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The historical scope and influence of the
Internet is so vast (and its potential future effects so profound) that its
development inspires many questions and topics to answer and explore. Some possibilities include:
- What combination of historical factors
produced such an innovative and rapidly evolving new technology?
- What role did government, business,
universities, and individuals play in realizing the modern Internet? What accounts for the unusual level of
cooperation achieved between traditionally competitive corporate
interests, as well as between the private and public sectors?
- What lessons might be learned in terms
of replicating this success and for both government and corporate efforts
to spur technological innovation?
- Is the increasingly cheap and easy flow
of information made possible by the Internet a democratizing force for
society? Is the decentralized
manner in which the Internet evolved now embedded in its structure in a
way that empowers individuals more than centralized powers?
- How was the development of the Internet
different or similar to what had come before, such as the development of
telegraph and telephone technologies?
What do these differences say about the nature of modern societies
and their futures?
- What did the Internet innovators
themselves believe they were creating?
What did they think the societal effects might be? Were their beliefs and prognostications
proven largely correct, or did their invention evolve in ways they could
not have imagined?
- How has the Internet affected global
societies? Conversely, how might
the Internet be seen as a reflection of contemporary social, cultural, and
political values?
- What might the future of the Internet
be?
Other questions will undoubtedly emerge as
the project proceeds and the new information gathered suggests new avenues of
investigation.
The first step to answering such questions is
to preserve the original source data in a fashion that allows future scholars
and analysts to conduct unbiased research.
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