You'll Never Walk Alone
When you walk through a storm
hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark.
At the end of a storm is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark.
Walk on through the wind,
Walk on through the rain,
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never, ever walk alone.
Walk on, walk on with hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone,
You'll never, ever walk alone.
Water: One of Earth’s Most Precious Commodities
The scarcity of water can be abated by various water harvesting methods. Below is a list of techniques that can be used to recycle and reuse water:
Posted by: emily on 02/28/2006 02:09 PM
Water is quickly becoming one of Earth's most precious resources.
1. Water harvesting- This is the process of capturing storm-water runoff and rain water. Rainwater is usually harvested from rooftops, concrete patios, driveways and other impervious surfaces. Roof systems can be as simple as directing gutters to a lidded garbage can or as complex as a concrete cistern, roof washer and filtration system. But whatever your application, the water you retrieve will be some of the purest--and cheapest--water around.
Rainwater can be used for potable water (drinking, cooking, bathing) or non-potable uses such as landscape irrigation, livestock watering and washing. Collecting and using rainwater has numerous benefits, ranging from improved water quality to reduced stress on underground aquifers (Mother Earth News).
Buildings and landscapes can be designed to maximize the amount of catchment area, thereby increasing rainwater harvesting possibilities. Intercepted water then can be collected, detained, retained and routed for use in evaporative coolers, toilet flushing, pet and car washing, indoor plant watering, pet and livestock watering, and for lawn and garden irrigation.
Water catchment storage can sometimes satisfy Fire marshal permit requirements for tank storage.
2. Grey water- Grey water is any water that has been used in the home, except water from toilets. Fifty-eighty percent of residential “waste” water is comprised of dish, shower, sink and laundry water. This “waste” water can be reused for other purposes such as landscape irrigation. Some of the benefits of grey water recycling include: lower fresh water use, less strain on a failing septic tank or treatment plant, effectiveness of grey water treatment in topsoil, your ability to build in areas unsuitable for conventional treatment, less energy and chemical use, groundwater recharge, plant growth, and reclamation of otherwise wasted nutrients. All of these benefits provide us with great reasons to incorporate grey water recycling systems into our own homes (information taken from Oasis Design http://www.oasisdesign.net/. For further information visit our Green Directory on Grey Water
3. Black Water- Black water is any water that may contain sewage. Some states include any water that has compost particles such as from a garbage disposal as black water. Black water can be reused just like grey water, it just requires more filtration. Home filtration systems are easy to find and purchase, and it is even possible to have an all natural filtration system based on plants and charcoal. Examples of this can be found with the Earth ship houses in
4. Desalinization- This process removes dissolved minerals (like salt) from ocean water, brackish water, or treated waste water. There are various different kinds of technologies that have been developed for the purposes of desalinization, including reverse osmosis (RO), distillation, electro dialysis, and vacuum freezing. Both RO and distillation are two technologies being considered by municipalities, water districts, and private companies for development of ocean water desalination in
5. Fog harvesting- This is an innovative technology that can collect water from fog. Full-scale fog collectors are simple, flat, rectangular nets of nylon supported by a post at either end and arranged perpendicular to the direction of the prevailing wind. For further information visit http://www.oas.org/dsd/publications/Unit/oea59e/ch12.htm.
6. Bioremediation- This is the technique that adds naturally occurring microbial organisms as well as accelerates the chemical environment of a body of water, such as a pond, in order to purify the water. Often times people use bioremediation when they are using greywater for irrigation. The level of purification depends on the amount of such organisms. Some use this technique so extensively that the water that comes out of their treatment area is cleaner than their tap water. For further information visit http://www.biocritters.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioremediation, http://www.nal.usda.gov/bic/Biorem/biorem.htm.
Both the United Nations and the
· International Water Resources Association- IWRA strives to improve water management worldwide through dialogue, education and research. The organization actively promotes the sustainable management of water resources worldwide. For more information visit http://www.iwra.siu.edu/.
· International Water Association- IWA aims to connect the broad community of water professionals around the globe in hopes of creating sustainable solutions. For more information visit http://www.iwahq.org.uk/template.cfm?name=home.
· International Water and
· For information on water conferences worldwide visit http://www.conferencealerts.com/water.htm.
Jadi... Kita harus ingat bro/sist kalo aer bersih aja mahal. terkadang kita harus menghemat air yang kita pakai, ya ga usah yang susah2 misalnya irit-irit kalo mandi, irit air kalo sikat gigi, irit aer kalo cuci motor atau air. secara riil, daerah resapan air di Jakarta itu makin kecil karena pembangunan di Indonesia (mungkin juga di Indonesia) kurang sadar akan lingkungan. bangun sana bangun sini tapi ga dipikir daerah resapan air, atau juga malah nebangin pohon seenaknya (coba tanya temen2mu yang tinggal dijakarta dan harus bergantung ma PDAM, seberapa mahal air disana. Gue inget waktu masi tinggal dicengkareng emak gue harus beli air bersih buat makan, minum, mandi, nyuci, karena aernya uda asin kemasukan aer laut). sebenarnya penggunaan efisien air itu mudah, ya mungkin ga usah seribet artikel diatas kudu gini kudu gitu, tapi kalo air bersih pada akhirnya susah didapet langkah2 diatas harus dilakukan. berfikir lagi sebelum semua terlambat hehehe
Green building is the practice of increasing the efficiency of buildings and their use of energy, water, and materials, and reducing building impacts on human health and the environment, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal — the complete building life cycle.
A similar concept is natural building, which is usually on a smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of natural materials that are available locally.[1] Other commonly used terms include sustainable design and green architecture; however, while good design is essential to green building, the actual operation, maintenance, and ultimate disposal or deconstruction of the building also have very significant effects on buildings' overall environmental impact.
