com125 assignment 2: history of newsgroups

Before the World Wide Web existed people using the Internet had to rely on each other to share information. Since there were no Internet service providers, it was only within closed communities like universities or private organizations that the Internet was used to have public conversations with other individuals. However, if you wanted to interact with people globally, Usenet was the answer. Usenet contained a wide variety of newsgroups that individuals could join which focused on a specific topic of discussion. It was like a global community that gave people an easy way of getting together even though they were in different parts of the world.

With that said, a newsgroup is a place where information can be posted and stored for a wide range of users to access; think of it as a large public message board. Most of these groups are focused on a particular topic. Some allow their users the freedom of posting on a variety of on-topic themes while others are stricter and do not approve any off-topic subject matter. The administrator of the news server has complete control on how long articles are available for discussion before they are permanently deleted from the server. In general, the majority of these “admins” keep articles for about one to two weeks.

Although newsgroups can be a valuable source of information, support and friendship, it seems as though someone always has to go and ruin a good thing. Soon enough people started to post extremely off-topic subject matter on a mass number of newsgroups. This newsgroup spam multiplied and eventually evolved to the email and web spam we currently see today. Newsgroups can in fact still be found on the web. According to Wikipedia, there are currently over 100,000 newsgroups in existence; however, only about 20,000 of those are active. Each one varies in popularity; some will only receive a few posts a month while others will receive thousands of messages in a single day.

Here is a video from YouTube that I found. I am not sure who this man is and why a chat box is streaming at the bottom of the screen but he gives a really good overview of the history of Usenet and newsgroups. Enjoy.




Seeing as we are social beings, it is evident that newsgroups have had a profound effect on many of the communal applications used on the world wide web today. Web forums, weblogs and even social networking sites like Facebook can be thought of as the offspring of newsgroups. It can even be seen as extremely common for people to participate in one or all of these applications. However, over the past decade the focus has shifted from the community to the self (in newsgroups the thread was directed by the crowd and in forums/blogs the creator dictates what is posted). For many active users these "online diaries" become more that just a way to communicate; they become a way to express deep-seeded emotions and reflect on life. For others they create a virtually accessible community and, with the media continuing to be a driving force in people's lives, these sites offer a way for people to advertise and promote themselves to the world. As human beings we naturally crave attention and the internet/web provides the perfect platform for this competition to take place.

a quick introduction

My name is Andrea Swierat. I was born here in Buffalo, New York and currently reside in the village of Depew. Sadly, this is my final semester here at the University at Buffalo. I am kind of an unique case because I am graduating with both a BFA in Fine Arts with a minor in Communication Design and a BA in Communication. Needless to say the last four years have been quite busy for me. Upon receiving my two degrees in February I hope to secure a career in the advertising field as a junior designer and eventually make my way up to a senior art director. If anyone is interested, you can check out my online portfolio.

Aside from school I work part-time as a barista at Starbucks. Not the one on campus, but the one in Depew on the corner of French and Transit Road if you want to stop on by. Over the past three summers I have also worked as a design intern at Delaware North Companies, Fisher-Price and most recently Travers Collins & Company. Even though they took up most of my summer I greatly appreciate the experience they have given me and know that they will benefit me when I start to apply for jobs at the end of the year.

In my spare time I enjoy watching shows such as The Office, Grey's Anatomy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and basically anything on HGTV. I also tend to listen to music when I working because it inspires me and keeps me focused. You can usually find me listening to alternative/indie rock bands like Coldplay, The Shins, Death Cab/Postal Service, Modest Mouse and so on and so forth. In terms of movies, I enjoy ones that are also on the indie side of the spectrum. Some of my favorites are Garden State, Closer, The Darjeeling Limited, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Crash. If you haven't seen any of these movies, I highly suggest that you go out and rent them immediately. I am also a big advocate of the "green" movement. It really doesn't take a lot to make a difference. People need to stop being lazy and ignoring the problem because things like climate change are not going away and they will only continue to get worse in the future. If you are interested in what creative options are out there, visit the Inhabitat website.

In taking this course, I hope to achieve a better understanding of how the internet is structured internally. Already being a avid user I know how most things operate; however, I want to dig deeper and discover why. Hopefully by the end of the semester all my questions will be answered. Last, but not least, here is a link to the original assignment.