Over
the past five issues, we have delved into the world of the small
internet, explored the origins and evolution of web 1.0, and got to know
the indie web and its community. Your interest and support inspire us
to continue this journey.
In
the first issue, we focused on the gradual preservation of the spirit
of the early internet, where sincerity and self-expression reigned
supreme. We discussed how modern technologies can coexist with the
principles of web 1.0, creating a space for creativity and the exchange
of ideas.
We emphasize the uniqueness of an individual approach to content creation and its use in the development network. We
also did not forget about the feeds of the internet. About
platforms and resources that unite enthusiasts who strive to return the
internet to its original charm. Here is a success story and advice for
those who want to join this movement.
More
than once we address the technical aspects of creating websites in the
spirit of the modern Internet, allowing you to create lightweight and
fast websites while maintaining their functionality and attractiveness,
and discussing
the future of small networks, possible prospects for their development.
Your feedback and suggestions helped us determine the direction of
further work and inspired new ideas.
With
the onset of spring, I would like to note that the time of updates and
growth is symbolic for our magazine. We continue to grow and grow,
opening up new horizons and topics for discussion. Let spring bring you
inspiration and efforts to implement your own projects.
In
this issue, we present you with new materials that, I hope, will be
useful and interesting. We continue to monitor the world of the
Internet, sharing our findings and streams with you. Your participation
and support make our magazine alive and relevant.
The
Internet has long ceased to be that cozy corner where you could meet
normal people everywhere. Today it is a neon ruin, where instead of a
warm conversation there are streams of insults, and instead of knowledge
there are algorithms forcing you to watch another viral video about a
cat, or a dog playing the piano, which you saw last year. The Internet
already thinks that we have a short memory, although I am not talking
about that now... There were times when online communication was different - and its name was IRC.
Internet
relay chat, like all the best things in this world, appeared in the
late 80s - in the era when people did not yet try to figure out in the
comments whose grandfather fought more (you can have your own version,
but I like the one about the grandfather better). IRC was invented by a
man named Jarkko Oikarinen, it sounds like he was supposed to be a
character in a Scandinavian detective story. But instead, he invented an
instant messaging system that could have become a separate paradise,
but over the years quickly turned into an uncontrolled communication
service and commercialization, and therefore not a popular "island for
geeks". And although this is often the general opinion, I do not quite
agree with it: you can get into IRC and talk to anyone.
I
do not think many will be interested in learning the details of the
devices and network protocols that are used in IRC. So let's not talk
about it. The main thing is to understand that IRC does not use a
user-level protocol component, but uses its own standards (RFC 1459),
unlike, for example, web chats (HTTP).
The
system worked simply: there were servers, on them - connections in
which people communicated in text. There was no need to download
kilograms of code embedded in social networks, there were no intrusive
subscriptions, paid functions or drops with an indicator that you are
not a robot. Just you, the text, and a handful of strangers, each of
whom had a 50% chance of being unemployed, a system administrator, a
psychopath, or all of the above.
The
beauty of IRC was that moderation was, to put it mildly, savage. The
admins were feudal lords: they could ban you for a spelling mistake, for
the wrong nickname, or simply because they hadn’t slept enough. If you
got into some cult channel, like #linux or #hacking, then the old-timers
were already waiting there - characters who settled into IRC in the
last century and haven’t left since, feeding exclusively on pizza and
hatred.
Bans
in IRC are an art. If you behaved badly, you could just kick, but if
you caught the admins’ eye on a bad day, they could “cleaned” you - ban
you by IP so that you never come back. Well, if you completely lost your
bearings, "g-lined" was used - ban everything at that distance, after
which all that was left was to close your old computer and go for a walk
in the real world, where no one was waiting for you.
A
separate topic is bots. These were small programs that did everything
in a row: banned, gave quotes, trolled newbies, reminded old-timers that
they forgot to log out of IRC 10 years ago. Some bots even replaced
people - for example, in #philosophy bot you could irritate with
"thoughts" about the meaning of life until you realized that you lost an
argument to a piece of iron for an hour (some jokes here are for fun,
do not take them personally, you can still win, I believe in you).
But
the most sinister phenomenon in IRC were war channels. Imagine that two
groups of people did not share a text chat and started hostilities -
with DDoS, hacks, spam bots and attacks on the server. Wars could go on
for years, and the people who came to them became digital veterans -
with post-traumatic stress disorder and someone like ~DarkLord666~.
All
this fun reached its apogee in the late 90s - early 2000s, when IRC
finally began to resemble an endless late shooting gallery, where you
would sooner or later be shot. At the same time, all sorts of "elite"
channels began to appear on the network, where you could, for example,
buy credit cards or a pack of Trojans. Today, such things are sold in
the dark, but back then they were given away almost for free - with a
little disdain to boot.
Meanwhile,
IRC began to die out. Some went to social networks, others - to
Discord, others simply died of old age in front of a glass monitor.
Today, IRC is like a ghost town, where only bots and old people with
nowhere to go wander through the channels. They still sit in #unix and
#h4ck1ng, write scripts in ancient languages like Perl and wait for
someone to ask a question that they can answer with undisguised
arrogance (I'm kidding, of course, there are channels where life is in
full swing, and most of the people there are really 35-50 years old, but
the conversations are mostly about the weather and some everyday
trifles, nothing serious).
