In a very short period of time the internet has had a profound impact on the way we live. Since the Internet was made operational in 1983, it has lowered both the costs of communication and the barriers to creative expression. lt has challenged old business models and enabled new ones. Lt has provided access to information on a scale never before achievable. lt succeeded because we designed it to be flexible and open. These two features have allowed it to accommodate innovation without massive changes to its infrastructure. An open, border less and standardized platform means that barriers to entry are low competition is high, interoperability is assured and innovation is rapid.
The beauty of an open platform is that there are no gatekeepers. For centuries, access to and creation of information was controlled by the few. The internet has changed that and is rapidly becoming the platform for everyone, by everyone.
Of course, it still has a way to go. Today there are only about 2.3 billion internet users, representing roughly 30% of the world’s population. Much of the information that they can access online is in English, but this is changing rapidly.
The technological progress of the internet has also set social change in motion. As with other enabling inventions before it, from the telegraph to television, some will worry about the effects of broader access to information — the printing press and the rise in literacy that it effected were, after all, long seen as destabilizing. Similar concerns about the internet are occasionally raised, but if we take a long view, I’m confident that its benefits far outweigh the discomforts of learning to integrate it into our lives. The internet and the World Wide Web are what they are because literally millions of people have made it so. It is a grand collaboration.
It would be foolish not to acknowledge that the openness of the internet has had a price. Security is an increasingly important issue and cannot be ignored. lf there is an area of vital research and development for the internet, this is one of them. I am increasingly confident, however, that techniques and practices exist to make the internet safer and more secure while retaining its essentially open quality.
After working on the internet and its predecessors for over four decades, l’m more optimistic about its promise than l have ever been. We are all free to innovate on the net every day. The internet is a tool of the people, built by the people for the people and it must stay that way.
a. How did Douglas overcome his fear of water?
b. What doubts did Edla have about the peddler?
c. Why does the poet want us to keep quiet?
d. “If all the Japs were like you there wouldn’t have been a war,” said Tom. Justify.
e. How does Jo want the story to end?
a. Bring out the contrast in the ironmaster’s attitude and behavior towards the stranger before and after he realizes his mistake.
b. Why does Jo want that the Wizard should hit the mommy? Does her stand reflect a child’s perspective on life? What is your choice?
(b) What was the general feeling in Iping about the existence of an invisible man?