The Internet Essay, Research Paper

The Future of Internet

Table of Contents

1. Audience Page 2

2. Introduction Page 3

3. Body of Forum Paper

3.1 Influences in Businesses Page 4

3.2 Influences in Education Page 6

3.3 Influences in Communication Page 7

4. Survey Page 8

5. Reflection Page 9

6. Conclusion Page10

7. Interview Page11

8. Bibliography Page12

9. Sample of Research Project Questionnaire Page13

1.Audience

My Forum Paper was designed to that typical person who is always connected to the Internet and has an interest in knowing how Internet has influenced our society in this century and their lives. However it will be more directed to our traditional Gonzaga student, who has that normal personal computer and used normally to navigate through the Internet and would like to know how the Internet influenced our society and their lives. This forum paper has a very simple language for easy understanding for anyone who is not familiar with the Internet.

2.Introduction

One of the most revolutionizing inventions of the century is the computer. Nowadays the computer is an accessory indispensable in everyone’s lives. Who hasn’t used a computer before? They are used everywhere, from banks, companies, and industries to restaurants, schools and hospitals. But do you know computers are more used for the Internet. According to an article published in an Internet page, “The future of computers”, 65% of the time the computer is used for the Internet. But what is the Internet? Internet according to Oxford Dictionary is: “a system of connected computers that allows computer users around the world to exchange information.” Nowadays, one third of the world has access to Internet, isn’t that amazing! I consider the Internet the third revolution. More than half of all the profit made by nearly every company, business, or entertainment has been made through the Internet. In my forum paper I will discuss and evaluate the influence that the Internet has had in our society. I will give the main points where the Internet has influenced: communication, education, and businesses. It will also include an interview of an expert in Internet and an survey with Gonzaga University students to know their opinion about the future of Internet. However I will also point the negatives points of the Internet: creation of a false economy, access to restricted information and the damaged hackers have made to the Internet that has affected lives of many people.

3.1 Influence in Business

Internet has changed forever the way business is done. According to US trade market, the Internet makes nearly half of all the business done in the US. People have seen that it is much easier to buy through the Internet. We spend less time and don’t have to walk the entire mall to find the cheapest price. From your computer, you research the cheapest price and in a few days you will have it at your home. Isn’t that easy? Internet has become a very important tool in business if not the most important. It has decreased distances; we now can buy things from the other side of the world. For example, my father works in a high tech company that needed a piece, to construct their new car, which was only found in Japan. So the first thing he thought to buy the piece in less time and cheaper by the Internet. Nowadays we have companies that only operate through the Internet and have a bigger profit than normal companies. For example, Yahoo, one of the most famous companies in the Internet, makes a bigger profit than the Ford Company.

However, all this has a bad part. Some economists have been asking themselves, how does a company that has 20 years of existence and doesn’t exist in reality only in a computer gain more than the Ford Company that has been around for nearly one hundred years? Some economists are afraid that what Internet is creating is a false economy, where you see no money just Internet interactions. The economists say that this economy may collapse and consequently make a great disaster in our world market. In my opinion, what these economists are saying is not wrong one problem of Internet business is that you can create a false economy with less jobs than the formal economy. Another problem in Internet business are the called “hackers” that destroy Internet pages, and can cost a lot of money and problems to the buyers using that Internet page. For example, there was a famous case of Chinese hackers that had access to all the major credit card companies through the internet and bought thousand of things through the Internet using other people card number, that he had gotten from the credit card companies.

3.2 Influence In Education

Another area that the use of Internet has changed is the way people gain education and information. Education has changed dramatically since the invention of the Internet; education has been redefined by using the Internet. For example, twenty years ago people used to spend several hours in a library for example, to research about computers. Nowadays, we access the Internet and in a few minutes we have the information we need. I think that Internet has redefined the way people obtain information. However, we have not only redefined the way we obtain information but also the way we transmit information. For example, in some universities we already can have normal classes from our personal computer. We don’t need to go a classroom to learn. We just turn on the computer on the time schedule, access the Internet and watch the class through the Internet. Imagine that I missed an English 101 class. I wood just get the file in the Internet and watch the class and get all the information given in that class. I think that Internet can help students to be more effective and productive in their classes. Here in Gonzaga we can now register and see our grades by the Internet, saving time for every one involved with this process. The Internet can be a solution to resolve the problem of little physical space in universities because we will not need so many classrooms. We would have our classes from our houses. It is an alternative that Gonzaga University should take in consideration because physical space is becoming a major problem for Gonzaga.

