COM125 Week 2: History of the Internet Assignment
Internet technologies have a great impact on our lives. In fact, some internet technologies that we only start using now have been present even before the day I was born. It’s the development of the technology that makes us aware of the internet technology. One internet technology that has gone through big changes is the present day internet forum.
Let us think for a moment, what do people call internet forums, before they where names internet forums? The first emergence of forums is a moderated newsgroup. According to Wikipedia, a moderated newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations and has one or more individuals who must approve articles before they are posted at large. The first moderated newsgroup was introduced on USENET in 1984. Usenet or rather USEr NETwork is a global, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP(Unix to Unix CoPy)-a suite of computer programs and protocols allowing remote execution of commands and transfer of files, email and netnews between computers- network of the same name.
Newsgroups allow individuals to choose their own messages and post on anything of their interests. Newsgroups are subjected to sporadic flame wars and trolling, but they can also be a valuable source of information, support and friendship, bringing people interested in specific subjects together from different continents. Now, weblogs (our present day blogs) have replaced some of the uses of newsgroups for a while as they prevented spamming.
Now, Internet forums are the past newsgroups. According to Wikipedia, an internet forum is a facility on the World Wide Web for holding discussions and posting user generated content, or the web application software used to provide the facility. Note the evolvement of newsgroups to internet forums, the difference is that internet forums now, they are not moderated, so there is more leeway for discussions and postings. But there are still administrators and moderators who will “take care” of the forums. Administrators have the ability to close the board, change major software items, change the skin, modify the board, ban, delete, or create members. Moderator privileges are often able to be delegated or given to other forum members. These moderators have lesser privileges than the administrators. Their main job is to help the administrators to manage the forum.
Internet forums are also known as message boards, web forums, discussion boards, (electronic) discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards, or forums.
Forums (Electronic discussion groups) have also made their way through integration of other software to aid as tools to facilitate the software. One example that we, University of Buffalo students will get to use often is, the Blackboard, by Blackboard Inc. Blackboard develops and license software applications and related services to education institutions. These institutions use Blackboard software to manage e-learning, transaction processing and e-commerce, and online communities. Through the ‘Discussion’ tool, we students are able to post questions to ask questions according to subject which enables easy lookup. Lecturers could also post questions and students could reply the post with the answers to facilitate interaction even after school hours.
Through the evolvement and changes that internet forums have, we users of the internet benefited a lot, be it academically or socially. Internet technologies will never stop changing thanks to the constant advances in technology. So what will the future be like for internet forums? Will it be so interactive that it develops into a “video conferencing forum group”? The future holds in our hands.
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References:
Let us think for a moment, what do people call internet forums, before they where names internet forums? The first emergence of forums is a moderated newsgroup. According to Wikipedia, a moderated newsgroup is a repository usually within the Usenet system, for messages posted from many users at different locations and has one or more individuals who must approve articles before they are posted at large. The first moderated newsgroup was introduced on USENET in 1984. Usenet or rather USEr NETwork is a global, distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP(Unix to Unix CoPy)-a suite of computer programs and protocols allowing remote execution of commands and transfer of files, email and netnews between computers- network of the same name.
Newsgroups allow individuals to choose their own messages and post on anything of their interests. Newsgroups are subjected to sporadic flame wars and trolling, but they can also be a valuable source of information, support and friendship, bringing people interested in specific subjects together from different continents. Now, weblogs (our present day blogs) have replaced some of the uses of newsgroups for a while as they prevented spamming.
Now, Internet forums are the past newsgroups. According to Wikipedia, an internet forum is a facility on the World Wide Web for holding discussions and posting user generated content, or the web application software used to provide the facility. Note the evolvement of newsgroups to internet forums, the difference is that internet forums now, they are not moderated, so there is more leeway for discussions and postings. But there are still administrators and moderators who will “take care” of the forums. Administrators have the ability to close the board, change major software items, change the skin, modify the board, ban, delete, or create members. Moderator privileges are often able to be delegated or given to other forum members. These moderators have lesser privileges than the administrators. Their main job is to help the administrators to manage the forum.
Internet forums are also known as message boards, web forums, discussion boards, (electronic) discussion groups, discussion forums, bulletin boards, or forums.
