MCOM72 Week 9

Question 1

Internet:

Answer 1

vast network of fiber-optic lines, wireless
connections, and satellite systems that links digital devices
to enormous data centers around the world

Question 2

ARPAnet:

Answer 2

created by U.S. Department of Defense to
enable researchers to pool computing power (remember
WarGames movie!)

Question 3

Protocols

Answer 3

allowed supercomputers to join the
network and communicate

Question 4

Development of microprocessors and fiber-optic cables

Answer 4

aid the foundation for commercialization of the Internet

Question 5

Interesting paradox:

Answer 5

he internet was not a commercial,
for profit, enterprise at its origins; different from other
media (mass circulation newspapers, radio, television,
cinema)

Question 6

Leap on the diffusion of micro-electronics

Answer 6

by Intel
engineer, Ted Hoff (Silicon Valley, 1971)

Question 7

Micro-processors

Answer 7

were critical for Altair, the first
computer box by Ed Roberts (Albuquerque, 1975) and
Apple I and Apple II, by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs

Question 8

PC software

Answer 8

also emerged in the mid-1970s, by Bill
Gates and Paul Allen, adapting Basic language (and
later Windows)

Question 9

Progress in integrated circuit technologies

Answer 9

made possible the digital switch
in the 70s

Question 10

Major advances in opto-electronics

Answer 10

(fiber optics and laser transmission)

Question 11

The creation of the Internet: In September 1969 ARPANET (a military
project),

Answer 11

went online at UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Stanford and University of
Utah

Question 12

Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn, computer scientists doing research at ARPA

Answer 12

designed the basic architecture of the Internet in 1973

Question 13

However, the Internet was a Defense Department Program

Answer 13

and most of
previous technologies came from State funded programs inspired by Cold
War strategies and goals

Question 14

Counter-culture practices and ideas

Answer 14

(The Hackers) pushed for a horizontal networking, but functional for
military aims!

Question 15

Moreover, the creation of the World Wide Web structure is European

Answer 15

turning an American invention into a global phenomenon

Question 16

Castells affirms a technology-induced transformation,

Answer 16

specially based in
California

Question 17

But the role of the State and public institutions was critical

Answer 17

for those
technologies to emerge and to expand

Question 18

In all countries was a process triggered by the State

Answer 18

(Japan, Europe, China),
even in the US

Question 19

“Kranzberg’s First Law reads as follows: Technology

Answer 19

neither good nor bad, nor is it
neutral.” It is indeed a social force

Question 20

A new age:

Answer 20

information, networking logic, pervasiveness, flexibility

Question 21

But… technologies are not neutral;

Answer 21

they reflect the time, the economics, or
the cultural context in which they were born

Question 22

The Santiago Boys case (Evgeny Morozov)

Answer 22

A use of cybernetics very different from the
Californian experience (decentralized,
capitalistic and individualistic)
* Cybersyn Project during Salvador Allende’s
presidency in Chile (1971-1973)
* Computers and the emerging internet for a
‘socialist society’
* Cutting-edge cybernetics management,
efficiency and decentralization, for a
democratic control of corporations
* Attacked from internal and external enemies
the project was killed after the 1973 coup
d’etat
* Santiago Boys replaced by Chicago Boys of
neoliberalism

Question 23

Semantic Web:

Answer 23

allows computers to examine
web pages and databases and provide solutions

Question 24

A case: The
Epoch Times

Answer 24

• An allegedly news site but
  with doubts in ownership
• Extremely far-right under a
  discourse of ‘freedom’
• Huge increase in
  subscriptions; aggressive
  campaigns
• Reinforced by polarizing
  algorithms
• Political and economic ties

Question 25

Walled gardens:

Answer 25

highly managed environments brought to us through apps

Question 26

Net neutrality

Answer 26

assumes that all data being sent across the Internet will be treated the same

Question 27

China, actually, it is now one of the major semi-conductor powerhouse.

Answer 27

Huawei is the main player

Question 28

Penny arcade:

Answer 28

first thoroughly modern indoor
playground, containing coin-operated counter
machines

Question 29

Connectivity of the Internet has opened the door
to social gaming

Answer 29

• MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online
  role-playing games)
• MOBAs (multiplayer online battle arenas)

Question 30

Online fantasy sports create
communities of play

Answer 30

Emphasize detached, managerial
perspective

Question 31

Odyssey

Answer 31

First home video game system