The
irony is that modern messengers essentially copy the ideas of IRC -
chats, groups, moderators, bots. Only now you are watched by
corporations, and administrators can't kick you just because they are in
a bad mood. It seemed convenient, but the soul is gone. Where are those
days when you went to a channel, and in response you immediately wrote
"gtfo, n00b, RTFM"?
Maybe
it should be so. Maybe IRC should become a dark legend – a reminder
that the internet was once cruel, uncomfortable, but truly high. And
you, reader, before you close this page, can try to go to some old IRC
server – and if you don’t get banned there right away, then you are no
longer on the internet that we have lost.
But
IRC is still alive, if you know where to look. Modern IRC servers are
small enclaves hidden from the eyes of casual onlookers. To get there,
you need to download a client - for example, HexChat, Irssi or even good
old mIRC, which is still hanging on with the crutches of the Windows XP
era. Use a web interface like KiwiIRC, but it's not cool anymore - it's
the same as calling yourself a hacker, using ping in the command line.
For beginners: a simple tutorial, or how to get "there".
What
distinguishes IRC from other ways of communicating on the Internet is
that you can't yawn, because it is impossible to hide your presence. As
soon as you participate in a channel, you are notified every time,
because the "old IRC wolves" have enough knowledge and tools to figure
out where you are from, and so on. Also, on each channel there are
especially privileged people who are free to do with you whatever they
want, for example, throw you out of the channel or ban access to it
altogether. But usually they are civilized people and kick you out only
if you violate any rules of decency. They are called Operators, or
simply Ops. Bots are also supported, maintaining order on the channel in
the absence of the owner. Modern IRC servers use encrypted connections
(TLS/SSL), so if you are paranoid, you can use a secure port - usually
6697. This will protect your IP address from prying eyes and will not
allow the server to transmit your messages in plain text. If you are
afraid that you are being watched by special services or your hacker
neighbor, you can connect through a proxy or VPN - then it will be more
difficult to track you down.
After
installing the client, you need to connect to the server - for example,
irc.retronode.org:6667 (or 6697, if you are afraid that you are saving
by IP).
EasyChat - a chat client for housewives
If
all this seems built-in, download EasyChat http://elpis.ws/easychat.zip
a freshly baked client from Maksy, where you do not need to configure
anything, you only need to come up with a nickname. In old versions of
windows it also works.
In
IRC the command is configured manually - for example, /join #channel
will add you to the chat, and /nick will change the nickname. If you
want to pass, it is better to register - but be prepared for the fact
that the registration system looks like its Producer is a demon from the
eighth circle of hell: there is no captcha, but there are mysterious
commands that must be entered in a strictly defined order. But this is
only difficult at first, because later you will enter with the settings,
and you will not have to enter the same thing every time you enter.
There are more than 100
commands
in
the IRC language. But even if you claim to be "cool", you don't
necessarily need to know them all. In addition, window clients allow you
to do without them, and yet most of my friends use commands. Here are
some of these commands:
/away <msg> - a message that you went for a smoke
/help - a list of commands
/help <command> - help for a command
/ignore <nick,all> - neighbors of someone/all
/join <#channel> - join a channel
/kick <nick> - kick someone from a channel
/list <-min> - a list of channels with a min number of people
/msg <nick> <msg> - a private message to someone
/nick <nick> - change your name
/topic - change the channel topic (for operators)
/whois <nick> - information about a person
/whowas <nick> - information about a person who has left
IRC Language
Many
messages from old-timers will be incomprehensible to you. In fact,
everything is simple. There is a special language, very interesting and
tricky. In addition to abbreviations, there are also various kinds of
emoticons. Below is a small dictionary.
afk - Away from the keyboard - Stepped away for a minute
bak - Back on the keyboard - Back
brb - Be right back -
By the way, by the way
hth - Hope this helps - Should help
imho - In My Humble Opinion - I think so
iow - In other words - imagery
lol - Laughing Out Loud - Oh, how funny
nrn - No answer necessary - No need to wait
oic - Oh I See - Oh yeah, of course
rtfm - Read The Fucking Manual - read the algorithm
syl - See you later - see you later
:) smile
:( upset
0_o shocks
:'-( cries
;) winks
:* kisses
:)~ sticks out tongue
8==э you were sent a dick pic
@-',---- and then a rose
Once
you've set up the client, you can focus on the most important indicator
- finding people who still remember what the tube retro internet was.
Somewhere in the depths of IRC, there are still old people who have
something to tell - but they don't like newbies. Before asking a
question, read the logs, show respect, and don't be surprised if you get
ignored the first ten times. It's part of the ritual.
Despite
the fact that IRC is a very ancient thing, it can also be carried in
your pocket. Mobile clients like Revolution IRC, AndroIRC, or Mutter for
iOS allow you to connect to servers directly from your smartphone. Now
you can chat on your favorite channel not only at home, but also on the
bus, at work, or during a date (not that IRC users have dates).
There
is a catch with mobile clients, though: if you haven't set up push
notifications, you'll simply be considered dead. IRC is not Telegram, no
one here last night. Either you're online, or you don't exist. And if
you leave the chat while something important is being discussed,
consider that you've missed the entire batch of the bloody ritual - and
it'll be too late to come down. Besides,
mobile Internet is evil. Lost connection? That's it, you're out. IP
changed? Want to change your nickname? You have to go through the whole
registration ritual again, because someone, of course, has already taken
your nickname and made it immortal. Now, of course, you can use IRC
even through cloud services like The Lounge or IRCCloud. They stay
online 24/7, even if you close your laptop and go offline to suffer, but
this does not convey the real philosophy of IRC.
