Learning Journal #1

In this module, I learned a lot about the history of the internet, technology and how it all came to be the thing we all take for granted day in and day out. Imagining a life before facebook, instagram and iMessaging seems almost impossible when you realize how embedded these "apps" that use the internet have become in our day to day lives.  This module brought it all back into perspective and helped me to realize just how far the world wide web has come in my lifetime. Having a device that is more powerful than the first computer in history is pretty powerful stuff and people need to be reminded of the roots of technology and the internet.

I learned that activities on the internet can be summed up in 4 broad categories, which I did not know before. I always sort of think about what I do online and what I would tell someone if they asked me "what do you do online" and I wouldn't really know how to articulate it. This breakdown helps a lot with thinking about this. The 4 categories for internet activities include:

1. Communicating and Collaboration
2. Transferring files between computers
3. Searching the WWW for Information.
4. Conducting electronic commerce- (E-commerce)

While broad topics, the pretty much sum up what literally everyone is doing online. Even mobile internet usage activities seem to land in each of the 4 categories in one way or another.

One of my favorite aspects of this course which really helped me to understand some of the material were the youtube videos provided in the lessons. I'm a visual learner and youtube is full of resources that aid in teaching to all levels of education and styles of learning that I think is under utilized for the most part. One of the videos I'm referring to is here:

Unfortunately I do not think I put in the time and effort necessary into this module to succeed. I started out strong, then I got a new job about 3 weeks into the course so I was distracted with that and other outside factors of life that I will do much better at juggling in module 2 so this doesn't happen again. 

Four terms that I only slightly understood before this module were:

1. Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET): "was one of the world's first operational packet switching networks, the first network to implement TCP/IP, and the progenitor of what was to become the global Internet."

2. ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Basically ICANN is responsible for ensuring that everything on the network is working and secure.
3. Open Source - Meaning that source code, or rather recipe of a program or software, is "open" for other's to download, edit and distribute to help create better versions with more functionality.
4. Fiber Optics - I've heard of fiber optics before this course, but I never really understood what they were, or how they worked. Essentially Fiber Optics are teeny tiny glass fibers, that are used to trasmit light signals long distances. It's also cheaper, and can handle more transmissions than standard copper wire cables.