Deep Web

Access Science’s article on the internet, while perhaps a little outdated (i.e. needing a dial-up account for email) it provided a decent overview of the basics of the internet and how it is available the public to use. Some of the interesting points that the articled provided was in the discussion of the protocols involved in computer to computer communication. I also had no idea what routers do: keeping track of data fragmentation to provide compatibility between the two computers in communication. Finally, the explanation of the workings of the web was interesting. The web is only a part of the internet, yet the majority of the internet we utilize is via the web.

The second article, "Going beyond the Web's surface," I read examined what most surfers hardly ever get a glimpse of: the internet beyond the web; sometimes referred to the deep web. The deep web, by some estimates is twice as large as the world wide web. This additional data is unavailable because search engines are unable to search the files and there is no domain name associated with the location. Most of the data resides on databases that can only be accessed if a web site provides indexing and search of the database or if the user knows the directory information of the data or files desired. Interestingly, a large part of the deep web data is on U.S. government databases as the U.S. government is the world’s largest publisher.

The accessibility of the deep web is not static, however. PDF files, for example, were once a part of the deep web, but search engines have been able to index the files and now can be searched. I believe with time, eventually all of the data available via the internet will be part of the surface web as search engines improve.

Week 7: "Internet" Readings

The assigned article from AccessScience provides more than just a basic overview of the internet and how it operates. The article covers the background and history of the development of the internet quite effectively. It presents the internet as an evolution or progressive development of other media technologies and electronic sources, such as newspapers and magazines and identifies that the internet is proven to be so “versatile,” and in turn, this makes it powerful. Current users that have grown up in the age of the internet can testify these facts. The internet is used constantly and for a variety of uses/practices. Its continuous growth, even in the past decade, has demonstrated the effect that the enhancement of technological features, protocols, connection speed, and communication of the internet has had on user capabilities in many facets. The following two sources focus on the prospective capabilities of the internet in the future.

This second article addresses the question of whether the current research being conducted is enough to progressively influence in the internet industry needs for the future. The article discusses the concept of an incremental or progressive model and identifies the economic and social factors that influence the needs and expectations for future communications systems, which was the theme for a joint workshop held by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in January of 2007. The article presents observations made by the author, which include the relationships between the internet and economic and social theory, a discussion of the argument for anonymity of use of the internet, and observations of the social implications of a future internet. Several of these uses are discussed in the AccessScience reading, as well. This article presents a series of relevant questions that aid the reader in understanding the reflections made during the NSF and OECD joint workshop in 2007. These questions are quite thoughtful and their responses are detailed. The article addresses several important aspects regarding the future of the internet, such as lessons to be learned and improvements that can be made to improve the efficiency of inter-networking, and the challenges presented by each reflection.

This video provides a brief, yet detailed, overview of how the internet works. It is much simpler than the AccessScience reading. This source demonstrates the application of internet connections in a straightforward manner, using line diagrams and graphics for representation. It is even able to explicitly describe how “packets” of information are transferred across the internet (i.e. picture e-mails or Facebook photo albums). The source claims that by watching this video, one becomes part of the ten percent of people that understand the internet. The video uses analogies familiar to the viewer (i.e. candy wrapped in layers to describe the workings and relationships of various routers). It is short and therefore, a quick watch, and provides enough information for the average internet user to understand the workings of internet.

R7 - The Internet and Ubiquitous Networks

The first article I read, the required reading, entitled "The Internet" from AccessScience gave a full background and breakdown of how the internet works. I found this article very interesting because I don't generally thing about how the internet actually works. Prior to reading this article I knew that the internet is run and supported through servers. This article explained that in fact when information is sent, it is sent in packets which are broken down and sent in pieces and then reassembled on delivery. This article also went over some very general terms such as TCP/IP that I have definitely seen before but never realized what they actually meant for how the internet works. It was also interesting learning about how domains are beginning to be governed and monitored. I had never heard of the term "cybersquatting" before but it is an interesting idea that this could be considered property infringement. I guess I would disagree with that statement because I don't think you automatically own a website that uses your name. I would still say that a website is a just a piece of property that can be bought. I guess it will be interesting to see how legal rules and regulations develop in this area in the future.

The second article I read titled, "Ubiquitous transportation network sensors", also from AccessScience. A ubiquitous network is a network that provides services anywhere to anyone or anything on any device. This transfer of data can be done through many different methods all of which are internet based. This particular article talks about ubiquitous networks that deal with transportation information, such as sensors measuring traffic flows and incidents and sending drivers this information in real time so that the driver can make decisions based off this information. I think these sort of integrations projects are a really amazing way of using the internet and its data transferring capabilities in order to make regular daily tasks a more intelligent based system. In terms of transportation a lot of these systems have already been put in place, especially in terms of public transportation such as seeing how long it will take for a train to arrive at a station. Using this sort of technology in terms of automotive transportation is a little more recent. Some of the ways that I have encountered this technology is with the large electronic signs along highways that tell you how long it will take to get from point to point ahead of you on that highway. I think these signs are already a very help technology because if it says it will take an extreme amount of extra time you can take this into consideration and try to find an alternative route. I have also encountered this technology in new gps systems that come with a traffic feature that is updated in real time, alerts you to heavy traffic on your intended route, and most times will automatically reroute you to the shortest route around the issue. The article goes on talk about how these sensors are going to become more refined. Becoming very small, easy to install, and battery powered. One of these issues still being looked into is the conservation of power for these sensors. There are also many different data transfer systems that these sensors can use in order to alert you. These systems have different benefits and drawbacks usually based on how far the data can be transferred and at what speeds the data can be transferred. This article was interesting and I believe this is an area that is the next step in data transfer technology and ubiquitous networks seem to be something that could be applicable to many different industries. On a side note, one interesting fact I found in this article when it talked about the systems that can be used for data transfer, it mentioned that mobile devices can receive a signal while you are traveling at speeds up to 155 mph. I had never though about how speed would affect your cell phone from finding data but apparently there is a limit on how fast you can go and still use your cell phone.

Internet Reading

            The Internet reading on Access Science this week was the least informative required reading article. It appears to be very outdated, even for the 2008 copyright date. The information in the article was all information that I have read or heard before. Internet technology has advanced rapidly over the last decade so a future reading in this class on this topic should be much more recent.

            The second article I read was “Multi-Disciplinary Design Collaboration for Developing a BIM Model Using a Hybrid Client-Server and P2P Network Model.” This conference paper proposes a collaborative Client-Server/P2P hybrid network model for interdisciplinary BIM design. The goal of this Internet-based model is to improve efficiency and interoperability between design teams in different disciplines. A global Client-Server network would connect different teams and manage permissions for editing. A local P2P network would allow individual members of one team to concurrently work on the project. The BIM model would be divided into sub-models consisting of related components, increasing efficiency. As a team finishes work on a sub-model, they send it to the next team. When revisions are required, it can be sent back to the other team for changes. All data would be transmitted in the same format and backup copies would be automatically saved when the model is sent between teams.

            This paper addresses the major problem of coordination between multi-disciplinary design teams which is essential for intelligent design.  However, it is only a theoretical model that does not test the proposal or address the interoperability technical issues. This hybrid network model shows how the Internet can be used to increase efficiency and coordination for design of intelligent buildings. It would be interesting to see how well the model could work in a real application. The main obstacle for its implementation is interoperability, finding a way to transfer data between teams in the same format.