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A Brief History of the Internet

NerdsWell? What did ya think of this flick, the aptly named Nerds 2.0.1? Though it is now very dated I think the film gave a good, if introductory, overview of many facets of this new networking age including technical, commercial, and social implications. What did YOU think?

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Posted by Mark Hemphill on October 12, 2004 | Permalink

Comments

The movie was a little bit scattered at times and had some parts that were randomly thrown in, but other wise was interesting. I liked how it wasn't trying to make the watcher feel stupid by talking the whole time in terms you wouldn't understand and if there was a computer term it was explained. Over all a good movie that had a lot of learning benefits.

Posted by: Joanna | Oct 12, 2004 5:53:23 PM

I agree with Joanna in that the movie did seem to randomly thrown in certain parts. However, I think it gave a good background on networking and just how far it has come. I also thought it was interesting how the host kept checking in with the Excite guys every year. It allowed you to see their remarkable progress from year to year....lucky b@?!%#*.

Posted by: Steve MacLeod | Oct 12, 2004 6:01:45 PM

I enjoyed to movie...I loved the first of it...it was interesting. At the end I was ready for it to be over..but I am glad that you showed it to us. Just because it isn't exciting, doesn't mean I wasn't glad to see it and learn from it!

Posted by: Stephanie | Oct 12, 2004 7:37:59 PM

hey, Stephanie, no, that's true. I like your honesty. What was it about the last bit that bored you a little?

Posted by: Mark | Oct 12, 2004 7:58:32 PM

Overall, this movie wasn't too bad. It was informative about describing how the internet works and the founders of the net. It was impressive to see how that group of teenagers were so bright to come up with what they did.(However, I don't think they had anything else to keep them busy). I got a good kick out of how smart these kids were, especially with the kid that developed the bike/moped/tricycle. Man, did that kid look like a young Bubbles or what?. Although dry in parts, the movie was a good teaching tool.

Posted by: Allan MacKinnon | Oct 12, 2004 8:34:28 PM

I agree that the movie was extremely informative and a good way to show the progress of computer networks. I also found it very interesting to hear that these inventors did not turn out to be millionaires because they probably should be. Overall I was found this movie educational and unlike most educational movies not that boring.

Posted by: Jason Doyle | Oct 12, 2004 9:29:12 PM

I thought the movie was pretty good, it was interesting, a little dry at times and seemed to drag at the end, but it was clear and easy to understand. PLus with a little sexuality thrown in that's not too bad, maybe there should be demonstrations like that in class too..just joking. it was neat to see how the use of computers has evolved so quickly. I thought it would be kinda interesting if there was more to the movie or if it's a completely different movie where this one ended with Bill Gates. Maybe we'll get to see something on him and get the experts opinions on him.

Posted by: Kris McKearney | Oct 12, 2004 10:39:51 PM

I found this video really helped me understand the progress of the internet. I expected it to be one of those dry movies where they go on and on forever with old people talking about how the internet got started, but it was completely different. It was fairly updated and it was actually quite interesting, well except for the end which was quite boring. I found learning about the guys that founded Excite was very motivating. It must be nice to be so successful at such a young age!

Posted by: Alicia Birt | Oct 13, 2004 9:45:54 AM

I found the movie informative. I never thought about how when the internet was being formed the first man was landing on the moon. Maybe if that important event wouldn't have been going on the internet would have been in the news more. Overall the movie was good.

Posted by: Margo | Oct 13, 2004 10:14:39 AM

I thought the movie was a good teaching tool, however by the end of it I too was ready for it to be over. I like the comparison with landing on the moon. Not many people at the time would have thought the internet being born as a equal milestone in history but looking back at it now you could say it was. What was a small step for man, truly became a giant leap for mankind with the birth of the internet.

Posted by: Jonathan Fenton | Oct 13, 2004 11:07:01 AM

I thought the movie was alright. It was random in places, they seemed to stick in so many pointless little parts. But it was good other than that. What struck me as funny/wierd was how they were calculating their ages in "computer years". Does that mean we (who used the internet and computers all our lives) are 7 times older? We would all be pretty old now!

Posted by: Amy McKie | Oct 13, 2004 11:55:46 AM

The movie was kind of all over the place and went backwards like Mark said in class. It was ok, and I agree with Stephanie that it seemed to drag on a little at the end. However, at the end they showed Bill Gates receiving some kind of reward for the PC and that they would show that as a part 2 type of thing, I think that part of the show, would be very interesting to me since Microsoft is such a high end company.

Posted by: Jeremy MacEwen | Oct 13, 2004 1:14:34 PM

I found the movie informative, but I agree that some parts were scattered and choppy. I was really interested when the movie discussed how none of the universities wanted their computers networked to other university computers. The whole idea of the internet could have been pushed back a few years if APARA hadn't forced the issue. This makes me wonder if the universities had gotten their way would we still be where we are today in terms how we use the internet and some of it's advances?

