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ITP Tech on the Street
ITP hit the streets of downtown Chicago to hear what tech consumers had to say. Here’s what we found, in this first episode of “Tech on the Street”!
The Internet
We all know what it is, but how does the Internet work anyway? The Internet is a connected series of over 200,000 privately owned networks. It is a network of networks, consisting of millions of business, academic, government, and personal computer networks. The infrastructure for this complex system was built and is maintained by internet service providers (ISPs), which enable e-mail, file transfer, the World Wide Web, and other services to function in an efficient, publicly-accessible environment.
Check out this visual representation of the Internet: http://advice.cio.com/themes/CIO.com/cache/Internet_map_labels_0.pdf
Although sometimes used interchangeably, the word “internet” is not synonymous with the “World Wide Web.” As we know, the Internet is a collection of interconnected computers, linked by copper wire, fiber-optic cables, or wireless technology. The World Wide Web, however, is a tapestry of documents and other resources, linked together by URLs (web addresses). That is, the Web is just one of the many services accessible via the internet.
The ExaFlood
The internet has grown tremendously since its inception – from a mostly text-based medium of e-mail and information, to an explosion of more complex uses, including video, animation, music, and other bandwidth-heavy features. “ExaFlood” stems from the word “exabyte,” (or 1.074 billion gigabytes) and refers to the digital data boom that is pushing the Internet to its limits and has experts forecasting some imminent challenges amidst the excitement.
What’s creating the Exaflood? Namely, online video.
- Online video accounts for 80% of internet traffic.
- Today, 20 typical U.S. households generate as much internet traffic as the entire world did in 1995!
- YouTube alone consumes as much internet capacity, or bandwidth, today as the entire Internet consumed in the year 2000. Users upload 65,000 new videos and download 100 million files each day, a 1,000 percent increase from just one year ago.
- Internet users create ½ an exabyte of new data every day, so much data, that if converted to DVD-quality video, it would take over 50,000 years to watch!)
With more devices connecting to the internet, more intelligent video applications, and over a billion users online (and increasing by the minute!), researchers fear we may soon exceed network capacity, creating a global traffic jam of data gridlock. While internet service providers work to improve and expand their network, we need sound public policy that allows for investment and these internet upgrades, or businesses and consumers alike will all suffer.
Interested to learn more about the ExaFlood? Take a look at this video from the Internet Innovation Alliance, appropriately found on YouTube:
Wireless
Do you remember your first pager or car phone? Today, more people have cell phones than home phones, and when asked if they had to give up one, more than 50% chose to lose the landline.
While most often associated with cell phones, wireless technology allows a variety of long range communications to transmit a signal without the need for impractical or impossible hard wires. By using some form of energy (radio frequency, microwave/antennae communication, infrared or laser light, ultrasonic, etc) to transfer information over any distance, wireless technology enables a wide range of services and equipment to operate, including two-way or CB radios, marine and VHF radios, mobile phones and pagers, GPS, cordless computer peripherals (like printers), satellite television, and broadband internet.
Broadband
The term “broadband” refers to the high-speed internet service which allows users to access a large volume of data very quickly. Think of it like a highway: the more lanes there are, the more traffic that can pass through efficiently. For instance, a very narrow road (or single-band signal) only has the capacity for light traffic, or Morse Code, for instance. Larger bandwidth can handle more types of data – such as telephone communication or music on the radio. A broadband “highway” has the capacity to move more complex and larger data vehicles very rapidly.
When you refer to cable, DSL, wireless modems, and satellite internet service, you’re talking about different types of broadband service. For details on how each technology works, check out this chart:
www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat100050001&type=category
Broadband is becoming accessible to more consumers across the country as private companies work to develop and deploy the networks needed to handle the internet traffic. The Brookings Institution found that in the year 2000, there were only 4.1 million broadland lines in the United States. Six years later, the number of lines had increased by 1500% with nearly 54 million broadband lines across the country. With a broadband connection, users no longer need to wait for Web sites to load. You can send e-mail, download and view files, and conduct business very quickly. The deployment of new broadband lines also spurs job creation and narrows the “digital divide” that can leave some regions offline. Policies that continue to promote competition encourage providers to expand and improve their services, and give consumers more choice and better offerings.
