Coursera – Internet History, Technology, and Security by Charles Severance

The impact of technology and networks on our lives, culture, and society continues to increase. The very fact that you can take this course from anywhere in the world requires a technological infrastructure that was designed, engineered, and built over the past sixty years. To function in an information-centric world, we need to understand the workings of network technology. This course will open up the Internet and show you how it was created, who created it and how it works. Along the way we will meet many of the innovators who developed the Internet and Web technologies that we use today.

What You Will Learn
After this course you will not take the Internet and Web for granted. You will be better informed about important technological issues currently facing society. You will realize that the Internet and Web are spaces for innovation and you will get a better understanding of how you might fit into that innovation. If you get excited about the material in this course, it is a great lead-in to taking a course in Web design, Web development, programming, or even network administration. At a minimum, you will be a much wiser network citizen.

Course Syllabus
Week 1: Introduction to the Course and The Dawn of Electronic Computing (1940-1960)
Week 2: The First Internet (1960-1990)
Week 3: The World Wide Web (1990-1995)
Week 4: Commercialization and Growth (1995-2000)
Week 5: Internets and Packets
Week 6: Transports and Security
Week 7: Networked Applications
Week 8: Security – Protecting Information
Week 9: Security – Establishing Identity
Final Exam