But
despite all these problems, mobile IRC is an ideal way to get back to
the fact that you've been on the Internet since the late 90s. Download
the client, go to the server, say "hello" on the channel - and enjoy the
silence, because no one answers you. Ah, the warmth!
IRC
is an ideal option for those who want to get away from the
commercialization of communication, here your data is not a commodity,
and conversations are not raw material for algorithms. Everything is
simpler and warmer here. There are no artificial likes, endless
algorithmic feeds, robotic responses and feelings that you are talking
to someone's avatar, and not to a person.
Yes,
IRC is an old technology, but this is its charm. It reminds: "What the
Internet was like before it was sold." There is still life here,
although not as noisy as on social networks. This is not a plastic swamp
where everyone is chasing attention. Here people talk because they have
something to say. And it is worth trying, at least once - to feel the
difference.
About piracy in general, it is as it was and is
Once
upon a time, in the era when the Internet did not yet know what a
streaming subscription was, people downloaded music not from dubious FTP
servers, and a little later there was a magical island of abundance
spaces - Pirate Bay, and similar sites. There, among the virtual wave,
you could find everything: games, movies and even an archive with 48
volumes of your favorite writer in MP3 format, voiced by a nasal uncle.
But
let's take it in order. In the 1980-2000s, the world was divided into
two castes: me, who bought free discs, and me, who knew where to find
pirated DVDs at the nearest market. The streets of large cities were
literally drowning in pirated products. In Europe and the USA, the
situation was similar, only there piracy was not carried out by
entrepreneurs, but by entire shadow corporations. Not because people
were poor — they had enough money, but why go to the store if every
outlet sold the same thing, but closer?
At
that time, what happened in Europe and the US was the same as the
beginning of the post-Soviet space in our country, around 1996-2012. A
bunch of pirated disks, the streets were simply littered with them.
Movies, games, warez, operating systems — everything was exactly the
same as ours. But the reason was different. If in our country people
bought pirated goods without money, then there it was a full-fledged
parallel black market, they didn’t care about fat cats and copyrights.
The main goal was to make money.
Imagine:
you live in a city where there is a free store six blocks away. You
have money, you go for a ride, but at every second intersection you see a
suspicious guy with a trunk filled to the brim with disks. And I offer
you the same thing, but closer. For the same money or cheaper. Why go to
the store if you can get it here?
Downloading
via an Internet worker is the same logic. It was not the business of
poor students, economists, every penny. No, many had money, but buying
via the Internet was a separate pain in the ass, I won’t even mention
the Internet speed that was then. There was no PayPal then, no services
in every phone, no endless online banks. You had to get a card, confirm
it, wait – screw it. It’s easier to download, and even on a weak
Internet it was an order of magnitude faster. The West still doesn’t
like to use cards, that’s why PayPal and cryptocurrencies are so popular
there. And back then – even more so.
So
the essence of piracy is the black market and assistance. That's what
they were fighting. Nobody thought: "Oh, these poor people, if they
don't have a pirated version, they'll run and buy a license!" No. If a
person doesn't have the opportunity to download, he simply won't use it.
And that's why the authorities were so zealous in chasing The Pirate
Bay - they weren't fighting pirates, they were fighting conveniences. So
that you, a mortal, would get off your ass, go to the bank, open an
account, get a card, connect it to the store and only then watch a
movie. And now guess who won? Of course, they did. Now we have
subscriptions, online cinemas, cards corresponding to each service.
Piracy was driven underground, but the principle itself - to live
without unnecessary hassles - has not gone away.
Piracy
existed not only because of poverty, but also because the legal market
could not keep up with demand. Convenience, accessibility and lack of
bureaucracy made pirated copies more popular than originals. After all,
if you could break money, a seller on the street and get a disc without a
subscription, bank cards and unnecessary questions, then why bother? In
Europe and America, piracy became not just a way to save money, but a
full-fledged black market, where a license was sold on the same terms as
a pirated copy. It seems not much cheaper, but convenient.
The
Pirate Bay became a symbol of the era: a torrent tracker that provided
access to content without registration and SMS. There you could find a
film even before the premiere, sometimes even with bonuses like an
on-screen operator, this did not mean much. Hollywood was indignant, but
people had fun. However, at some point, copyright holders decided that
piracy was not a popular pastime, but an economic threat, and a war
against trackers began.
Here
it is worth recalling the eponymous series "The Pirate Bay". This
documentation, which tells about the Swedish guys, the creators of this
legendary tracker, and how they were then dragged through the courts, is
moving forward, that giving away games, software and superhero movies
for free is a law against humanity. Spoiler: The guys still came, but
the idea is alive.
And
what about today? Today, everything has changed. Convenience has won.
There is no point in downloading a movie from a torrent, when for
pennies you can subscribe to a dozen streaming services and watch it
legally. Piracy is a thing of the past, but as part of the culture,
memories and memes. However, the Pirate Bay is still alive, like an evil
zombie with an ax from a horror movie who stubbornly does not want to
die. It is blocked, revived, blocked again - and so on in a circle.
So
if someone today downloads something from a torrent, it is not because
he is saving money, but because old habits die hard. Or because some
rare movie has disappeared from all legal sources. Either way, piracy
isn't what it used to be. Even pirates have to pay for VPNs now.
