Fin

Hello all,

We watched the end of Alphaville today, hence the title of this weeks blog. I found it a bit hard to take in. There were a few times that I couldn't get the gist of what was going on. In the end it was a sci-fi romance movie, set on an alternative galaxy. I guess its relevance to me, was how new technologies are predicted to shape our future. Which I had already really touched on during earlier blogs.

Today's lecture however, was all about the history of the internet. I always thought that the web and the internet were the same thing. Today I found out this isn't true. The web is one particular application of the internet, and the internet is a 'network of networks...loosely interconnected by the telephone system and, more recently, broad-band cable and satellite services, to link people around the world into an information-sharing system'.

We watched a short film that attempted to explain what goes on when we click a link on a web page. The reason i say, "attempted to explain" is because I am more confused now than I was before. I think I was better off not-knowing! All the talk about routers, pings, pings of death...it's sort of like a computer game in itself!

We learnt about the earlier internet applications, such as emailing (still going strong), File transfer protocol, Internet relay chat. The internet has evolved so much - whereas these earlier applications may still be in use, they have evolved so much in only a short time. For example - new applications are instant messaging, Peer-to-Peer file sharing, webblogs, myspace, secondlife...and the list goes on.

I can't believe there is actually a word to describe etiquette on the internet - and that word is.....wait for it.....'netiquette'. How delightful. So when we're talking about bad netiquette, we're talking spam emails, crackers - computer criminals, viruses - all the things that disrupts another persons use of the internet. Netiquette also includes the use of emotions - you know, those cute little faces that express our emotions at the time.... :I "there is no emoticon for what i am feeling!!" as comic book guy would put it.

So thats a touch of what we delved into today. We're discussing our assignments in the tutes and i'm trying to decide on my topic, so, until next time,

- Toodles!