Internet Research HW

How much information is in circulation on the internet (in gigabytes)?

At 487bn gigabytes (GB), if the world's rapidly expanding digital content were printed and bound into books it would form a stack that would stretch from Earth to Pluto 10 times.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/may/18/digital-content-expansion-  May 2009

Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, the world’s largest index of the Internet, estimated the size at roughly 5 million terabytes of data. That’s over 5 billion gigabytes of data, or 5 trillion megabytes.

http://www.wisegeek.com/how-big-is-the-internet.htm - June 2012

What proportion of the world’s population can now go online?

WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS December 31, 2011
World Regions	Population ( 2011 Est.)	Internet Users Dec. 31, 2000	Internet Users Latest Data	Penetration (% Population)	Growth 2000-2011	Users % of Table
Africa	1,037,524,058	4,514,400	139,875,242	13.5 %	2,988.4 %	6.2 %
Asia	3,879,740,877	114,304,000	1,016,799,076	26.2 %	789.6 %	44.8 %
Europe	816,426,346	105,096,093	500,723,686	61.3 %	376.4 %	22.1 %
Middle East	216,258,843	3,284,800	77,020,995	35.6 %	2,244.8 %	3.4 %
North America	347,394,870	108,096,800	273,067,546	78.6 %	152.6 %	12.0 %
Latin America / Carib.	597,283,165	18,068,919	235,819,740	39.5 %	1,205.1 %	10.4 %
Oceania / Australia	35,426,995	7,620,480	23,927,457	67.5 %	214.0 %	1.1 %
WORLD TOTAL	6,930,055,154	360,985,492	2,267,233,742	32.7 %	528.1 %	100.0 %

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

The number of people who could access the internet in 1995?

DATE	NUMBER OF USERS	% WORLD POPULATION
December, 1995	16 millions	0.4 %

http://www.internetworldstats.com/emarketing.htm

The number of people who can access the internet in today?

Number of Users-2,280 millions

Mar, 2012

http://www.internetworldstats.com/emarketing.htm

Nature of information

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1704424/mobile-lifestyle-changing-nature-information

A lot more information is circulating over the internet as everyone can post some form of information online. The nature of that information may vary as people have learnt to trust sites like Wikipedia however, individuals are allowed to change that information meaning someone else may be taking in the wrong information.

Communication 

 The internet has changed the way we communicate from letters, phone calls, post cards and face to face into a more digital way of communicating. This is due to applications such as ‘Skype’ which allow us to visibly see people who may be on the other side of the Earth via webcam (video call). There has also been the development of social networking sites as well as instant messaging services which has allowed people to find, communicate and stay in touch with old friends an example of these would be ‘Face Book’ and ‘Windows Live Messenger’. 

http://www.intersectweb.org/2011/07/14/how-the-internet-has-changed-communication/

"A lot of people now communicate through texts. Now, thanks to Skype, you can have video chats over the internet with. Social Networking has contributed a lot to this change."

http://willlonghini.com/post/3992576836/how-technology-has-changed-the-way-we-communicate

Privacy

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Privacy-management-on-social-media/Overview/Social-media-has-changed-the-public-discussion-about-managing-privacy-online.aspx
 

Privacy is a very important aspect of being online. Many people want and need their privacy; this has been enabled due to social networking sites allowing the user to choose settings to suit themselves. Social networking sites such as ‘Twitter’ and ‘Face Book’ allow you to have your privacy by letting you choose settings that make your profile private or undiscoverable.

Community 

http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/01/how-has-the-internet-changed-t.html

I think the internet has given provided younger people with more opportunities and jobs as it is the younger generation who are more comfortable with the new technology. However, it has also made some people lazy and very reliant of the internet as they may have become addicted.

Online Safety

http://www.parentsprotect.co.uk/internet_safety.htm

http://ezinearticles.com/?Kids-Internet-Safety---Protecting-Your-Kids-in-a-Changing-World&id=4660019

"It’s hardly surprising that the increasingly tasteless nature of such self-advertisements have resulted in social networking sites becoming infested with anonymous sexual predators and pedophiles."  Andrew Keen also criticizes the ability of the Internet to promote social harms such as gambling and pornography.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cult_of_the_Amateur

Business 

 "No matter what your business is, it is difficult to succeed today without internet marketing."
 
http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/how-has-internet-changed-business

 

  

Culture 

 

http://www.alpiega.com/technology/how-the-internet-has-changed-popular-culture/

Andre keen sees "cultural standards and moral values" as "at stake" due to new media innovations.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cult_of_the_Amateur

Copyright

http://publishing.wsu.edu/copyright/internet.html

 The internet has allowed the copyright and patents to be broken in several ways by many from films to music. The internet has allowed millions of people to illegally download films and music which has lead to broadband providers banning sites which break the copyright law. Virgin and Sky have recently banned Pirate Bay.