EAGER: The NSF Role in the Development of the Internet

该奖项资助有关互联网从科学到技术再到商业化发展的研究。因特网经常被引用为从研究界向全球市场成功转移技术的一个杰出例子，但对这种转移发生的实际过程所做的研究相对较少。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合作支持了诸如CSNET和NSFNET等项目，为全球互联网奠定了基础。因此，这项研究将增加我们对信息技术创新成功转移到市场的条件的认识。虽然互联网协议的早期发展及其在阿帕网中的实现已经在文献中得到了详尽的论述，但互联网技术的进一步发展和广泛采用及其向商业现实的过渡并没有得到很好的理解。从1980年的互联网技术状态开始，通过CSNET、BITNET和NSFNET项目，研究人员研究了导致20世纪90年代第一批商业互联网提供商建立的关键发展。这项工作将主要以原始资料为基础，包括对主要参与者的大量采访和该时期的文件。两位调查人员，道格拉斯·范·豪威林和劳伦斯·兰德韦伯，都发挥了领导作用，他们有联系，有背景，可以全面描述这16年期间的关键审议和决定。智力价值：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。虽然学者们分析了互联网技术及其发明的故事，但很少有人研究大学、企业和联邦政府之间的合作关系在支持发展所需的技术规模和展示其服务于全国乃至全球社区的潜力方面所发挥的关键作用。同样重要的是，很少有研究致力于将互联网转化为商业成功。此外，对伴随这一发展而来的社会、经济和政策环境影响的报道也很少。对1980年至1996年期间的全面报道将弥补这一重大的认识差距。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。无论以何种标准衡量，这都是一笔非同寻常的投资回报。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，以及如何将创新持续下去，那么基于全球互联网的活动的经验将使国家获得额外的增长。全面研究互联网从研究创新向互联网产业转变的关键时期，应该为推动国家发展的科学政策决策提供信息。年代的未来。研究人员打算在文章和专著中发表研究结果。此外，他们将安排长期托管和网站访问数字化和转录的采访和其他原始文件。因此，该研究将为有关互联网本身的持续发展和治理的更广泛的学术研究和决策提供资源。

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.