Part 1. Tribune
Revolution
Hardly you will meet in history a century that did not see the revolution: did not feel its taste and was not uncontrollably drunk with the stupidity of its ideas. Romance, freedom, heroism, rebirth - everyone finds it in their own. An amazing thing, a revolution gives a person everything and nothing concrete. That's her secret. The experience of the centuries only rarely endowed the revolution with a kind word and good intent. Conflicts, bloodshed, economic and political instability, tightly tightening belts and a social storm are the basis of a mass view of every revolutionary event. Is this the fresh wind that inflames the hearts of an all-consuming flame, or something else?
Sometimes we forget about the essence of the revolution - about the leap, the qualitatively different level where it happened. Imagine that you are bored to overcome the step by step. You sat down crouched and pushed away: a jump, a moment of weightlessness, a blow to your feet. It would seem a simple action. And if you weigh one hundred and fifty kilograms and you are seventy years old? An impossible task. So in life, where weight is the experience gained, and age is years of habitual stability. I can not help but mention the youth that bears the revolutionary banner through the ages. "Weight" and "age" allow you to jump as much as you want. But back to the jump. You jumped over several steps of a steep staircase - you were out of breath, you might have slipped and fell, but now you probably know that you can overcome this distance not only by the usual "step by step". This is just an example, the reality is much more complicated, because many things are possible: from the disappearance of the next step or the whole ladder to the fading in the air. I hope you understand what I mean. As a result, very few people are ready for such "jumps", however, it is precisely these "madmen" that are not only able to change their lives.
The emergence of the Internet revolutionized the field of information and communication technologies. Without a single shot, and a drop of human blood was not destined to fall on its barricades. And the barricade as such was not. To date, hundreds of books have been written about the birth of the Web, thousands of articles have been published, and many fascinating documentary films have been filmed. Most of them step by step, taking into account the smallest details, examines the formation and spread of innovative space - the World Wide Web. I regret to state: it is hardly worthy to present this process more worthy than the existing material or the one that will be published in the near future. However, ignoring this subject is ignorant in the framework of our story. I will try to do everything possible to make the further narration as concise as possible. Opponents of historical fast food can safely skip the next two paragraphs.
In 1957, in response to the launch of the Soviet Union's first artificial Earth satellite, the US Department of Defense was interested in the idea of reliable data transmission. The US Advanced Defense Research and Development Agency (DARPA) initiated the development of a computer network, entrusting the project with the University of California at Los Angeles, the Stanford Research Center, the University of Utah and the University of California in Santa Barbara. Soon the network was called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) and after 12 years connected all the mentioned scientific institutions. The technology, funded by the US Department of Defense, began to work for the benefit of various fields of science. Breakthrough of the new "Columbus" took place, giving almost probable opportunities for the development of the "newborn" space. The next marker on the time line was the first program to send e-mail, followed by 1971, which forever approved the network as an international one, combining organizations from the UK and Norway with a transatlantic telephone cable. Then, for obvious reasons, it was reckless to call such an undertaking "space", but the technology quickly evolved, acquiring familiar forms now.
It is difficult to believe in the abundance of technologies that have firmly settled in modern life, having overcome once the forces of a limited circle. Suffice it to recall the ubiquitous microwave ovens, GPS-navigators and Teflon pans. The Internet was no exception. At an early stage of its development, it was a new technology for transferring, protecting and processing data from the military and scientific fields of activity - nothing more. Today, it surprises with the limited initial designs, because then humanity entered a new era - the era of information and communication technologies.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) noted that Internet users in 2000 were 400 million people worldwide - 6.5% of the world's population. After 14 years, according to the company We Are Social, "population" of the Internet space was 3.01 billion users. Further - 3.2 billion people (43% of the world's population) by the end of 2015 (according to ITU). This will sound a little ominous, but in 1960 the population of the planet was about the same.
In general, it is worth pondering. In the meantime, ITU echoes the world's largest social network Facebook, but these figures are presented to them in a different light.
Like someone who sees a half full or empty glass, Facebook pays attention to potential users - the population "offline" (while offline). Their fear is the rapid decline in the percentage of "converts" to users of the World Wide Web over the past four years: from 14.7% in 2010 to 6.6% in 2014. Facebook notes that, at such a rate, the expectation of the next billionth anniversary may drag on five years.
However, pessimism in their case is exaggerated, since a significant level of Internet penetration provides a rapidly developing tandem "smartphone -
mobile operator". Given the current level of mobile technology, it is not surprising that the smartphone for many became the first access device on the Web, pushing the stationary computers and laptops off the pedestal. What are the results of the above? The level of availability of the Internet is steadily increasing, allowing to be "in a connection" in the most remote parts of the Earth, and the increase in the data transfer rate makes it possible to receive and process large amounts of valuable information.
So, we pay tribute to all those involved in the implementation and popularization of the World Wide Web and move on.
Now let's talk about the consequences of "injecting" Internet technologies into everyday life. In spite of the fact that television remains the most consumed media, one can not speak about its inviolability - on the second place the Internet has firmly entrenched itself. A serious result, given the half-century difference in technology - in favor of television, of course. According to the latest data from the agency We Are Social, on average, an Internet user spends 4.4 hours in the virtual space using a personal computer, and 1.7 hours from mobile devices. 2.4 hours from the total mass of the user spends on all sorts of social networks. And all this, friends, is just the beginning. The results of the research conducted by the American company GfK regarding the time of Internet use by teenagers aged 13 to 17 showed an increase of 37% since 2012. Results in hours - more than 4 per day for each teenager. It is also interesting that the statistics of the time spent on the web are unchanged for users aged 18 and over. In general, the figures again explained a lot, but let's finish this strict monologue with this paragraph.
I often use the expression "Internet space", because, due to its current universality, it's not serious to call it the Web or the Network (although I do it too). To all else, if we consider the concept of space in detail, we will get something like the following. The space is the arena of events or actions, including all places, objects and structures. The user takes part in interesting events, acts as the initiator or coordinator of a certain process. Do television, radio or newspapers give such privileges? Even physical reality can not be proud of some of the achievements of the Internet. One-way information model is quickly boring. Universal interactivity is the "delicacy" of modern man. The current world order is delineated by the precise borders of states (sometimes doubting), adequately protected by military alliances, strictly protected by personal legislation, censorship, lobbyist campaigns and personalities. And the Internet? His space in this context is still the most free, but because - very attractive. Yuri Nesterov, deputy chairman of the Duma Committee for Information Policy and Communications of the Russian Federation, as well as one of the associates of the Internet, stated at the parliamentary hearings on the latter: "All democratic achievements of the last decade are connected with information. Curtains first collapsed, and millions of people learned about what they did not know, and then they had the will to some historical changes in our country. And if we want to preserve the democratic potential ... of millions of our compatriots, we must ensure freedom of information exchange. "With a wise eye and endless enthusiasm, we proudly declare our regalia on the Web, eliminating uncomfortable" titles ". We are allowed not to waste time on acceptable words and not to comply with political correctness - the boundaries are erased. This space accepts all and all. Personal laws and regulations can operate here. We do not have to worry about much, more is not forbidden, which means that a lot of real social processes are cleverly transferred to the virtual world, acquiring hitherto unprecedented forms.
Coming soon...
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