Posted by: Heather Schubert | Oct 13, 2004 1:38:55 PM

I found the movie was informative. I am one of the few older individuals in the class and too be honest I never really paid much attention to the history of the internet. However, after watching the movie I realized that I have learned so much more over the years becuase of the internet and WWW. I use the internet on a daily basis, whether it be for personal or work related issues. I do agree that the movie was a bit scattered, however, it was better then having to read a chapter in a book on how the internet was formed!!

Posted by: Tracey Gallant | Oct 13, 2004 1:42:24 PM

I thought the movie was alright i agree with what some of the others thought about it being all over the place. But If you focus on each random segment I thought it was pretty interesting. Really hard to understand if you try to piece it together though. I thought it was pretty neat how those university students could start up a business in one of their homes. That sort of lets people know that if they have a little internet hobbie or something that it could become something huge. Pretty cool.

Posted by: Jeremiah Blaquière | Oct 13, 2004 3:33:45 PM

I must have gotten scared, I posted my opinion on weblogs, check it out here

Posted by: Jmoore | Oct 13, 2004 4:38:42 PM

Thanks for the pointer Jeremy!

Scattered is a good way to describe the flick. And it's not a bad way to describe the Internet....less hierarchy, less linearity, just small pieces loosely joined.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what I said in class about the deflation of porn on the Internet? It was the first big money maker on the Net and, in the case of that vendor in the flick people were paying as much as $5.99 per minute for it. Now there are thousands more vendors, and a tonne of free porn floating around on the Internet. I doubt anyone would pay $5.99 a minute anymore. What does this say about the Internet? In what other industries has this sort of deflation happened? and why?

Posted by: Mark | Oct 13, 2004 5:20:31 PM

Scattered is also a good way to describe my web-logs...haha I wasn't really sure where we were supposed to make our posts on Modularity and Nerds 2.0, but I take it from the rest of the class the Modularity post was supposed to be made on the class weblog and the comment and hyperlink to Nerds 2.0 was supposed to be made on our own personal weblogs (weblogs@upei). If this isnt right just let me know i'll do one or more over again if i need to.

Posted by: Kate | Oct 13, 2004 7:37:34 PM

It's no biggy Kate, both would be good over here, but whatever works!

Posted by: Mark | Oct 13, 2004 8:35:12 PM

I thought the movie was useful. It informed us a lot about how communicating has evolved. I think that for the type of content, the movie was a little too long. It didn't keep many people's attention. The heat in the room didn't help much! It's nice to know how everything got started and that it was related to the space race. I never realized that it went back to the sixties.

Posted by: Jennifer Jeffery | Oct 13, 2004 8:50:53 PM

I thought the movie was interesting. It explained alot about how communication on the net is evolving and how difficult it was to start it up and getting it to work.

Posted by: Tammy | Oct 13, 2004 9:03:43 PM

It was neat to see all of the pioneers per se of the internet and it's development all in one place. The internet has grown to be such a universally wide network and it is so strange to think that it started with a few people with an idea. These people are still living... and to think, they didn't even get rich off of it! What a shame. They changed the world. One thing that struck me as interesting was the mention of people living the "telephone life" or "television life"... the resources we use daily to carry out vital activities. I think it is safe to say that I am at that point now with the web (as predicted). I pay all my bills online, I check the weather and my bank accounts all via the internet. I honestly check my email at least twice a day and without access to the internet, I literally feel cut off from the world. Kind of a scary thought...

Posted by: Kristi Kelly | Oct 13, 2004 11:43:07 PM

In general, the movie was very informative and gave me a grasp on the evolution of the internet. I enjoyed the start of it and the host and how he too was involved deeply in the internet. I did not however like the end of it basically due to the elaborate discussion on how this one group founded everything. The movie was upbeat at first but dull at the end. I guess it wasn't that big of a thing back in those days. Oh well, good flick for class.

Posted by: Matthew Weeks | Oct 14, 2004 9:57:25 AM

I think that this was a good movie to be showing in this class. It depicts how the internet as we know it today had some very humble beginnings, but was a crucial tool for communication and business. The researchers and developers sure had the right vision of the future that we are now living. It was nice how it also showed how a small idea and some innovation by a small group of people could turn into a huge company, as was the case with Excite. It just goes to show that sometime all a person really needs is an idea... and I guess a little money to get it off the ground.

Posted by: Matt Praught | Oct 14, 2004 10:16:29 AM

The movie wasn't too bad.It amazes me that young teens are becoming wealthy business people everyday. I always did wonder who actually started e-mail and how the internet came about.

Posted by: Darla Chaisson | Oct 14, 2004 10:26:25 AM

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