SOCIAL WEB MEDIA

Course Introduction and

Technical/Conceptual Foundations

lecture based on:

Navigating the Internet - Smith, Gibbs, McFedriesPocket Guides to the Internet – Veljkov

Protocol (ch 1) – GallowayWikipedia entries

BASIC TERMS

BASIC TERMS

INTERNETWORLD WIDE WEB

PROTOCOLTCP/IP

IP ADDRESSDNS

INTERNET

or

WEB?

The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP) (Wikipedia)

“A worldwide network of networks” (Veljkov p1)

The World Wide Web (WWW)...a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet. (Wikipedia)

Email ?

instant messaging ? (IRC, Jabber, etc)

Facebook chat ?

Usenet ?

PROTOCOL

general definition

“agreed-upon methods of communication used by

computers and, for that matter,

by people.” (Smith p6)

CULTURAL PROTOCOLS

telephone call protocol

bank line protocol

grocery store line protocol

classroom protocol

In a formal meeting...

“someone chairs the meeting, states its objectives... invites people to speak. When each person finishes speaking, control returns to the chair.”

ways for handlinginterjections error conditions

(Smith p6)

for networked computers...

which computer begins communication

how replies are handled

how will data be represented

how will errors be handled

TCP/IP

two protocols...

Transmission Control Protocol

Internet Protocol

protocol suites or protocol stacks

lowest level to highest level

lowest level: basic functions... receiving pulses of electricity from the

communications medium

Application layer

Transport layer

Internet layer

Link layer

Application layer(content)

Transport layer (makes sure data arrives correctly – a social layer)

Internet layer (actual movement of data from one place to another)

Link layer (hardware-specific)

Application layer(content)

Telnet, FTP, HTTP

Transport layer (makes sure data arrives correctly – a social layer)

TCP, UDP

Internet layer (actual movement of data from one place to another)

IP & ICMP

Link layer (hardware-specific)

Compare to telephone call “protocols”

conversation – (application layer)“Are you still there?” - (transport layer)

“Can you repeat that?” - (transport layer)“Hi, this is...” “OK – Bye!” (transport layer - establishing

and closing the connection)phone switching/routing (analogous to Internet layer)physical phone or fiber optic lines (link layer/hardware

layer)

Internet Protocol

Developed to enable different local area networks to communicate with each other

Has become the basis for connecting computers around the world together over the Internet

TCP/IPIP = breaking up data and sending itTCP = make sure data arrives intact

error correction is the responsibility of TCP

routing is the responsibility of IP

Data Transmission consists of sending/receiving streams of zeros and ones along the network connection

Two Types of Information: Application data

The information one computer attempts to send to another Network protocol data

Describes how to reach the intended computer Describes how to check for errors in the transmission

Data must be marked with a destination address

IP ADDRESS

In IP the destination address is 4 bytes

(each byte is a number 0-255)

example:

64.233.167.104

http://64.233.167.104/

To be able to accommodate more devices, IP addresses will be extended to sixteen bytes

DNSDomain Name System

resolves names “www.rhizome.org”

into IP addresses

206.252.131.211

When a computer wants to request data from a domain name: It asks the DNS for the numeric Internet Address It includes the numeric address with the request for data

Domain Name Servers

distributed

Domain Name System

inverted tree structure

decentralized hierarchy

. (root)_____________|__________| | | |.org .com .net .edu

| |google buffalo

| | | images www mediastudy

to resolve the numerical address for mediastudy.buffalo.edu first a request goes to a root nameserver to find out where the appropriate top level domain server (.edu) is, then that server is queried as to where the host (buffalo) is, then the host is queried for the address of the actual computer in question (mediastudy)

Each server only has info aboutthe area directly below it in the

hierarchy.

Decentralized network model.

Protocols

TCP/IPpeer-to-peer

non-hierarchicaldistributed

DNShierarchical

decentralized

FLOW

IP breaks large chunks of data up into more manageable packets

Each packet is delivered separately

Each packet in a larger transmission may be sent by a different route

Packets are numbered

The recipient reassembles the data

Internet Protocol (IP) does not notify the sender if data is lost or garbled

This is the job of a higher level protocol Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

The most commonly used Internet services use TCP with IP (TCP/IP)

Attempt to deliver the data

Try again if there are failures

Notify the sender whether or not the attempt was successful

PART 2:

“The emergence of distributed networks is part of a larger shift in social life. [...] a

movement away from central bureaucracies and vertical hierarchies toward a broad network of autonomous social actors.”

- Galloway

PART 2:

“The emergence of distributed networks is part of a larger shift in social life. [...] a

movement away from central bureaucracies and vertical hierarchies toward a broad network of autonomous social actors.”

- Galloway

PART 2:

NETWORK TOPOLOGIES

CENTRALIZED

DECENTRALIZED

DISTRIBUTED

HUBS

NODES

HIERARCHIES

RHIZOME

[[clip: Apple Macintosh 1984 ad]]

changes in workplace

teams/outsourcing/consulting etc.

Protocol“a set of guidelines or rules” (Wikipedia)

Uses of term protocol:

militarychain of command, hierarchy

Internetflexible, distributed, resistive of hierarchy

Network Topologies

Network modelsCentralizedDecentralizedDistributed

discuss in terms of hubs and nodes...

Image: Rand Corporation

Cold War origins of Internet*

(*specifics are open to debate)

two images:

nuclear attack

Internet

Two images:

nuclear attack“highly energetic, dominating, centralized”

Internet“non-centralized, non-dominating, non-

hostile”

(Galloway)

Image: Rand Corporation

centralized networks:hierarchical

a single authoritative hub“top-down management”

US judicial systemBentham's Panopticon (as

discussed by Foucault)

decentralized networks:network diagram of the modern eramultiple hubs w/ dependent nodes

airline system (airline hubs)university departments

distributed networks:no central hubsno radial nodes

each entity is autonomousInternet

freeway system

Many paths to a destination

freeway systemif 90 is closed use another route

“The emergence of distributed networks is part of a larger shift in social life. [...] a

movement away from central bureaucracies and vertical hierarchies toward a broad network of autonomous social actors.”

“The emergence of distributed networks is part of a larger shift in social life. [...] a

movement away from central bureaucracies and vertical hierarchies toward a broad network of autonomous social actors.”

- Galloway

Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari

metaphors:

arborescenttree-like structure

directional

rhizomaticroot network (ginger)

multiple, non-hierarchical

image: Wikipedia

“What was once protocol's primary liability in its former military context – the autonomous agent who does not listen to the chain of

command – is now its primary constituent in the civil context.”(Galloway p38)

Classical era sovereign central control

Classical era sovereign central control

Modern era bureaucracy decentralized control

Classical era sovereign central control

Modern era bureaucracy decentralized control

Now ???

How it works...

materiality of the Internet

host computers

clients (receiver of information)servers (sender of information)

Network conditions are always changing...

traffic bandwidth hosts going offline

Packets “hop” from host to host.

Each host only knows what general direction

the packet is headed.

Each host knows which of its neighboring hosts

lie in which direction.

If transmission to a neighbor fails, the host updates its information.

Each packet is given a “time-to-live” number.

Each hop subtracts from the “time-to-live.”

If the packet reaches 0 it is deleted.

Each packet has a header.

source addressdestination address

checksum

Protocological characteristics of TCP/IP

facilitates peer-to-peer communicationdistributed technology (meshwork/rhizome)

universal language (any 2 computers that speak TCP/IP can network)

robust and flexible/ not rigid and toughopen to theoretically unlimited variety of computers

is a result of the action of autonomous agents (computers)