The related concepts of sustainable development and sustainability are integral to green building. Effective green building can lead to 1) reduced operating costs by increasing productivity and using less energy and water, 2) improved public and occupant health due to improved indoor air quality, and 3) reduced environmental impacts by, for example, lessening storm water runoff and the heat island effect. Practitioners of green building often seek to achieve not only ecological but aesthetic harmony between a structure and its surrounding natural and built environment. The sustainable buildings are also environmentaly friendly in the fact that they are built out of materials that are good for the environment.The appearance and style of sustainable homes and buildings can be nearly indistinguishable from their less sustainable counterparts.
Green buildings are scored by rating systems, such as the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, Green Globes from GBI and other locally developed rating systems.
Buildings have a profound effect on the environment, which is why green building practices are so important to reduce and perhaps one day eliminate those impacts.
In the
However, the environmental impact of buildings is often underestimated, while the perceived costs of building green are overestimated. A recent survey by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development finds that green costs are overestimated by 300%, as key players in real estate and construction estimate the additional cost at 17% above conventional construction, more than triple the true average cost difference of about 5%. [3]
Green building brings together a vast array of practices and techniques to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment. On the aesthetic side of green architecture or sustainable design is the philosophy of designing a building that is in harmony with the natural features and resources surrounding the site. There are several key steps in designing sustainable buildings: specify 'green' building materials from local sources, reduce loads, optimize systems, and generate on-site renewable energy.
Building materials typically considered to be 'green' include rapidly renewable plant materials like bamboo and straw, lumber from forests certified to be sustainably managed, stone, recycled metal, and other products that are non-toxic, reusable, renewable, and/or recyclable. Building materials should be extracted and manufactured locally to the building site to minimize the energy embedded in their transportation.
Low-impact building materials are used wherever feasible: for example, insulation may be made from low VOC (volatile organic compound)-emitting materials such as recycled denim, rather than the insulation materials that may contain carcinogenic or toxic materials such as formaldehyde. To discourage insect damage, these alternate insulation materials may be treated with boric acid. Organic or milk-based paints may be used.
Architectural salvage and reclaimed materials are used when appropriate as well. When older buildings are demolished, frequently any good wood is reclaimed, renewed, and sold as flooring. Many other parts are reused as well, such as doors, windows, mantels, and hardware, thus reducing the consumption of new goods. When new materials are employed, green designers look for materials that are rapidly replenished, such as bamboo, which can be harvested for commercial use after only 6 years of growth, or cork oak, in which only the outer bark is removed for use, thus preserving the tree. When possible, building materials may be gleaned from the site itself; for example, if a new structure is being constructed in a wooded area, wood from the trees which were cut to make room for the building would be re-used as part of the building itself.
To minimize the energy loads within and on the structure, it is critical to orient the building to take advantage of cooling breezes and sunlight. Daylighting with ample windows will eliminate the need to turn on electric lights during the day (and provide great views outside too). Passive Solar can warm a building in the winter - but care needs to be taken to provide shade in the summer time to prevent overheating. Prevailing breezes and convection currents can passively cool the building in the summer. Thermal mass stores heat gained during the day and releases it at night minimizing the swings in temperature. Thermal mass can both heat the building in winter and cool it during the summer. Insulation is the final step to optimizing the structure. Well-insulated windows, doors, and walls help reduce energy loss, thereby reducing energy usage. These design features don't cost much money to construct and significantly reduce the energy needed to make the building comfortable.
Optimizing the heating and cooling systems through installing energy efficient machinery, commissioning, and heat recovery is the next step. Compared to optimizing the passive heating and cooling features through design, the gains made by engineering are relatively expensive and can add significantly to the projects cost. However, thoughtful integrated design can reduce costs -- for example, once a building has been designed to be more energy-efficient, it may be possible to downsize heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment, leading to substantial savings. To further address energy loss hot water heat recycling is used to reduce energy usage for domestic water heating. Ground source heat pumps are more energy efficient then other forms of heating and cooling until you factor in the energy lost during generation and transmission if the project is on the grid.
Finally, onsite generation of renewable energy through solar power, wind power, hydro power, or biomass can significantly reduce the environmental impact of the building. Power generation is the most expensive feature to add to a building.
Good green architecture also reduces waste, of energy, water and materials. During the construction phase, one goal should be to reduce the amount of material going to landfills. Well-designed buildings also help reduce the amount of waste generated by the occupants as well, by providing onsite solutions such as compost bins to reduce matter going to landfills.
To reduce the impact on wells or water treatment plants, several options exist. "Greywater", wastewater from sources such as dishwashing or washing machines, can be used for subsurface irrigation, or if treated, for non-potable purposes, e.g., to flush toilets and wash cars. Rainwater collectors are used for similar purposes.
Green building often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources, e.g., using sunlight through passive solar, active solar, and photovoltaic techniques and using plants and trees through green roofs, rain gardens, and for reduction of rainwater run-off.[4] Many other techniques, such as using packed gravel for parking lots instead of concrete or asphalt to enhance replenishment of ground water, are used as well.
Pekerjaan, Sebuah Kegiatan Keterasingan Manusia
Pengantar
Dalam pandangannya mengenai manusia Marx melihat bahwa manusia adalah makhluk sosial, dimana ia tidak dapat dipisahkan begitu saja dari lingkungan sosialnya. Bahkan Marx melihat bahwa bekerja adalah usaha manusia ‘membuktikan’ dirinya bahwa ia adalah makhluk sosial. Yang menjadi pertanyaan adalah bagaimana dengan bekerja manusia malah menjadi terasing entah dari orang lain atau bahkan terasing dari dirinya sendiri? Dan bagaimanakah sebenarnya konsep Marx mengenai manusia itu sendiri?
