Inventing the Internet

Abbate Janet intends in her book ‘Inventing the Internet’ intends to trace the early roots that led to the development of the World Wide Web. In her approach, Abbate wants to help out the inquisitive layman who really wants to know the actual events that gave birth to a technology, which transformed the communication platform.

The book explores how the phenomenal ARPANET project, created during the peak of the cold war by the Department of Defense Advanced Research Project Agency became the major trigger of the internet. The project allowed the transmission of pictures and text messages to be sent along a designated network. Eventually, this led to the birth of information exchange through ‘packet switching’ technology (Abbate 7).

The author uses her historical professional background to examine in details the personalities who were accorded with the development of the internet at different stages. The research takes into the depths of the ARPANET project by examining its goals and objectives to the reader. She takes us back to the 1960 paper ‘Man-Computer Symbiosis’ written by Lick lider which set the agenda for the enhancement of computer science (Abbate 43). She enables the reader to see how the internet moved from an institution level consequently achieving global status. In affirming this, she provides evidence such as the development of protocols for adoption of ARPA’s program for use in other places other than the Defense.

Finally, I support the author’s approach because of the evidence presented and the careful manner in which the ideas have been articulated to the reader. Another aspect to notice is the ease with which a layman can easily read through the chapters without necessarily being frustrated by internet technical terms. In essence, the book by Abbate Janet is indeed a master piece for understanding the invention of the internet.