Of
course, piracy is still thriving, like mold in forgotten corners of the
Internet. Yes, warez sites (the same sites where you could download
everything from the latest blockbuster to a collection of drivers for
Windows 98) have almost died out, but torrents continue to live like
cockroaches after a nuclear war. It's just that now everything has
become convenient: want to watch a new movie? Yes, please! Type the
title into a search engine, add the cherished word "online", and here
you have a dozen sites where you can watch without registration, without
SMS, and even with a normal translation, and not this hellish dubbing,
where all the men speak in a bass voice, and the women, as if they ran
away from English courses for beginners.
True,
in some countries you can get a hefty fine for such luxury. Imagine:
you are sitting, not bothering anyone, enjoying watching some new game,
and a couple of weeks later you receive a letter. No, not with an
invitation to watch a pirate fan club, but with a demand to reach
several hundred euros for daring to watch a movie without paying tribute
to Hollywood moguls. The funniest thing is that these fines are sent by
mail, like secret messages - no call, no message, just a surprise in an
envelope. Maybe it's worth revising old pirate traditions? For example,
make paper fines in the form of black marks or at least include a map
with a cross marking the place where you can come and honestly work off
the effect on the galleys.
But,
despite all these prohibitions, torrents are alive and well. Somewhere
they are trying to block them, somewhere to expose the largest sites,
but they are still built anew, like a many-headed hydra. Closed one
tracker? In its place are already three new ones with an even more
convenient interface and a section "new in excellent quality."
Therefore, piracy cannot be defeated, it can only be done with coins,
which, by the way, modern streaming services are trying to do by
consistently introducing a subscription to a subscription for
subscriptions. But who would want to pay for five different services if
you can just go to the right site and watch everything for free? True,
there is a risk of getting a "letter of happiness".
Write because you can, not because you have to.
When
you sit down to write, don't think about whether it will be good or
bad. Just write. Let the words flow freely. Later, when you reread and
send, remove the unnecessary, clarify the details and throw out more.
Real text is born during editing, but do not be afraid of the word flow
in drafts.
Check
the facts. Always. If you lie or make a mistake somewhere, there will
be a smart guy who will point it out with a sly smile. Let's not give
him that chance. Google, reread, clarify. It will not take much time,
but it will save your reputation.
Too
long texts are evil. If you have an article of five thousand words,
shorten it at least in half. No one will read endless reasoning. This is
not a Mexican soap opera. The era of comparing texts ended in the last
century. Now I read less and quickly scan the text more, and if there is
no substance there, they move on.
Do
you want to write well? Read good books. Fiction, science, philosophy -
any. Absorb turns of phrase, words, intonations. The more you read, the
richer your language becomes, the easier it is to find the right
expressions. Good style is not only an innate talent, but also the
result of many years of reading, it is more synonyms and speech
patterns.
If
this is not a candidate's thesis, simplify the text, make it more
understandable. Do not try to show the level of your education with too
complex phrases, if the reader asks Wikipedia the walking time from time
to time or constantly, then he will leave forever. Simplicity is not
equal to primitiveness - this is the art of speaking clearly. The easier
it is for the reader to perceive your text, the higher the chance that
he will read it to the end.
Use
humor. Life is a complicated thing, and people need a reason to laugh.
Add some lightness, and your text will be better remembered. Laughter
brings people together, makes the text alive and real. But do not overdo
it - everything should be in moderation.
Avoid
moralizing. Let the reader draw their own conclusions. No one likes to
be taught life lessons. If there is a moral, it should become the winner
of history, and not be thrown in the forehead. The exception is if we
are talking about something that you addressed personally and can
reasonably summarize.
Professionalism
is not a diploma, but practice. You can be a historian by education,
but if you make a living making pizza, then you are a professional
pizzaiolo. The world is simpler than it seems. A profession is what
brings you money, and not what is written in a diploma.
Don't
be afraid to be a non-professional. It is impossible to know everything
about everything. In every business, everyone was once a beginner. You
will always encounter a state that seems like something to you at first
glance. Mistakes are also part of the path, and not a reason for shame.
The main thing is to learn from them, move on and find your style.
Sometimes it is the view of a person "not in the profession" that gives
unexpected, fresh ideas. Do not let the fear of "not meeting the
necessary attention" stop you.
Sometimes
it is useful to deliberately break the rules. I always leave at least
one controversial thought or minor omission in the text. Let the reader
have a reason to catch on, to be indignant, to argue. Let him search,
subsequently, analyze. This means that the text has hooked him.
What
should not be written? Articles in the spirit of "Elon Musk showed ... o
/ in public", or "what would have happened if he did this many times
with both hands", or "if he went on tour with this". No one is
interested in this. Such topics are promoted by social networks, but in
reality they do not stand your attention, like any rules or gossip. The
Internet loves gossip and feelings, and then throws them away like used
toilet paper. Just like your opinion about other opinions. Some bloggers
write reviews of reviews, it looks like this: "I wrote what I think
about what that author thinks, about what that famous person thought,
about what an even more famous person said." Of course, such texts also
have their audience, but are you striving for such a goal?
As
for the same regarding politics - politics establishes any constructive
discussion with the reader, remember that you are not leading a
monologue, each reader talks to you while reading, possible conclusions
about what they have read. Leave politics for those who are ready to
argue endlessly, proving that their point of view is the only correct
one.
Real
timeless topics are inspiration, design, technology, personal
experience, development, self-development, art, science, literature.
They are always interesting to discuss.