3.3 Influence in Communication

Who hasn’t an email account nowadays? Or who hasn’t used a chat room? Internet has made all this available to the world. It has revolutionized communication forever. For example, we have the Internet phone, where you can make phone call from your computer to another computer to anywhere in the world and just pay for a local call. Isn’t this amazing. For example, in my case, that I live far from home, Internet has brought me a great benefit. Instead of paying those huge bills in the end of the month I just connect to the Internet and make a phone call to my Dads computer and talk all night long and just paying a local phone call. Internet has made phone calls cheaper and it has shortened distances. In a near future I think it will substitute the phone. Another internet tool that has changed communication is the email. According to the article “ A Email or a Letter,” email has become the most used way of sending messages between teenagers and in a near future it will become the most used way of sending messages between all ages. Emails are becoming the most used way of sending messages. Emails are substituting the formal letters because they are much cheaper and quicker to reach the receiver. For example, I prefer sending an email to my family in Brazil because it is free and they can receive it instantaneously. In the other hand if I sent a letter it will take at least a week to get there and I would have to pay at least 20 dollars for the mailing. Emails have become such a big advantage than the formal letter that lately, the CNN News mentioned, that the US government is thinking in charging for email like normal letters.

4. Survey

This survey was made with thirty Gonzaga students. The survey had the purpose to analyze how has the Internet influenced their lives and what do they think about the Internet. Our results were that 70% of the surveyed has a compute at home and 100% has access to a computer. 70% of the time they are using the computer is to navigate through the Internet.67% of the surveyed said that they had bought something through the Internet. 100% of the surveyed has an email account and uses email at least 4 times a week.

With this result we can conclude that Internet is the most used tool of a computer and that in a near future the Internet will me the most used tool to do Businesses. We also can conclude that email has become the most used tool to send message. It has changed communication.

5. Reflection

Through this Forum paper, I have developed a wider knowledge concerning how the Internet has affect our society and the Gonzaga Alumni. Before this forum paper, I didn’t have the notion of how Internet has affected each one of us in such a strong way and how Internet has revolutionized our society. Personally, Internet has changed and helped me a lot. The Internet has made the world a small place. Through the Internet we have access to the world. I can access the Internet anytime and have information from Asia, Europe or anywhere in the world. For example, because I am from Brazil and I am studying in the US, Internet has made me feel closer to home and always update me with news from Brazil. Also, Internet has made it easy to me to communicate with friends and relatives. It has made my life her much easier and closer to Brazil. I sometimes imagine this twenty years ago. For example, my Dad was in the US eighteen years ago, I image how difficult it was for him to have news from Brazil or communicate with his family, it must have been much more frightening than nowadays. I am very thankful to the Internet.

6. Conclusion

Therefore the Internet, an immediate effect from the terrific invention of the computer, has affected nearly everyone’s life. It has changed business forever; we now have a much more dynamic, fast and globalize type of business. We now can buy anything we want and anywhere we want by the Internet. It is the future of business, where people won’t leave their homes to buy anything and have more time to do other things. In the area of education, Internet has redefined the way education is taught and transmitted. It has made education much more productive and dynamic. I think that in a near future this high tech education will be accessible to everyone. We will all be able to learn from our houses and it will also help to solve the problem of physical space in universities. And for me, it has helped me stayed in contact with my friends and relatives in Brazil and have news of my country and the world. However, I think that Internet have some weak points that can be repaired, mainly in the area of business where we need to pay by the Internet. The hackers have done serious damages to the Internet and have affected many people that buy through the Internet. Another weak point as we have seen is that the information in the Internet is unrestricted, and anyone underage can have access to information that by law is only to overage. Internet designers must make a device to prohibit the entering of underage people to these sites. Nevertheless, these weak points of the Internet do not take the great benefit Internet has made to humankind.

7. Interview

My Interview was made with a computer science teacher Dr. Carlos Tavora, specialized in Internet. It was short but very instructive. One important thing that he told me is that the Internet connection in many other countries is still very slow and not so accessible as in the US. People in other countries are still afraid of making businesses by the Internet. He thinks that is still a barrier that Internet has to break to become worldwide. He also told me that Internet has changed dramatically higher education mainly in the area of research and conferences. He said that nowadays if you are researching for example about computers you can contact the best person in that area through the Internet and get useful information for your research. However twenty years ago it was very different it would take much more time to get information from other resources. To summarize the interview he ended saying that the biggest impact of the Internet in our society is the flexibility and accessibility of information that Internet has provided to our society.

Bibliography

The future of Internet, Sadek Absi,1999.

Internet,the future?Guerra,Robet.1989.