Pandangan Marx
Sebelum melihat jawab dari pertanyaan diatas ada baiknya kita melihat dulu bagaimana pandangan Marx mengenai pekerjaan. Marx melihat pekerjaan sebagai usaha manusia dalam usahanya mengenal, mengembangkan dirinya secara penuh. Marx sendiri melihat tiga hal penting mengenai pekerjaan. Pertama, tindakan pekerjaan merupakan sesuatu yang hanya ada pada manusia. Karena manusia melakukan sebuah tindakan dalam kerangka sebagai objek kehendak dan juga kesadarannya, hal inilah yang menjadi pembeda manusia dari binatang dimana binatang melakukan sebuah tindakan dikarena naluri belaka. Kedua, tindakan pekerjaan menjadi sarana manusia untuk merealisasikan apa yang ada dalam pikirannya. Sama seperti penulis yang mengerjakan tugas ini, yang merupakan sebuah bentuk prealisasian konsep-konsep tentang Marx yang ada dipikiran penulis menjadi sebuah paper yang merupakan kenyataan obyektif hal tersebut. Dan ketiga karena hasil pekerjaan yang telah dilakukan dapat dipergunakan oleh orang banyak maka pekerjaan menjadi jembatan sosial antar manusia dan dengan demikian semakin tampak bahwa manusia adalah makhluk sosial.
Dari ulasan singkat diatas dapat kita lihat bahwa Marx, menempatkan pekerjan ditempat yang tertinggi, dimana manusia bisa merealisasikan kedirinya secara utuh. Akan tetapi pertanyaan akan muncul, bila pekerjaan merupakan usaha manusia merealisasikan kediriannya, lalu bagaimana manusia bisa terasing? Marx melihat bahwa dalam sistem kapitalisme, pekerjaan tidak menjadi sebuah perealisasian diri para pekerjaanya, pekerjaan tidak menjadi sebuah kegiatan yang menghasilkan kepuasan, akan tetapi menghasilkan yang sebaliknya. Hal ini disebabkan karena dalam sistem kapitalisme orang tidak bekerja secara bebas, tidak bekerja dalam minat dan bakatnya akan tetapi bekerja menjadi prasyarat manusia untuk bisa hidup di dunia ini, sehingga manusia tidak lagi mengembangkan dirinya. Atau dengan kata lain ciri khas pekerjaan yang membedakan manusia dengan hewan menjadi hilang karena pada akhirnya manusia sama seperti hewan yang melakukan tindakan berdasarkan naluri saja, naluri untuk bertahan hidup dimana pekerjaan bukan lagi sebuah tindakan yang dilakukan dengan rasionalitas dan kesadarannya.
Marx melihat bahwa keterasingan yang dialami oleh manusia akibat pekerjaannya adalah keterasingan terhadap dirinya sendiri dan juga terasing dari orang lain. Keterasingan dari dirinya sendiri menurut Marx mempunyai tiga segi yaitu keterasingan dari produknya, dimana sebuah produk yang seharusnya menjadi sebuah obyektifikasi pekerjaan ternyata ia sendiri tidak ‘memiliki’ hasil pekerjaan itu sendiri apalagi bila ia pekerjaannya hanya merupakan bagian kecil dari produk itu sendiri, sehingga yang dikerjakan tidak menjadi perwakilan dari dirinya, sehingga arti bekerja menjadi hilang artinya. Yang kedua karena tindakan bekerja itu sudah hilang artinya, pekerjaan hanya menjadi paksaan, dimana dorongan dari luar yang membuat ia mau tidak mau harus bekerja. bekerja bukan sebagai kebutuhan, melainkan menjadi pemenuhan kebutuhan. Inilah yang disebut oleh Marx sebagai keterasingan dalam pekerjaan. Yang ketiga, pada akhirnya pekerjaan bukan menjadi sesuatu yang memperkaya esensi dirinya sebagai manusia tetapi malah mempermiskin diri. Dengan demikian manusia telah menyangkal dirinya sebagai yang bebas dan yang universal (karena bekerja hanya menjadi dorongan naluri).
Sedangkan keterasingan dari orang lain, Marx melihatnya sebagai konsekuesi logis disaat manusia terasing dari hakekatnya sebagai manusia maka disaat itulah ia terasing dengan manusia yang lainnya. Secara empiris keterasingan ini berasal dari kepentingan yang saling berseberangan. Ada dua arah, yang pertama adalah sistem hak milik memnyebabkan membagi manusia menjadi dua yaitu kelas pekerja dan kelas tuan. Kedua elemen ini tidak ‘berkelahi’ karena emosional akan tetapi karena perbedaan kepentingan, dimana kelas tuan ingin untung dengan mengurangi upah sedangkan pekerja menginginkan upah tinggi dan kondisi kerja yang menyenangkan. Inilah yang menyebabkan keterasingan terhadap sesama itu. Selain itu keterasingan ini juga terjadi dalam kelas yang sama antara pekerja dengan pekerja dan tuan dengan tuan. Dimana terburuh bersaing untuk tempat bekerja sedang para tuan berebut pasar.
Dari penjelasan yang sudah tertulis diatas dapat kita kita jawab pertanyaan bagaimanakah manusia bisa terasing dari pekerjaannya. Secara singkat dapat dijawab bahwa keterasingan tersebut terjadi karena kerja sudah tidak lagi mendapat pemaknaan yang sebenarnya sehingga manusia bukannya bekerja demi kepenuhan dirinya tetapi bekerja hanya sebagai pemenuhan kebutuhan belaka.