Write
in such a way that the reader wants to read to the end. Add details,
unexpected turns, personal history. Don't be afraid to deviate from the
templates. The reader appreciates sincerity and originality.
Work
on the rhythm of the text. Alternate long and short sentences. This
creates a natural dynamic that makes the text pleasant to read. If the
entire text corresponds to long phrases, it quickly becomes tiresome.
Use
metaphors, comparisons, vivid images. They make the text bright and
memorable. Imagine that you are painting a picture with words. Let the
reader not just read, but see, hear and hear what you are writing about.
Try
not to repeat yourself. If you have already felt this thought, there is
no need to repeat it in a different form. This clutters the text.
Brevity is always better than verbosity.
Don’t
be afraid to leave gaps for the reader’s imagination. You don’t need to
chew everything until the end. Sometimes it’s better to hint, to leave
something unsaid. This makes the text more interesting, makes the reader
think.
Finish
the text in a way that the reader leaves after. A good ending is not
just the last paragraph, the feeling that remains with the reader. Maybe
it’s an unexpected thought, a strong quote, or an open ending that
makes them think.
Now
turn your text into a story. Add dialogue, more details, emotions.
Increase its height. Write a new way of presenting several paragraphs.
Experiment. Only in this way does something truly worthwhile emerge.
And
finally, your work should bring you pleasure. Of course, not every day
will be inspiring, and there are times when everything gets boring. But
if in general you don’t feel any joy from what you do, then something is
wrong. Good text is easier to write if the process itself brings
pleasure. When you are interested, this is transmitted to the reader -
he thinks about liveliness, energy and sincerity. And if the text is
written "under duress", according to duties, then it looks the same -
lifeless and boring.
I
wish you to write easily, interestingly and with pleasure, so that
ideas come by themselves, and words form lively and fascinating texts.
Doubt less and experiment more, because style is your best style. So
that readers do not just skim, but wait for a new publication, and each
text brings joy to you and to those who read it.
A Brief History of the Internet: ARPANET
Back
in the 1960s, when computers were the size of a refrigerator and had
less memory than a modern calculator, a group of scientists decided:
"What if we make these giants talk to each other?" This is how the story
of ARPANET, the ancestor of the modern Internet, began.
In the Beginning There Was ARPA
1957.
The Soviet Union launches the first artificial satellite. America,
seeing this, nervously takes a drag on a cigarette, spills coffee on
documents, and decides that it is time to urgently do something
innovative. So in 1958, the Advanced Research Projects Agency - ARPA -
was created. It was necessary to come up with technologies so that no
future Soviet satellite would make Americans nervous.
Well,
scientists got down to business. One of their ideas was to create a
network in which computers could transmit data to each other. Why? Well,
firstly, it seemed promising. And secondly, if the Soviet Union decided
to turn off telephone communications, the United States could transmit
messages through computers. It is not known that ARPA believed in their
own idea, but they were given the money, and the work began.
And along came Licklider
In
1962, Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider joined ARPA. A man with a family
that made you squirm, but with an observation that was ahead of its
time. He was sure that computers could not only count numbers, but also
provide people with communication. At a time when most computers were
just very expensive calculators, Licklider had already created a global
network for himself, uniting everyone. He called his idea the "Galactic
Network." And although it sounds like the title of a cheap science
fiction movie, the essence was serious: computers had to connect with
each other, transmitting information. He sent letters with this idea to
his colleagues. They probably thought at first that Licklider was too
carried away by science fiction, but then decided that the idea was
really worthwhile.
The First Steps Towards a Network
Licklider
assembled a team of enthusiasts. Among them was Larry Roberts, the man
who would make the dream a reality. They started thinking: how can we
make computers collect data? At that time, everyone was trying to
connect to telephone networks, where information was transmitted
constantly. But telephones had a big drawback: if the line was busy, you
had to wait. Roberts proposed using a method called packet switching.
Computers would split the data into small packets, send them separately,
and then reassemble them into a single message. It sounded cool, but now they had to make it work on the replacement.
The Birth of ARPANET
1969.
The ARPA team is ready for the experiment. Four universities have been
selected: the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the Stanford
Research Institute (SRI), the University of California, Santa Barbara
(UCSB), and the University of Utah. They are to become the first
participants in the network. Scientists have installed special devices -
IMP (Interface Message Processor), which switch computers between each
other. This was the first step to what we call the Internet today.
"LO"
October
29, 1969, programmer Charlie Kline from the University of California,
Los Angeles was to send the first message in the history of ARPANET. He
was going to type the word "LOGIN". It would be beautiful, symbolic,
principle. prevented
the emergence of SMS and chats, where users are too lazy to write long words
. "Dog" was just a symbol of an accountant, and now it has become part of the Internet. Naturally,
for a long time people could not simply connect to useful information.
Already in 1978, the first spam in history was sent. So if you get a
letter from a Nigerian prince who wants to share his millions, know that
this is also the legacy of ARPANET.
The internationalization of
ARPANET
grew rapidly. In 1973, the network expanded beyond the United States:
universities in the UK and Norway were connected. Now scientists could
complain about bad weather not only in one country, but also across the
ocean. It also showed that computer networks could connect the entire
world. Even if only for scientific purposes at the time, it was already
clear: the future belongs to global communication.
TCP/IP: a common language for everyone
By
the early 80s, it became clear that ARPANET had just appeared.
