Unit 7, Reading Notes

Reading Notes for Unit 7, due october 23

Some thoughts...


I found this article to be really user-friendly and easy to understand. It made understanding networks and the hierarcy of these structures quite easy to comprehend. In fact, I would probably recommend this to high school kids in a  technology class, just beginning to study/understand networks and internet stucture.  An amount of this information was good for review, but there were also facts and definitions I was not aware of.  For example, the meaning and function of POP's and NAP's. Overall, the basic function and structure of the Internet is covered in this article: the Internet is a whole bunch (many, many!) interconnected networks that no single person owns.  Of course, the exact structure of networks is extremely complex in and of itself, but the basic structure of the Internet is conveyed in clear language.  This is what I most appreciate about this article. I also thought the information on Domain Name System was interesting...I hadn't considered before what a web address might look like if this didn't exist.  It's interesting to consider, and puts the interconnectedness of all things related to the Internet into perspective.

A few comments about the video"Inside the Google Machine."   I thought this video was really pretty fascinating, especially the image at the beginning of the video that shows Google patterns worldwide. Seeing this kind of thing is quite powerful, and makes a major statement about the power of Google in today's society. I really enjoyed this video. It offers a different perspective and a good view of what Google is focusing on currently.