The Digital Past

History of the Internet

Before Class:

• Read: “Web at 25 in the U.S.”, by Pew Research Center, 2014
  • Summary of Findings
  • Part 1 – How the Internet has Woven Itself into American Life
  • Part 2 – Americans’ Views about the Role of the Internet in Their Lives 
• Read: Timothy Lee, “Everything You Need to Know About Network Neutrality”, Vox, May 21, 2014.
• Watch: History of the Internet by Melih Bilgil

During Class:

• Watch: How the Internet Works in 5 Minutes
• Install and Explore Wordpress
  • Useful Resources:
    • “Installing Wordpress,” Reclaim Hosting 
    • First Steps with Wordpress, Wordpress Codex
• Write a “Hello World” Post that introduces yourself to the class and talks about where you are in your career as a student.

After Class:

• Finish setting up your blog.
• Fill out this form so I know where to find your blog.
• Blog #1: Write a post about the potential uses and pitfalls of an online presence. Build out your own site as you deem appropriate and explain your choices in your blog post.
  • Your blog posts should be at least 350-500 words and should be written in a semi-formal scholarly style (complete thoughts, correct spelling, grammar and syntax.) Please use the Chicago style guide to cite any sources. See the blog post criteria page for more details.