Different universities used their own communication protocols, and
something like the Tower of Babel resulted. To
unify everything, in 1983 Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn proposed a new
standard - TCP/IP. It allowed computers to speak one language, which
paved the way for the modern Internet. This moment can be called the
real birth of the Internet as we know it today. ARPANET became just one
of the networks connected to this system, and then completely dissolved
into a new, global network.
The collapse of ARPANET In
1990, ARPANET was officially disconnected. But it did not matter
anymore, because by that time the Internet lived its own life. People
began to master new opportunities, the soon to appear World Wide Web
(WWW), created by the Internet convenience for ordinary users. Thus
ended the history of ARPANET, but the history of the Internet began,
which now accompanies us everywhere: from viewing memes to online
banking.
ARPANET
started as an experiment, but became one of the most important
technologies in human history. A group of enthusiasts dreaming of
connecting computers could not even imagine that years later the
Internet would turn into something without which it is impossible to
imagine life.
And all this happened with a simple "LO"
The life of an IT guy is not the same if there is no cat at home
For some reason, Vasya always considered himself an advanced IT guy. Having got another job that involved remote work – he worked from home, and loneliness online, emptiness in the apartment made him feel sad. "Maybe I should get a cat?" he thought one day, scrolling through stories with cats on social networks.
Decided - done. Vasya went to the nearest market, singing "the life of an IT guy is not the same if there is no cat at home", and chose the most active kitten, which he named Like. "With such a name, you will definitely fit into my IT life," Vasya grinned, not suspecting how prophetic this name would turn out to be.
From the first days, Like showed himself to be a real strength tester. He easily found weak spots in the apartment: the wallpaper turned out to be an excellent target for his claws. Every morning, Vasya discovered new "corrections" in the interior. "Well, now I have a designer renovation in the style of "Schrцdinger cat"," he joked bitterly. Furniture also did not escape Like's attention. The sofa that Vasya bought with his first salary now looked like it had been hacked - all in "security holes".
A big blow for Vasya was Like's behavior towards technology. One day, returning from a short walk to the store, Vasya discovered that his keyboard was covered in piss.
Naturally, the keyboard had to be thrown away, since you can't wash something like that off, and a short circuit is inevitable, "water cooling" - Vasya joked ironically, trying to somehow cheer himself up in this situation.
Like's pranks did not continue, the cat quickly realized that the most comfortable place in the house was Vasya's computer chair. Every time Vasya went to make coffee or answered the doorbell, Like instantly took his place, stretching out to his full length. "Well, now the chair is taken over, maybe you'll start working instead of me?" Vasya said sarcastically, trying to push the cat off the chair. The situation escalated when the cat accidentally pressed the power button on the system unit. Vasya lost several hours of unsaved work.
Vasya's productivity was falling, and his stress was growing with each passing day. "Cats are stealing your workspaces," he thought, and affecting of work. Like, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying his new role as the main IT guy in the house. One day, after a particularly tough day, Vasya decided to take drastic measures. He bought Like his own "workplace" - a small plush cat office. However, Like took this as a promotion. Now he not only occupied his new place, but also continued to take over Vasya's workspace. "It looks like my cat has decided to become my boss," Vasya realized bitterly, watching Like control his work from the height of his new throne.
Vasya realized that it was useless to fight. He resigned himself to the fact that his life and work were now subject to the whims of his furry boss. "If you can't win, lead," he decided and began to include Like in his work processes, making him part of his projects. And it seemed like they should make peace.
One day, Vasya decided to take Like to the veterinary clinic for a checkup. The doctor asked to take a stool sample from the cat's litter box for analysis. When the cat saw Vasya picking at the poop in the litter box, he looked at it with such an expression on his face as if he had been robbed. "Are you stealing my shit?!" the cat screamed, burning Vasya with an icy look. At home, the cat decided that such betrayal could not go unpunished. After a visit to the vet, Like carefully scattered all the litter from the litter box around the apartment, then "built" an Egyptian pyramid on Vasya's bed, providing an unforgettable aroma, and watched, curled up on Vasya's pillow. A couple of weeks later, guests came to Vasya. He bragged about the cat, told how smart and independent Like was. Like, not forgetting about the incident with the litter box, decided to take advantage of the moment. During the feast, he quietly jumped onto the table, dropped a salad on the lap of one of the guests, then gracefully ran around the apartment like crazy, and to top it off, demonstratively tore Vasya's sock to shreds right in the middle of the room.
"Your cat is a bit crazy," one of the guests noted, and Like, pleased with himself, retreated to his fortress of a torn sofa. Vasya just silently shrugged his shoulders, realizing that this was only the beginning. One night, Vasya got up to drink some water and accidentally stepped on Like's tail. The cat hissed, but instead of immediate revenge, he harbored a grudge. In the morning, Vasya discovered that the cat had chewed his headphones, his favorite T-shirt was full of holes, and a small hidden threat was found in his sneakers. But the most sophisticated revenge was that Like methodically dropped things from shelves and tables at night throughout the week.
One day, Vasya suddenly noticed that the Internet was disappearing. He crawled under the table and saw a nightmare: the network cable was methodically gnawed, as if a special forces rat squad had been working on it for several nights. Like was sitting next to him, grinning from ear to ear. "Now you're without the Internet, Vasya, enjoy life." Attempts to replace the cable were pointless - the cat continued to gnaw the new one as soon as Vasya laid it down. As a result, the hapless IT specialist had to wrap the wire with metallized tape and run it through the ceiling, turning the apartment into something like a server room. Like, unable to find other ways to sabotage, simply lay down on the router. If you think that the cat and Vasya eventually made peace, you're wrong. Over time, Vasya stopped being surprised by Like's antics. He took the constant sabotage for granted. Chewed wires? Well, it happens. A gnawed mouse? Okay, let's order a new one. A furry tyrant who occupied the keyboard at the most crucial moment? Not even annoying anymore. Vasya resigned himself to the fact that his life now belonged to the cat.