Lalu bagaimana konsep Marx sendiri tentang manusia itu sendiri? Marx melihat bahwa pada hakekatnya manusia adalah makhluk yang sosial, hal ini terlihat dari pemaknaan Marx terhadap kerja, dimana kerja juga dilihat sebagai jembatan sosial antar manusia, karena kerja juga mempunyai dimensi universal dimana hasil dari kerja bisa digunakan oleh semua manusia. Selain itu Marx menegaskan bahwa tidak ada manusia yang berada di luar lingkungan sosial masyarakat. Akan tetapi yang terjadi sebaliknya, Marx melihat bahwa hakekat manusia semakin tersamarkan, sehingga hakekat manusia yang muncul bukan lagi manusia sebagai makhluk sosial tetapi yang terlihat sebaliknya misalnya sebagai homo homini lupus. Hal ini disebabkan oleh kondisi lingkungan sekitar manusia yang semakin terkontaminasi sistem kapitalisme, dimana hukum alam (siapa yang kuat itulah yang menang) menjadi gerak masyarakat. Dari sisi ini Marx melihat bahwa hakekat manusia yang terlihat dalam keadaan sehari-hari bukanlah sebuah hakekat alami manusia, hakekat itu adalah hakekat kedua manusia yang terbentuk karena pengaruh dari lingkungan sekitar.
Penutup
Penulis menyetujui pemaknaan pekerjaan yang dibuat oleh Marx, dimana pekerjaan memang seharusnya menjadi wadah manusia untuk mengembangkan dirinya untuk mencapai kepenuhan diri. Sehingga pekerjaan seharusnya bukan menjadi sebuah beban, tetapi menjadi sebuah kesempatan. Menurut penulis, konsep Marx tentang pekerjaan pun masih sangat relevan, karena disadari atau tidak banyak dari kita bekerja hanya sebagai usaha pemenuhan kebutuhan saja sehingga orang bersedia bekerja apa saja, sesuai atau tidak dengan minatnya dan kemampuannya, atau bahkan bekerja dengan rasa keterpaksaan agar mereka bisa selalu hidup.
Selain itu mau disadari atau tidak pendapat Marx mengenai bahwa lingkungan sosial dapat mempengaruhi manusia, penulis merasa pandangan itu juga relevan hingga saat ini. Karena mau disadari atau tidak terkadang kita jatuh terhadap konformitas, dimana kita pada akhirnya jatuh dalam hidup selalu mengikuti tren yang sedang sedang ada di lingkungan sekitar kita. Disaat kita bekerja di sebuah lembaga yang penuh dengan kegiatan korupsi, bekerja disistu dapat membuat kita jatuh dalam kegiatan korupsi itu karena bila kita juga tidak korupsi kita tidak akan diterima dalam masyarakat tesebut karena kita selalu akan dicurigai dalam komunitas masyarakat tersebut dan tidak dianggap sebagai bagian dari kelompok masyarakat tersebut. Sehingga pandangan Marx mengenai bahwa lingkungan sosial dapat merubah hakekat manusia, dari contoh inilah hal tersebut mendapat kepenuhannya.
Lalu bagaimana hal ini harus diatasi menurut Marx? Marx memberikan jawaban yang singkat, hancurkan sistem kelas, karena sistem kelas menjadi sumber keterasingan bagi manusia entah dari pekerjaannya, dirinya, dan sesamanya.
Bahan Bacaan
Berantem Lagi
Gila bro, hari gini masih ada pelajar dan mahasiswa yang berantem???? Diajarin apa ya di kampus n disekolahnya. Yang lebih memalukan adalah yang berantem itu sekolah-sekolah, dan universitas ternama, sebut saja namanya SMA 6 dan 70 dan Universitas Kristen Indonesia dan YAI ( bro, ini bukan sebut saja, ini udah jadi tersangka) Dari berita yang gue denger sich, katanya ga ada alasan yang berarti buat berantem bahkan ga ada yang tahu apa alasannya. Tiba-tiba DHHHHUUUUUEEERRR berantem deh. Antara SMA 6 dan SMA 70 perkelahian ga ngerti kenapa tahu-tahu berantem. Sedang kedua universitas yang disebut diatas berantem karena (katanya sich) uda tradisi setiap penerimaan mahasiswa baru. Acara inisiasi kepada mahasiswa baru. Kenapa ini masih bisa kejadian ya?? Hehehe aneh juga….
Mungkin yang bisa kita tanyakan adalah, dimana peranan sekolah?? Apa sich yang diajarin disekolah, pertanyaan kemudian yang berkembang adalah dimana perenan guru, dosen, apa mereka menutup mata dengan keadaan ini? Lalu dimana peranan sekolah?? Kok ga bersuara ya?? Apa ga ada aturan dilarang berantem ya?? Emmm kalo menurut gue sich, berantem itu uda bentuk kriminalitas dan harus ditindak, sekolah, polisi atau aparatur Negara harus bertindak nih ga bisa tutup mata gitu aja. Harus buat aturan tegas, kalo perlu yang ikut tawuran dikeluarin. Ga bisa ditolerir. Banyak dari kita geram melihat kekerasan di IPDN bahkan banyak dari kedua sekolah itu dan kedua universitas itu juga geram
Polisi, emm bisa disalahin ga ya?? Untuk kali ini gue ngebela polisi. Yah, walaupun mereka juga ada salahnya kenapa Cuma nerjunin sedikit orang ya ?? tapi gue kasihan ma mereka, gue yakin mereka bingung mau nindaknya gimana. Kalo mukul ntar diaduin ke komnas HAM, kalo Cuma ngomong doang ya ga didenger, lah wong dikasih tembakan peringatan juga ga digubris hehehehe. Padahal menurut gue kalo polisi mukul (dalam kasus ini) bisa dibenarkan, kenapa ? ya karena mereka juga butuh melindungi diri, sebabnya mereka juga dipukul ma yang berantem.
Wah apa lagi ya yang harus gue tulis…. Sedih iya, gue menerawang kedepan sich, gue ga ngebanyangin gimana masa depan
The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a "network of networks" that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked Web pages and other documents of the World Wide Web.
