The Internet [Road Map to the Internet]
- Title:
- The Internet [Road Map to the Internet]
- Alternate Title:
- [Road Map to the Internet]
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Downs, Timothy Edward
- Date:
- 1994
- Posted Date:
- 2024-04-25
- ID Number:
- 2537.01
- File Name:
- PJM_2537_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- 1960 - Present
- Subject:
- Advertising & Promotion
- Measurement:
- 58 x 90 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- This has been called "the first map of the internet." Rumsey 10444.003. The map was distributed with the September 1994 issue of PC Computing Magazine, self-folded and shrink-wrapped, with the label "Free Internet Map! Giant, Full-Color, 25" x 37" Map." (See ID #2537.03.) The cover on the folded map reads "Road Map to the Internet." There are maps of earlier versions of the internet, beginning with the Department of Defense's ARPANET in 1969 and the National Science Foundation's NSFNET in 1986. But this appears to be the earliest effort at a comprehensive diagram of internet services available to the general public. It was created to promote the magazine, both directly and by encouraging use of the novel internet. "Points of interest are organized around [30] major Internet servers. . . . Just rev up your modem and pick your destination."
Connections to the various sites are color coded by subject matter into five categories: Business; Finance & Economics; Reference & Education; Government; and Technology. There is little apparent attention to geography: the server at the University of California Berkeley adjoins the one for the Norwegian Research Centre, and North Carolina State is neighbor to Australian National University. Letters across the top and bottom of the map and numbers at its sides allow references to various servers and content. While the map provides URLs for reaching some servers, most are shown as accessible by "Gopher" (see below).
The verso (ID #2537.02) provides a great deal of information. It includes an index listing some 400 specific sites, each cross referenced to its location on the map. There is a summary of 30-some "Internet Highlights," organized under the five subject matter groups, with each site again cross referenced to the map.
Most revealing are the details under "New to the Net?", "How to Use the Internet Road Map," and "Connecting to the Internet." These are filled with names and descriptions known today only to internet historians: FTP ("A program (and protocol) for transferring files between machines"); Gopher ("The best-known and best-developed interface"); Archie ("An important search tool for the Net"); Telnet; WAIS; SLIP/PPP; and my personal favorite, "Trumpet Winsock." The user is warned, "Don't think it's going to be easy getting everything up and running, or keeping it that way. . . . be prepared for a wide variety of glitches along the way."
This is the first in a series of about a dozen internet diagrams created by Timothy Edward Downs to promote PC Computing, including "Road Map to the Best Free Stuff on the Internet" (1995), "Map to Navigating the Web" (1996), and "Beyond the Web" (1996). Downs is a technical expert, illustrator, and graphic designer. He is perhaps best known for his illustrated guide "How Computers Work," first published in 1992 and now in its 10th edition.
There is a British version of the map, published by PC Computing's sister magazine PC Direct. The map itself appears to be entirely the same in the British version, but the text has been slightly changed at places on the map and the text verso (for example, in the list of names and phone numbers for "Service Providers).
Cornell University Library is pleased to present this digital collection of Persuasive Maps, the originals of which have been collected and described by the private collector PJ Mode. The descriptive information in the “Collector’s Notes” has been supplied by Mr. Mode and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cornell University. - Source:
- PC Computing Magazine, September, 1994, Supplement.
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.