Moreover, he was sure that all cat owners lived the same way. Didn't all cats scratch furniture, cause chaos at night and methodically destroy property? Vasya decided that this was normal. Until one day he dropped in to visit his friend Anya, who also worked remotely. Anya lived with a cat named Phoebe. Unlike Like, Phoebe did not try to destroy her owner's home and did not behave like a terrorist with claws. She did not throw things off the table, did not chew wires, did not shit in slippers and did not arrange night runs around the apartment. Moreover, when Anya worked, Phoebe just sat nearby, curled up in a ball and quietly purring.
Vasya looked at this, not believing his eyes. "This... happens?" - flashed through his head. While he was trying to comprehend the scale of the injustice, Phoebe approached her owner, rubbed herself against her hand and smoothly jumped off the couch, heading for her scratching post - yes, she had a scratching post, and she USED IT! Vasya felt something inside him break. All this time, he believed that chaos, destruction and terror were standard cat behavior. But now he understood the terrible truth: the problem was not in the cats...
Green Space in a Gray World: HTML Garden
Yes,
you read that right – an HTML garden. That’s exactly what HTML Garden
is: a truly unique project brought to life by an adventurous mind.
HTML Garden is a creative experiment that explores the idea of a “seasonal” website.
If
I had to define it, I’d say that HTML Garden is both a simple and
profound experiment in which tedious HTML elements come to life,
mimicking the growth cycles of plants.
It’s easy to lose yourself watching these digital plants grow, forming an unexpected kind of HTML flora. Recreational computing?
Perhaps
recreational computing isn’t the best way to classify this project.
It’s better to think of HTML Garden as a work of exploratory computing,
or even technological poetry.
Either
way, the project is a clear departure from the original intent of HTML,
a markup language conceived in the 1990s. HTML Garden pushes the
boundaries of the medium, offering an entirely different kind of web
experience – one that doesn’t fit the expectations of a traditional
website.
At the heart of it all is Spencer Chang, the creator and caretaker of this digital garden. A poet of computing.
There’s
something poetic about watching the birth, growth, and eventual decay
of incredible digital flora that lives entirely on a screen. Reimagining the Internet
“How
can we make the Internet more natural, prioritizing people over
computers and institutions? How do we want to interact with the Internet
beyond just ‘browsing’? If the Internet and our browsing tools were
like neighborhoods and houses, how could we make them more livable?” — Spencer Chang
It’s
clear (to me, at least) that Chang is exploring the alternative
dimensions of the Internet — the ones that bring us closer to each other
without turning that connection into data for advertisers or tools of
persuasion.
“Despite
all the ways the Internet is ‘useful,’ people continue to find ways to
go beyond its intended functionality — to express themselves and connect
with others.” — Spencer Chang
Oh,
college websites. If you've ever tried to find a class schedule on a
university website or find out how to apply for a master's degree,
you've probably already felt helpless. These websites seem to be
specially created to turn your life into a quest full of surprises,
mysteries, and failures. Let's figure out why this happened, where these
dinosaurs in the world of web design came from, and why they are so
hard to defeat.
It
all started in the 90s, when the Internet was young, wild, and
promising. Universities, of course, decided to join the progress. The
first university websites looked like a set of gray pages with blue
links and text presentations. No one really thought about design or
usability. Why? The main thing is that everything works, appearance is
secondary. Those were the years when a clip in the form of rotating
globes was considered the pinnacle of style.
Who
created these masterpieces? Most often, it was a second-year student
who was assigned this task as part of some lab work. Or a teacher who
knew a little about HTML and decided that this was his chance to
immortalize his name in the history of the university. They usually
didn’t like to spend money on this, and why would they? The Internet is
“free.”
The Era of Static Chaos
By
the early 2000s, things had only gotten worse. Universities began to
realize that a website is the face of a university. But instead of
turning to experienced designers, the management decided to save money.
The same students were used, who were now trying to master CSS. Later,
the first experiments with animation, flash banners, and endless tables
appeared. Yes, tables, because layout via `<div>` was still for
the elite.
At
that time, a new problem arose: information on websites began to
multiply rapidly. Press services, departments, deans' offices - everyone
wanted their own sections. But no one wanted to appear for this, so
that it all looked like a single opinion. The result? Total chaos. The
schedule was in the "Press Center" section, and the dean's office
contact numbers were somewhere on page twenty in the PDF document.
The cult of internal amateurism
Why
are university websites still like this? The thing is that they are
rarely made by professionals. Usually, this is done either by a
full-time IT specialist or a concierge, chosen based on the principle of
"cheaper and faster." Little money is allocated for the site, because
universities often consider this a secondary aspect. They say that
scientists should do science, and not some kind of "usability." The
decision-making process is a separate theater of the absurd. First,
someone at a meeting suggests updating the site. Then a working group is
created, consisting of people who have nothing to do with design or
programming. These people discuss the color of buttons, fonts and logos,
not paying attention to the design and functionality. As a result,
something is created that suits everyone except the users.
