Journal of Information Technology · 2013 · 156 citations · 37 references
Tiny AcornInternet ScienceNetwork AnalysisEducationArpanet NetworkCommunicationEconomic HistoryMedia StudiesCyber-geographyInformation InfrastructureSocial MediaUniversal AcceptanceMissing NarrativesInterconnect TechnologyInternet ModelingHistory Of TechnologyInformation SocietyExchange NetworksGlobal NetworkingInternet StudiesTechnologyNetwork ScienceArtsNetwork SystemsPhysical Internet
The origins of the Internet are only partially understood, and it is often believed that it grew as a tree from the 1969 ARPANET network. The study argues that the conventional tree‑like narrative of the Internet’s origins is incomplete and flawed, and it contributes by reconstructing early network history, quantifying the relative significance of those networks, and offering a nuanced interpretation of dominant design emergence. The authors reconstruct the history of computer networks from the late 1950s to the early 1990s using a wide range of primary and secondary sources, and they systematically quantify the relative significance of these networks. The analysis reveals that ARPANET was just one of many commercial and non‑commercial networks of the era and was not especially large, yet the integration of these networks into the Internet was likely regardless of ARPANET’s existence, underscoring the importance of historical context for understanding information systems.
The origins of the Internet are only partially understood. It is often believed that the Internet grew as a tree from a tiny acorn, the ARPANET network set up in 1969. In this study, we argue that this interpretation is incomplete at best and seriously flawed at worst. Our article makes three contributions. First, on the basis of a wide variety of primary and secondary sources we reconstruct the history of computer networks between the late 1950s and the early 1990s. We show that the ARPANET network was one among a myriad of (commercial and non-commercial) networks that developed over that period of time – the integration of these networks into an internet was likely to happen, whether ARPANET existed or not. Second, we make a systematic effort to quantify the significance of these various networks. This allows us to visualize more clearly the extent to which the ARPANET network was one among many, and not a particularly large one at that. Third, we provide a nuanced interpretation of the rise of various technologies, including the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol and the World Wide Web, as ‘dominant designs.’ Their rise should be interpreted within the economic framework of industries with network effects, in which historical accidents bring about tipping points that lead to universal acceptance. We thus show that history matters for understanding why information systems function in the way they do.
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Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy
Michael J. Shaw, Carl Shapiro, Hal R. Varian · Academy of Management Review · 2000 · 4.2K citations · Full text
J. C. R. Licklider · IRE transactions on human factors in electronics · 1960 · 1.7K citations