s and new millennia, since a large “boom” occurred in that time that revolutionized the Internet. Considering how central the Internet has become in the last two decades, the biggest impacts to society and considerable changes happened in those years.

The book also did not give a good explanation of computer terminology. If a reader was to understand the point the author was trying to get across, they would have to have a knowledge of computers and networking. If not, the reader could easily become confused as to what the author was talking about. Ryan included a glossary in his book (p. 198 - 200) that was limited to just acronyms. What he should have done was include basic computer and networking terms found throughout the book, such as “packets,” “hackers,” “kernel,” and more (p. 15, 51, and 113). It would greatly help those who wish to learn about the history of computers without any prior extensive knowledge, but not be overwhelmed and intimidated by the unfamiliar words Personally, reading this book as a history student with no background in computer science, many things confused me, and it took further research on the Internet to try and make sense of some of the words and find a more simplified explanation. So, if the reader is not sure about the meaning of a word, they should have an easy to access glossary in the book.

However, one of the better qualities of the book is that Ryan attempts to relate to other audiences by mentioning a historical event/phenomenon and make an analogy to something in his book. On page 122, Ryan relates the “tulipmania” of 1634 to 1637 in the Dutch Republic to the sudden boom in popularity of the dot-com stock, and as he says, “[a]pocryphal or not, these tall tales resonate with the 1996 - 2000 dot-com bubble.” Ryan also adds interesting tidbits of information in the book, like how Lord Byron, a famous English poet, had a daughter, Ada, who was the world’s first programmer in 1842. (p. 98). It’s hard to imagine the child of a poet, let alone a female, would make such an important contribution to programming and computing. There are also moments of humor in the book, like when talking about programmers, Ryan says they “observed no particular work hours, arrived in T-shirts and fed on a diet of Coke and pizza,” and how two programmers “left the Lincoln Laboratory for the most bizarre of reasons: they wanted to bring a cat into the lab, which Lincoln would not allow.” (p. 99) These little things did wonders to spice up what was otherwise bland writing. If Ryan had attempted to use more of these examples in his writing, I think his book would have done a much better job at catching the reader’s attention and keeping it.

In summary, the book “A History of the Internet and the Digital Future” by Johnny Ryan is altogether not a terrible book; the information was all there, correct, but the writing style brought it down. There were many areas for improvement in the book, it could have been more interesting, less pedantic, and provided a better glossary of terms for his readers. But, his observations about the future and the potential of the Internet, that “[h]umanity faces the risk of ruining [it] even before it becomes a mature technology, before its benefit as a global commons can be fully realized” is something that we can observe unfolding before us, and it is unpredictable what can become of the Internet within the next few years. (pg. 197)

[Tanya Jutras · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Review of History of the Internet by Johnny Ryan

A History of the internet is a modern book geared towards the new age of technology and how it affects our world. I personally enjoyed this book, finishing it during my 3 hour break between classes. Even though I am not a big fan of technology, and it not a big fan of me, I still found this book quite entertaining. The author Johnny Ryan found a way to express his ideas and evidence in an engaging and enlightening way. Ryan does not focus as much on the technical side like URL’s but more so, on its creation and the trials it went through to create. Although it did have its dry parts, and words that, unless you had a technical background, you had to look up; the author’s arguments were well-established, yet understandable. Ryan starts by explaining how internet has changed the way we view our society, how we communicate, and how we fix problems that arise. He goes further by stating how the internet has changed and continues to revolutionize politics, business and military. Ryan organizes his arguments into 3 sections, each encompassing roughly four chapters. He begins with a bang, rather the lack there of, and explains how during and after the Cold War the ideas and thinking behind networking began to emerge. For instance, the military began to imagine an idea of a network that could be distributed across weak points, as to withstand an attack from communist Russia. This would eventually evolve into the internet. This is expanded upon in the next section titled ‘Expansion’. (63) This section specifies the evolution of this early network into the internet everyone uses today. In the final section the author evaluates the state of the internet today and calculates how it might be used in the future.

Throughout his book, Ryan made many interesting points as he presented his history of the internet which kept the reader entertained as well as informed. For instance, the Air Force went to AT&T with Paul Baran’s concept of ‘distributed’ networking and was ‘objected violently’ because it was the “antithesis of the communication systems the AT&T was founded on”. (16) Any reader would find amusement in this statement because of the amazing opportunity that AT&T clearly passed up. However he does not focus only on the internet per say, but adds interesting facts about other technologies in the making as well. For example, he states how webcams were made by lazy researchers. Ryan inserts these interesting facts throughout his book to grab the reader’s attention through, as I would put it, dry parts.

That is one of his failings in making this book, even though he tries to keep the reader’s attention, it is a history book, and as with all history books there are some dry facts that need to be stated. All the interesting facts in the world cannot make those facts more attention-grabbing. For instance, in some sections, like the explanation of internet from military to global network, there is only so much interest Ryan can try to insert in such a dry topic. However, overall Ryan makes his book attention-grabbing to the reader, as well as getting his point across.

Another clever method Ryan uses to keep his readers attention, as well as get his arguments across is his organization of materials. The author organizes his arguments into well titled chapters, giving the reader a clear understanding of what will be explained in each chapter. Furthermore, many of the chapters have subheadings that add additional explanations. The book is organized so well that a reader can flip the book open to a random page and know what the author’s argument is for that section. All in all that the reader can easily find a certain point in the internet’s history that entertains him with ease. This is beneficial to not only students researching the internet, but also to the average person who wants to know a specific point of internets history.

One of the biggest negatives to this book is the technical terms used throughout. Although Ryan does simplify, to his best ability, the technical terms associated with the making of the internet; it is too complex of a subject to be abridged into a book that anybody could read. Although in the end, it is not the authors fault for being unable to simplify the internet further, it still falls into his job to make it easier for the reader to understand. I believe he fails at some points to do this, and leaves the reader to try and figure specific things out themselves.

One of the biggest positives of this book is the use of reputable sources. Looking at the bibliography it is clear that Ryan uses mainly academic sources. This made his book a lot more reliable to students as well as the average reader. Do to the sources used on can trust that what Ryan states, is the real history of the internet. Furthermore, if one wanted to know more about the subject they would be able to look at these sources for further data.

Overall Ryan did a great job getting explaining in detail his stance on the history of the internet. He made the book reasonably easy to understand, and kept it interesting where he could. Although, like with any history book, there were some dry spots and technical terms that needed to be explained; Ryan keeps the reader entertained in creative ways. All in all Ryan took a subject that could have been a perplexing mix of code and terminology, into a well-organized people friendly book, that offers anybody a look at the making of the technology that runs our lives today.

[Felipe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information, but damn could it have used another round of editing.

Also, while I understand what he was trying to do, comparing communities of queer kids on the internet to militant Islamic terrorists in Chapter 13 is maybe not the best look, my dude. It reeks of a lack of empathy and critical thinking. Again, I understand what he was trying to do, but it was clumsy and poorly executed; success would have required a LOT more nuance and care. Hopefully this is another thing that would have been caught in the edit, but still.

[Benedetta M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is well written and it’s interesting, but Unfortunately, it has become obsolete because it was realised in 2010, almost 10 years ago. Internet nowadays is totally different.