What
do they save on when creating university websites? On everything. On
design, on testing, on content. Sometimes a website is created with a
grant or money allocated from the budget. In such cases, part of the
funds goes to reports, part to unforeseen expenses, and only a small
part to the website itself. And sometimes the website is made completely
free of charge - on the principle of "students help". Interesting
fact: many university websites in the CIS are still working on
home-made content management components that were created 10-15 years
ago. Why? What is the transition to a modern platform - it is money,
time and a headache.
Features of national design
Another
reason why university websites are so inconvenient is their attempt to
be everything at once. University management often wants the site to be a
business card, an information portal, a document submission system and a
learning platform at the same time. The result is a giant creature in
which even an experienced user wins in five minutes. Add
to this the love of structural features: multi-level menus, labels,
links that lead to pages with a message to "404 Not Found" windows. And
also the need to constantly make reports, event plans and photos of the
rector to make the sites look like archival documents, and not a modern
resource.
The
longer you study university websites, the more you begin to appreciate
their uniqueness. For example, why does every university graduate have a
"History" section with a biography of the founder, but there is no
normal search? Why is it necessary to visit the banner about the
conference that took place three years ago on the main page? Why is the
"For Students" section in the "Prospective Students" submenu? And
most importantly - why so many PDFs? Seriously, why? It seems that
universities believe that there is nothing more convenient than
downloading 50 megabyte files to find out what subjects will be this
week.
How can this be fixed?
Is
there a way out of this situation? Of course. But for this,
universities need to understand that a website is not just a formality,
it is an emergency response tool. It is necessary to hire professionals,
conduct research on the Internet, test interfaces. It is necessary to
think less about “pretty pictures” and more about how to make the site
convenient.
And,
of course, from the idea that everything can be done for pennies. A
good site is an investment that requires comfort and efficiency.
University sites are a reflection of their internal structure. They are
as complex, bureaucratic and chaotic as the educational process itself.
But everything is not so bad. Perhaps, one day, universities will
understand that the user has experience of the more important good old
“it has always been this way”. In the meantime… be patient, open the PDF
file and keep the site map handy. Forward to knowledge!
Epilogue:
It's
time for renewal, when nature awakens after long winter months. With
the first warm days, you want more fresh air, more light and more live
communication. The digital world can also experience its own spring
changes - this is the time when you can reconsider your habits, distance
yourself from the unnecessary and focus on what is really important.
We
thank you for staying with us, reading, thinking and supporting ideas
that are close to us. Your attention and participation inspire new
articles, experiments and research.
See you in the next issue!
Исходный текст
Интернет
давно перестал быть тем уютным уголком, где можно было везде встретить
нормальных людей. Сегодня это неоновые руины, где вместо лампового
разговора – потоки оскорблений, а вместо знаний – алгоритмы,
принуждающие тебя смотреть на очередной вирусный ролик про кота, или
собаку, играющую на фортепиано, которую ты видел в прошлом году.
Интернет уже сейчас думает, что у нас короткая память, хотя я сейчас не
об этом… Были времена, когда сетевое общение было другим – и имя ему было IRC. Интернет-релейный
чат, как и всё лучшее в этом мире, появился в конце 80-х – в эпоху,
когда люди ещё не пытались выяснить в комментариях, чей дед больше
воевал (у вас может быть свой вариант, но мне больше нравится про деда).
IRC придумал человека по имени Яркко Ойкаринен, это звучит так, будто
он должен был стать персонажем скандинавского детектива. Но вместо этого
он изобрёл систему мгновенного обмена сообщениями, которая могла бы
стать раздельным раем, но с годами быстро превратилась в
неподконтрольный сервис связи и коммерциализации, а потому совсем не
популярный «островок для гиков». И хотя это чаще общее мнение, я с ним
не совсем согласен: в IRC можно попасть и пообщаться с кем угодно. Не
думаю, что многим будет интересно узнать подробности об устройствах и
сетевых протоколах, которые используются в IRC. Поэтому не будем об
этом. Главное — понимать, что IRC не использует компонент протоколов
пользовательского уровня, а использует свои собственные стандарты (RFC
1459), в отличие, например, от веб-чатов (HTTP). Система
работала просто: были серверы, на них – соединения, в которых люди
общались текстом. Не нужно было качать килограммы кода, вшитого в
соцсети, не было навязчивых подписок, платных функций или капель с
индикатором, что ты не робот. Только ты, текст, и горстка незнакомцев,
каждый из которых с рискю 50% был либо безработным, либо системным
администратором, либо психопатом, либо всем этим сразу. Основная
прелесть IRC заключалась в том, что модерация там была, мягко говоря,
дикой. Администраторы вели себя как феодалы: могли забанить тебя за
орфографическую ошибку, за неправильный ник или просто потому, что они
не выспались. Если ты попал в какой-нибудь культовый канал, вроде #linux
или #hacking, то там уже ждали старожилы – персонажи, которые засели в
IRC еще в прошлом веке, и с тех пор не выходили, питаясь исключительно
пиццей и ненавистью. Баны
в IRC – это искусство. Если ты вел себя плохо, ты мог просто кикнуть,
но если ты попал на глаза админам в плохой день, ты мог устроить
«клинед» – забанить по IP, чтобы ты не вернулся вообще. Ну а если ты
совсем потерял берег, в ход шёл "g-lined" – бан всё на этом расстоянии,
после чего осталось только закрыть свой старенький компьютер и мир пойти
гулять в реальном мире, где тебя никто не ждал.
