Standardization of the early Internet: a search for socio-institutional factors

Author

Kim, Junghoon ; Watanabe, Tomoaki

Author_Institution

Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN, USA

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

282

Lastpage

291

Abstract

This paper provides an account of the development of the today´s Internet based on the framework of social construction of technology (SCOT). It is argued that the major key characteristics of the Internet, its distributed structure, packet-switching protocol, and TCP/IP are products of historical contingencies rather than simple consequences from the relative superiority of those technologies. Relevant social groups, their interests and visions for the development of each of the characteristics are discussed in order to understand the socio-institutional factors in the history of the Internet

Keywords

Internet; history; packet switching; social aspects of automation; standardisation; transport protocols; TCP/IP; distributed structure; early Internet; historical contingencies; packet-switching protocol; social construction of technology; social groups; socio-institutional factors; standardization; Computer aided manufacturing; Computer networks; History; IP networks; Internet; Military computing; Protocols; Social factors; Standardization; TCPIP;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Standardization and Innovation in Information Technology, 2001 2nd IEEE Conference

Conference_Location

Boulder, CO

Print_ISBN

0-7803-9817-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/SIIT.2001.968577

Filename

968577