The Internet and the World Wide Web are not synonymous. The Internet is a collection of interconnected computer networks, linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, etc. In contrast, the Web is a collection of interconnected documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. The World Wide Web is one of the services accessible via the Internet, along with many others including e-mail, file sharing and others described below.
The Internet protocol suite is a collection of standards and protocols organized into layers so that each layer provides the foundation and the services required by the layer above. In this scheme, the Internet consists of the computers and networks that handle Internet Protocol (IP) data packets. Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) depends on IP and solves problems like data packets arriving out of order or not at all. Next comes Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which is an application layer protocol. It runs on top of TCP/IP and provides user agents, such as web browsers, with access to the files, documents and other resources of the World Wide Web.
Main article: History of the Internet
Main article: ARPANET
The USSR's launch of Sputnik spurred the United States to create the Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as ARPA, in February 1958 to regain a technological lead.[1][2] ARPA created the Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO) to further the research of the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) program, which had networked country-wide radar systems together for the first time. J. C. R. Licklider was selected to head the IPTO, and saw universal networking as a potential unifying human revolution.
Licklider moved from the Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory at Harvard University to MIT in 1950, after becoming interested in information technology. At MIT, he served on a committee that established Lincoln Laboratory and worked on the SAGE project. In 1957 he became a Vice President at BBN, where he bought the first production PDP-1 computer and conducted the first public demonstration of time-sharing.
At the IPTO, Licklider recruited Lawrence Roberts to head a project to implement a network, and Roberts based the technology on the work of Paul Baran[citation needed] who had written an exhaustive study for the U.S. Air Force that recommended packet switching (as opposed to circuit switching) to make a network highly robust and survivable. After much work, the first two nodes of what would become the ARPANET were interconnected between UCLA and SRI International in
The first TCP/IP-wide area network was made operational by January 1, 1983 when all hosts on the ARPANET were switched over from the older NCP protocols to TCP/IP. In 1985, the
The opening of the network to commercial interests began in 1988. The US Federal Networking Council approved the interconnection of the NSFNET to the commercial MCI Mail system in that year and the link was made in the summer of 1989. Other commercial electronic email services were soon connected, including OnTyme, Telemail and Compuserve. In that same year, three commercial Internet Service Providers were created: UUNET, PSINET and CERFNET. Important, separate networks that offered gateways into, then later merged with the Internet include Usenet and BITNET. Various other commercial and educational networks, such as Telenet, Tymnet, Compuserve and JANET were interconnected with the growing Internet. Telenet (later called Sprintnet) was a large privately-funded national computer network with free dial-up access in cities throughout the
The network gained a public face in the 1990s. On August 6, 1991, CERN, which straddles the border between France and Switzerland, publicized the new World Wide Web project, two years after British scientist Tim Berners-Lee had begun creating HTML, HTTP and the first few Web pages at CERN.
An early popular web browser was ViolaWWW based upon HyperCard. It was eventually replaced in popularity by the Mosaic web browser. In 1993 the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois released version 1.0 of Mosaic, and by late 1994 there was growing public interest in the previously academic/technical Internet. By 1996 usage of the word "Internet" had become commonplace, and consequently, so had its misusage as a reference to the World Wide Web.
Meanwhile, over the course of the decade, the Internet successfully accommodated the majority of previously existing public computer networks (although some networks, such as FidoNet, have remained separate) During the 1990s, it was estimated that the Internet grew by 100% per year, with a brief period of explosive growth in 1996 and 1997.[3] This growth is often attributed to the lack of central administration, which allows organic growth of the network, as well as the non-proprietary open nature of the Internet protocols, which encourages vendor interoperability and prevents any one company from exerting too much control over the network. [citation needed]
Aside from the complex physical connections that make up its infrastructure, the Internet is facilitated by bi- or multi-lateral commercial contracts (e.g., peering agreements), and by technical specifications or protocols that describe how to exchange data over the network. Indeed, the Internet is essentially defined by its interconnections and routing policies.
As of June 10, 2007, 1.133 billion people use the Internet according to Internet World Stats. Writing in the Harvard International Review, philosopher N.J.Slabbert, a writer on policy issues for the Washington DC-based Urban Land Institute, has asserted that the Internet is fast becoming a basic feature of global civilization, so that what has traditionally been called "civil society" is now becoming identical with information technology society as defined by Internet use. [4]
For more details on this topic, see Internet Protocols.
In this context, there are three layers of protocols:
There have been many analyses of the Internet and its structure. For example, it has been determined that the Internet IP routing structure and hypertext links of the World Wide Web are examples of scale-free networks.
Similar to the way the commercial Internet providers connect via Internet exchange points, research networks tend to interconnect into large subnetworks such as:
These in turn are built around relatively smaller networks. See also the list of academic computer network organizations
In network diagrams, the Internet is often represented by a cloud symbol, into and out of which network communications can pass.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the authority that coordinates the assignment of unique identifiers on the Internet, including domain names, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and protocol port and parameter numbers. A globally unified namespace (i.e., a system of names in which there is one and only one holder of each name) is essential for the Internet to function. ICANN is headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, but is overseen by an international board of directors drawn from across the Internet technical, business, academic, and non-commercial communities. The
On November 16, 2005, the World Summit on the Information Society, held in Tunis, established the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to discuss Internet-related issues.
For more details on this topic, see English on the Internet.
Further information: Unicode
The prevalent language for communication on the Internet is English. This may be a result of the Internet's origins, as well as English's role as the lingua franca. It may also be related to the poor capability of early computers, largely originating in the United States, to handle characters other than those in the English variant of the Latin alphabet.
After English (30% of Web visitors) the most-requested languages on the World Wide Web are Chinese 14%, Spanish 8%, Japanese 8%, German 5%, French 5%, Portuguese 3.5%, Korean 3%, Italian 3% and Arabic 2.5% (from Internet World Stats, updated January 11, 2007).
