I read the chapter, Lessons from the History of Internet, from Mauel Castell’s book and learned about the many events that led to rise of World Wide Web or WWW.

From the book “The Internet of Galaxy” by Manual Castells, in the chapter, Lessons from the History of Internet, Castells talks about the explanation of the events that led to the invention of the internet. Castells explains how people who were involved in expanding the internet were able to “transcend institutional goals, overcome bureaucratic barriers and subvert established values in the process of ushering in a new world.” (Castells, page 9)

This chapter focuses on the lessons from building the ARPANET in the 1960s to the outbreak of the worldwide network in the 1990s. This chapter talks about the historical production of technology and how far it expanded in time from the beginning. It also provides the summary of events that led to the foundation of the internet from its original form ARPANET to global network and from global network to user friendly by world wide web. Castells talks about the major event that enhanced the internet into presence was the unlikely intersection of Military research, science and libertarian culture. Castells explains how the internet was established in a mission-oriented research environment where the United states wanted to have control over Soviet Union during the Cold War.

According to castells, when the internet was conceived, it was thought to be a tool of “liberations”. , It was made open “as a way to learn and share” (Castells, page 33). It was designed to provide people “with the power of information to free themselves both from governments and corporations”. (Castells, page 25). However, today the internet has cost people their jobs because of something they posted online on their social media account and some countries, like china, have government regulations and censorship on the internet. Today, the idea of being liberated seems difficult because of corporations and governments.

One interesting part from the chapter was when Castells stated as “the openness of the Internet’s architecture was the source of its main strength: it’s self-evolving development, as users became producers of the technology, and shapers of the whole network” (Castells, page 27). The fact that users are required for the advancement of the internet has not only shown by the rapid rise of the Internet in the past three decades, but also by what is continuously developing today.

This chapter allows me to evaluate my own use of the internet. It helped me understand my own experience as a user of the internet. After reading this chapter I have realized how the internet has provided to me and how today I am able to use it with my own knowledge and understanding. In today’s world we see the “world wide web” is open to the public, so we can use the internet to create our own private spaces through social networking, blogging and education.