EAGER: The NSF Role in the Development of the Internet

该奖项用于研究互联网从科学到技术再到商业化的发展。互联网经常被认为是成功地将技术从研究界转移到世界市场的杰出例子，但关于翻译发生的实际过程的研究相对较少。这项研究将集中在1980年至1996年期间，在此期间，大学、行业和联邦政府之间的合作伙伴关系支持了CSNET和NSFnet等为全球互联网奠定基础的项目。因此，这项研究将增加我们对信息技术创新能够成功地转移到市场的条件的了解。虽然文献中已经详尽地讨论了因特网协议的早期发展及其在ARPANET中的实现，但对于因特网技术的进一步发展和广泛采用以及其向商业现实的过渡还没有很好的理解。从1980年的互联网技术状况开始，经过CSNET、BITNET和NSFnet项目，调查人员研究了导致在1990年代建立第一个商业互联网供应商的关键发展。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访谈和这一时期的文件。两名调查人员道格拉斯·范·霍威林和劳伦斯·兰德韦伯都发挥了领导作用，并拥有充分说明这16年期间关键审议和决定的联系人和背景。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的技术及其发明的故事，但很少有人研究大学、公司和联邦政府之间的伙伴关系在支持发展所需的发展方面发挥的关键作用，以扩大技术规模，并展示其服务于全国乃至全球社区的潜力。同样重要的是，很少有人致力于将互联网转化为商业成功的研究。此外，关于伴随这一发展的社会、经济和政策环境的影响的报道很少。对1980年至1996年这段时间的全面报道将弥补这一认识上的严重差距。广泛的影响：截至1996年，支持互联网发展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。无论以什么标准衡量，这都是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，以及如何保持这种创新，全球基于互联网的活动的经验已经为国家的进一步增长奠定了基础。全面研究从互联网作为研究创新向互联网产业转型的关键时期，应该为科学决策提供参考，能够推动国家？S的未来。研究人员打算以文章和专著的形式发表研究结果。此外，他们将安排长期托管和网站访问数字化和转录的访谈和其他来源文件。因此，这项研究将为有关互联网本身的持续发展和管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.