Forums (Electronic discussion groups) have also made their way through integration of other software to aid as tools to facilitate the software. One example that we, University of Buffalo students will get to use often is, the Blackboard, by Blackboard Inc. Blackboard develops and license software applications and related services to education institutions. These institutions use Blackboard software to manage e-learning, transaction processing and e-commerce, and online communities. Through the ‘Discussion’ tool, we students are able to post questions to ask questions according to subject which enables easy lookup. Lecturers could also post questions and students could reply the post with the answers to facilitate interaction even after school hours.
Through the evolvement and changes that internet forums have, we users of the internet benefited a lot, be it academically or socially. Internet technologies will never stop changing thanks to the constant advances in technology. So what will the future be like for internet forums? Will it be so interactive that it develops into a “video conferencing forum group”? The future holds in our hands.
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References:
Robert H. Zakon. (2007, November). Hobbe’s Internet Timeline. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2235.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2007, January 9). UUCP. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UUCP.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2006, September). Usenet. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2007, January 11). Newsgroup. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsgroup.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2007, January). Internet forum. Retrieved January 27, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_forum.
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2007, January 26). Blackboard Inc. Retrieved January 27, 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard_Inc.
Blackboard Inc. (2007). Blackboard Communities. Retrieved January 27, 2007, from http://www.blackboard.com/communities/.
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Hello Sabrina, good job writing about Internet forums and newsgroups. There's a line that disturbs me though:
"It’s the development of the technology that makes us aware of the internet technology." You might wish to be clearer next time.
While your references are in APA format, you are missing in-text citations. You can refer to this guide for examples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia#Examples
I'm giving you a full grade for this assignment, but do remember my suggestions for future assignments. Keep up the good work.
"It’s the development of the technology that makes us aware of the internet technology." You might wish to be clearer next time.
While your references are in APA format, you are missing in-text citations. You can refer to this guide for examples: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_Wikipedia#Examples
I'm giving you a full grade for this assignment, but do remember my suggestions for future assignments. Keep up the good work.
Hi Sabrina, I happened to chance upon your blog and I have just read your article on internet forums. Which I believe is some sort of a school assignment, judging by the comments left by kevin. I am also guessing kevin is your instructor.
In anycase, you should be thankful that your instructive, kevin, is so lenient. If I were him, I would definitely consider giving you a failing grade. For one, as an advanced student, you should really be keeping an eye on your grammar. I cannot phantom how someone pursuing higher education can write sentences like "The future holds in our hands".
Can I offer a suggestion that in future, please get someone to proof read your work before posting it online for the world to see.
Thanks
In anycase, you should be thankful that your instructive, kevin, is so lenient. If I were him, I would definitely consider giving you a failing grade. For one, as an advanced student, you should really be keeping an eye on your grammar. I cannot phantom how someone pursuing higher education can write sentences like "The future holds in our hands".
Can I offer a suggestion that in future, please get someone to proof read your work before posting it online for the world to see.
Thanks
By 
, at January 29, 2007 at 2:00 PM
, at January 29, 2007 at 2:00 PM
Thank you Anonymous for your valuable comments. I dare to admit, that was a piece of work done in a rush, thus the so called error that you have pointed out.
No one is perfect. Furthermore, i'm still in the process of learning. So you can "phantom" that there will be others out there who will make much terrible grammar mistakes than me. Well, i believe that you must be someone specializing in English, especially grammar, or maybe not, thus being so particular about grammar, critisizing my grammar here, so THANK YOU once again.
Btw, i don't see why the sentence, "The future holds in our hands", is grammatically wrong. And, the above sentence is just an opinion of mine.
No one is perfect. Furthermore, i'm still in the process of learning. So you can "phantom" that there will be others out there who will make much terrible grammar mistakes than me. Well, i believe that you must be someone specializing in English, especially grammar, or maybe not, thus being so particular about grammar, critisizing my grammar here, so THANK YOU once again.
Btw, i don't see why the sentence, "The future holds in our hands", is grammatically wrong. And, the above sentence is just an opinion of mine.
To anonymous: thanks for the comment you gave for Sabrina.. Since you are so "BRILLIANT", why not leave your actual name so that EVERYONE CAN LEARN FROM YOU (SUCH A "CLEVER" PERSON..)
By , at January 29, 2007 at 11:22 PM
, at January 29, 2007 at 11:22 PM
Never mind. Sabrina Jia you! And well said--> Anonymous said...
January 29, 2007 11:22 PM =)
January 29, 2007 11:22 PM =)
