NEW MEDIA

NEW MEDIA HISTORY

While the internet history can be traced back to the 1960s, the origins of the World Wide Web, or simply the web, are much more recent. It is first came to light via a scientific paper entitled “Information Management: A Proposal”, written by Tim Berners-Lee in March 1989. Working from CERN (translated as European Laboratory for Particle Physics), Geneva, Berners-Lee proposed to do away with the arcane computer commands, which were then needed to access the newly established Internet. “The World Wide Web”, said Berners-lee, “is conceived as a seamless world in which all information, from any source, can be accessed in a consistent and simple way”. 

CERN authorized Berners-Lee to develop this proposed computer language in 1990; and by May of the following year, an initial version of the World Wide Web was up and running. 

Without the web, the internet would not be the communication and information medium it is today, but merely an-email messaging instrument, which can only transmit text.

In the Philippines, the commercial use of online communication via the internet was initiated via the Philippine Long Distance Telephone (PLDT) and Philcom Internet stations. But the internet, as we know it today, is largely credited to two (2) local pioneers: William Torres and Rodolfo Villarica, dubbed as the “grandfather” and “father” of the Philippine Internet, respectively. 

As managing director of the National Computer Center (May 1989 to May 1993), Torres spearheaded the campaign to connect the Philippines to the internet. His exposure to the internet in the United States led Torres to seek the backing of then Department of Science and Technology (DOST) undersecretary William Padolina for an initial funding for the PhilNet project. 

Led by the DOST’s Glen Sipin, a technical committee composed of computer enthusiasts from the University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD) and Los Banos (UPLB), the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), and the De La Salle University (DLSU) was formed to study the possibility of an academic Internet connection. By July 1993, PhilNet Phase 1 was established through a link to Australia’s Victoria University, with ADMU as the local hub.

But maintenance costs were high, and that effort was short-lived. In October 1993, the technical committee proposed that a Philippine Internet backbone and nodes be established to reduce the cost of linking the country to the information superhighway. Thus, the Industrial Research Foundation (IRF), a nonstock, not-for-profit organization, was established by businessmen to support the DOST’s research and development projects. IRF appointed one of its board members, Dr. Rodolfo Villarica, to be the administrator of PhilNet Phase 2. The project was given a budget of Php 12.5 million. 

Under Villarica’s helm, PhilNet’s Phase 2 linked UPD, ADMU, DLSU, and the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu, giving them full access to the Internet via a 64 Kbps connection to the United States. To help set it up, IRF also tapped Willy Gan of Comnet, a private computer networking firm, to set up the link using a Cisco Model 7000 router and a PLDT leased line. This link was successfully launched on March 29, 1994, at 10:18 a.m., during the first International E-mail Conference, held at the USC. Dr. John D. Brule of Syracuse University, New York, who was then a visiting professor at the USC, helped organized the conference. 

Soon after the launch, the link was expanded to include other government and multilateral agencies, universities, and private institutions. But the exponential growth of the Internet came after the passage of Republic Act No. 7925, or the 1995 Public Telecommunication Act of the Philippines. Under this law, telecommunication firms could offer “value added services” without the need for a congressional franchise. This has allowed various Internet start-ups to establish their Internet Service Providers (ISPs). One shortcoming of the law, however, was that ISPs became virtually unregulated communication that could compete with telecommunication carriers such as voice over Internet protocols (VoIP). At the same time, telecommunication firms, which already had the basic infrastructure, also got into the Internet business with companies such as Globe's G-Net and Infocom’s Sequel.Net, a subsidiary of PDLT. 

Internet service improved significantly in the country when PLDT launched the Philippine Internet Exchange (PhIX) in July 1997. This provided a network access point that interconnected local ISPs, allowing them to route local traffic among themselves. The first five (5) ISPs that joined PhIX were Infocom, Mosaic Communications, IPhil Communications, Virtual Link, and WorldTel Philippines. 

In 1998 the Philippine Network Foundation put up a second Internet exchanged to enable ISPs that have leased lines from non-PLDT carriers to interconnect with other providers. Meanwhile, PHNet connected to Japan’s Advanced Pacific Network (APAN) backbone to provide faster Internet communications between the Philippines and other countries in the region. 

Filipinos entered the social networking scene with the coming up of Friendster in 2004, shifting to Facebook three (3) years later. In 2013 the Philippines was dubbed as the “social capital media of the world” because of the percentage of Facebook users among Internet users.

New media enable new cultures to transform society. Now that the process has accelerated to the point where it is visible on a daily basis, most people understand that new communication media mean new ways of life. Indeed, it is now possible to see how new ways of creating and distributing symbols have made it possible throughout history for people to change existing cultural practices, and through these changes

in the way people socialize, to transform societies.