So first week of COM125 is over! Pretty interesting class overall, to me its more like an in-depth lesson of CSE111, or probably a refresher for some of the students in my class. That's how i feel about the class so far anyway! :)

Our professor, Abel Choy. Googled his name and this was the first picture. So handsome right

So what exactly is COM125 about, or more importantly, what does it have to offer to us as communication majors? Well first off, as we have basically shifted into the technology era, communication between people usually(most of the time, actually) use social media as a medium of communication. In order to do that, we need the help of the internet. One interesting snippet that I actually found interesting about the origins of the internet was that its initial purpose was not meant for commercial use!!! It was the brainchild of a handful of researchers at DARPA(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) originally named AARPA. They developed the worlds first original packet switching networks, implementing the use of TCP/IP(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) as a means of transmitting packet data. Imagine if the internet today was restricted to military use.

How many likes do you think I'd get for this picture, Carl?

Originally meant as a way for the US military to still be able to communicate to communicate in the event of a Soviet attack rendering current means of communication useless, it has now ballooned into a world wide system connecting billions of users worldwide through the standard Internet Protocols mentioned above (The TCP/IP). From its inception came the creation of the World Wide Web, or WWW as most people would refer to it colloquially. Early uses of the internet were strictly non-interactive, mostly limited to sending of emails and read-only data. With the creation of the Web, users could interact more freely online, creating their own web pages and visiting other sites which include various forms of multimedia such as images, videos and even audio files! The creator of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, did such a selfless thing by not patenting his invention, preferring to make it free for all to use. Being a strong advocate for net neutrality, I'm glad that he didn't do what the many other corporations out there are doing: choosing to profit over their creations rather than helping the advancement of mankind. But thanks to the web, communication has never been more efficient. The number of online users today is staggering to say the least. But lets not let my words sway you. Our prof showed us a live breakdown of the internet statistics for us to get a rough idea of how immensely large this phenomenon has taken over the world(or at least one-third of it). Kindly click on this link.

Mind. Blown.

Crazy, isn't it? And that's not even the end. The numbers are increasing by the second. I mean how cool is that?? I never knew people even actually could monitor the number of users online, let alone create a live statistic webpage displaying the results. Here's another page our prof so kindly introduced to us also. It's a really cool creation by Google, simply a breakdown of the online traffic in various countries around the world displayed on a globe. the lights shooting out the globes depict the number of online users and the volume of traffic that occurs around the world. not surprisingly, if you would take a look at the United States, it would show up to be the highest trafficked country. Well the country did invent the internet after all.

http://www.chromeexperiments.com/globe

Who needs charts.

 From the humble beginnings of the internet to its current dominant form as a means of communication worldwide, it is no wonder people are taking a vested interest in this global phenomenon. What I've taken away from my first week in this module is that there is really so much that goes into what makes the internet tick, that the technology and convenience that we have the privilege to enjoy now were actually the products of a project meant to be used as a military asset. I'm now more convinced than ever that net neutrality should not be taken for granted, as if there were to be a monopoly on the use of the internet, all the developments and advancements made so far would not have had happened. I'm actually looking forward to the next week of COM125, lets see what Wednesday brings! Ciao