The Sociology of the Internet A presentation by Bill Moninger of NOAA's Forecast Systems Laboratory at NOAATech2002, 24 October 2001

The internet and the world wide web grew out of, reflect, and amplify a trend in late 20th century culture toward self-organizing, organic systems that "grow", and away from structured, mechanized systems that are "built." We will justify this viewpoint by looking at the history of the internet, the motivations that led to its birth, its architecture, and its patterns of use, and we will explore the implications of this view.

The internet appears to be

• Inclusive -- Open
• Fast
• Flexible
• Ephemeral
• Non-bureaucratic

Viewing the internet in this way implies that

• the initial design of objects such as documents or web sites is not as important as strategies for their continual revision,
• relationships between providers and recipients of information become more important than the information itself,
• protection of intellectual property such as scientific papers or computer programs becomes more difficult...
• ... and less important than building relationships based upon reputation and trust.

We can conclude that as the internet pervades more and more activities, those people, organizations, and nations that can most easily change--younger, newer, more educated--will be at an advantage over those that are older, more established and less flexible, even when the latter control more (traditional) resources.

This seminar is a revision of one first given as the inaugural address at the seminar series The Impact of the Internet on the World at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, 27 May 1998.