By continent, 36% of the world's Internet users are based in Asia, 29% in Europe, and 21% in North America ([2] updated January 11, 2007).
The Internet's technologies have developed enough in recent years, especially in the use of Unicode, that good facilities are available for development and communication in most widely used languages. However, some glitches such as mojibake (incorrect display of foreign language characters, also known as kryakozyabry) still remain.
The Internet is allowing greater flexibility in working hours and location, especially with the spread of unmetered high-speed connections and Web applications.
The Internet can now be accessed virtually anywhere by numerous means. Mobile phones, datacards, handheld game consoles and cellular routers allow users to connect to the Internet from anywhere there is a cellular network supporting that device's technology.
For more details on this topic, see E-mail.
The concept of sending electronic text messages between parties in a way analogous to mailing letters or memos predates the creation of the Internet. Even today it can be important to distinguish between Internet and internal e-mail systems. Internet e-mail may travel and be stored unencrypted on many other networks and machines out of both the sender's and the recipient's control. During this time it is quite possible for the content to be read and even tampered with by third parties, if anyone considers it important enough. Purely internal or intranet mail systems, where the information never leaves the corporate or organization's network, are much more secure, although in any organization there will be IT and other personnel whose job may involve monitoring, and occasionally accessing, the email of other employees not addressed to them.
For more details on this topic, see World Wide Web.
Many people use the terms Internet and World Wide Web (or just the Web) interchangeably, but, as discussed above, the two terms are not synonymous.
The World Wide Web is a huge set of interlinked documents, images and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. These hyperlinks and URLs allow the web-servers and other machines that store originals, and cached copies, of these resources to deliver them as required using HTTP. HTTP is only one of the communication protocols used on the Internet.
Web services also use HTTP to allow software systems to communicate in order to share and exchange business logic and data.
Software products that can access the resources of the Web are correctly termed user agents. In normal use, Web browsers, such as Internet Explorer and Firefox access Web pages and allow users to navigate from one to another via hyperlinks. Web documents may contain almost any combination of computer data including photographs, graphics, sounds, text, video, multimedia and interactive content including games, office applications and scientific demonstrations.
Through keyword-driven Internet research using search engines, like Yahoo!, and Google, millions of people worldwide have easy, instant access to a vast and diverse amount of online information. Compared to encyclopedias and traditional libraries, the World Wide Web has enabled a sudden and extreme decentralization of information and data.
It is also easier using the Web than ever before for individuals and organisations to publish ideas and information to an extremely large audience. Anyone can find ways to publish a web page or build a website for very little initial cost. Publishing and maintaining large, professional websites full of attractive, diverse and up-to-date information is still a difficult and expensive proposition, however.
Many individuals and some companies and groups use "Web logs" or blogs, which are largely used as easily-updatable online diaries. Some commercial organizations encourage staff to fill them with advice on their areas of specialization in the hope that visitors will be impressed by the expert knowledge and free information, and be attracted to the corporation as a result. One example of this practice is Microsoft, whose product developers publish their personal blogs in order to pique the public's interest in their work.
Collections of personal Web pages published by large service providers remain popular, and have become increasingly sophisticated. Whereas operations such as Angelfire and GeoCities have existed since the early days of the Web, newer offerings from, for example, Facebook and MySpace currently have large followings. These operations often brand themselves as social network services rather than simply as Web page hosts.
Advertising on popular Web pages can be lucrative, and e-commerce or the sale of products and services directly via the Web continues to grow.
In the early days, Web pages were usually created as sets of complete and isolated HTML text files stored on a Web server. More recently, Web sites are more often created using content management system (CMS) software with, initially, very little content. Users of the CMS, who may be paid staff, members of a club or other organisation, or even members of the public, fill the CMS database with content using editing pages designed for that purpose, while casual visitors view and read this content in its final HTML form. There may or may not be editorial, approval and security systems built into the process of taking newly entered content and making it available to the target visitors.
Further information: Remote access
The Internet allows computer users to connect to other computers and information stores easily, wherever they may be across the world. They may do this with or without the use of security, authentication and encryption technologies, depending on the requirements.
This is encouraging new ways of working from home, collaboration and information sharing in many industries. An accountant sitting at home can audit the books of a company based in another country, on a server situated in a third country that is remotely maintained by IT specialists in a fourth. These accounts could have been created by home-working book-keepers, in other remote locations, based on information e-mailed to them from offices all over the world. Some of these things were possible before the widespread use of the Internet, but the cost of private, leased lines would have made many of them infeasible in practice.
An office worker away from his desk, perhaps the other side of the world on a business trip or a holiday, can open a remote desktop session into their normal office PC using a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection via the Internet. This gives the worker complete access to all of their normal files and data, including e-mail and other applications, while away from the office.
This concept is also referred to by some network security people as the Virtual Private Nightmare, because it extends the secure perimeter of a corporate network into its employees' homes; this has been the source of some notable security breaches, but also provides security for the workers.
See also: Collaborative software
The low cost and nearly instantaneous sharing of ideas, knowledge, and skills has made collaborative work dramatically easier. Not only can a group cheaply communicate and test, but the wide reach of the Internet allows such groups to easily form in the first place, even among niche interests. An example of this is the free software movement in software development which produced GNU and Linux from scratch and has taken over development of Mozilla and OpenOffice.org (formerly known as Netscape Communicator and StarOffice).
Internet 'chat', whether in the form of IRC 'chat rooms' or channels, or via instant messaging systems allow colleagues to stay in touch in a very convenient way when working at their computers during the day. Messages can be sent and viewed even more quickly and conveniently than via e-mail. Extension to these systems may allow files to be exchanged, 'whiteboard' drawings to be shared as well as voice and video contact between team members.
