Archive for January, 2011
10 Famous Internet Pioneers
Posted by admin on 01/18/2011 | 0 Comments
The internet has become as common as a telephone was in a home 20 years ago, yet few of us know the names of the men who brought this amazing communication network into being. Let’s follow the path from the beginning ideas to the final steps of development.
- Vannevar Bush – Though this man never lived to see the internet in practice, he is credited by many of those that followed for laying the beginning foundations. His foundational involvement revolved around two separate contributions. One was simply an idea. The idea was that a machine could be developed that would aid a person by being able to store and retrieve documents by linked text within the document. The other foundational contribution made by Bush was his involvement in creating the link between research science and government. It was this new collaboration that provided the basis from which the internet developed.
- J.C.R. Licklider’s – ‘Lick’ as he was called, was considered the seed planter of the internet. He mapped out his vision for the use of a computer network in his paper entitled, “Man Computer Symbiosis”. It was Lick that also encouraged those working in the computer science field to standardize their efforts so that their various computers could be connected to one another.
- Larry Roberts – Liklider had the initial vision for networking, but it was Roberts who was given the task of creating the first network by ARPA. With greater and greater demands being put upon the main frame computers to deliver information to various departments, the linking of computers to share resources began to be seen as a necessity. Roberts, a well respected 29 year old computer scientist was given the job of engineering that first network, which was called ARPANET.
- Paul Baran – Paul Baran was a consultant on the ARPANET network and this where the connection of government with scientific research played a big part in the development of the internet. Baran worked for RAND Corporation which was focusing on Cold War military problems. Baran had been working on creating a communication network that could not be easily knocked out in the event of a nuclear attack. His idea of having a latticed network of computers, which could send information packets through any number of routes to get to their destination, was incorporated into the ARPANET.
- Bob Metcalfe – Metcalfe was the inventor of the ethernet network connection for Local Area Networks. This was the connecting of a group of computers at one location to one another through wiring to a central hub. These ethernet LAN’s then added to speed in which the internet itself developed.
- Douglas Engelbart – Another computer scientist whose ideas went far beyond what others imagined possible, Engelbart was demonstrating video conferencing already in the late ’60’s. When the ARPANET developed, his organization was the second node added to the network. He was also the creator of an unusual data entry tool that is now referred to as a mouse.
- Vint Cerf - “Father of the Internet,” this is the title given to Vint Cerf. Up to this point, all that had been developed were small independent networks of computers that each had their own means of communicating. What Cerf developed was a means to allow all these separate networks to communicate with each other. We now refer to it as TCP/IP.
- Ted Nelson – Another ‘idea man’, Ted Nelson expanded on Bush’s idea of linking documents by the text contained within them and was the first to coin the term ‘hyper-text’. Nelson also had visionary sight into the possibility of have a massive amount of resources available worldwide via computer networks.
- Tim Berners-Lee – If Cerf was the father of the internet, then Berners-Lee was the father of the world wide web. Berners-Lee had been using the hyper-text concept to link documents for his own use. He took this beginning along with the ‘language’ he was using (now known as HTML) to develop an internet interface using HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol), a standardized language for finding assigned addresses on documents on other networks. He tried to sell his WorldWideWeb but no one was buying, so he simply started providing his web browser for free to other computer enthusiasts. The World Wide Web was born!
- Marc Andreesen – Text meets graphics through Marc Andreesen. Andreesen was the developer of the Mosaic browser which integrated text and graphics onto one screen. He then further enhanced his ideas into what became the Netscape browser and released it free to students and educators.
The rest, as the old saying goes, is history. Now we have multitudes of browsers to choose from and can hardly imagine working on a monochrome screen that only displays text.
10 Great Places for Free Online Classes
Posted by admin on 01/04/2011 | 0 Comments
The internet itself provides a vast sea of information, but if you are looking for true structured learning on a specific topic or area, you can find those opportunities available online as well. Whether it is some as simple as mastering your keyboard or as advanced as taking college level literature courses, it can all be found on the online for free.
- OpenCulture.com – Boasting over 350 free college courses from top universities, this site is a great resource for those wanting to sit in a course for the education value alone. Most of the courses are provided as video or audio files and list the instructor, as well as the course title.
- FreeOnlineClasses.net – If you’re wanting classes on using software like Dreamweaver, Photoshop and others, this site can provide that instruction free of charge.
- Advanced Learning Interactive Systems Online – This site provides free classes AND certification for completed courses in a variety of areas: IT, English Language, Health & Safety, Financial Literacy and Personal Development.
- GoodTyping.com – If you’re using a computer but have never learned, or fully mastered, keyboard typing skills, then this might be a good site to visit for some free typing classes. The classes are also offered in a variety of languages.
- GoPiano.com – Do you want piano lessons for yourself or a child but can’t afford to pay for them? Here’s your answer, free piano lessons via the internet. Step by with audio to guide you through the process. All you need to provide, is your own piano to practice the lessons on.
- Literacy Courses – There are a multitude of free literacy courses available to assist adult learners’ literary skills. The site provides course descriptions for each course on their list. The courses go beyond reading, as well, and deal with many of our daily living skills.
- Brigham Young University – BYU in Utah offers several free online courses regarding genealogy, family life, basic mathematics and others. This is definitely a page worth checking out if you have an interest that fits along these lines.
- SimpleStudies.com – If you’re involved in business and would like to understand basic accounting, this site provides you with those basic accounting classes free of charge. If you decide you would like to go a little more in depth, there is also a paid premium program that you can upgrade to after completing the free courses.
- GEDforFree.com – This site provides free GED preparation courses. In addition to the basic courses, the site will also provide practice exams to help with your preparation for taking the GED exam.
- MIT – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology provides about 2,000 different courses under a wide range of disciplines free of charge via their website. It is part of a non-profit consortium for the advancement of learning.
This list is just a small sprinkling of the online opportunities for learning over the internet through free classes. If you can’t find what you are looking for on this list, a specific search for it would probably take you to what you need.
