EAGER: The NSF Role in the Development of the Internet

该奖项资助互联网从科学到技术再到商业化的发展研究。因特网经常被引为研究界向世界市场成功转让技术的一个杰出例子，但对这种转让的实际过程却很少进行研究。这项研究将集中在1980年至1996年期间，在此期间，大学，工业界和联邦政府之间的伙伴关系支持的项目，如CSNET和NSFNET，奠定了全球互联网的基础。因此，这项研究将增加我们的知识的条件下，信息技术的创新可以成功地转移到market.While互联网协议的早期发展和ARPANET中的实现已经处理详尽的文献中，进一步发展和广泛采用的互联网技术和它的过渡到商业现实是不太了解。从1980年的互联网技术状态开始，通过CSNET，BITNET和NSFNET项目，调查人员研究了导致20世纪90年代第一批商业互联网提供商成立的关键发展。这项工作将主要基于原始资料，包括对主要参与者的大量采访和这一时期的文件。两位调查员，道格拉斯货车霍韦林和劳伦斯兰德韦伯，都发挥了领导作用，并有联系和背景，提供了一个完整的说明在这16年期间的关键审议和决定。知识价值：互联网技术的发展和采用是我们历史上最重要的事件之一。虽然学者们已经分析了互联网技术及其发明的故事，但很少有工作致力于大学，公司和联邦政府之间的伙伴关系在支持扩展该技术并展示其服务于国家，然后是全球社区的潜力所需的发展方面所发挥的关键作用。同样重要的是，很少有人研究互联网如何转化为商业成功。此外，很少报道伴随这一发展的社会、经济和政策环境的影响。从1980年到1996年的全面报道将弥补这一认识上的重大差距。更广泛的影响：到1996年，支持互联网开发和部署的联邦资金总额不到2.5亿美元。2010年，互联网行业为美国经济贡献了6000多亿美元。无论如何，这都是一个非凡的投资回报。 如果我们能够理解如何刺激和支持将研究转化为颠覆性创新以及如何维持这种创新，那么全球基于互联网的活动的经验使国家能够实现额外的增长。对互联网从研究创新到互联网产业转型的关键时期进行全面研究，应该为能够推动国家的科学政策决策提供信息？的未来。研究人员打算将结果发表在文章和专著中。此外，他们还将安排长期托管和网站访问数字化和转录的访谈和其他源文件。因此，这项研究将提供一个资源，以便就因特网本身的持续发展和治理进行更广泛的学术研究和决策。

This award funds research on the development of the Internet from science to technology to commercialization. The Internet is frequently cited as an outstanding example of successful technology transfer from the research community to the worldwide marketplace, but relatively little research has been done on the actual process through which that translation occurred. This research will focus on the period from 1980 until 1996 during which a partnership among universities, industry and the Federal government supported projects such as CSNET and NSFNET that laid the foundation for the global Internet. As a result, this research will augment our knowledge regarding the conditions under which information technology innovation can successfully be transferred to the market.While the early development of Internet protocols and their implementation in the ARPANET has been treated exhaustively in the literature, the further development and broad adoption of Internet technology and its transition to commercial reality is not well understood. Starting with the state of Internet technology in 1980 and moving through the CSNET, BITNET and NSFNET projects, the investigators study the key developments that led to the establishment of the first commercial Internet providers in the 1990s. The work will be based primarily on original sources including a large number of interviews with the key participants and documents from the period. Both investigators, Douglas Van Houweling and Lawrence Landweber, played leadership roles and have the contacts and background to deliver a full account of the key deliberations and decisions over this sixteen-year period. Intellectual Merit: The development and adoption of Internet technology is one of the most significant events in our history. While scholars have analyzed the technology of the Internet and the story of its invention, very little work has been devoted to the key role played by the partnership among universities, corporations and the Federal government in supporting the development required to scale that technology and demonstrate its potential to serve a national, then global, community. Equally important, little study has been devoted to the translation of the Internet into commercial success. Further, there has been scant coverage of the impact of the social, economic, and policy environments that accompanied this development. Comprehensive coverage of the period from 1980 until 1996 will remedy this critical gap in understanding.Broader Impacts: The total federal funding supporting the development and deployment of the Internet through 1996 was less than $250 million. In 2010, the Internet industry contributed more than $600 billion to the economy of the United States. By any measure, this is an extraordinary return on investment. Experience in global Internet-based activity has positioned the nation for additional growth if we are able to understand how to stimulate and support the translation of research to disruptive innovation and how that innovation can be sustained. A comprehensive study of the key period of transition from the Internet as a research innovation into an Internet industry should inform science policy decisions that can drive the nation?s future. The researchers intend to publish the results in articles and monographs. In addition, they will make arrangements for long-term hosting and website access to the digitized and transcribed interviews and other source documents. As a result the study will provide a resource for more extensive scholarship and decision-making regarding the continued development and governance of the Internet itself.