Version control systems allow collaborating teams to work on shared sets of documents without either accidentally overwriting each other's work or having members wait until they get 'sent' documents to be able to add their thoughts and changes.
For more details on this topic, see File sharing.
A computer file can be e-mailed to customers, colleagues and friends as an attachment. It can be uploaded to a Web site or FTP server for easy download by others. It can be put into a "shared location" or onto a file server for instant use by colleagues. The load of bulk downloads to many users can be eased by the use of "mirror" servers or peer-to-peer networks.
In any of these cases, access to the file may be controlled by user authentication; the transit of the file over the Internet may be obscured by encryption and money may change hands before or after access to the file is given. The price can be paid by the remote charging of funds from, for example a credit card whose details are also passed—hopefully fully encrypted—across the Internet. The origin and authenticity of the file received may be checked by digital signatures or by MD5 or other message digests.
These simple features of the Internet, over a world-wide basis, are changing the basis for the production, sale, and distribution of anything that can be reduced to a computer file for transmission. This includes all manner of print publications, software products, news, music, film, video, photography, graphics and the other arts. This in turn has caused seismic shifts in each of the existing industries that previously controlled the production and distribution of these products in that country.
Internet collaboration technology enables business and project teams to share documents, calendars and other information. Such collaboration occurs in a wide variety of areas including scientific research, software development, conference planning, political activism and creative writing.
Many existing radio and television broadcasters provide Internet 'feeds' of their live audio and video streams (for example, the BBC and Rush Limbaugh). They may also allow time-shift viewing or listening such as Preview, Classic Clips and Listen Again features. These providers have been joined by a range of pure Internet 'broadcasters' who never had on-air licenses. This means that an Internet-connected device, such as a computer or something more specific, can be used to access on-line media in much the same way as was previously possible only with a television or radio receiver. The range of material is much wider, from pornography to highly specialized technical Web-casts. Podcasting is a variation on this theme, where—usually audio—material is first downloaded in full and then may be played back on a computer or shifted to a digital audio player to be listened to on the move. These techniques using simple equipment allow anybody, with little censorship or licensing control, to broadcast audio-visual material on a worldwide basis.
Webcams can be seen as an even lower-budget extension of this phenomenon. While some webcams can give full frame rate video, the picture is usually either small or updates slowly. Internet users can watch animals around an African waterhole, ships in the Panama Canal, the traffic at a local roundabout or their own premises, live and in real time. Video chat rooms, video conferencing, and remote controllable webcams are also popular. Many uses can be found for personal webcams in and around the home, with and without two-way sound.
For more details on this topic, see VoIP.
VoIP stands for Voice over IP, where IP refers to the Internet Protocol that underlies all Internet communication. This phenomenon began as an optional two-way voice extension to some of the Instant Messaging systems that took off around the year 2000. In recent years many VoIP systems have become as easy to use and as convenient as a normal telephone. The benefit is that, as the Internet carries the actual voice traffic, VoIP can be free or cost much less than a normal telephone call, especially over long distances and especially for those with always-on Internet connections such as cable or ADSL.
Thus VoIP is maturing into a viable alternative to traditional telephones. Interoperability between different providers has improved and the ability to call or receive a call from a traditional telephone is available. Simple inexpensive VoIP modems are now available that eliminate the need for a PC.
Voice quality can still vary from call to call but is often equal to and can even exceed that of traditional calls.
Remaining problems for VoIP include emergency telephone number dialling and reliability. Currently a few VoIP providers provide an emergency service but it is not universally available. Traditional phones are line powered and operate during a power failure, VoIP does not do so without a backup power source for the electronics.
Most VoIP providers offer unlimited national calling but the direction in VoIP is clearly toward global coverage with unlimited minutes for a low monthly fee.
VoIP has also become increasingly popular within the gaming world, as a form of communication between players. Popular gaming VoIP clients include Ventrilo and Teamspeak, and there are others available also.
For more details on this topic, see Internet censorship.
Some governments, such as those of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, the People's Republic of China and Saudi Arabia, restrict what people in their countries can access on the Internet, especially political and religious content. This is accomplished through software that filters domains and content so that they may not be easily accessed or obtained without elaborate circumvention.
In Norway, Finland and Sweden, major Internet service providers have voluntarily (possibly to avoid such an arrangement being turned into law) agreed to restrict access to sites listed by police. While this list of forbidden URLs is only supposed to contain addresses of known child pornography sites, the content of the list is secret.[citation needed]
Many countries have enacted laws making the possession or distribution of certain material, such as child pornography, illegal, but do not use filtering software.
There are many free and commercially available software programs with which a user can choose to block offensive Web sites on individual computers or networks, such as to limit a child's access to pornography or violence. See Content-control software.
For more details on this topic, see Internet access.
:
Common methods of home access include dial-up, landline broadband (over coaxial cable, fiber optic or copper wires), Wi-Fi, satellite and technology 3G cell phones.
Public places to use the Internet include libraries and Internet cafes, where computers with Internet connections are available. There are also Internet access points in many public places such as airport halls and coffee shops, in some cases just for brief use while standing. Various terms are used, such as "public Internet kiosk", "public access terminal", and "Web payphone". Many hotels now also have public terminals, though these are usually fee-based.
Wi-Fi provides wireless access to computer networks, and therefore can do so to the Internet itself. Hotspots providing such access include Wi-Fi-cafes, where a would-be user needs to bring their own wireless-enabled devices such as a laptop or PDA. These services may be free to all, free to customers only, or fee-based. A hotspot need not be limited to a confined location. The whole campus or park, or even the entire city can be enabled. Grassroots efforts have led to wireless community networks. Commercial WiFi services covering large city areas are in place in London, Vienna, Toronto, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago and Pittsburgh. The Internet can then be accessed from such places as a park bench.[5]
Apart from Wi-Fi, there have been experiments with proprietary mobile wireless networks like Ricochet, various high-speed data services over cellular phone networks, and fixed wireless services.
High-end mobile phones such as smartphones generally come with Internet access through the phone network. Web browsers such as Opera are available on these advanced handsets, which can also run a wide variety of other Internet software. More mobile phones have Internet access than PCs, though this is not as widely used. An Internet access provider and protocol matrix differentiates the methods used to get online.
The Internet has been a major source of leisure since before the World Wide Web, with entertaining social experiments such as MUDs and MOOs being conducted on university servers, and humor-related Usenet groups receiving much of the main traffic. Today, many Internet forums have sections devoted to games and funny videos; short cartoons in the form of Flash movies are also popular. Over 6 million people use blogs or message boards as a means of communication and for the sharing of ideas.
The pornography and gambling industries have both taken full advantage of the World Wide Web, and often provide a significant source of advertising revenue for other Web sites. Although many governments have attempted to put restrictions on both industries' use of the Internet, this has generally failed to stop their widespread popularity. A song in the Broadway musical show Avenue Q is titled "The Internet is for Porn" and refers to the popularity of this aspect of the Internet.
One main area of leisure on the Internet is multiplayer gaming. This form of leisure creates communities, bringing people of all ages and origins to enjoy the fast-paced world of multiplayer games. These range from MMORPG to first-person shooters, from role-playing games to online gambling. This has revolutionized the way many people interact and spend their free time on the Internet.
While online gaming has been around since the 1970s, modern modes of online gaming began with services such as GameSpy and MPlayer, which players of games would typically subscribe to. Non-subscribers were limited to certain types of gameplay or certain games.
Many use the Internet to access and download music, movies and other works for their enjoyment and relaxation. As discussed above, there are paid and unpaid sources for all of these, using centralized servers and distributed peer-to-peer technologies. Discretion is needed as some of these sources take more care over the original artists' rights and over copyright laws than others.
Many use the World Wide Web to access news, weather and sports reports, to plan and book holidays and to find out more about their random ideas and casual interests.
People use chat, messaging and email to make and stay in touch with friends worldwide, sometimes in the same way as some previously had pen pals. Social networking Web sites like Friends Reunited and many others like them also put and keep people in contact for their enjoyment.
The Internet has seen a growing amount of Internet operating systems, where users can access their files, folders, and settings via the Internet. An example of an opensource webOS is Eyeos.
Cyberslacking has become a serious drain on corporate resources; the average
Many computer scientists see the Internet as a "prime example of a large-scale, highly engineered, yet highly complex system".[6] The Internet is extremely heterogeneous. (For instance, data transfer rates and physical characteristics of connections vary widely.) The Internet exhibits "emergent phenomena" that depend on its large-scale organization. For example, data transfer rates exhibit temporal self-similarity. Further adding to the complexity of the Internet is the ability of more than one computer to use the Internet through only one node, thus creating the possibility for a very deep and hierarchal based sub-network that can theoretically be extended infinitely (disregarding the programmatic limitations of the IPv4 protocol). However, since principles of this architecture date back to the 1960s, it might not be a solution best suited to modern needs, and thus the possibility of developing alternative structures is currently being looked into. Thanks to studies done in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, it has been shown that the internet is in the shape of a sphere or medusa jellyfish. There are 3 sections of this sphere. The core of the internet is made up of around a 100 of the most tightly connected subnetworks, such as Google. [7]
The Internet has also become a large market for companies; some of the biggest companies today have grown by taking advantage of the efficient nature of low-cost advertising and commerce through the Internet; also known as e-commerce. It is the fastest way to spread information to a vast amount of people simultaneously. The Internet has also subsequently revolutionized shopping—for example; a person can order a CD online and receive it in the mail within a couple of days, or download it directly in some cases. The Internet has also greatly facilitated personalized marketing which allows a company to market a product to a specific person or a specific group of people more so than any other advertising medium.
Examples of personalized marketing include online communities such as MySpace, Friendster, Orkut, Facebook and others which thousands of Internet users join to advertise themselves and make friends online. Many of these users are young teens and adolescents ranging from 13 to 25 years old. In turn, when they advertise themselves they advertise interests and hobbies, which online marketing companies can use as information as to what those users will purchase online, and advertise their own companies' products to those users.
Further information: Disintermediation#Impact of Internet-related disintermediation upon various industries and Travel agency#The Internet threat
For more details on this topic, see Internet capitalization conventions.
Look up Internet, internet in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Internet is traditionally written with a capital first letter, as it is a proper noun. The Internet Society, the Internet Engineering Task Force, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the World Wide Web Consortium, and several other Internet-related organizations use this convention in their publications.
Many newspapers, newswires, periodicals, and technical journals capitalize the term (Internet). Examples include The New York Times, the Associated Press, Time, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, and Communications of the ACM.
Others assert that the first letter should be in lower case (internet), and that the specific article “the” is sufficient to distinguish “the internet” from other internets. A significant number of publications use this form, including The Economist, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, and The Sydney Morning Herald. As of 2005, many publications using internet appear to be located outside of North America—although one
Historically, Internet and internet have had different meanings, with internet meaning “an interconnected set of distinct networks,” and Internet referring to the world-wide, publicly-available IP internet. Under this distinction, "the Internet" is the familiar network via which websites exist, however "an internet" can exist between any two remote locations.[8] Any group of distinct networks connected together is an internet; each of these networks may or may not be part of the Internet. The distinction was evident in many RFCs, books, and articles from the 1980s and early 1990s (some of which, such as RFC 1918, refer to "internets" in the plural), but has recently fallen into disuse.[citation needed] Instead, the term intranet is generally used for private networks. See also: extranet.
Some people use the lower-case term as a medium (like radio or newspaper, e.g. I've found it on the internet), and first letter capitalized as the global network.
